Dita Von Teese is exactly where she wants to be. Cozily burrowed in her suite at the Hotel Lutetia, the first Art Deco hotel erected in Paris nearly a century ago -- and boasting such transitory residents as Picasso, Andre Gide and Josephine Baker -- this newest star to the city's burlesque scene is just an hour away from showtime. It's the fourth of her five at the Crazy Horse, the cabaret renowned for its dancers performing stark nude. Von Teese's limited run there in late October brought out, literally, all of fashionable Paris: Jean Paul Gaultier, YSL's Stefano Pilati, Christian Louboutin, Dior Joaillerie artistic director Victoire de Castellane and milliner Stephen Jones. All of them are self-admitted groupies of the mightiest marquee name of the burlesque new wave. Yet they are hardly reason for making Von Teese's appearance historic. This is the first time since the doors opened in 1951 that the Crazy Horse has showcased an outsider, a guest star.
"It's one of those dreams I never imagined possible, because I knew its history," says Von Teese. "As a teenager I had an article clipping from Playboy on the place. When I first came to Paris in 1991, along with the Louvre and Versailles, the Crazy Horse topped my list of places I needed to see. I was so enthralled by the extremely high standards of the club and the beautiful dancers. I make a point to see shows in every city I visit, and there's nothing like the Crazy Horse to carry on the tradition of the glorified glamour girl."
Touché. Right now few carry that torch as well as Von Teese herself. From her perfectly coiffed raven hair to her seamed-stockinged toes, Dita Von Teese is the glorious glamour goddess seducing the world. She's the toast of the fashion set from Manhattan to Milan -- on the catwalks, in front rows and now as one of M.A.C's ambassadors in the Viva Glam VI fundraising campaign. A supersize version (complete with extras) of her recent hot-selling book Burlesque and the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese is slated for release this spring, while a second book is in the works. And a nonstop schedule of appearances and performances worldwide isn't lessening the sizzle between her and new husband Marilyn Manson as they reach their first wedding anniversary. This has been a heady year, and it's only the start.
"They all go crazy for Dita -- suits, photographers, the designers, the kids and the celebrities," says Robert Duffy, longtime business partner of Marc Jacobs. Both he and Jacobs are Von Teese devotees, having enlisted her on more than one occasion. "They go crazy for her. I don't know if they even know what she does exactly, if they've ever seen her perform. But they just want to hug her. It's not just that perfect body, either. It's something that comes from within. She's genuinely kind."
Von Teese didn't pause when Duffy asked her to pose naked this fall for a fundraising T-shirt benefiting the New York University School of Medicine's Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group. "Graphically, Dita's image was gorgeous -- and it required no retouching at all," insists Duffy, who also recruited Julianne Moore, Selma Blair and other celebs to pose au naturel for the drive. "We had all these movie stars and supermodels, and Dita's sold the best all around the world."
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