Dita Von Teese

Dita Von Teese (born Heather Renée Sweet, 1972) is an American burlesque dancer, model, costume designer, author and actress.

Von Teese is well known for her fascination with 1940s cinema and classic retro style, bearing resemblance to Bettie Page. She was classically trained as a ballet dancer from an early age, and danced solo at age thirteen for a local ballet company. Though she originally wanted to be a ballerina, Von Teese states that "By 15, I was as good as I’d ever be." 

As a teenager, Von Teese's mother took her to buy her first bra, made from plain white cotton, and gave her a plastic egg containing a pair of wrinkly, flesh-colored tights. Von Teese says she was disappointed as she had been hoping to receive beautiful lacy garments and stockings, of the type she had glimpsed in her father's Playboy magazines. This fueled her passion for lingerie. She worked in a lingerie store as a salesgirl when she was fifteen, and has been fond of wearing elaborate lingerie such as corsets and basques with fully fashioned stockings ever since.