INTERVIEW: Dita Von Teese on Revive & Thrive and vintage cars

How do you feel about appearing at the Goodwood Revival this year?

I’m excited! I’m going to be speaking to Dandy Wellington on the Revive & Thrive Stage, and also judging the Best Dressed competition. It'll be hard to choose favourites I’m sure. I've never been to Goodwood before, I’ve only seen photos. Dandy told me about it, so I started researching it. I’ve been a vintage car collector myself since I was 25 years old, so I’m eager to see the cars. I’m also looking forward to meeting more of the vintage community, and of course, my talk with Dandy.

Which vintage cars do you own today?  

My first car was a big 1930s Chrysler New Yorker. I have a 1953 Cadillac Fleetwood, a 1940 LaSalle convertible, a 1952 Mercury, and I am also working on a restoration of a car, a 1952 Woodill Wildfire. And I have a car I drive on stage in Las Vegas [in the Dita Las Vegas show], a 1977 Excalibur, which is covered in Swarovski crystals. I had a 1965 Jaguar S type at one point, and it was a beautiful car. I loved it. I bought it on eBay late one night while I was drinking wine and I remember waking up in the morning like, “Did I buy a car on eBay last night?”

I’ll drive these cars to the grocery store, and I'll come back out and there will be somebody looking at it, like, ‘are you are you going to drive this yourself?’ But I've been driving ‘three on the tree’ [gear style] since I was 22 years old.

What’s your approach to vintage dressing? 

There was definitely a time through the 1990s when I was very like, “I'm [only] dressing 1930s today.” But as the years pass, I love to mix the eras, the old and the new. I collect hats – mostly 1940s, that’s my favourite era for hats. I don't wear vintage shoes anymore because I can't tell you how many pairs of beautiful 1930s shoes I've ruined swing dancing.

What can you tell us about appearing in Taylor Swift’s Bejewelled music video, performing your famous Martini glass routine with her?

It was really fun to bring her into my world and have her be so receptive to it and want everything to be just right. Now there are a lot of new, young fans learning about burlesque for the first time. I went to her LA [Eras Tour] show and there were girls dressed up in really cute little outfits that looked like Martini glasses with little olive sponges. It was really fun to see.

And how did you begin curating vintage outfits for yourself?

I started when I was in high school. I worked in a lingerie store and I would buy little 1950s slips to wear with a cardigan. So I feel like it started there, before I really got into shopping for vintage. And then once I did, I started with wre wearing bullet bras to try to get that like Jean Paul Gaultier look, lots of bullet bras and girdles. I didn't have money for clothes, I never had the designer jeans or the cool modern clothes that my friends had. So that's why I started dressing in vintage originally, I was trying to get that fashion look for less. It was in the early 1990s, when I got out of high school, that I started really pursuing vintage and playing with my hair and my makeup. I actually have a vintage suit in mind that, that I picked out when I was 20, that wonder if I should bring out for Goodwood…

If you were able to, which of your pre-1966 cars would you have liked to bring to Revival?

Probably the 1952 Woodill Wildfire I’m restoring. It’s just been painted British Racing Green, but it’s not road-ready yet. I bought it to take to Pebble Beach eventually, as it’s a rare car.  It would also be fun to have my 1940 La Salle convertible, which I've just had freshly painted.

 To see Dita’s appearances at this year’s Goodwood Revival, visit Goodwood.com for tickets.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.