Gabor EkecsThe tulle-lined trench coat, its fit-and-flare shape from the 1950s.It’s something of a paradox when a woman best known for taking off her clothes in public hopes to be famous for what she has on.
All the more so when that woman is Dita Von Teese, fetish queen, stripper and sultry fashion idol, and the inspiration to at least one generation of would-be calendar girls. Now she is about to capitalize on her notoriety by turning herself into a fashion brand.
This fall, Ms. Von Teese, 39, will peel the wrappings from a capsule fashion line, her first, conceived with Lime Door Brands, an Australian brand-development company. It is inspired by her own vintage wardrobe, amassed over 20 years. The five-piece collection will make its debut on Oct. 19, at Decades, the luxury vintage and consignment outpost in Los Angeles, and at shopdecadesinc.com.
The clothes, equal parts practicality and racy hauteur, represent a contradiction, Ms. Von Teese acknowledged in a telephone interview. But then, contradiction is what she’s all about. Paradox lies at the heart of her performances (she is currently on a national tour in “Burlesque: Strip Strip Hooray!”) and the character she created way back in the 1990s, an alabaster-featured femme fatale loosely modeled on Bettie Page, vamping onstage in the all-but-raw, while elegantly perched on an outsize powder compact.
“I’ve always liked the good and the bad together,” said Ms. Von Teese, a longtime admirer of Bettie Page’s signature blend of broodiness and naïveté. “I’ve always been intrigued to take something that’s both dangerous and sexual and make it more friendly, make you want to be part of it.”
She has pulled that off with her retro-flavored designs. Priced about $600 to $900, they are the latest in a series of product introductions, including a Dita fragrance, a cosmetics line and a lingerie collection, none of which are available yet in the United States. At Decades will be four dresses bearing coy names like Follow Me and Second Look, with details like silk crepe de Chine linings and grosgrain waistbands, and a tulle-lined trench coat, its fit-and-flare shape straight out of the 1950s.
She is gambling that her followers, about 80 percent of whom are women, she said, will be tempted. Why not? “A stripper can be a fashion plate,” she said. And, she is hoping, a household name. “Think of Gypsy Rose Lee,” she said.
Ms. Von Teese, who has other unspecified projects in the works, maintains that it’s wise to diversify: “I don’t want to be a sad story of a girl who used to look good in a G-string.”