Halloween Glamour Mission: Dita Von Teese DIY Costume

         Going into this Halloween I had a million and six ideas, per usual. I knew I had to top Vampira and it had to be good. Then It hit me... what is bigger than a burlesque Dita Von Teese? I knew what I had to do and it would not be an easy or quick one.
       
         At first I was going to re-create an exact costume but I did not know if her costumes had any type of trademark and lets be real that would be a fortune! So I pulled inspiration from a few of her performances and looks to create mine.  I knew I wanted to wear as much Dita Von Teese lingerie and I had to wear a corset and I knew I wanted to have feather fans, and of course I had to have the right hair. So Ill try and make this as close to how I did this as possible.

        First off I decided I wanted to do an all black costume inspired by her Lip Teese act, a few photos I had found, her Lazy act she debuted at the Crazy Horse in Paris and lastly Dita had posted her New Years Eve poster. That was when I knew I had my idea down! First off I found the bra I wanted (well I had one already but I wanted to showgirl it up so I bought a second Dita Von Teese over wire bra from her 2013/2014 lingerie line called the Her Sexcellency bra. That was on its way so I ordered black rhinestones and I have never done this type of thing before so I thought 1,440 would be enough.... I was very wrong. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime! I used the best glue for the project which I found was the E6000 bead glue in clear. I just kind of did what I felt would look good. I would pour out a bunch of rhinestones, put a line of glue where I wanted the stones and pick them up with either my finger pad or a semi sticky toothpick. Luckily the glue I bought came with "adapters" that made it super easy to get the glue to come out in a thin line. But my two problems I had with the glue was the glue seeping out of the nozzle and I constantly had to keep cleaning it up and that was a waste. The second problem was the pouch like packaging that the glue was in kept ripping and the glue would seep out of there and I would have to patch it with a napkin etc. I got this glue at Walmart for about $3. It takes about a good 24 hours for the glue to completely dry.

         Next thing was the corset, for this I wanted a waspie style and knew just the place! Orchard Corset is my favorite place for quality steel boned corsets that will not break the bank. I had one before this one and I pretty much wear it everyday! Now for the costume I wanted a solid black preferably cotton one, I found the CS-411 that would be perfect because it wouldn't cover too much or take too much away from the rest of my costume. Now for sizing I got the smallest they offer which is an 18 inch. My natural measurements are 30.5-23-32 so knowing this (they also have a ton of information on their site since I am not an expert.) But you want to take you natural waist measurements and subtract 4 inches from that and there is your size. Now you cannot just start tightening the laces as hard as you can, you have to season it a bit. Wear it a little bit each day and gradually make it tighter. This process should be about two weeks long. If you decide to skip this process your steel could break and it will not form to your body correctly.I did not wear this laced all the way since I would be moving around so I was at 19.5 inches comfortably and I wanted it to look exaggerated.  I also took the modesty panel off the back (flap of fabric on the back to cover the skin from the laces.) After that was finished I began to rhinestone it.

        I had already gone through 2,000 rhinestones but I still needed more! I rhinestoned my What Katie Did black seamed stockings along the top of the thigh and up the seam for that added showgirl pizzazz! I also had the What Katie Did black opera length gloves that are satin. The garter belt I wore was a Dita Von Teese piece, its the Madame X in black. The bottoms I wore are vintage shape wear that went up to my lower rib cage. I rhinestoned it along the front of the design.  

        This may be the trickiest part but one of the most important... THE FEATHER FANS! These were a lot of work and ended up being really heavy. These, you would not be able to dance with, they are just props. The first thing I did was buy 2 hand fans (the small kind you would get at a faire or something) but I needed to make the bigger. So I went to Walmart and bought the jumbo popsicle sticks (the regular size were too small and did not give enough support.) I also bought a mini hot glue gun just because I did not want the bigger ones, too bulky. I just hot glued the popsicle sticks to the base of the fan and then glued them to the end of the other popsicle sticks. I repeated this about 4 times until I got the desired length. Next I spray painted them black (even the plastic base) which I used regular spray paint and it seeped right through! I actually did not even get to spray both before I ran out. The next time I got the paint with the primer and a gloss finish. I would spray about 3 "arms" at a time so I could pour the black craft glitter on them. These need about 24-48 hours to dry.  At first I was just going to feather one side of the fans and the other side would just have glitter on them, but that only happened with one fan. The other fan was not as well made as the first and I did a lot of doctoring it before I could even feather it. Now to feather it I found these not too bulky 48 inch black and gold feather boas at the dollar store. When cut in half they were the perfect length to fit over the popsicle sticks. To adhere them I just used hot glue.

         The wig I got from Anabelle's Wigs which is actually called "Dita" which I added some teasing to and rolled the bottom to create more of a pageboy style. ( I did not get any photos of  it besides it setting (pictured) .)Once I rolled the bottom of the wig under I used black bobby pins to pin it in place. I then used duckbill clips and hairspray to hold the style in place and create the shape. The nails were pretty hard just in the fact I had to freehand paint them. I always do my own nails so once I did the acrylic I painted them all white. I then took a pen and made a moon shape at the base of the nail. After I took the red polish and painted around the moon shape first then painted the rest of the nail, and did a nice shiny top coat.

        Over 7,000 rhinestones, 105 hot glue gun burns, a driveway destroyed by hairspray paint and a million and a half hours later and you have finished your glamour mission! Now just make sure you rhinestone everything! Your bottoms, your stockings, your shoes, and accessories! Add some vintage jewelry and there you are Dita Von Teese! Its pretty amazing that she liked the makeup post I made on Instagram and I hope she sees the whole costume and that I did her well! Feel free to tag her on my Instagram post!

 

The History Fetish and Fetish Heels

        It's been awhile but I am back with something a bit different than what I normally write. I recently became the owner of a pair of vintage fetish heels and noticed that a lot of people did not really understand what they are or my fascination around them. So, here it goes the history of the fetish heel and why it is so sexy. 

circa 1900

famous shoe collector Tana Louise

        Up until the 1900s the foot was practically hidden, the foot and shoes slowly began showing themselves more and more. As the foot became more noticeable so did the urge to make it not only functional but fashionable. As trade began to really flourish more with more lands, it was the eastern hemisphere that become more into the dressing of the foot. (This was a time where showing a bit of ankle was scandalous...) So the more covered up something was when you saw it undressed the more exciting it was to see. To no surprise it was about the mid 19th century that underground pornography began to make its way around. Which is a lot different from what you will see today. There were some of the first heels made just for the pure pleasure of foot fetishist. They had heels that were 6 inches tall or were thigh high boots that laced to the top. These are still key descriptions of modern fetish shoes as well.

Photo by Guyette

circa 1900

        Now some background... the man that came up with the term "masochism" was Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch who was famous for writing the highly erotic Venus in Furs, which was about female domination. The man who we can probably thank  the word "fetish" was Nicolas Edme Restif de la Bretonne who was a French novelist and the word for shoe fetish "retifism" was named after him. He wrote about women and the legalization of prostitution among other subjects but most focused around sex and other fetishes. Then you have photographer and artist Charles Guyette, who was the very first person to make and distribute fetish memorabilia in the United States. He dabbled in burlesque wear such as corsets, gloves, famously made G-strings and of course fetish shoes that were custom made. Although he came a bit later in the game he became the first, lets say martyr in the history of fetish. He was jailed in 1935 for distributing his art but was later working under different names to go undetected. A lot of his work to this day is unaccredited. He was a major inspiration to many of the modern day fetish idols. Irving Klaw, Bettie Page, John Willie, Eric Stanton and Dita Von Teese have all credited him as a major inspiration to their work.

By John Willie 

                                                 

By John Willie 

        Now for one of my favorite artists, John Willie. Willie grew up during the Edwardian era and that was a time when sex was so repressed that may just give you some reasoning into why he loved the things he did. He had everything going  for him until he married a night club hostess without the permission. They moved to Australia and divorced 5 years later. In 1926 he joined the high heel lover club where he met his second wife Holly Ana. She became his muse and often modeled for him. She had his ideal body type tall and slender, which transferred to his artwork. That is when he began to make his own artwork of illustrations and photography. In 1945 he began the most influential fetish magazine of all time called Bizarre where he used the name John Willie. Willie put photographs and illustrations in the

magazine of women in lingerie tied up or being whipped. Women being gagged or had facial harnesses on. They even had a shoe section that had actual photos of heels that did not even seem possible along with Willie's drawings of the foot and heels and how they interacted with each other. The magazine had 26 issues after having to call its end. But in 1997 another magazine which also had fetish themes came about, (and I believe it was in homage to Willie) but the last issue ran in 2015.

Bettie Page by Irving Klaw with shoe collection

Bettie Page by Irving Klaw

         In the 1950's a raven haired beauty was found lounging on the beach and was asked if a man could photograph her. She said yes and was so photogenic and was so natural at it he told her to model but gave her one piece of advice... to get bangs. If you don't already know who I am talking about that model is none other than the Bettie Page.            Bettie is one if not the most photographed women of all time although most of her work will never be seen, but we will get to Bettie Page is still the most famous fetish model credited with wearing the heels too. Bettie began modeling for Irving and Paula Klaw in 1952 at Movie Star News who sold photos and postcards of movie stars and later BDSM and fetish themed photos. They were even selling Charles Guyette's work. But Klaw's fetish/pin up/bondage work was considered pornography at the time and was illegal to send through the mail. But all good things must come to an end, in the late 1950's, the final years of the Klaw studios both Irving and Bettie were on trial for pornography and one night he made the decision to destroy most of his inventory to save himself and his starlets but his sister Paula managed to save some of the movies and shots. She never thought that anything she did was bad and often thought she was playing a character. She was even Playmate of the month in January 1955 for Playboy which then made her a small household name.

Louboutin's ballet stiletto 

Bettie Page's shoes belonging to Dita Von Teese

        Most of the clothing Bettie wore she made herself unless it was a specialty item or corset. But the shoes were often brought in just for the girls to wear to be photographed in. Klaw had a small collection he kept as well. But burlesque queen, modern day pin up and best selling author Dita Von Teese had always heard a rumor that there was still a trunk of Bettie Page's old fetish heels. The trunk soon came up for auction and Dita bought a pair which happened to be one of Bettie's favorite pairs which she was often photographed in.
        With the resurgence of vintage fashion, burlesque and even Dita's following the fetish heel has made a comeback. You can get yourself a pair for about $80-$1,000 today. There are all kinds but most tend to follow the 5-7 inch heel with no platform made of leather or patent leather, and are mostly black, red or  maybe white. They include the ballet heels which is just what they sound like, an en pointe slipper with a heel. You have the thigh high lace up boots. The tall heel with the classic ankle strap and the ones that are so tall you cannot stand. Louboutin, McQueen and even Pleaser have all come out with their own version of what could be considered a 'fetish heel.'
     
          But to me there is just something so beautiful about how the foot is perfectly up on its toe to make the foot look so exotic and unreal. There is something about the power you feel when you're wearing heels even if they are so tall you can barely stand in them. These are all shoes of my dreams and I cannot wait to grow my collection. Stay tuned to my instagram for more photos of mine!!

Me wearing my fetish heels
photo by Autumn Luciano for Decadence Dolls