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In watching you perform, you truly look like you've stepped out of a time machine from the 1940s and 1950s. It's surreal. Are you comfortable living in this time period, or are there things about this era that you're ill at ease with? DVT: I'm not living in another time. A lot of my clothes are modern, and I think about a lot of the modern things I do, such as updating my apps [laughs]. I love so many things about modern technology. Although, I do have a huge collection of vintage clothing. There was a time in my life when I only wore vintage lingerie, I only drove my vintage car, I only wore clothes from the 1940s, but I've kind of evolved from that. The burlesque shows we produce are much different than a show you would have seen in the 1940s. We're trying to capture the essence of those times, but the whole point is to evolve into something much different than it ever was; to evolve the history of burlesque. I never want anyone to think that I'm living in the past. You can look at the past and get inspiration from it, but it can end up being dusty and irrelevant if you don't find ways to make it something that no one's ever seen before. I do love to sit down with some of my favorite glamour girls of the past. I'm quite good friends with Mamie Van Doren who was a big 1950s bombshell and is still around to tell her stories. And I'm friends with Julie Newmar who, of course, was a great dancer and actress. I love to ask them about the past, and I love getting advice from them about the times we are living in and how to navigate being a glamour girl in modern times. In your current show, Dita Von Teese and the Copper Coupe Tour you have another model on stage with you, Gia Genevieve. What inspired you to cast her in your show? DVT: I had always wanted to have a blonde bombshell in the show. I had a hard time finding this kind of quintessential Playboy blonde. I met Gia a few times over the years and she always had this effervescence, and she was sexy and fun. I knew she wasn't a dancer, but I wondered if I could teach her how to do my bubble bath act, simplify it and have her get her personality across on stage. She's a lot of fun to watch and she's the perfect example of, you don't have to be dancing all over the place and doing backflips on stage to be wildly entertaining.