Psychology of stripping

-- Top burlesque star Dita Von Teese takes her kit off for thousands of pounds — but she tells Hannah Betts that the only time she feels naked is when she's not wearing her lipstick or heels.

Dita Von Teese is, undisputedly, the woman of the moment. Responsible for igniting the passion for burlesque that has swept through Britain and the States, and the muse behind fashion's return to hourglass femininity, she confirmed her A-list status in December by marrying her rock star paramour, Marilyn Manson.

With every shiver of her marabou and shimmy of her tassels, Von Teese has found herself at the centre of debates concerning a host of F-words: not least, femininity, feminism and fetishism; burlesque, as it becomes clear, providing something of a crash course in psychology. --