Exclusive: We chat vintage with burlesque queen Immodesty Blaize

LW: Do you wear vintage every day?

Immodesty Blaize: Actually I mix and match between vintage and contemporary designer.  It’s all about the cut for me rather than its provenance, but of course so many contemporary collections are influenced by vintage silhouettes anyway!

With my hair I do a good old-fashioned set of heated rollers and I wear it very big, or I’ll pop it into rolls and sling a headscarf on. I can rat a bouffant pretty quickly too. I don’t feel chained to red lipstick, and I’ll just as easily go for the Sophia smoky eye and nude lip, as a winged eye and red lip. It all depends on my mood.  The European in me favours the Sophia look, I think.

LW:  What’s your favourite vintage era and why?

Immodesty Blaize: Oh that’s tough, again. I really mix it up as I don’t feel tied to just one decade. I go with my mood, if I’m feeling full on ‘bombshell’, or if I feel like a more hard glamour/drama. For cut I do love a Fifties and early Sixties dress, as they are beautifully proportioned for an hourglass silhouette with a big bust and tiny waist; wiggle dresses are pretty staple daywear for me. But I also love Seventies sweeping glamour. A bit of Liz Taylor-esque turban and short caftan, or a louche satin all in one, with big Raquel hair and lots of gold.

Anything dramatic or statement in fact; in particular I have a penchant for capes (my favourites are by Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent) and I collect archive Mugler too. I have some great deshabilles that work well for day to eveningwear, and I love accessorizing with big chunky statement pieces. The one thing I can’t do is girlie/flouncy/doll, it’s just wrong for me, especially at 6’1” in my heels!

LW: What’s your most treasured vintage possession?

Immodesty Blaize: A beautiful Forties stole that was given to me by Wendy Richard for my birthday a few years back. I wore it to her funeral, I kind of hoped she might like to see me in it if she was up there watching.

LW: Do you have any vintage deco at home?

Immodesty Blaize: Actually I’m trying to stop hoarding so I keep giving things away! I have all sorts of things from Tretchikoff prints to antique marble consoles, to old showgirl costumes, to porcelain heads, to a sizeable collection of vintage religious ephemera and tat. A lot of it lives in my house in France.

Immodesty will be performing at The Tease Show at Koko from May 11 to 14. She is also about to launch her first novel ‘Tease’, released on May 14.

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Tags: burlesque, celebrity, Immodesty Blaize, interview, The Tease Show

Category: Culture, Queens meets