Burlesque star Dita is possibly the best-known old-school pin-up in the world today. Her stockings-in-trade poses echo classic pin up shots, and she takes inspiration from some of the great poster girls of the 1940s.

Her career started as a Bettie Page-style fetish model, after which she appeared on the front cover of Bizarre twice. She was among the first models to have her own page on the internet. Her burlesque act is world famous. It includes her legendary bath in a martini glass, complete with a giant, olive shaped sponge.

She can now be found winking from the pages of high fashion magazines, and in the front row at couture shows. She is a proper celebrity in her own right. We caught up with her to find out exactly what she finds so appealing about the olden days.

You obviously take a lot of influences from pin-up culture – can you pick any favourite artists out?
“I was mostly influenced by pin-up art. People like Zoe Mozert and Alberto Vargas, Billy De Vorss. And also by old men’s magazines from the 1930s and 40s, like Wink and Titter. I’m also a big fan of 1940s Technicolor movies, and the pin up look was a regular fashion style in that era.

When did you first become aware of pin up art?
“I would watch old movies. Betty Grable films. I started watching those when I was six years old, and carried on watching them through my childhood. When I was fifteen or sixteen I started collecting pin-up art.”

What were you attracted to?
“I think that the women in that time, and in the pictures were so ultra feminine. It was a great time for curves, beautiful curled hair, and red lips. To me those things are all the things that make a woman feminine. It’s what every woman should want to look like!”

Do you think pin-ups shaped your idea of what women should look like?
“Films did it for me first. But looking at pin ups was like seeing under the clothes of all the women I admired, like Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth and Hedy Lamarr. Or seeing what they looked like with no clothes on.”

Have you ever met any of your pin-up heroes or heroines?
“I’ve spoken with Bettie Page on the phone. She’s a very interesting woman, she’s not particularly ashamed of her past. She reminisced about how she was discovered, and how she’d make her own clothes. I’ve met Mamie Van Doren, she’s an incredible icon from the 1950s. She still poses nude, she’s extremely sexy, and she has a lot of interesting stories to tell.”

Did Bettie have similar experiences to you?
“She was asked why she disappeared. She said that she was already in her mid thirties by the time her most famous photographs were taken. So that was a similarity with her. I’m not eighteen years old, I’m going to be 33 soon, and there’s something that comes from experience that shows in front of the camera.

I’m not going to disappear though. I’m not done. Although I do hope I recognise when the expiration date pops up on my rear end, and I know not to show it. A lot of people don’t really understand that that happens. I’m not afraid of it, because what I love is the fashion and style, you don’t need to be showing it all off to be a pin up.

It’s not about how much skin you’re showing – you don’t need to be showing your belly off and wearing chaps. I’m guessing there are a lot of young pop stars who have a lot more to be worried about than I do. Because they don’t know how to dress sexily any other way.”

Who would you like to have worked with?
“My favourite is Billy De Vorss. His colours are so rich. I worked with the greatest living pin-up artist. Olivia. She’s pretty much the only one of that calibre around now. She’s one of my very good friends, and to see her turn you into a pin-up is incredible. It was an important stage in my career. She’s done maybe 20 of me now, and they look more and more like me.”

Do you have a lot of pin-up memorabilia?
“I have a lot of magazines, signed burlesque photos, personal letters written by Sally Rand. Things she used to sell at her shows. One thing she sold came in a little box and it was signed by her. On the outside it says ‘winter underwear for men’ and inside is a crocheted penis and ball cover. It’s really graphic, and this is from 1939. I

have Betty Grable’s corset from The Farmer Takes A Wife. She jumps in a lake in it. It’s like watching a 1940s version of a wet T shirt competition. You can see almost all the way through the corset. It fits me perfectly. I trained my waist with a corset, so she had an itty bitty waist. Naturally small but busty! I have tons of old Hollywood memorabilia.”

A lot of pin-ups were painted on bombs in the second world war. How would you feel if your image was used on one?
It has been. In Iraq. It was a few years ago. Someone sent me a picture of it. I can’t remember where it was dropped or anything like that. It’s part of the pin-up history. I try not to think of the political aspects. Betty Grable was on all kinds of bombs. I look at it from the historic side of it rather than the right or wrong aspects.

What makes a truly good pin up model?
“Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth were the ultimate pin-ups. The colours they were photographed in. The movie star pin ups were done the classiest way. But there’s a great appeal in looking at the not so professional pictures of Bettie Page. She has something different about her that makes her appealing, other than the fancy tricks and lighting. She had something that came from within. It wasn’t just she had black hair and bangs. A lot of people miss that point when they try to recreate her image.”

What makes a perfect pin-up picture?
“With any image, there are a lot of things that go into it to make memorable. I’m really particular. I’ve had nearly 100,000 photos taken of me, and I’m still always striving to get that one forever image. It’s really difficult.”

Which one of your pictures comes closest?
Oh gosh. Some of the pictures that have come the closest are by Danielle Bedics. She really understands the look. A lot of the images I did for my Playboy cover really got the feeling of a real old fashioned pin-up.

How was appearing on the cover of Playboy?
It changed my life completely. My entire career. I’d been on the covers of fetish magazines for 12 years, but after Playboy everything changed. I was in a different league. Suddenly I became an overnight success. Talk shows, interviews, people would describe me as a Playboy cover girl. Other people who’ve been on the cover have been incredible.

My parents were thrilled. Who wouldn’t be? Playboy is one of the most recognisable symbols in the world .When I see the cover it still seems unreal to me. That Playboy lettering. Everyone looks larger than life on the cover of that magazine. The women look statuesque, I look at it and think I look giant. I worked on the shoot for about 3 weeks straight, and I got to do everything I wanted to do in photos. I did it completely my way.

Why are pin-ups still so popular?
It’s timeless. Class and elegance never goes out of style. There are people out there with good taste still, believe it or not.