(October 2008)
Hosiery Shoot, Falke Interview, Marketing Report, Testing Support Tights, Maternitywear, Store Snoop and Setting Up Online
Are the launch of high street lingerie collections a threat to the branded market?
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Since becoming a full-time burlesque performer five years ago,Immodesty Blaize has spearheaded the renaissance of the British burlesque scene.
Zabian Southwood: How do you define your role?
Immodesty Blaize: I’m a show girl and an entertainer who likes to surprise and amaze.My presentations need to pack as much punch as possible, so each routine lasts no more than 10 minutes. I’d always been fascinated by the whole pin-up era of Bettie Page and Tempest Storm, and came to realise that I didn’t have a body shape that was fashionably waif-like – so what was I going to do with tits and an arse? I taught myself the moves and gave my first performance nine years ago. I now have a mentor – a show boy from the 60s who used to perform with the British Burlesque at London’s Raymond’s Revue Bar with the likes of Liberace and Marlene Dietrich.
ZS: What affect did this have on your original career path?
IB: After boarding at a convent school in Hertfordshire, I graduated from Bucking hamshire College with a degree in advertising, working freelance for agencies directing film. I was leading a double life up until five years ago when I became Immodesty full-time, and it’s been fantastic that I’ve been able to make the jump 24/7. The job I now do opens so many doors and takes so many surreal twists and turns, that I’m constantly learning new skills.
ZS: Who attends your performances, and which have been the most memorable?
IB: Anyone of any age can come and see my show as it’s a piece of theatre with an erotic undertone, which is very much about the tease.
The relationship I have with my audience is very different depending on the medium, and whatever I do I like it to be artful, well thoughtout and in a suitable venue. For sheer rock and roll, my act at the Hammersmith Apollo with Alison Goldfrapp, where the drummer said he’d never heard a noise like it, was a real highlight, while the finale for my West End Show was quite overwhelming, as I’d survived 250 performances seen by over 25,000 people.
ZS: How do you explain the recent renaissance of the burlesque?
IB: When I started working with Goldfrapp and was seen on MTV five years ago, people weren’t really sure what burlesque was, so I was one of several performers who helped to take the genre into more of the mainstream...
