Holiday Habits

10 February 09

The travelling burlesque performer and eccentric It girl talks travel and Paris, Paris, Paris…

INTERVIEW: CHARLIE DAWSON

“Travel is important for a girl because experience is a must and I’m curious about the world. I want to know that in my lifetime I experienced lots of different things by seeing new places, trying new foods and observing and knowing people from places other than just where I’m from.

“Wherever I am in the world, there are three things you will always find on my dressing table – my diary, a book (I usually read biographies about people I admire) and a Ladurée violet-scented candle.

“I do love The Dorchester hotel in London – the colourful décor of the hallways is very ‘Hollywood regency’. There’s one very special room there that might be the most beautiful room I’ve ever seen. It’s like stepping onto a 1940s film set. High tea, dinner and cocktails in the fabulous art-deco setting of the hotel’s China Tang restaurant is absolute heaven.”

“Then there’s Paris, where I’ve recently been performing at the Crazy Horse club. I love the city and the way it celebrates art, beauty and fashion. I have lots of eccentric and glamorous friends there, and I love I walk to my favourite shops, like the Mariage Frères tea shop – or just around my hotel, a jewel called the Raphael. It’s the epitome of old-fashioned French style. Each room is decorated in rich blue velvets and sensuous reds, and they have views of the Arc de Triomphe.

“I also love renting a bicycle from the stands that are found everywhere in Paris, and just riding around the city at night. Then you can leave it at another stand and take a cab home when you’re tired. And, yes, I do it in my heels and dresses.

“Once, I was with a friend cycling, wearing a full-skirted 1950s dress, when a man called out to ask if I was alright. I said, ‘yes’ (because I was) and he said, ‘But you know, you are Dita Von Teese!’ We still can’t figure out what he meant, but I told him I knew I was Dita Von Teese, because I made the whole idea up myself – but thanks anyway!”