Purrfect Sweetheart
Julia Brandon journeys into the beguiling world of burlesque to discover what excites one of the UK’s most celebrated talents, Kitten von Mew.
the nude meets giggling girly modesty, and a dazzling feather boa comes into its own. The flash of an ankle, the hint of inner thigh, pouting red lips and long bat- ting eyelashes that torment us with the promise of a glimpse of flesh. It hunts down the voyeur in us all, luring us in with the thrill and glamour of vaudeville variety. It’s cheek and charm working in harmony, whipping up the audience with a heady mix of daring strips, whooping cheers, hypnotic dances, and titillating pasties (nipple tassels to you and me). It’s burlesque at its best, and we can’t get enough. But the true appeal of burlesque lies in what it’s not.
T
Far from the seedy suburbs of any red light district, and the antithesis of a modern day strip club, burlesque belongs in the gritty underworld that
he art of tease is a dangerous game. It tempts and taunts with scintillating arousal, and cloaks itself in erotic mystery. It’s where the taboo of
celebrates the glamour of the 50s pin-up. They were glitzy, Hollywood wartime
heroes, who
entertained the troops and upheld the allusion of high-end, couture fashion during an era cursed with rationing and despair. And there’s a certain innocence to burlesque,
which makes it playful and inoffensive. Not revealing too much to the audience is integral to maintaining that allure, because, in the words of Kitten von Mew, “the mind is stronger than the eye”.
GIRL WITH A DREAM
During the 1990s it was the American burlesque
performers, including Catherine D’Lish and then later Dita von Teese, who consumed much of the media limelight, but today UK born burlesque artist, Kitten von Mew, is the rising star of the Noughties to keep a roving eye on.
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