In Bed With Dita…

Literally. That’s where I found myself moments after arriving at the Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South for a little Q&A with Dita von Teese. There she was, curled up on the queen-size in her eighteenth-floor suite, on top of the covers and fully clothed, in a vintage pink lace dress and scads of diamonds by Cartier, Chopard and Dior.

Interviewing a stripper in bed—how apropos. Von Teese is in town for her new gig as the face, or ambassador, rather, of Cointreau. the 160-year-old French orange liqueur. Tonight marks the New York debut of her Cointreau-inspired routine, which she claims is “the most extravagant show I’ve done.” Ooh la la. And considering she’s made her name swilling about nearly naked in one giant martini glass after the next, the question isn’t why she’s shilling for a liquor label, but, what’s taken so long? “I knew with this martini-glass act, I could eventually collaborate with a spirit brand but the opportunities that had come before just didn’t seem like the right fit,” von Teese explains. “And [Cointreau] is so historic and sophisticated and French.”

It’s also the first of a series of no-brainer projects for her. She’s just begun work on a retro-style guidebook and, come fall, she’ll partake in the European launch of her first-ever lingerie collaboration with yet another French firm: Wonderbra. Again, von Teese says she’s been approached by dozens of lingerie companies, but she held out for something, “I knew I wouldn’t be embarrassed of,” she says. “It could be a disaster, you know? I wanted only lingerie that I would want to have in my lingerie drawer.” Like everyday stuff? “Well,” she corrects, “Everyday for me.”

See a sneak peek from von Teese’s London show on YouTube.