Sometimes, life is stranger than drag. The born-female burlesque artiste Dita von Teese is to make a grand New York City appearance likely to have the Lady Bunny, Hedda Lettuce, Flotilla De Barge and maybe even Barbara Bush pushing up their bustiers and crossing their eyes in envy.

Dita is to appear at a Phillips de Pury auction on October 20th. The event is the “Take Home a Nude” benefit for the New York Academy of Art. La Dita will perform positively naked except for $5 million worth of diamonds, including Susan Rosen-designed diamond pasties and diamond G-string. The only way a slut can get luckier than that is if Hugh Grant hires her and then gets caught.

Much like the Lady Bunny, Hedda Lettuce, Flotilla and perhaps Barbara Bush, Dita von Teese spent her youth scheming to achieve the old fashioned Hollywood glamour typical of Hedy Lemar, Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable. Future cross-dressers among today’s youth might well dream of one day being Heidi Klum, whose self-portrait is on offer at this de Pury auction.