ABOVE: knee-high boots by Giuseppe Zanotti Design; patent leather hood with snap closure (bottom left) by Yves Saint Laurent; cuff bracelet (center left) by Erickson Beamon; bondage cuffs (upper left) by I have no idea 'cuz I forgot all the Japanese I learned.
Below is another sleek product collage adorably named "Color My Fetish."
THE SHOES: Red double-buckled platform mary janes by Dolce & Gabbana; grey t-strap stilettos by Stella McCartney; blue strappy-buckled tango heels (bottom left) by Chanel.
If you would bigger versions of these scans, let me know. My email is listed in the navigation bar.
Two cute but strictly serious pen-and-ink drawings from the horoscope section of said magazine. Illustrations by Miyuki Morimoto. Very 60's!
The tagline is "Love. Latex. Larceny."
I got a chance to go the the Japanese market in North Jersey, so I picked up a copy of the November 2007 issue of Vogue Nippon. [Nippon = Japan.] I'm glad I did; it's filled with all sorts of shininess, and the theme is "hard love." There's a few other photo spreads I still have to scan. This spread is called "Tough Love" and features gorgeous dolls dressed in designer clothing. Although no latex appears in the spread, I reproduced it here for those of you into the Rubber Doll lifestyle.
DOMINATRIX: Dolce & Gabbana [above]
If you appreciate the work I've done the past year on this blog by buying all these magazines (especially those hard-to-get vintage fetish ones) and scanning them, please consider getting me a book on my Amazon.com wishlist. Thanks!
SWEET PUNK: Yves Saint Laurent [above]
Onto the greys. You're already familiar with the Semi-Trans Grey, which is commonly referred to as "Semi-Trans Smoke" or just plain "Smoke" since it has no resemblance to any kind of grey. The new color, Semi-Trans Cloud Grey, is an actual cool grey. Look at the picture below to see the difference. I placed a Betty LaBamba label underneath the Cloud Grey to indicate the level of transparency.
Halter by Betty LaBamba.
Halloween's almost here. You know what that means. It's SMack! party time, the best fetish/alt/punk/goth party ever! The theme is, like, demons n' shit. Now we all have an excuse to break out our red & black latex.
SMack! is tomorrow nite, but I think you still have time to buy advance tix and save $10.
Go here for all the info.
In his Fall '07 r-t-w fashion show, Hussein Chalayan used latex rubber stockings in silver, pewter, and black to compliment his collection. Compliment is the key word here. It's a perfect and natural balance between the two; the latex doesn't stick out like a sore thumb at all, nor does it seem like it was an after thought. The fashion/fetish idiom has been reinvented successfully.
In the next photo, we see an wet garment turned inside out. [I'll do a washing demo sometime in the future if requested.] Basically, I just rinsed it in warm water without soap and used a soft sponge on the outside to remove the excess silicon polish. I'll break down this ridiculously easy process into steps for you.
Step #2: Get another soft, clean, dry towel, and start drying the garment. Concentrate on drying the seams first. However, if your garment has any grommet closures (aka lace-up or corset style) or zips, dry that area first, then go onto the seams. You don't have to scrub or press hard. Straight, gentle motions are fine. Don't worry too much about getting it exactly bone dry on the first go.
Step #3: Turn the inside out garment right side out. If it has been repeatedly shined, you will notice that the shiny outside of the garment dries faster than the rougher inside. Once again, concentrate on the seams then dry the rest. This time, be a little gentler with the towel so you don't accidentally scratch the surface.
Step #4: Next, make sure you got the garment as dry as possible (both inside and out) with the towel. You will know it's dry because it will feel dry to the touch and the latex material will have turned a lighter color. See this post again.
Step #5: Now it's time to talc it up like no tomorrow. Maybe I shouldn't have phrased it that way. You don't have to use a massive amount of talc--just enough to get the job done. I use a make-up brush to apply the talc. Note: don't use your wife's make-up brush. Use a new one without any make-up particles on it. You can buy one for cheap in any drug store.
With the make-up brush, you can get an even application. Once again, I like to start inside out, then turn it right side out. You don't have to talc the outside of the garment if you believe it's unnecessary, but I usually put on a light coating.
Here you can see the final results of our drying and talcing demo. It's all nice, clean, and ready for storage or another night out on the town.
Legal Disclaimer: Neither I nor Betty LaBamba are responsible if you somehow fuck up your garment in any way. It's all you. Don't blame me for shit. I spent hours putting this entry together for your benefit.
Found! in the Fashion Rocks supplement that came in the mail with my September issue of Vogue and Elle magazine: Jennifer Lopez, aka J-Lo, in a Dolce & Gabbana metal padlock corset and OMO Norma Kamali black leggings. The photo shoot details page in back of the magazine stated that the leggings are PVC. Too bad.
And here's another rubber piece from Marni, this time an "onyx" rubber skirt at a mere $486. (Still complaining about the cost of rubber clothing, eh?) Vogue's fantastic caption writer tells us that "natural or synthetic--whatever the fabric, the more tactile, the better." I agree!
Let's come back to the first dress, since it's also featured in the Fashion Rocks supplement that came with the Vogue in a very oi! oi! old skool punk rock spread. This makes me wanna break out some Exploited and talk about the good old days.
Also note that the model in the striped mohair sweater/pull-over is wearing black latex leggings. So what's up with all the latex leggings in the fashion magazines? I could put it into some type of socio-economic-post-feminist-ersatz-intellectual context, but I don't wear a bow tie and sandals on a daily basis--and I like to think my readers can smell bullshit from a mile away. Here's my verdict: they're trendy and they look fucking cool with almost everything.
