Miss Rubber World 2008 Report

Betty LaBamba here, bringing you all inside scoop from this year's Miss Rubber World, the world's premier latex/rubber beauty pageant. As you may have known, I was one of the judges for said competition. Wow, I'm big shit, right? All kidding aside, let's get on with the shoe.


My boyfriend and I took photos with a polaroid camera. Why a polaroid? I say, why not? Polaroids just make everything look awesome.


MRW was held at Rebel, formerly the goth/industrial club Batcave, about a block away from Penn Station in NYC. The venue was spacious yet cozy with suitably decadent decor. However, it was a bit too cold for anyone not decked out in head-to-toe rubber, i.e. me.





Here I am in a new dress I made just for the occasion. My inspiration came from photos of little school girl dolls in a Japanese doll magazine. The main color is Radical Rubber's "electric blue," which is essentially a metallic pale blue. The color combo just popped in my mind, and I knew what the dress was going to look like even before I drafted the pattern.


Too bad it was freezing that night because I had to cover up with a cardigan sweater most of the night. Many party-goers stayed away since the weather was dangerously raw and arctic. Also, I had to wear black wool tights underneath my dress instead of latex stockings. Unfortunately, you can see the marks from the tights on the waist area. But that's all right: I still looked fabulous.




A judge's duty is never easy: some one always has to get executed. Oops, I mean...flogged. Yeah.

The two previous polaroids show us judges hard at work computating the scores. From left to right: Miss Rubber World 2006 Jess, me, Lady J. I've got the smallest boobs out of all the judges--and probably everyone else in the room. Hah!

This year there were only four contestants. Seven shimmied and shook their rubber-clad bums last year. Even with four, the show lasted well over an hour.


Pictured above is the 2nd runner up Dawn--in the anime catsuit--and 1st runner up Justine. It's a shame that that spectacular catsuit was PVC instead of latex! What also killed me was that there were three prizes total (the title prize, 1st runner up, 2nd runner up) and only four contestants. I felt so bad for the gal in last place. Do you think it was easy for me? I was partly responsible for crushing someone's dreams of rubber-beauty-world-domination. So close and yet so far. If there were five or six contestants, then it wouldn't have been so bad.

There's Miss Rubber World 2008, Steffy, looking especially radiant after her win. She'll be one of the judges for MRW 2009.

And now for some bonus pics.

Rubbertime Andrew, me, and Steffy looking oh-so-adorable.

Here we are again.

Rubbertime Andrew and Steffy: ready to kick rubber ass.

For more party photos, go to the official Miss Rubber World website here.