um, Happy New Year?

Yeah, I'm still alive. Still operational. Somewhat.

I brought a few gifts for my binary entourage. As I was going through the random piles of six years of magazine clippings, I found quite a bit of decent imagery to scan and share. Not only that, I have a proverbial crapload of clippings and whatnots my international rubber friends were so kind to send me. I also bought a new and better scanner that is much faster than my old one!

Please click on the images to view the full-sized version. You will be re-directed to my flickr holding tank where you can also browse my photostream. Click on the button above the picture called "all sizes" then choose the size you want to view.

First up is an advert for Nars make up photographed by Guy Bourdin which features a touch of rubber mac and red lips drenched in rain. If you enjoy Helmut Newton, you will definately appreciate M. Bourdin.



Next is a random tearsheet from Zink magazine. By random I mean random: I have no idea what year or month it's from. By the way, what happend to Zink? I can't find a newsstand in the NYC area that carries it. Maybe I should "fuckingoogleit."



Last for today's episode, we have a dom flyer sent to me by a friend. Thanks, Gary!

These Boots Are Made For Sploshing

Hope everyone had a wonderful and stress-free holiday season!

Found! in the latest issue of New York magazine (January 5-12, 2009): a dynamic-liquid photo of the undersides of rubber wellies. Seems to me like editorial commercial vanilla photography is kicking editorial commercial fetish photography's ass.

Photo by Levi Brown. Wellies by Marc by Marc Jacobs. And before you shoot your rubbery mouths off on how expensive designer goods are, these foot condoms are only $28. Three cheers for Marc J.!

Click right heeeere to view a large size of the scan.

Shout out and thanks to Yellowbird for the book, which it probably durable enough for me to read in a rain storm.

Add to your favs...

Extra special holiday thanks to Stu for posting the following link in my last post. Click here to view picture excerpts from Atomage No. 1 and 2.

Once I'm done editing-for-web the scans I made from the aforementioned Atomage mags, I will post them.

Ciao for now, rubberinos and rubberettes.

Smells Like Betty*

I'm flattered. Too bad I'm/Betty LaBamba is defunct.

Check out Betty LaBamba's signature dress.

Now look at Marquis' homage.

P.S. Merry Go-Broke-Mas

P.P.S. Coming soon are scans from Atomage No.1 and Betty Blog obit for Bettie Page.

P.P.P.S. Kisses and love.

*and her corpse smells like roses and rubber.

Skin Two No More

Skin Two, that venerable fetish periodical, will cease publication some time in the vague future. Read about all that crap in The Fetishistas blog. [Thanks to Garlor for posting that link at the IAR. Otherwise I would not have known for at least another month. I am sooo out of the loop.]

Skin Two's death is not so surprising. Why spend $20 on a magazine when you can get the same content for free on the web? We all know that argument and we all can repeat different permutations of it ad nausium, ad infinium. Besides, Skin Two got really boring about three years ago. After issue 43 or so, the reek of korporate kulture in a shiny catsuit with product placement whip became too apparent--except for no. 50 but that was mostly because of the awesome cover. I already did my mourning long ago, relatively speaking. No ass-kissing obit here, but I'll still keep re-reading my favorite issues. Time to move on.

Grim Reaper photo ganked from mikesjournal.com.

SMack! Zombie Fetish Ball - Friday, October 31- NYC

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Some Stuff

My birthday's coming up! On November 11th I will be twenty-five years old. I'm an old, old woman. If my dear readers feel so inclined, feel free to send me a book from my amazon.com wish list. Used books are fine--I'm not too picky about getting new books.



Also, I've been getting requests about sharing my knowledge of making latex clothing. Yes, I do intend to share, but as the saying goes "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." What I'm saying is that I need something in return, not cash or shoes or clothing but something, that something being books. As a student and artist my funds are stretched rather thin. Receiving books I need--and want--would take some pressure off.

This is how it will go: I will write a tutorial blog post. If I receive a book or two, then I will write another one. If I receive nothing, then I will remove the post. The tutorials will alternate between basic crafting levels, intermediate and pro, and will include all aspects of the craft. My first tutorial will be a compendium of reference books and websites.

By the way, I do have latex sheeting available. Contact bettylabamba[at]hotmail for more info. Please note that if your email is just about general correspondence, it may take awhile for me to send a decent response. I failed basic correspondence in high school. Alas, I'm one of those people.

Harajuku Lovers Perfume Ad

Gwen Stefani's ersatz-Japanese fashion label Harajuku Lovers came out with this ad for her new perfume whatever. Besides the sugary cuteness factor, I like it because it features latex accessories. For those of you lacking rubber-dar (or latex-dar, not to be confused with gay-dar), the flowers and mittens are made out of latex rubber.

The full-sized ad is in this months Paper magazine. I had to scrounge around the internet to find this image--didn't much feel like buying an ad.

On hiatus...

Hello Everyone!

Regular readers of this blog are aware that I've single-handedly run a latex clothing label called Betty LaBamba since 2005. After much consideration, I've decided to take a sabbatical, as they say, from manufacturing latex clothing to pursue serious education plans for a future career in the photographic and/or cinematic arts. Right now my goal is to become a cinematographer. To accomplish that, I need to learn a lot of crap fast and eat a lot of metaphorical crap. Hence, I won't have the time to sniff glue eight hours a day, alone, in a basement studio somewhere in fabulous NJ.

As a result of my latex clothing hiatus, I have a special offer to those who ASK beforehand: half off everything in my eBay store. You must ask and you must have PayPal. All items are AS IS. Also, I am offering half off any item of latex clothing in my Etsy.com store. Findings and sheeting are excluded from this half-off deal. (However, I do have an excess of 4D and Radical Rubber latex sheeting that I can't reasonably use up for my personal use.) All inquiries should be directed to bettylabamba [at] hotmail [dot] com.

Cheers & Love,

Geena Maree

Poll Results: Mainstreamification of Latex Rubber

Here are the results to the most recent poll about the seemingly growing popularity of latex rubber fashion. Thanks to all who voted and to the five of you who still read my oft-neglected blog. Rubber kisses and hugs and all that junk.

If you want to stratch the surface just a bit deeper on this topic, read and respond to this thread here at my my mothership site, IAR/rubberist.net.

The mainstreamification of latex rubber:

Out of a whopping 39 votes,

51% voted I'm all for it! More dumb bitches in latex!
12% voted It's a bunch of hype. Trends come and go.
20% voted Hope it continues because it will make me feel less guilty about my fetish.
5% voted Will take away the specialness of my fetish.
10% voted I don't give a flying fuck.

Dead Photog - 1, Spin Kloo - 0

Joe

1978

by Robert Mapplethorpe

While browsing the photos at http://www.masters-of-photography.com/, I came across this image by Robert Mapplethorpe. Before, I mainly knew about him because of his connection with Patti Smith. That just shows how unbelievably unhip I am to the art world, past and present.

Mapplethorpe did other portraits of s&m folk. View another example here, and a quick google image search brings up more. This sure beats the dead gloss known as fetish photography nowadaze.

Shiny Does A Body Good: Drink Rubber

FOUND! in the August 2008 issue of W magazine: a powerful b+w photospread featuring Christy Turlington (fashion goddess 4-eva!) in latex, leather, pvc and the usual high fashion shtick. This is an excellent editorial--one of the best I've seen in a long time--and definately worth the cover price alone, regardless of the fetish-related content. Cheers to photographer Micheal Thompson and everyone involved. A word of warning though: since my scanner can handle only letter sized and smaller pages, the photos are unintentionally cropped. Also, I only scanned the photos having something of immediate interest to my readers, about half of the spread.

Atomage-y boots by Etro.

Black PVC bandeau top by OMO Norma Kamali.

Yawn. Black latex stockings. The good 'ole "edgy" fashion editorial standby is officially boring.

PVC shorts from Purple Passion.

Custom headbands throughout spread by Eugene Souleiman. Cuffs by YSL.

What's New In Betty LaBamba Latex

Introducing a new style of boy short panties to the Betty LaBamba catalog: the Latex Basics Deco Edge Boy Shorts. It's the perfect "entry level" garment for introducing someone new to the wide world of latex clothing. The panties feature a decorative cut edging along the waist and leg openings. There are four deco edge design choices: "pinked," "scallop," "wave" and "crinkle." All seams on this garment are double reinforced.

Price: $35.00 for standard, vibrant/neon or semi-trans color choice. $38.00 for metallic color choice. Click here to see what latex colors are in stock.

Available to order in sizes (Betty LaBamba sizing system only!) 2--14. Click here to see the size chart. M2M service not available.

Email me directly to order (bettylabamba at hotmail).

Deco edge choices:

View the rest of the Betty LaBamba latex catalog.

Betty LaBamba's New Etsy.com Store

What do you get when you cross eBay with LiveJournal? Etsy! At least that's my impression. I started a storefront there last month for Betty LaBamba and added a couple of OOAK items the beginning of July. Click here to view my Etsy store. And keep your eyes peeled for more soon.

What is Etsy? Etsy is an ersatz auction-type venue for hand-crafted goods, including clothing and accessories. The site is very user friendly, easy to navigate and has a good "look" to it. Not only that, the smaller latex labels are getting in on the action. Read this blog entry at 3xL to see what I mean.

I hope more mom and pop latex labels such as mine join the etsy.com family. ("Start-up" is not such a good word to describe us; most of us have been cutting our teeth on rotary blades and shitting out glue for several years now.) The fees are minimal and only hand-crafted items are allowed. That means no molded corporate bullshit with which eBay is innundated.

Happy Birthday Radical Rubber

This week marks the one year anniversary of upstart latex sheeting manufacturer Radical Rubber. Happy Birthday!

I can't believe it's been a year. I ordered from them quite early on--my order number was fourty-something. Time flies when you got your head up your ass. (Me, not them).

As with most business bee-day celebrations, there's always a big sale with a bunch of special offers. Oh, and are they tempting. For a split-second, I thought about slagging off school and buying a crapload of latex sheeting instead. Subscribe to R.R.'s newsletter to keep yourself current. Here's not the place for me to promote another company without any sort of remuneration.

Atomage Bondage Supplement No.5

More vintage rubber magazines! Today brings Atomage Bondage Supplement No.5.

Page 29:

Standard blah blah 18 and over warning.

Front Cover (page 01) // page 02 // page 03 // page 04 // page 05 // page 06 // page 07 // page 08 // page 09 // page 10 // page 11 // page 12 // page 13 // page 14 // page 15 // page 16 + 17 // page 18 // page 19 // page 20 // page 21 // page 22 // page 23 // page 24 // page 25 // page 26 // page 27 // page 28 // page 30 // page 31

Back cover:

RIP YSL

Yves Saint Laurent, one of the world's greatest treasures and the only truly unique being in fashion, died June 1st at the age of 71. I thought he would have lived forever. We can go onward without him, but we will always still imitate him.

In his own word's:

Recent political events, the reaction of young people to fashion and the way of life today make the haute couture a relic of the past. I do not want to find myself in the past--or in a stronghold cut off from everything. --YSL in 1968

I did not think that in a profession as free as fashion that one could meet so many people so narrow-minded and reactionary, petty people paralyzed by taboos. But I am also very stimulated by this scandal because I know that which shocks is news. --1971 (In reaction to universally scathing reviews of his spring couture collection.)

I have said before that the most beautiful makeup of a women is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy. --1978

I'm bored--and angry--with people who just design clothes for the runway. It's a massive deception, and one a lot of people have fallen for. --1979

Classics continue all the time because they have style not "fashion." --1981

People think decadence is debauched. Decadence is simply something very beautiful that is dying. It's a beautiful flower that is dying, and sometimes you have to wait a very long time for another flower to come along. --1986

In many ways, I feel that I have created the wardrobe of the contemporary woman and that I have participated in the transformation of my era. I have done so through clothes, which are certainly less important than music, architecture, painting or many other art forms, but it is nonetheless what I have done. --2002

The above quotes were taken from the Tuesday, June 3rd edition of WWD.

Rubber History Interlude: Show & Tell

It's rubber show and tell day! (Don't worry. I have plenty more vintage rubber mags to scan and upload. Keep your eyes peeled. It just takes a long time to scan and to edit all those images.)

I present you, my dear rubberinos & rubberettes, what I call the Blasphemy Knickers. These panties were a custom order for one of my most loyal clients. He liked the Ruffled Knickers I did for another client awhile back and requested a pair with ruffled all around the legs, a religious-esque nun cross appliqué on the front and a split crotch.

As always, I do phenomenal, meticulous work. Betty LaBamba is the NYC area's best kept latex rubber secret! Let me brag once in a blue moon, mmkay?

It's too hard to see the detail of the split crotch on the pic above. (Nothing "exciting is behind it, unless you're into mannequin plastic crotch bumbs.) You can get a better look in this photo directly below:

Side views. Lotsa ruffles mean lotsa labor:

Look at this sexy ruffled bum! Don't be jealous:

Click here to see more pictures of the Blasphemy Knickers. If you're interested in purchasing a pair like this, contact me [bettylabamba at hotmail]. Pricing starts at $200.00.

To view the Betty LaBamba latex catalog with price listings, go here. Click here to be taken to my eBay store, here for the latex color chart, and here for the size chart.

The Rubbery Vol. 1, No. 1, May 1974

Rubber History Month continues into May. Today's post brings you a little latex gem called The Rubbery published in May 1974 by "RUBBERWEAR" PUBLICATIONS from Australia. Thanks to my pal Mike in Australia for sending me this mag--and many more.

Two pages are included on one image. Each image averages 1200 pixels wide. Pictures of rubber-ed up females throughout, duh. I didn't read the short story--I'm allergic to erotica or whatever you want to call that crap--but the articles are great and well worth the three minutes it will take to peruse them.

18+ Adult Warning: the following links contain nipples [not Janet Jackson's, oops] and mildly naughty rubber stuff. No coitus. No hardcore action. But as the cover clearly says, FOR ADULT READING ONLY.

Front cover // Intro & Contents // Pages 02-03: "The Kinky Scene" // Pages 04-05: "The Rubber Quirk" // Pages 06-07: continued // Pages 08-09: "Leather-Fetish" // Pages 10-11: continued // Pages 12-13: "Mistress and Maid" // Pages 14-15: continued // Pages 16-17: "The Perfect Maid" // Page 18: "The Nurse Compulsion" - Page 19: "The Second Skin" // Pages 20-21: continued // Pages 22-23: "New Materials Vinyl & Plastic" // Pages 24-25: "Restrictive Wears" // Pages 26-27: continued // Pages 28-29: "Rubber Love" [short story] // Pages 30-31: continued // Pages 32-33: continued // Page 34: continued - Page 35: Personals // Pages 36-37: Personals continued // Pages 38-39: "'Rubbery' Post Bag" // Page 40: "RUBBERWEAR" Catalog Page // Back Cover

Atomage Bondage Supplement No.4

Atomage Bondage Supplement No. 4 is reproduced here in its entirety. Must see images--besides the cover--on page 2 and page 18.

Adult warning: fuck-off if you're under 18 or whatever. (Can you tell I'm getting tired of the obligatory "OMG icky pr0n!" warning already?)

Front cover (page 01) // Page 02 // Page 03 // Page 04 // Page 05 // Page 06 // Page 07 // Page 08 // Page 09 // Page 10 // Page 11 // Page 12 // Page 13 // Page 14 & 15 // Page 16 // Page 17 // Page 18 // Page 19 // Page 20 // Page 21 // Page 22 // Page 23 // Page 24 // Page 25 // Page 26 // Page 27 // Back Cover

Please let me know if I made any mistakes with the links.