Liberation-X artisan style, left: wearable rope San Harness with Chain by Figure of A; right: Prong Jewellery Large Padlock Choker
Liberation-X, Libidex’s sister company specialising in online sales of fetish/BDSM toys and accessories, reached its First Birthday in September.
To celebrate its first fun-filled year, Liberation-X announced 365 exciting items all available at 40 percent off with the secret code only available to its newsletter subscribers. The sale is now poised for its final weekend!
“We’ve achieved so much over the last year,” say the Liberation-X team in a message to subscribers, “and we’re so grateful for the love and support of our community. We certainly couldn’t have done it without you!
Instruments of discipline: floggers, tawses and crops from Liberation-X’s big ready-to-buy Slap Leather range
“It’s been hard work getting it off the ground,” the message continues, “but it’s all been worth it. Throughout the year we’ve continued adding thrilling new arrivals each week, and it’s been a pleasure to watch our website grow.
“We’ve had so much fun sourcing cool sex toys and kinky BDSM accessories, but the real joy has been receiving your positive feedback. We’re thrilled to hear we’re getting it right!”
Boots ’n’ collars, top row: footwear to please ’er from Pleaser; bottom: posture collars from Prong Jewellery at Liberation-X
The Liberation-X website includes main sections in the top menu bar devoted to sex toys, bondage, shoes, lubes & essentials and artisan/fashion.
The latter section currently includes products from rope harness specialist Figure of A (see top image, left) and a great selection of moulded leather masks from Leather Designs (see below). Two other designer lines — Prong Jewellery (top image, right) and Slap Leather —are both currently being joined by new made-to-order options.
Prong’s beautifully handcrafted ready-to-buy pieces were already a big hit with Liberation-X customers, but now the offering has been expanded to include a made-to-order Prong Jewellery range. Not only are additional styles now available, but further styles will continue to be added over the next few months!
Liberation-X masks ’n’ metal, top: moulded leather masks from Leather Designs and some examples of steel restraints
The Slap Leather Made-To-Order RAW range also successfully landed and created quite a stir on the scene. But again, Liberation-X is beginning to add more styles to the range — look out for the made-to-order padded and lockable range coming soon!
A selection of styles from all four of these artisan brands are among the items newsletter subscribers can still obtain in the final weekend of the Liberation-X 40 percent-off birthday promotion. Simply subscribe now to the newsletter here and get the secret discount code sent directly to your inbox. Note: this discount applies (while stocks last) only to tagged items on the Liberation-X.com site — not to items on the Libidex.com site.
Libidex.com is currently holding an online online Halloween sale, and will host a pop-up sample sale at its London HQ in late October
Libidex also has two seasonal shopping opportunities you may well wish to take advantage of. On now is an online 25 percent-off sale at Libidex.com, while later in October Libidex’s pop-up Halloween Sample Sale will be held at the company’s Angel, Islington HQ. Scheduled for Saturday and Sunday October 21-22, Saturday’s event is advance ticket-only, but Sunday is an unticketed walk-in event. More info on both from the Libidex.com website.
DEAD LOTUS COUTURE designer Nange Magro (above) poses for a seasonally appropriate portrait (photo: Nange Magro)
Earlier this year, Britain’s Dead Lotus Couture label celebrated a decade of creating the kind of high-end latex fashion that has seen the company join that exclusive group of latex brands regarded as ‘go to’ names for rubber-loving Hollywood/international celebrity types.
Owned by London-based Italian-Japanese designer Nange Magro, Dead Lotus Couture as a brand was distinguished from the off by artist-designer Magro’s equal focus on producing both highly distinctive garments and strikingly beautiful images of them — the aesthetic qualities of the latter rendering them works of art in their own right.
Launched initially on the London fetish scene, the Dead Lotus Couture aesthetic was quickly embraced by Torture Garden, which recognised, in Nange’s designs and branding, qualities akin to its own stylistic ideals.
Three of the many classic Dead Lotus Couture promo images created by Nange Magro and Mark Maxwell (aka Mark Perceval-Maxwell aka MPM7). The centre image (model: Nange) shows the extent to which the designer could, from the start, realise complex and fanciful ideas in latex, while the images on the left and right (model: Romanie Smith) illustrate Magro’s penchant for enhancing even the simplest outfits with the addition of distinctive latex headgear
Much of Dead Lotus Couture’s early imagery was a collaboration between the designer and her then partner, photographer Mark Maxwell (aka Mark Perceval-Maxwell, aka MPM7). It featured various fetish models such as Romanie Smith, with Magro styling the work and also modelling and photographing some of it. Ten years on, these early images are rightly regarded as classics of the genre; they still leap out at you when you browse the promo shots the label has accumulated over its lifetime. Nange went on to collaborate regularly with other talented producers of high-quality imagery such as Ian John Shaw and, more recently, erevosfoto.
Ten years ago, the British designer primarily associated with dressing American celebrities in latex was Atsuko Kudo (who is very much still in that business today). The relatively small number of other latex designers enjoying a share of this emerging celeb market were all US names — such as Venus Prototype (a latex designer and Hollywood stylist), and Syren (which dominated the supply of latex costumes for Hollywood movies).
Janelle Monae (left, wearing Dead Lotus Couture custom white latex outfit) was one of Nange Magro’s early Hollywood fans. Since then she has created latex for Lady Gaga (custom leotard, centre) and Kylie Jenner (Fluxo top/panties, stirrup tights right, photo: @marcelocantuphoto) among many other celebrity clients
This pretty exclusive club was hard enough for any new US designers to break into, let alone any more British labels. So it’s testament to the quality of Dead Lotus Couture’s work that when Nange Magro decided to set her sights on Hollywood, it appeared she was pushing against an open door. One of her earliest clients was singer-turned-actor Janelle Monae, and after Monae started wearing her latex, other Hollywood and international names soon followed.
Today, as well as Monae, the Dead Lotus Couture celebrity client list includes: Alejandra Espinoza, Baby K, Bella Thorne, Beth Ditto, Britney Spears, Cara Delevigne, Cardi B, Conchita, Demi Rose, Dua Lipa, Elsa Hosk, Gigi Hadid, Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Lopez, Katy Perry, Kylie Jenner, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Missy Elliott, Nadya Riot, Nicky Minaj, Poppy Ajudha and Sofia Boutella.
Basic B*tch (above) is the new latex collection from Dead Lotus Couture, launched in August. Screenshot shows the first eight of the collection’s 44 pieces, as displayed on the label’s Basic B*tch web shop page
Just a month ago, Dead Lotus launched a new collection: Basic B*tch. “As basic bitches,“ Nange observed, “we don’t like to complicate things. The Basic B*tch Collection is all about classic, wearable items given a signature Dead Lotus Couture twist. We wanted to create a bold, fun collection of simple pieces to mix and match, or to add to your everyday wardrobe.
“We also mixed in a few favourite classic Dead Lotus Couture designs that we thought worked perfectly with the collection. Inspired by fun, nostalgia and the fluidity of gender and expression, the Basic B*tch Collection (just like every Dead Lotus Couture design) is for everyone.”
The description “basic”, as used by Ms Magro, does, however, require a little qualifying. While a couple of the items in the new range cost less than £100, most Basic B*tch pieces are priced in the several hundreds, with the most expensive — Catcall Cargo Trousers — topping the list at £1,300.
But, as any designer with Nange’s famous clientèle might feel entitled to point out: when you’re buying into a high-end brand worn by the likes of Madonna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Kylie Jenner, you surely wouldn’t expect to pay Primark prices!
Striking shots of Nange modelling her own latex by two other photographic collaborators: Ian John Shaw (left) and erevosfoto (right)
deadlotuscouture.com
instagram/deadlotus.couture
facebook/deadlotuscouture
Avantgardista 2023 will showcase the exotic rope creations of French artist Fred Kyrel at new venue Motorworld Munich in October
UPDATED SEPTEMBER 16
Avantgardista 2023, this year’s edition of the big annual Munich fetish fashion event, takes place in mid-October in a new venue, with some format changes that mark the organiser’s ambitions for this still-newish addition to the international calendar.
Avantgardista was launched in autumn 2017 by Munich-based Prometheus Productions, who have been running the SubRosaDictum fetish and lifestyle events in Germany and beyond since 2008. Their rationale was that Germany’s wealthiest city region not only has a thriving fetish scene, but also a substantial demographic who are fetish-fashion-curious but not attracted to the standard type of fetish events.
So they conceived Avantgardista as a weekend that would play up the fashion angle and play down the more hardcore aspects of fetish in order to appeal to those interested in ‘alternative style’ without necessarily identifying as kinksters.
Since it was the clothing and accessories that would be the main focus for such people, the Avantgardista weekend would need to major both on fashion shows and shopping opportunities. Fetish folk would, of course, be attracted to these aspects too, and for the fetish partying crowd, SubRosaDictum’s legendary Space Intruders autumn party would be held on the Avantgardista weekend’s Saturday night at its traditional Kesselhaus venue.
Catwalk action: memorable moment from the Ero Chains fashion show at last year’s Avantgardista weekend in Munich
Saturday’s main Avantgardista afternoon fashion ‘showroom’ (with exhibitor stands) and its evening fashion shows (featuring around 20 alternative brands) would be held next door to Kesselhaus in the Kohlebunker, another of the family of commercial venue conversions on an extensive site in the north of Munich that included the former home of the Deutsche Bahn repair shop, and is nowadays a major leisure attraction for Munich’s car-mad population.
In the years after its launch before Covid caused a temporary hiatus to all such events, the original Avantgardista programme was tweaked a bit, as you might expect with any new event. Saturday afternoon’s showroom programme was extended backwards to start on Friday in order to give exhibitors a longer public showcase and also host the evening Meet & Greet that had first been held in a bar at the designated event hotel.
Saturday night’s Space Intruders party at Kesselhaus was extended into the Kohlebunker where, among other things, a food vendor ensured that hungry Bavarians could get some sausage inside them at any time of the day or night. (If you’ve ever been to Munich, you’ll understand how important this is!) And an Avantgardista Breakfast was also added on the Sunday (again we refer you to the Bavarian appetite noted above).
Avantgardista 2023 is moving to Mortorworld Munich, a venue that will offer additional shiny attractions like this
While the Avantgardista 2023 programme (running from October 13 to 15) seems to be similar to the above in some aspects of its basic structure (some details are yet to be confirmed), there are some key differences from previous years. The most significant of these (announced on Facebook in early May) is almost certainly that the main fashion event has been moved to a new location near the old one: Motorworld Munich. So far, we have not found any evidence that the showroom aspect of the previous events is being continued at the new location.
The gigantic Motorworld convention and event centre (including hotel) dwarfs the Kohlebunker and Kesselhaus venues it is adjacent to. We don’t yet know how much of Motorworld’s total space will be occupied by Avantgardista alongside all those fancy fast cars. But it seems almost certain it will be a bigger space than before. And in line with what look like Avantgardista’s aspirations for growth, this year’s event is now being marketed as Avantgardista Kink Couture Days, which looks to us like an acknowledgement that the branding of the earlier events was a mite too cautious, while still being careful to avoid that actual taboo ‘fetish’ word!
Designers participating in Avantgardista 2023 include, top l-r: Benno von Stein, Fernando Berlin, Leglé; bottom l-r: Taza&Jane, Liquid Disco, Moth Couture
Up to the time of this article’s first publication (one month before the Munich event), Avantgardista had announced just ten exhibiting designers and artists. But the day after our item went live, the organisers released a much longer list of participants, so we’ve updated our original story to include it.
Designers and artists now scheduled to appear at Avantgardista 2023 are: Benno von Stein, Choses Nobles, Fernando Berlin, Pairadize Clothing, YourShape, Deluxe Latex, Dino Sadino, Epic Couture, Ero Chains, Érotique Couture, Fetish Fantaisies, Fleurinna Wings Creation, Fred Kyrel, Goldpiercing Art, Kurage (presented by beGloss), Leclé, Latex Couture, Liquid Disco, Little Sin, Lorand Lajos, Lucia Venezia München, May Couture, Moth Couture by Maria Encke, Schnittmuskel (Cut Muscle), Synhaus, and Tarza&Jane.
The full list reveals a good mix of internationally familiar and much less familiar brands — one of the notable plus points of the Avantgardista events for fetish people who don’t want to see the same brands at every big gathering.
It has now also been clarified that, as in previous years, the listed brands will be presented on stands in Avantgardista’s exhibition space, with the majority also showcased on the fashion show catwalk. Currently the best place to find more info about the event’s participants, including the models, is Avantgardista’s Facebook page (its main page — there isn’t yet a Facebook event page for this year, and the new event website is still only partially finished). As for the models taking part, well we stopped counting when we got to 50 but it’s pretty safe to say there will be a lot more than twice that many walking for the designers on the day.
On the downside (perhaps), earlier Avantgardista fashion shows went on for what some described as an interminably long time, which is why the audience seating is generally in high demand. If this year’s fashion show space is larger as expected, and more seating is consequently available, that can only be a good thing. But bear in mind: seats won’t be free! On the plus side, if you’re happy to stand, entry to the fashion show is free (but you can make a voluntary contribution if you wish).
Models appearing at Avantgardista 2023 include, top l-r: Fleur Du Mal, Elody, Padi; bottom l-r: Damien, Annerlie Bizarre, Lotte LaVey
Friday Oct 13
17:00–23:00 AVANTGARDISTA SHOWROOM + MEET & GREET
Location: next to showroom in Motorworld Rotunda, Motorworld, Am Ausbesserungswerk 8, 80939 Munich
Admission: Free with Avantgardista Saturday Seated Fashion Show ticket; otherwise €10.
Saturday Oct 14
12:00-23:00 AVANTGARDISTA SHOWROOM
Location: next to showroom in Motorworld Rotunda, Motorworld, Am Ausbesserungswerk 8, 80939 Munich
18:00-22:00 AVANTGARDISTA FASHION SHOW – SEATED
Location: Motorworld Ground Floor, Motorworld, Am Ausbesserungswerk 8, 80939 Munich
Ticket: €30 (this ticket also includes admission to Friday’s Meet & Greet).
18:00-22:00 AVANTGARDISTA FASHION SHOW – STANDING
Location: Motorworld Ground Floor, Motorworld, Am Ausbesserungswerk 8, 80939 Munich
Admission: Free (but a voluntary contribution is welcome)
Saturday Oct 14
22:00–Late SPACE INTRUDERS PARTY
Location: Kesselhaus & Kohlebunker, Lilienthalallee 35, 80939 Munich
Ticket: €70
Party Animals: a leopard and zebra find a shared interest in latex at the big Space Intruders fetish party that traditionally follows the fashion shows during every Avantgardista weekend
Avantgardista website + tickets
Avantgardista Facebook
SubRosaDictum website
Space Intruders tickets
O Boutique Seoul store stocks latex by London’s Dead Lotus Couture and others. Pictured: Coakto Crop Top, Kotodama Round Skirt
O Boutique, Seoul — Korea’s first (and so far, only) store selling latex fashion — saw its international profile boosted this summer by its addition of new brands that excited latex-watching websites.
The shop (see bottom photo) in the Gangnam district of Seoul is an unashamedly upmarket emporium that includes a carefully curated selection of latex brands among its stock of classy bodycon fashions.
Opened a little over a year ago, O Boutique (aka OBTQ) was created by Jason Lee to offer haute latex and related bodycon style to fashion-conscious Koreans who will have seen a lot of this attire sported by Western celebrities and fashionistas, but not previously had access to it from a domestic retailer.
Non-latex brands at OBTQ include London haute corsetière Kunza’s Corsetorium label, whose Althea Lace Corset is shown here
Given the international prominence currently enjoyed by other products of Korean culture such as movies, TV shows and the ubiquitous K-Pop music, you might find it surprising that the country has been somewhat behind the curve when it comes to latex and similar fashions.
This is partly because of the negativity that exists in Korean culture for anything associated with ‘fetish’. And if you expected that K-Pop would be the perfect way to break that taboo (given all the latex worn by Western popsters), that would not appear to be the case either.
As anyone who has been following any of the recent scandals around the Korean pop industry might have noticed, K-Pop is as conformist and traditionalist as other aspects of the country’s culture and is not exactly a vehicle for protest, cultural disruption or the progressing of women’s rights!
This Charice Bodysuit in Latex and Chiffon is an example of Lüllepop’s mixing of latex and non-latex fabrics in single garments
Jason has wisely concluded, therefore, that the way to introduce latex fashion to the Korean public without its potential negative connotations is to mix it with other ‘softer’ bodycon clothing utilising other fabrics — including some designers who combine latex and non-latex fabrics in single garments.
A great example of the latter that can be found at O Boutique is the German label Lüllepop, which mixes latex with fabrics such as chenille lace and chiffon in a range of styles notable for their elegance. An example of this hybrid style — Lüllepop’s Charice Latex and Chiffon Bodysuit — can be seen above.
For Koreans willing to plunge in at the deep end with an unashamedly full-latex ensemble, O Boutique, Seoul stocks high-end outfits by Dead Lotus Couture, aka London-based Japanese-Italian designer Nange Magro, who also creates latex-and-fabric-mix styles. Her celebrity customers include Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Cardi B, Nicky Minaj, Janelle Monai and many more. One of Nange’s latex ensembles — the Coakto Crop Top and Kotodama Round Skirt — is shown at the top of this page.
O Boutique stocks corsetry like Westward Bound’s Valencia Harness Overbust Latex Corset (left) and YourShape’s Los Angeles Long
Latex is also available at O Boutique, Seoul from another internationally famous label — Westward Bound, one of the shop’s most recently added brands. Above left we show one of WB’s more ‘severely-styled’ rubber corsets, the Valencia Harness Latex Overbust Corset.
For corsetry that comes in leather and other shiny fabrics, O Boutique offers garments from the German label YourShape. These include the Los Angeles Long – Silver Holo style shown above to the right of the previously mentioned Westward Bound corset.
Elegant fabric corsetry, on the other hand, is among the selection on offer from Corsetorium, a London-based brand run by haute corsetière Kunza, whose made-to-measure clients include Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Chastain, Elizabeth Hurley and Gemma Chan. Corsetorium’s gorgeous Althea Lace Corset is shown in our second-from-top image, on the right.
Satin Bra Top and matching Skirt from Romanian brand Murmur, whose celebrity clients include Madonna, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga
Another O Boutique brand specialising in sensual/bodycon styles is Murmur, the Romanian/International label that covers everything from lingerie and corsetry designed as underwear and/or for show, to sexy dresses and separates. Murmur designs have been worn by Madonna, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Gigi Hadid and Katy Perry among others, so it must be doing something right! A Murmur satin bra top with matching skirt is shown above.
Last but not least, you might have noticed some shoes in the background of the photo at the top of this page. That’s because O Boutique, Seoul also stocks some fabulous heels — from Shoebidoo numbers like the Sadie Black Matte Oxford Ankle Boots shown below to other killer styles by Les Jeux du Marquis and Pleaser.
O Boutique’s footwear brands include Shoebidoo – Sadie Black Matte Oxford Ankle Boots above – plus Les Jeux du Marquis & Pleaser
O Boutique’s website is helpfully divided into sections representing each of its brands, and includes general imagery from each brand as well as dedicated brand shop pages. The site is mostly in the Korean language, and at the moment sells online only within Korea. You can find the site at: www.obtqstore.com.
The O Boutique Seoul store (interior shot below) can be found at:
O Boutique
OBTQ Co Ltd
18-4 Dosan daero 45 gil
Gangnam gu
Seoul, Korea
The elegant interior, below, of the O Boutique Seoul store, which is located in the Korean capital’s Gangnam district
