Latex in later life? You can wear it at any age, say UK media

LATEX IN LATER LIFE? YOU CAN WEAR IT AT ANY AGE, SAY UK MEDIA

By a coincidence that people might not find entirely surprising, several bastions of the UK media decided to run articles about latex fashion in the run-up to Halloween. But thanks to the timely appearance of photos featuring the likes of Tess Daly (55), Hannah Waddingham (50) and Dame Prue Leith (84), these articles could be given an additional angle, namely: wearing latex in later life.

So we thought we’d look at the way two of the UK’s national news outlets — The Sun and The Telegraph — handled this topic in their pre-Halloween online pieces. And for further contrast, we also took a peek at how a local press operation — the Oxford Mail — handled a story about local hero Prue Leith.

Libidex Blog fans may have noticed that we often find ourselves bemoaning the difficulty fashion journalists still seem to have distinguishing latex from PVC, leather and stretchy wetlook fabrics. It gives us no pleasure to warn you that we found some of these category errors again perpetrated in the articles discussed below.

Top image, centre: Tess Daly (55) wears latex to present Strictly Come Dancing; left: Hannah Waddingham (50) in latex at UK premiere of Venom: The Last Dance; right: Dame Prue Leith (84) in latex at London Fashion Week

The Sun: ‘Why a latex dress is the ultra-sexy style everyone swears by’

Sun shine: The Sun’s article about latex in later life included images of Maya Jama (left) in a brown latex dress (designer unidentified). It also featured Ashley Roberts (right) wearing what it captioned as ‘a PVC dress which left little to the imagination’ . It was actually the Poster Girl black latex gown the Sun had shown her wearing at the Attitude Awards a couple of weeks earlier

The Sun headlined its story: ‘So slick: Why a latex dress is the ultra-sexy style everyone from Tess Daly to Kylie Jenner swears by & how to wear it at any age’. The top photos in its ‘deep dive’ into the topic featured actress/TV personality Hannah Waddingham (top image, left) at the UK premiere of Venom: The Last Dance, and TV presenter Tess Daly (top image, centre) from Strictly Come Dancing, both wearing black latex gowns.

Hannah’s Candy Cup Ariel Gown was from Atsuko Kudo while Tess’s latex remains unidentified in all coverage we’ve seen (although we know the stylist was Laury Smith). But the ages of both women (50 and 55 years respectively) were prominently mentioned to support the article’s contention that latex is something that can be worn at any age. This, of course, is something fetish folk have always known, but perhaps it really is a revelation to Sun readers.

Fashion editor Amber Graafland provided some useful latex tips such as: “It’s snugger than a bug in a rug, but wearers should watch out that it doesn’t rub them up the wrong way”. The article followed with a fairly random selection of photos of celebs in (mostly) rubber, before noting that Amber apparently believes that “if you want to show off your fashion prowess then opting for a PVC outfit is the one”.

Latex or not latex? Left, a full length shot (not used by The Sun) of Strictly’s Tess Daly in a latex gown of unidentified origin. Right: Mystifyingly captioned by The Sun ‘Kylie Jenner’ latex dress’s impressive body looked slick in her PVC dress’ (sic), this shot actually shows Kylie in a wetlook dress, most likely of PU-coated stretch fabric

But, erm, weren’t we talking about latex? Well yes, which is presumably why The Sun then proclaimed: “However, if you want to show off your fashion prowess you might want to consider a very different fabric.” Two appearances of ‘fashion prowess’ in consecutive sentences feels like one too many to us!

The article then reeled off a list of other slebs (mostly pictured) who have been helping to make latex the look du jour, including Gwendoline Christie, Khloe Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Amanda Holden, Maya Jama and Rita Ora.

Ashley Roberts, meanwhile, was captioned as wearing ‘a pvc dress which left little to the imagination’. This dress (shown on right in second image above) was actually the Poster Girl latex gown The Sun had forgotten it had featured her wearing just a couple of weeks ago at the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards (covered by us in our October 18 blog story).

The Telegraph: ‘The stylish ways to wear latex in midlife’

By contrast, The Telegraph’s article — headlined ‘The stylish ways to wear latex in midlife’, and also prominently featuring Hannah Waddingham and Tess Daly in their black latex gowns — tackled the subject of wearing latex in later life in an altogether less breathless style, as you might expect.

Catwalk coats: Glossy trench coats shown on the catwalk by Dolce & Gabana (left) and Chloe (right) were featured in the Telegraph article to illustrate ‘a gorgeous, striking way’ of wearing latex. However, neither of these garments look like latex to us

The article by Rebecca Cope confirmed to Telegraph readers that “the controversial fabric usually associated with the fetish scene or fancy dress is going mainstream”. And that, apart from its popularity with youngsters such as Kylie Jenner (27), Emma Watson (34) and Maya Jama (30), “this season’s high-shine rubber is being adopted by women in their 50s, 60s — and even their 80s”. In other words the younger end of the paper’s demographic.

Even so, the article raised some unintended laughs. Atsuko Kudo would probably be surprised to read therein that her brand “popularised latex as high fashion bondage-wear in the 1970s” — words we suspect would have been better applied to Vivienne Westwood (Kudo launched her label in 2001). The piece also claims “it was Jean Paul Gaultier who first pioneered latex as high fashion material in the 1990s”. It is true that Gaultier was one of the early Paris designers to employ the fabric (he was spotted taking notes at the first Skin Two Rubber Ball). But compatriots Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana might have something to say about who actually did the high fashion latex pioneering in Paris — if either of them were still alive today.

The Telegraph article featured a couple of trench coats — by Chloe and Dolce & Gabana respectively — to illustrate a quote by stylist Corina Gaffey that “a coat decked out in latex is a gorgeous, striking way of wearing the high-sheen fabric”. A good option, surely, for those exploring latex in later life. And indeed, quite a few latex trench coats have been seen on this season’s catwalks. But neither of the coats featured in the Telegraph article (shown above) look like latex to us.

Oxford Mail: ‘Oxfordshire cook Dame Prue Leith rocks latex look’

Eco warriors: Rear view (left) of the punky Vin + Omi rubber dress worn by Dame Prue Leith at London Fashion Week (front view at top of this page). Right: promo image featuring Debbie Harry, star of Vin + Omi’s film Kepler 62f (which co-stars Prue and other celebs)

Finally, a brief look at an Oxford Mail story by Miranda Norris under the headline: ‘Oxfordshire cook Dame Prue Leith rocks latex look on catwalk’. This story — also covered nationally and referenced in the Telegraph article discussed above — focused on the 84-year-old Great British Bake-Off judge’s appearance during London Fashion Week in a low-sheen black number.

The Oxford Mail story variously described the outfit (above left) as a ‘raunchy PVC dress’ and a ‘black skintight leather dress… with red contrast stitching’. In fact, it was a latex dress trimmed with red corset-style lacing, from eco design brand V + O (aka Vin + Omi), who were promoting their feature length film Kepler 62f. Starring Debbie Harry (above right), and also featuring Leith along with Deborah Meaden, Siobhan McSweeny, Serena Taylor and many more, the film was created (and largely shot via Zoom) to offer ‘an alternative look at how the planet may decline in 500 years’.

And while this fairly shapeless dress was probably not the most flattering style Prue had ever been persuaded to wear in public, this was surely a worthy project. And at 84, having proven she can wear latex in later life, Prue can now safely claim to be the oldest punk in the village.