Libidex Blog 2023 Pt1 Celebrity! Wearing our Seduction catsuit, Evilyn13 – Vancouver model, cosplayer, DJ and fetish event host – became our first Libidex Blog Celebrity in Feb

LIBIDEX BLOG 2023 PT 1: HIGHLIGHTS FROM MONTHS JANUARY-JUNE

As we say goodbye to 2023 and prepare to welcome in 2024, it feels like the right time to look back on the first year of our revived Libidex Blog, which was rebooted in January 2023 after ‘resting’ since late 2019. It’s a way for us to remind ourselves and our loyal readers of the 50-ish fetish (and mostly latex!) stories that we published on a weekly basis over the past year.

For each month of 2023, we’re picking one highlight of that month, which will also be illustrated here by a representative image from that story. In addition, we’re recalling (in brief) all the other stories published that same month. And we’re providing a link direct to each individual weekly Blog item, so you can easily reacquaint yourselves with the full text and all the pictures in any 2023 article, should you so desire!

Below, the first part of our two-part retrospective — Libidex Blog 2023 Pt1 — covers the months January–June 2023. Part 2, covering July–December – will appear as our first blog of 2024 on January 5.

January 2023: Celebrating our ‘Best Clothing Company’ award

UK Fetish Awards 2022 hosts and our Libidex team, with Rogerio holding our award for Best Clothing Company

The first month of the reboot saw us working towards the format and publishing frequency that we had envisaged for the Blog’s revival. We were aiming for weekly, every Friday night, but in the first month we started with three stories.

For us, January’s highlight had to be our celebration of Libidex winning the award for Best UK Clothing Company at the UK Fetish Awards party for the second year running! At this event, co-hosted by well-known fetish promoters ZDR, the winners are all chosen by public voting, and we were naturally keen to use the opportunity provided by the return of our Blog to thank all the customers, friends and followers who voted for us again! The picture above shows the event hosts and the Libidex team, with Rogerio holding our trophy.

Also in January, we also reported the decision by British TV celebrity and political blogger Carol Vorderman to celebrate her 62^nd birthday with a high-profile latex photoshoot from which we reproduced some stills. And we previewed the upcoming talk at the Bishopsgate Institute by Fetishistas editor Tony Mitchell and friends on the start of the original Skin Two club with which Tony was involved prior to the launch of Skin Two magazine.

February 2023: Lots of fetishy outfits at the Brit Awards in London

Of all the fetishy attire on the Brits red carpet in Feb, Sam Smith drew the most comment for his inflatable latex outfit by Hari

February’s highlight was provided by London’s Brit Awards, exhibiting what some considered quite a surprising amount of latex and other fetishy attire on the event’s red carpet. For the most part, these outfits were worn by various female celebs including Salma Hayek, Ashnikko, Daisy May Cooper, Munroe Bergdorf and Billie Piper. But for some reason, the look the seemed to cause the biggest stir was the one sported by Sam Smith, who arrived in one of London designer Hari’s insect-like inflatable latex suits (pictured above). Impressively, Sam kept a straight face while wearing this ensemble, though we’re not sure how many other folk managed it!

In February, we also greeted the first of our new Libidex Blog Celebrities — people known not just for their love of latex, but for wearing Libidex latex specifically. This honour went to Evilyn13 — cosplayer, model, DJ and co-host of Vancouver’s Sin City Fetish Nights and the Vancouver Fetish Weekend — wearing her Libidex Princess Corset Catsuit and Seduction Catsuit. A separate, related blog piece found us inviting readers of the Blog to follow in Evilyn’s footsteps and submit their own Libidex latex photos for the Blog Celebrity spot.

February also saw us introducing Blog readers to our new, aesthetically audacious Flirty & Frisky female latex range, and previewing three big latex weekends upcoming in the first half of 2023: German Fetish Ball Weekend, Florida Fetish Weekend and the last ever Texas Latex Party.

March 2023: Latex label Avellano dominates Paris Fashion Week

Rita Ora wore this asymmetrical Avellano gown in a pre-Paris Fashion Week appearance at London’s Heaven nightclub

In March another high profile event — Paris Fashion Week — provided plenty of pictures of latex-wearers. And it was one very new latex designer — Paris-based Arthur Avellano — who took the most latex honours at the event’s various venues. Even before PFW, Hollywood celebs including Juia Fox, Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry had been seen wearing Avellano, and we pictured Rita Ora (above) wearing an Avellano gown for a pre-PFW appearance at London’s Heaven nightclub. But it was Paris that brought even more of them out of the woodwork, with Julia Fox (again), Munroe Bergdorf and Noah Cyrus among celebs sporting the brand, alongside the numerous models walking for Avellano’s PFW show.

March also provided an opportunity to showcase some of the unique latex art of the UK’s Michelle Mildenhall, who creates fantastic Pop Art-style portraits using expertly cut-out pieces of sheet latex, some of it sourced from Libidex’s sister company Radical Rubber. Elsewhere that month we reported on the forced cancellation of Zara DuRose’s ZDR Gods & Monsters party after last-minute withdrawal of its licence. We also welcomed US fetish model, MUA and performer Beatrix Devine as our second Libidex Blog Celebrity, and looked forward to Le Boutique Bazaar’s final alt-fashion pop-up shopping event of the season in London.

April 2023: Are Facebook and Instagram having another kink purge?

In April, Vancouver Fetish Weekend’s Isaac Terpstra was among major fetish event hosts experiencing difficulties with social networks

April’s lead story discussed the possibility that Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) was having another of its intermittent, presumably algorithm-led kink purges. This time the evidence was not of a latex purge but of a sudden apparent allergic reaction by these platforms to the promotion of fetish events on them. Among those reporting sudden (or just increasing) problems with social networks were Vancouver Fetish Weekend’s Isaac Terpstra (above), Florida Fetish Weekend’s Glenn Catapano, Cirque de Boudoir’s David LaPara and German Fetish Ball’s René de Parade.

April also brought news that a Kickstarter funding campaign had launched for esteemed Chicago fetish photographer Alejandra Guerrero’s second Circa Press book, Auto Erotica, featuring two of her chief photographic fascinations: powerful women and powerful cars. (Update for readers of this retrospective Libidex Blog 2023 Pt1: the fundraiser was successful and the book was published in November.)

The same month saw Netflix dropping new BDSM drama Obsession, which we previewed in a Blog article. Suffice to say: of we’d been able to watch it before publishing, our preview wouldn’t have been half as enthusiastic about it! Over on Disney+, however, the accolades were flowing thick and fast for Danny Boyle’s Sex Pistols series Pistol. This delighted us, since Libidex had been commissioned to provide the production with a whole shopful of latex to simulate Westwood & McLaren’s shop SEX!

May 2023: 20 landmark fetish/bdsm films from the past 50 years

Bulle Ogier’s portrayal of a Parisian dominatrix in Maitresse (1976) made it one of our landmark movies with fetish/bdsm themes

May’s highlight was a longer than normal Blog article offering recommendations for 20 movies with fetish and/or BDSM content, selected from ‘mainstream’ releases over the past five decades or so. This round-up offers some favourites from each of the five decades (1970s to 2010s) covered by the article. Each film has a synopsis and link to an online trailer. In some cases the full movies are available online but those most easily found may not be the most complete (ie uncensored) versions. Recommendations in the round-up include Maitresse (1976) starring Bulle Ogier (pictured above left); The Night Porter (1974); 91/2 Weeks (1986); Bound (1996); The Notorious Bettie Page (2005); Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (2019); and lots more!

May’s Blog items also celebrated the long love affair with latex of singer and sometime Torture Garden performer Paloma Faith; the seventh birthday of Camden’s FAB.London fetish store run by ex-Libidex colleague Max Deviant; and a detailed preview of Berlin’s upcoming German Fetish Ball Weekend.

June 2023: Libidex dresses, keeping you cool when the weather’s hot

This Simona Dress from Libidex’s range of more revealing designs is guaranteed to keep you cool while looking hot

Reaching the final month in Libidex Blog 2023 Pt1 — the first half of our two-part retrospective — our top June Blog story was an unashamed but timely plug for Libidex’s massive range of latex dresses that offer wearers the chance to stay cool while looking hot when the temperature rises — as it certainly did in June! This round-up was full of suggestions covering the main styles of latex dresses, from Little Black Dress (aka LBD or Cocktail) styles, through fuller and longer skirted variants and ‘boudoir chic’ numbers, to sexy revealing designs such as the Simona (pictured above), and their polar opposites: tight, high-neck, long-skirted ‘governess’ styles. Oh, and we didn’t forget our Male Fit range — Libidex being one of few latex brands catering to crossdressers with its selection of female styles made in male sizes.

Events earlier in the year also prompted our thoughts to turn in June to whether chlorinated latex was having a ‘fashion moment’, given its apparent rebranding by new label Avellano as ‘Snakeskin’. Our article explains what chlorination is and why it might appeal to regular latex fans as well as the busy fashionistas and celebs that Avellano caters to.

June also found us previewing a new photo-book by Marquis founder Peter Czernich dedicated to his early photography of Dita Von Teese. Peter had launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the book and our article included some of his vintage pix of the aforementioned fetish goddess. The Libidex Grand Summer Sale — one of our great traditions — was also featured, with almost our entire website range on offer at 25 percent off! And our month of blogging ended with coverage of the surprising amount of celebrity latex on display throughout the previous month, especially around another big French event — the 12-day Cannes Film Festival. Seems you just can’t keep a latex-clad celebrity down!

The concluding part of this look back at 2023’s Libidex Blog stories will be published on Friday January 5.