Libidex Blog 2024 Pt2: Highlights from months July–December

LIBIDEX BLOG 2024 PT2: HIGHLIGHTS FROM MONTHS JULY-DECEMBER

Welcome to the second and final part of the look back at our Libidex Blog stories of 2024 — this time covering Blog stories published in the second half of the year.

As with Part 1, Libidex Blog 2024 Pt2 will feature one story highlight from each month, along with a representative image from the original article — with one exception. In November, we had two major Libidex news stories appearing in the same month, so when we get to November below, you’ll find two stories sharing the month’s top billing!

In addition, all other stories published in each month will be listed. And you’ll find links to all of the stories mentioned here, so you can easily access the full text and picture content should you wish to remind yourself of the original article, or indeed acquaint yourself with it for the first time!

Top image: Charlotte TG and Alexandra Houston, joint hosts of Le Boutique Bazaar, one of six festive UK events promoted by Torture Garden between mid-November and the end of 2024

July 2024: Long-running kink fair LAM hosts final Sunday at Revolution

Some of the designs available from regular LAM exhibitor Jed Phoenix, who makes not only men’s and women’s corsetry and other clothing, but also accessories such as bags and luggage

July 2024’s highlight saw us marking the end of an era in London, with LAM (London Alternative Market), the capital’s long-running monthly fetish fair, about to host its last event at Revolution Bar, Leadenhall (in the City of London) owing to the imminent closure of the venue.

The good news we were able to add was that, after seven years of monthly events at Revolution, this was most definitely not the end of LAM — with the fair set to move to a new home from August. The new venue since August has been Sway Bar in Holborn, located at 61-65 Great Queen Street, WC2B 5BZ (nearest Tube: Holborn). Timings — on the first Sunday of each month — remain as before, with the Market doors opening at noon and closing at 6pm, and the After Party starting at 7pm in the venue’s Cocktail Room Bar.

July’s other newsworthy events were: a call from London artist Toby Mott for contributions to a planned book and exhibition of fetish flyers and the like from the 1980s onwards; and some notable summer outings for latex-clad celebs in June and July. There was also a reminder of the vast range of latex leotards, capes, gowns, robes and aprons available from Libidex and (at the time of original publication) still reduced by 25% in our Grand Summer Sale.

August 2024: Libidex sponsors 8-day, 30-event Brighton Fetish Week

Brighton Fetish Week promo shot emphasising that fishnet, leather and latex would all be dress styles welcome during the eight-day event beginning on August 24

For this Libidex Blog 2024 Pt2 round-up, our top story of August had to be the imminent arrival in the last week of the month of Brighton Fetish Week, an eight-day, 30-event kink fest whose sponsors included Libidex. Promising to be the area’s largest fetish gathering, and focused on inclusivity, BFW was seen as a great match for our commitment to catering for all types of latex enthusiast.

The Brighton Fetish Week line-up included club nights, socials, cabaret performances and interactive games, with notable performers including Cherry Bomb, Sabrina Jade and Letitia Delish. Most of these events were free, with a strong emphasis on wheelchair accessible venues.

Other August stories were: News from ZDR and LAM, with ZDR announcing its last London date for the foreseeable future just as LAM took up residence at its new venue; news that Yummy Gummy Latex had finally found a buyer for the whole business in Germany; launch of the Libidex Power & Pose collection for women wishing to embrace latex power dressing; and a preview of a one-off Charmskool House event hosted by Alexandra Houston in Soho during September’s London Fashion Week.

September 2024: Torture Garden announces four Halloween parties

Our September preview of Torture Garden’s four Halloween Balls pictured Dark Circus performer Jacqueline Furey (left) from Australia, and aerial pole act the Seifert Sisters (right)

September’s highlight had to be our preview of Torture Garden’s plans for its now-legendary clutch of no less than four Halloween parties spread across two weekends and two venues. For the single most popular fetish partying occasion of the year, TG would be hosting two nights at Scala, King Cross, then two nights at Electrowerkz, Islington — potentially allowing up to 5,000 people to celebrate Halloween in the distinctive style offered by the world’s largest fetish club!

Our story reminded readers that TG goes to a lot of effort, especially for its Halloween audiences, to make sure everyone understands the basic TG ethos, the ground rules, the etiquette, the strict dresscode requirements, and the way the ticket pricing works, etc. Shows booked for the four nights included Paris Eatemall, Safire, Bettie Bombshell, Orkgotik, Magdalena Sin, Jacqueline Furey, Marnie Scarlet, the Seifert Sisters, Your2Knots, Andromeda and Kerris Spencer.

Other September Blog stories were: Gothic Image’s shoot with new model Sophia Gray channelling Britney’s Toxic in Libidex latex; a round-up of Libidex’s latex skirts for all plus aprons and kilts for men; and a preview of our annual Halloween Sample Sale hosted at Libidex’s Islington HQ.

October 2024: RAIG shares success and failures creating Rubber AI Girls

Images in our October look at RAIG’s AI art included this addition – called 1940s Tank Girls in Light Blue Rubber – to RAIG’s earlier Tank Factory Girls set of 37 images

October’s Blog items provided a second chance in 2024 to highlight some of the nice work now being done by AI artists working with latex and other shiny imagery. The interesting thing about RAIG (Rubber AI Girls) is this artist’s willingness not only to share some of their ‘outtakes’ but also to highlight the issues that made those efforts ‘fails’ in the first place — such as disfigured hands, missing leg parts, oversized feet… you name it.

There was an ulterior motive, of course: to persuade more viewers/fans of the images that enough hard work goes into creating them to be worth a couple of dollars of your hard-earned, thus making it financially viable for the artist to continue creating sets of 20-30 rubbery images for you to enjoy. “What?!” You say. “Pay someone for their hours of creativity? How very dare they!”. Or perhaps you might just say: “Seems reasonable.” We live in hope.

October’s other stories for this Libidex 2024 Blog Pt2 retrospective were: a preview of Birmingham Fetish Weekend, bringing three days of kink to Brum in November; Winning latex looks seen at the 2024 Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards held in October; and a look at the Spring/Summer 2025 latex collection from London designer Hari, which was commendable for its focus on more wearable styles than Sam Smith’s earlier Brits insectoid outfit.

November 2024: Libidex celebrates Liberation 20th and UK Fetish Award

The Covent Garden shopfront of our Liberation store (left), which was celebrating its 20th birthday. Right: Libidex’s Maz (left) and Rogerio second (left) on stage to accept our Best Fetish Fashion Company Award

As mentioned in our introduction, November brought two Libidex highlights that really had to share our top story slot for the month. The first was a feature-length blog marking the 20^th anniversary of Libidex’s Liberation store in Covent Garden. This piece presented the curated recollections of Libidex owner Simon Rose plus staff associated with the store at various times, such as Rogerio, Tiago, Debbie and Lily. The article was headed by a photo of Latex Peach with grinning visitor Jean Paul Gaultier — one of just a few of the many visiting celebs over the years that we could safely namecheck!

Sharing the highlight spotlight in November were the 2024 UK Fetish Awards, which saw Libidex once again picking up the Best Fetish Fashion Company award. In all, 18 awards were handed out to various individuals and organisations who were voted “best” in online polling. The award categories ranged from fetish model, photographer and magazine through to commercial adult categories such as dominatrix, webcam performer and fetish dungeon.

Other blog stories in November were: the UK media’s surprising discovery that wearing latex in later life is possible, especially if you’re a celeb like Tess Daly, Hannah Waddingham or Dame Prue Leith; news of an upcoming one-day Seed Talks seminar titled Fetish & Kink Summit – London, with speakers including Dr Lori Beth Bisby; and a preview of Torture Garden’s six festive events scheduled for between mid-November and the year’s end.

December 2024: Book explores Helmut Newton’s love affair with Berlin

Full frame version of the shot of Helmut Newton in Berlin by his wife June that we featured as a close-cropped inset in the header image of our story about new Taschen book Berlin, Berlin

For our final highlight in this Libidex Blog 2024 Pt2 round-up, the month of December provided us with an unexpected treat in the form of a new book about Helmut Newton, the man who probably did more than any other to make sado-masochistic and fetishistic themes cool in high-fashion photography. A lot of that stuff was shot for Vogue, and much of it was collected in two memorable 1970s monographs: White Women (1976) and Sleepless Nights (1978).

Helmut Newton: Berlin, Berlin from Taschen explores the extensive influence the German city and its colourful denizens had on Newton throughout his working life — something which, incidentally, is also celebrated in a permanent exhibition at the city’s Museum für Fotografie that’s well worth a visit.

Other December blog items were: Feline Festive? – a round up of 24 best-selling Libidex second skin styles (aka catsuits); the launch of Toby Mott’s book Prelude: Transgression in the UK featuring 1980s fetish flyer material; and, last but not least. Part 1 of our roundup of last year’s blog stories covering January-June 2024. Which brings us rather nicely full-circle!