Back to nature: real latex, as in this Libidex Princess Catsuit worn by Lydia Black (@lydblack.xo), has much greater elasticity than plastic-based alternatives, making it the top choice for ‘second skin’ garments

REAL LATEX: DISTINGUISHING THE GENUINE ARTICLE FROM THE REST

Something that often bugs latex enthusiasts is seeing images of their favourite fabric worn by celebrities, models etc in mainstream media described incorrectly as some other material such as PVC or even leather.

For many rubber lovers, the only thing conceivably worse than this is the reverse situation, where something presented as — or at least appearing to be — latex turns out to be some kind of stretchy plastic product instead.

Category errors of this kind might be relatively easy to avoid for those who’ve been around latex clothing for some time. But the availability of various types of lookalike materials can be a bit of a minefield if you’re relatively new to the scene.

Latex fans who follow latex fashion’s regular appearances in mainstream media have been known to wonder why people employed by professional news outlets to comment knowledgably on what the subjects in their photos are wearing still seem to misidentify latex as something else quite so often!

Many of the errors we’ve noticed can probably be put down to the pressures of today’s 24-hour news cycle. Any celebrity appearance or fashion event deemed media-worthy will be covered by press photographers who, these days, will usually have to get their photos to the publications or picture agencies they represent pretty much the moment they’ve pressed the shutter button on the camera.

Category errors: fashion spotters employed by mainstream media to caption these red carpet shots from February’s Brit Awards described Daisy May Cooper’s non-latex outfit, left, as “latex and wetlook”, and, right, Munroe Bergdorf’s latex gown (by one of the world’s top latex designers) as “PVC”

This means their pictures are likely to arrive at their destinations with minimal accompanying information (as the ’togs are understandably focused first and foremost on obtaining usable images). If the pictures end up at a news or fashion blog website, it‘s most likely to fall to somebody working for that website to do the best job they can of writing individual captions and any other copy to accompany the pictures they’ve been presented with.

Again, this often has to be done at great speed, and the person responsible may just not have the time to research any details either not previously provided to them in a press handout or not part of their existing knowledge of a designer’s work. If that job falls to someone who is young and inexperienced or not particularly well-informed about the latex scene, they might well see a shiny outfit and assume “PVC”.

This can (as we ourselves have witnessed) end up with garments created by famous latex designers being described by major publications or websites as fabricated from material the designer in question wouldn’t touch with a bargepole. Yes, this can easily come across as laziness or sloppiness, but often deadline pressure is a major contributing factor!

Stitched seams, as clearly visible in the catsuit, left, along with the characteristic wrinkling of the leotard fabric, right, are features that help to distinguish ‘wetlook’ garments (made from polyurethane-coated woven fabric or a similar plastic-based combination) from those made using latex

Ironically, by the way, describing a latex outfit as “PVC” could be considered a double category error. Because for the most part, the plastic material used to create shiny, stretchy clothing that may look like latex to the untrained eye is not even PVC. Although genuine PVC is used for some fashion items (including rainwear, shoes, boots and accessories such as handbags), the stuff that is not just shiny but also stretchy is generally PU (polyurethane) coated nylon or similar plastic-coated stretch fabric.

Latex, as used in clothing, is made from the sap of rubber trees — it’s a natural and sustainable product. Fabrics that imitate latex, on the other hand, are products of the petro-chemical industry. So if you’re eco-conscious and need another reason to stick with the real thing, have this one on us!

That said, recent improvements in the technology for producing these faux-latex fabrics — used for anything from zentai suits to movie superhero costumes — have sometimes made it harder to tell just from photographs that they’re not the natural article. But even if these ‘alternatives’ have been getting more realistic in some respects, they can never totally match the particular qualities that latex brings to clothing.

Say Cheese! Libidex Blog Celebrity and international fetish model Evilyn13 proving that, because it’s made from extremely elastic latex, her Libidex Cheshire Dress moulds itself to her figure in a way other materials can’t match (photo: Jonny Ray)

Foremost among those qualities is the elasticity that only the thin latex sheeting used for clothing can offer. The degree to which latex clothing can stretch provides its unique qualities of fit — no plastics-based fabric is quite as flexible or as willing to mould itself to any bodily contours.

This means not only that latex is unmatched for fit in ‘second skin’ applications, but that the very specific way a tight-fitting latex garment wrinkles slightly with the wearer’s movement, or the way a loose-fit latex garment drapes across the body (owing to its relative weight), is absolutely unique to this naturally elastic material.

These characteristics can be extremely helpful — especially if you’re relatively new to latex — in determining whether an outfit you see in a photo (or in person) is latex or an imitation. But there is something else that is probably even more useful as a litmus test for whether a garment is made from ‘the real thing’. And that is to look at the seams.

Our figure-hugging Princess Catsuit again, this time modelled by Mercy Morg (@cradleofcarmine2). A close-up of the same shot, right, clearly shows the narrow, flat seams that bond the garment panels almost invisibly, maximising the ‘sprayed-on’ look uniquely achievable with skin-tight latex

With the exception of some one-piece moulded items, the vast majority of modern latex fashion (including everything made by Libidex) is constructed from latex panels bonded together using glued flat seams, which create a virtually seamless look. There are a few designers whose latex garments feature gluing and stitching to make an intentionally more prominent feature of the seams. But on the whole, today’s latex fans vastly prefer the ‘sprayed on’ look that flat, glued seams provide.

In contrast, the seams of plastics-based garments are stitched, generally with the stretch thread used to sew dancewear etc. So if you can get a close enough look at a seam (in real life or by zooming in on a photo), this will be a mostly reliable way to determine whether a garment is genuine latex or not.

Follow these tips for identifying what is and isn’t genuine latex, both in photos and in the flesh, and your chances of avoiding disappointment should greatly increase. And of course it goes without saying that one of the simplest ways to guarantee what you’re always getting is the real thing is to get your latex from Libidex!