We should not only celebrate the ultimate geek goddess and warrior Princess Leia, but the strong and honest woman who played her. Carrie Fisher was a true feminist, as much for what she wanted in her life, as how she got it and for talking about that which people usually saw as stigmatizing.
Introduced via the Harlem “House Ball” community fashion competitions, Jose Guitierez Xtravaganza and Louis Xtravaganza showed Madonna what the style was all about and the rest is history.
Seeing beyond the New Year, you might want to lube up your catsuit or latex hakama pants for T.G,’s first event of 2017, their Valentines Ball to be held at the 9-room Coronet on 2/11. And a bit further afield from London, TG will roll into Edinburgh at the Caves on 2/25 for Torture Garden Edinburgh. The organization is also planning to roll out events for Rome and Japan later in the year.
Not simply the denizens of a Justin Bieber or Drake starting a tour and offering ‘exclusives’ of their merchandise, the pop-up was the gorilla brick-and-mortar de jour of this past year. Google opened temporary locations, as did plenty of other retailers (some not even couture related). The attraction here is that the buyer is able to purchase items they can’t get anywhere else, or items soon to be sold out, and in the pop/fashion world that speaks volumes. And also one’s cool cred increases being part of what is exactly happening now, at locations that often are only revealed to those who scour Instagram or a retailer’s site on a regular basis.
Jess Merriman of MomoCon claims that “Our Cosplayers on Ice event goes beyond cosplay.” And one could certainly say that the cosplayers coming out for the new Star Wars adventure go beyond the usual need to dress in fantastical garb. It’s not that this science fiction movie franchise started this need for dress up, but certainly the stark black and white outfits we see in the Star Wars universe (where the evil Storm Troopers are dressed in white, which is typically the color for good guys) all those delicious aliens or super feminist Jyn Ersa dressing in hooded robes to her full flight suit slick black gear give serious cosplayers lots to work with.
Here at Dawnamatrix we live for the unlimited possibility of textile art and how it relates to alternative couture. Zara doesn’t sport anything as naughty as a velvet catsuit, one probably wouldn’t be combing the site for a cosplay outfit or fetish gear specifically (although who can say how someone might come to use velvet?). But it is important to note, that just as we have seen with latex, there is a strong market for materials slightly to the left of what is commonly used in everyday couture, and not just for video stars or for Lady Gaga checking out her local deli counter.
We are all well aware of where we might see latex fashion design, rubber clothing, those outfits and accessories we all crave to wear. From fashion events, to specific magazines, possibly on Lady Gaga on a semi-regular basis, that couture that makes such an impression in our lives, certainly makes a showing from time to time. And when it comes to latex, PVC, rubber, alternate wardrobes, a picture really is worth a thousand words, and a few new publications are speaking volumes with their pics featuring the stuff we love.
Indie folk duo Builder of the House don’t exactly sport rubber clothing or latex thighs highs on stage, but Rob Cimitile and Elliot Heeschen are well aware of how clothes can make a wardrobe…no matter if a guy or girl is wearing that wardrobe. The band’s brutally honest “Look at the Man” video (see here) features Conor Leigh Tubbs morphing into his/her Cherry Lemonade drag persona. Issues of gender certainly rate high on the country’s current concerns, and knowing how our own work often makes folks feel better about whatever gender they identify with, we wanted to get to know Builder of the House better.
Creating latex outfits, some would say fetish clothing, certainly ‘alternate’ pieces, we come across a great variety of people wearing what they wear, as much for play as for work. From models cavorted across music videos to a super villain bending the comic world to her will, to even a stripper, we are as much interested in what someone might wear when it comes to their wardrobe (whether we have made that wardrobe or not) as what that person might do that shows off or employs that wardrobe. In the case of Giles Walker’s computer-controlled stripper robot, the lady in question isn’t wearing so very much, but what she is doing is interesting…as well as it might just be making quite the comment on society.