We have seen celebrities and models like Lauren Hutten or a Helen Mirren fight ageism with recent fashion and accessory modeling campaigns. And certainly body image paradigms are being fought all the time (just this past year Sports Illustrated’s annual Swimsuit Issue featured not only featured its first plus size model on a cover-Ashley Graha-and another curvy lady, Nicola Griffin, who is 56 years old.)
James has traveled widely to undisclosed and out-of-bounds locales capturing the decay of often stunning locations for nearly 3 years now. On one of these ‘typical’ outings recently James went out to shoot a series of images for designers in abandoned locations across Europe. In October 2015 this adventurous/adventuring photographer approached us to shoot our latex fashion design in some of these deserted locations. The stunning pictures you see here are the results from a weekend of image making, climbing and driving for James and his two models Jade Stacy Maria & Sadie Ann.
Very much how the infamous documentary Paris Is Burning did a quarter of a century ago, the KIKI story takes off now twenty five years later, revealing a group of young adults trying their best to develop a ‘safe space’ at their fashion and dance balls. The men who appeared in “Paris” were self-proclaimed drag queens, showing as much of their homemade frocks as they did their ability to vogue in ways Madonna could never have imaged (in fact Voguing house dancing began in the 80’s Harlem ballroom scene well before Madonna appropriated it for her 1990 hit and “Paris” featured it with such aplomb the same year); KIKI as much shows the evolution of voguing as it does delve deep into LGBT gender identity in the modern age.
Seattle’s fashion week showcases what we have always known, but have come to see on a daily basis now living in the Pacific Northwest: there is an impressive cluster of local designers in this area of the U.S. creating unique pieces for a very discerning clientele. Yes, rain proof and warmth are big concerns with couture here, but seeing that Seattle is #8 in the Top 20 US Metros for Fashion Designers, one could guess that people here have come to expect a lot more than just warmth and staying dry in what they wear.
Moving from her home state of Pennsylvania to NYC in the mid 60’s, Mark chronicled lots of the city’s social ills in the last half of the decade and beyond. As much a photographer as documentarian filmmaker, with her husband director Martin Bell she created the much celebrated (and Academy Award nominated) film Streetwise, a movie that chronicled three decades of a crack-addicted prostitute and was indicative of those ‘tougher’ subjects Mark was interested in (Streetwise actually began as photographic expose Mark was commissioned to shoot for Life magazine.)
Have you survived the eight days? Did you manage to get through the nog and the cookies? Gearing up for Kwanzaa? Did you happen to catch The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies or Take Five? Tuckered out from all the visiting and gift exchanging? Did you steel your courage and actually venture to the mall? Surely, the last thing you might be thinking about right now is squeezing yourself into our https://dawnamatrix.com/shop/corsets/galaxy-corset/ or a pair of https://dawnamatrix.com/shop/bottoms-m/straight-leg-trousers-2/ ,but that festive feeling swirling around you still should always be present in your latex wardrobe choices.
At the Boston Latino Fashion Expo we had the singular pleasure of presenting what we felt (and were told later) was a truly unique couture line, thrilled that our new Space and Time Collection found the warm reception that it did. Let’s face it, Latex Couture is not not everyone’s taste, and to see our latest wares garner such positive reaction, far and away from the likes of a Montreal Fetish Weekend or the like, is very heartening indeed.