Latex has been used to make leotards, bodysuits, stockings, dresses, tights and gloves, besides other garments. Latex is also often used to make specialized fetish garments like hoods and rubber cloaks.
Latex rubber as a clothing material is common in fetish fashion and among BDSM practitioners, and is often seen worn at fetish clubs. Latex is sometimes used by couturiers for its dramatic appearance. Worn on the body it tends to be skin-tight, producing a “second skin” effect.The “classic” color for fetish latex clothing is black, but latex is naturally translucent, and may be dyed in any color, including metallic shades, or plain white.Some people wearing latex clothing may wear it for its looks, others in certain cases, are attracted to the garments themselves; these are the likely fetishists. Rubber fetishism is characterized by dressing in rubber (usually thicker and more matte). Latex or rubber fetishists sometimes refer to themselves as “Rubberists”. Gay Rubberists tend to call themselves “Rubbermen”.
Latex clothing design and manufacture
There are a handful of companies around the world which manufacture latex rated as suitable for contact with human skin. These firms supply sheet (in the vast majority) to a larger number of smaller fashion clothing companies. In the past, some marketplaces suffered from de facto monopoly supply conditions, where a sheet supplier could impose restrictive ordering requirements.
Under the monopoly, a garment manufacturer could only order 500 meter long rolls of sheeting in the color and thickness he wanted. This meant that designers and clothing producers often had to cooperate, or face long delays in supplying their customers. It was a severe restraints to the rubber clothing business.
However, competition from international suppliers has come in, courtesy of the Internet. This has produced an explosion of cottage industry of latex and rubber clothing manufacturersEither molded or sheet-based, latex is amenable to large scale mass production. Skilled manual fashion designers is an integral part of success in this process; this means that made-to-measure and special designs are much more accessible to the general buyer looking for latex garments, than it is the case with regular textiles.
What is fetish fashion?
Some fetish fashion items include: stiletto heel shoes and boots (most notably the ballet boot), hobble skirts, corsets, collars, full-body latex catsuits, stockings, miniskirts, crotchless underwear, garters, locks, rings, eyewear, handcuffs, and specific garments based on more traditional fashion, such as wedding dresses made of almost completely see-through lace.
Fetish fashion is usually made of materials such as leathers, latex or synthetic rubber or plastic, nylon, PVC, spandex, fishnet, and stainless steel. Fetish fashion is created to be extreme or provocative.The woman usually wears a corset or bustier and stockings with high heeled footwear. High boots are quite common as they enhance the woman’s domination. Most women in dominatrix costumes carry an accessory such as a whip or a riding crop.
The specific origin and history of latex fetishism is not specifically known. However it can be noted that some of the earliest forms of rubber full body clothing appreciation goes back as far as the early 1940s where certain underground publications (many of them illegal to the sexual obscenity laws of that time) featured several sets of photos of men and women wearing scuba suits publicly rather than underwater, as well as illustrations of such suits featured in those underground publications released by Irving Klaw and Eric Stanton. Custom costumers such as the first generation of the company Cocoon, or the Sealwear Company of Bournemouth, England, were known for sewing rubber/latex clothing during the mid 1950s for a select clientele.
Sealwear catalog pictures early 1960’s (Source : Google Images)
The origin and development of fetish fashion
Fetish fashion does not have a specific origin point. Certain fashions that were appreciated for themselves or worn as part of a particular subculture have been noticed since the earliest days of clothing. Some argue that the use of corsets and later of hobble skirts since the late 17th century was the first definite evidence of fetish fashions. However, others argue that what is termed as fetish fashion started with the leather-wearing culture of the homosexual London, England underground after World War II. The shoe fetish could be the earliest one.
1965 Diana Rigg in the TV show, the Avenger (Source : Google Images)In the 1960’s, in Great Britain, latex clothing came to the forefront with the influence of rock musicians such as the Rolling Stones and The Who, and television performers such as Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg in The Avengers, who wore full body leather catsuits and full limb-covering leather and latex gloves and boots.
Vivienne Westwood (Source: Google Images)
Today, many fashion designers incorporate elements of the fetish subculture into their creations or create products directly based on elements that are not mainstream. Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood created several restrictive BDSM-inspired clothing items for the 1970s punk subculture; in particular bondage trousers, which tie the wearer’s legs with straps.
Pandemonia (Source : Google Images)
London fine artist, Pandemonia, is known for her latex designs. She is famous for her attendance at art and fashion events in the London area, covered head-to-toe in latex and PVC material. Her work reflects the media’s obsession with perfection, and the “next-step” in the fetish trend towards perfection. As latex fashion seeks itself, a form of mainstream fetish fashion too comes to the open.
Pandemonia (Source : Google Images)
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