LustLoveLatex

So the London Fetish Weekend has come and gone, but the event is still pretty fresh in my mind, despite how little of it I actually did!

I’d decided that I needed to return to London even though I’d already spent a tidy little sum only a month earlier at the competition’s big event, if only to appear fair to both sides of this ongoing rivalry. I really like all the players in this nasty drama, so it’s tough on my patience that things have come to what they now are!

So, first off, I have to confess that as an event reporter, I’m wretched, having missed all three parties! I can, however, give you my impressions of what I observed, and direct you to a HMS Latex’s journal of the weekend, which provides a very fresh account from a newcomer’s perspective. Part One is here, and Part Two is here, complete with lovely photos of pretty young things in pretty latex.

The Xpo

I ended up working at ProLatex/Latexa’s Xpo booth all Saturday, so I was really able to get a good overall view of the fair. As is normal for the weekend, the nearest station to the venue, Barbican, was closed. I do believe out of the five years that I’ve been attending, that the station has been open only once. It’s definitely annoying, especially for people who are brand new to the city, and brand new to the event, but by now I practically consider it part of the flavor of a fetish weekend.

Overall, the Xpo was packed, and very well organized, with workshops, exhibits and fashion shows held both days of the fair. It ran and appeared almost identical to the Expo of the past, although a couple of the bigger labels didn’t participate, and mostly English exhibitors were represented. I particularly enjoyed Rubber Parlour’s offerings, as well as d.vote’s range of sexy men’s latex (and even sexier models!), Montcler’s adorable pvc and plastic clothes. As always, I found the Xpo a wonderful place to catch up with old friends. While I’ve never liked the Barbican much as a venue, the Xpo seems to be the better fetish shopping experience by far–it’s an almost inescapable fact.

The parties, all three of them, appeared to be very successful, with lots of praise going to Friday’s Subversion event. Thursday’s Fetishistas party was reported to be laid-back and ideal for catching up with old connections, and I’m sorry I had to miss it! The main headliner, Torture Garden is always a winner with fetish fiends, in spite of reports of hour-long coat check lines snaking up the church’s tower, and no changing facilities. (To be fair, neither condition is TG’s fault, but appears to be one of the limitations posed by the church itself. Regardless of the cause, however, it’s never much fun to waste time standing on stairs when more exciting things are going on underneath! Is there no viable solution?)

Fashionable Germans share a laugh at Torture Garden, photo graciously provided by TheFetishSaloon.com

I’m still not at all happy about the fact that party-goers and exhibitors on limited budgets feel forced to decide which weekend they’ll attend. It may make for a more exciting calendar for locals, but for the rest of us living outside London, it’s a tough call! I wonder how big of a draw either weekend will be in 2009, with the global economy showing no signs of improvement. It has been suggested by one exhibitor that perhaps it’s time for them to assert themselves and wait before booking a stall for either weekend, in the hopes that the competitors sit down and work out their enormous differences, and come to some sort of truce, which would benefit both vendors and attendees. Given the divided present scene, maybe it’s not such a bad idea!