Etsy.com is a relatively new (founded in ’05) e-commerce community where one can buy and sell all sorts of handmade items, from garments to home furnishings to original artwork. Their motto is “buy, sell, and live handmade.”
Good thing for us, they seem to be fetish-friendly. Recently, there’s been an upsurge of upstart and established latex designers starting shop pages on the site. I’ve compiled a list of pretty much all the latex designers I’ve found plus extra non-latex designers that may be of interest to you.
I hope more latex designers will jump on the Etsy bandwagon. We definitely need another alternative to fleabay. The best thing about shopping on Etsy: no more having to drudge through sixty pages of moldy molded gear and PVC or ‘wet look’ spandex crap when browsing.
The Latex/Rubber Etsy Shop List:
Am Statik (UK – Swindon)
Collective CHAOS (USA)
Dark Secrets Latex (UK – N.E. England)
Essential Latex (Copenhagen)*
Fierce Couture (USA – Los Angeles)
Hedony Design (France – Paris)
Hello Dolly Latex (UK – Sheffield)
HMS Latex (France – Paris)*
Jacqueline Marie Couture (USA – NYC)
Kaori’s Latex Dreams (UK – London)*
Kriszta Latex Wardrobe (Hungary)
Likorish Latex (UK)
Lust Designs (USA – San Diego)*
Naucler Design (Sweden)
Nimue’s Latex Fashions (USA – CA)
Ooh La Latex (UK – London)*
Peccatus (UK – London)
Spiral Stitching (USA)
Vaunt Designs (USA – Philly)
Venus Prototype (USA – Los Angeles)
Violaceous Latex (UK – Yorkshire)
Westward Bound (UK)
ZxLatex (UK)
Non-latex + miscellaneous shops of interest:
Giddyspinster (USA)
Joias Organicas (Brazil)
Plastik Wrap (Canada – Toronto)
*Personal recommendations are marked with an asterisk.
Some shops were purposely not included in this list because there was no information listed in the profile and/or shop policies page or the garment photos looked like they were taken with a cell phone camera.
Barbara Nitke is an NYC-based fine art photographer most known for documenting undergroud sexual lifestyles and adult movie film sets (both fetish and ‘nilla).
The photograph of the rubber-clad woman above comes from one of her current portfolios. Visit Barbara’s blog for some wonderful behind the scenes photos and for photoshoot credits.
If you’ll be in the NYC area this May, be sure to check out her new gallery show titled Smooth Hotel at Gansevoort 69 in the Meatpacking District which features “provocative photographs of chic people misbehaving in anonymous hotel settings.” Go here for further info.
Spotted in the December ’09 issue of Wmagazine (that one featuring Demi Moore’s missing hip bones), a blurb about Kenneth Cole’s latest socially conscious good deed product: limited-edition black rubber motorcycle boots. All net proceeds will go to amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research. (World AIDS Day is December 1.) At $98, they’re well-priced– plus there’s the added fuzzy feeling of supporting a good cause.
Kenneth was inspired by Marlon Brando’s iconic boots in the movie The Wild One. The advert slogan for these boots is “Save a Hide…Wear a Rubber (Boot).” On a side note, these would be great RubberInPublic wear.
Also in the news: the legendary latex designer Kim Westreturns! The website’s fabulous, and there’s also a blog and video gallery. The zebra pencil skirt and matching oversized tote bag is truly a power combo. I just wish there were more garment views in the shop. Thanks to Garlor for originally posting Kim’s return on the IAR.
While searching the net for photographers who shoot latex on film, I stumbled upon this image–shot on Fuji instant film–on Flickr by Eric, a photographer in California, who goes by the name refractionless on the site.
The photograph has such a casual and innocent elegance that I couldn’t resist sharing it with you. Black rubber bathed in golden sunlight and a simple outdoor setting provide a different feel than the usual latex fashion studio work. Plus the model, YKat, is stunningly gorgeous. Eric says the following on the shoot and his photography:
This shot was taken in the Sunset District of San Francisco before we went to Mike West’s Rope::Burn show. The dress is from Syren and YKat is currently doing some fitting work for one of their designers.
YKat started modeling for me about five months ago. She is also a photographer and shoots both digital and film. I am strictly a film user. I like the look of film as well as the process. I shoot medium and large format film almost exclusively. I have many cameras: pinhole, twin lens reflex, field, rangefinder, plastic cam, and panoramic. I also collect expired film. My most recent find was 12 boxes of Tri-X Pan that expired in 1981. I have also got some color negative and instant film with extreme color shifts. I’ve only shot a few packs of Fuji instant peel film (FP-100C45 and FP-100B45). I miss the negative option of Polaroid, but find the Fuji to have great color and tonal range.
View more from the set here.
Rubber is her new secret weapon.
Here’s a vintage find for all you lovers of rubber mackintoshes, ladies, ladies wearing rubber mackintoshes…you get the idea! It’s a small catalogue called Girl Mack from the UK. No date is listed anywhere, but my guess is circa 1970 something. If you know any info about the company or have purchased anything from them, please post something in the comments section.
[issuu layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fdarkicons%2Flayout.xml showflipbtn=true autoflip=true documentid=090927081450-b52dee78424f41748b9061cb9e7b7c63 docname=girlmack username=lustlovelatex loadinginfotext=Girl%20Mack showhtmllink=false tag=catalog width=520 height=380 unit=px]
Enjoy! Keep your eyes peeled for more vintage rubber catalogs and mags.
