Last Saturday, over 20.000 people took part in the Copenhagen Pride Parade 2013. I joined the other members from our local fetish club Manifest to show the people of Copenhagen that sexual freedom is for everybody.
The parade rute was 3,9 km long and took us from the Frederiksberg district to the City Hall Square in the heart of Copenhagen. The weather was great, the streets full of smiling people and everybody had a fantastic time.
It was the first time I walked in a parade in full latex. It was quite a experience and also great fun. I can’t wait to go again next year!
Have you ever been to FetishEvolution? No? Well, then this is your call to join the FetishEvolution Weekend 2011 from April 21st to 26th in Essen, Germany! Right from its start 8 years ago, FetishEvolution has been one of Europe’s best fetish experience. Extravagant guests wearing glamorous fetish outfits, legendary locations with an overwhelming atmosphere, the world´s most enchanting fetish beauties, first-class labels presenting the crème de la crème of high fetish fashion.
The weekend begins when you check-in at the four-star Hotel Bredeney, which is reserved for “FetishEvolution Weekend” guests only. The hotel got 293 rooms and can accommodate 450 guests, a huge indoor pool, a good restaurant and fantastic bar. Hotel Bredeney is also the location where you’ll find the “HighGloss Fashion Art” fetish expo (Saturday and Sunday), where you will find the world’s best latex and fetish designers and manufacturers, presenting their newest collections and merchandise ready to try and buy.
FetishEvolution is well-known for its decadent but classy events. Starting with “FetishEvolution Kinky Cocktails” on Thursday 21st of April, it offers a pleasurable occasion to gather momentum and get a first taste of a stylish fetish atmosphere. Socializing is easy while sipping delicious cocktails and you might find friends you want to party with throughout the next days.
On Friday the 22nd of April, features “Models & Makers”, where models, artists, photographers, exhibitors and publishers come together. As this is no official party, it’s limited to “Ticket Deluxe” holders only.
The next day, Saturday the 23rd of April, it’s time to put on one of your most elegant fetish outfits for the “FetishEvolution Dinner Deluxe”. With an excellent menu, candle lights and soft music, everybody is in for an special treat. Your host Paul Nathan will make sure that your meal is accompanied by bizarre performances and international fetish top models. Being an extraordinary and luxurious event, “Dinner Deluxe” is limited to 120 guests and tickets are pre-sale only.
The dinner is followed by the “FetishEvolution PreParty” at the same location. Enjoy a night of classy fetish and playful SM pleasures. No matter if you prefer to watch the glamorously dressed party people, get enchanted by the vibrating mood or get lost in bizarre dreams, the industrial building “Lokschuppen” Bottrop is the perfect venue.
On Sunday 24th of April, FetishEvolution Weekend finds its climax at “The Ball”, which is Europe’s best fetish parties hold at the inspiring location know as MudiaArt. On the main stage, the mistresses of ceremonies – Bianca Beauchamp, Tara Noemi and Dena Massque, will entertain you with a variety of fetish performances. Later the stage becomes a catwalk where renowned labels present finest fetish couture. Enjoy the opportunities this extravagant scenery offers and make it an incredible night to remember. Celebrate, dance and play until the early morning lights.
The next morning, on Monday 25th of April, the delicious “FetishBrunch” at Hotel Bredeney is an excellent remedy for kinky hangovers. The brunch is reserved for guest of Hotel Bredeney. Later you can join the other guests at the “FetishEvolution Chillout & Play” party. The lights are dim, the music is easy and alluring. For those who are not yet fully satisfied, you find an inviting play area equipped with first-class SM furniture.
The next morning, on Tuesday 26th of April, the “Bye bye breakfast” marks the end of an incredible weekend. You may not want to return to your regular life, but that’s only too be expected after such a extravagant fetish weekend!
This year’s Miss Rubber World competition was won by Toronto’s own quirky, talented and beloved Archean. Having recently learned of her victory I sent her a message asking when we could speak so I could get all the details while they were still fresh in her mind.
I remember her announcing at a mutual friend’s birthday party her intention to participate and so she started planning since last October.
Not having been present, I asked her about her presentation. Archean shared with me that in taking her performance piece seriously she chose to essentially “test” it a couple of times at other events. First at a Hard Rock Cafe and then at “Capital Kink” in Ottawa, where she delivered it as a multi-media piece incorporating video that she interacted with. The multi-media concept was dropped for NYC in order to prevent technical difficulties.
She wanted something with a narrative and so she designed a show with a bit of a plot line. Something about and of herself. She illustrates the journey of her discovery of her kinks and coming to terms with herself as a fetishistic woman.
*Launching in the Spring, Kink Engineering’s website “Rubberlesque” will present video of the show, I’ll keep you posted.*
I asked Archean why she decided to participate in the pageant. She laughed and freely admitted that the prize pool was a strong motivator. She then went on to say that she and her other half (Mad_Scientist) have a number of concepts (like their existing Knockoff Knockdown Blog) brewing in their Kink Engineering RubberLab. Having the Miss Rubber World title would enable her to better promote these projects – projects that benefit the rubber community.
Her plan was to represent herself as honestly as possible. She designed outfits that she truly loved and were a good reflection of her personality – including making her Tank Girl costume herself. She feels her genuine love of rubber really came through and that as someone with body-image issues she wanted to see if she could be “on par with the model-types” one expects at these competitions. Archean described to me the first time she put on a catsuit – how she literally cried for joy for feeling so beautiful (something I can very much relate to). She described competing at the event as a “very empowering” experience that made her feel “really beautiful”. She wanted to see if the public was interested in having her represent them as Miss Rubber World and they did!
It was funny listening to her describe some of the high-points of the weekend…
There was zero tolerance for fraternizing with the judges. She had to wait until after the competition to hang out with Dawnamatrix, whom she’d befriended at another fetish event, and had a terrific time doing so. She really liked the rice pudding at NYC’s “Rice to Riches” and would totally go back. Apparently this was the first “solid” food she could hold down during that weekend. You see, our Miss Rubber World was sick with the stomach flu for those three days and was vomiting literally only three hours prior to the competition.
“I absolutely loved it. It was a lot of work. It was stressful. It took every ounce of focus to make this happen.” Archean loved the whole experience so much that it brought her out of her sickness and put her in the “happiest spot in the world.”
“The crowd lost their minds and people were telling me this was the best fetish performance they have ever seen. Skydiving didn’t compare to this!”
Observing such a tremendous response from the audience made it all worthwhile even if she didn’t win.
“This was really inspiring, it built up my confidence and was loads of fun more than anything. I got to look pretty and be smart in front of an audience!”
She and her crew arranged for a videographer to capture footage for a documentary about the experience. Another Kink Engineering project? : )
I asked her if there was anything she wished to share with you folks…
“I really want this to become a big event to showcase the new amazing talent out there. I think it’s on its way to becoming that. I really want people to put forth their best efforts because this has the potential to inspire people to do new and exciting things. This is an amazing platform for people with less experience and fame to present stuff that will blow everybody away. I want people to keep striving to bring excellence to the competition because its good for the community.”
Beautifully said by a 26 year-old artist/latex-activist I’m proud to know. Well said, indeed.
*More images to follow as I receive them*
“In 1997, Mr. International Rubber, a.k.a. Rubber Blowout Weekend, began under the ownership of Cell Block. Much like its counterpart, International Mr. Leather, the weekend includes a competition, vendor market and after-hours events. But according to Schendel (or “Rubberwilli”), who won the pageant in ’03, while the event may have boosted drink sales, it also cost a lot for the bar to underwrite. And Cell Block’s cramped quarters meant it couldn’t properly accommodate MIR. Holding the vendor market each afternoon while the competition and after-parties happened each night was a logistical nightmare, Schendel says. “The vendor would have to set up then tear down, then set up then tear down,” he says. “It was really just a mess for them.”
At last year’s event, Center on Halsted executive director Tico Valle, who served as a competition judge, suggested the Center as an alternative venue: Its Hoover-Leppen Theater and Billie Jean King Recreation Hall could better house the competition and market. Valle’s offer inspired John Jacobs, also a judge last year, to purchase the contest from Cell Block and form MIR Contest LLC with Schendel.”
The Skin Two Rubber Ball 2009 will be on Saturday 12th December. At a new and very exclusive venue, one of the largest private houses in central London, built in 1775 by Robert Adam for the famous explorer, Lord Henry Wyndham, and then home to a series of extrovert characters including the Earl of Sheffield and Lord Charles Townsend, whose ghost still drifts down the grand staircase. Now it hosts the 2009 Skin Two Rubber Ball! Tickets will be strictly limited and the party is once again the central event of Skin Two Rubber Ball Weekend.
The theme for this year is a Masked Ball and the night promises to be the international fetish event of the year. Expect erotically charged live performances, DJs, art installations, dungeon playrooms, a dedicated couples area, plus the most wonderfully pervy people in their sexiest and most creative outfits.
Tickets are now on sale!
For full information on Skin Two Rubber Ball Weekend, including the supporting events, go to www.skintworubberball.com
