This look was closely followed by Madonna, dressed in a total leather look in an S&M maid spirit. The singer is one of the few stars who never gave up the style. She is the goddess of provocation, the aficiononada of the whip, the hot clips which see lovers tie themselves to the bars of the bed, the ace of the harness and the author of the book Sex, that scandalized puritan America in the 1990s. Let's not forget her last opus, entitled Madame X... One can then legitimately wonder about the reasons for this great comeback.
"“The re-emergence of fetish fashion is in part a reaction to lockdown," Professor Andrew Groves explained to The Guardian, earlier this month. He recently curated Undercover, an exhibition revisiting the wearing of surgical face masks in public spaces during the pandemic. If this is the case, it's not really surprising. For many months, the government has dictated its own rules, controlled our bodies and our every move.
The pandemic and the obligation to wear a mask have arguably raised tensions and the desire to indulge in new fantasies. A theory that is of course felt in the fashion scene. For several seasons, houses and designers have been playing with the BDSM aesthetic and pushing the limits. They explore gender and sexuality to achieve looks that can be as poetic as they are libidid-fuelled. We can't help ut think of Ludovic de Saint Sernin who, with his signature eyelet briefs, has managed to create a real craze every season. Also, Moschino by Jeremy Scott who operated, without anyone expecting it, a 360 degree shift during the men's Fall-Winter 2018-2019 Fashion Week. He abandoned his regressive fluo looks for a Dominatrix wardrobe in due form: zipped leather hoods, latex briefs, harness, leather mask and gloves, biker caps ... All presented in a warehouse in Milan, to the soundtrack of techno playing at full volume.
Celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Evan Mock have been quick to adopt the fetishwear trend, which was previously associated with intimacy and sexual fantasies... Is this new attraction to BDSM - meaning sadomasochistic sexual practices - a way to reaffirm one's freedom?
What is sexual fetishism?
Let's start at the beginning. According to the official definition, the term "sexual fetishism" is a “ sexual excitement in response to an object or body part that’s not typically sexual, such as shoes or feet.” What happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom, you might say. However, every season, fashion tends to break the codes, taboos, and barriers of normality.
"We went from a very repressive society to an over-sexualized society. We have the impression that revealing ourselves and showing everything makes us feel very free and liberated. I believe that ultimately, it is kind of the opposite" - Valerie Tasso, sex therapist
It is rumored that corsets and skirts-- in the 1700s-- were an early sign of fetish fashion, others claim that it appeared during the Second World War, in the UK's gay community.
However, it was not until the 1970s and the arrival of Vivienne Westwood that the fetish, which she made her trademark, was democratized in fashion. At the age of 24, the British designer met Malcolm McLaren, an emblematic figure of punk, manager of the Sex Pistols. Together, they set up a store -which changed names several times but which we all know as SEX- at 430 Kings Road in London, for which Vivienne Westwood made clothes that McLaren designed. The clothes were inspired by bikers, fetishists and prostitutes - the manifesto of a new fashion era.
Sex and fashion on social networks
It is impossible to discuss the role of fetishism without incorporating the role of social media...? Why do social networks play such an integral role in the combination of sex and fashion? It's simple, Instagram is the ideal showcase to get exposure and "sell" yourself, especially when you're followed by a plethora of fans. However, the limits are sometimes tricky... "On social media, there is a hyper transparency, a hyper visibility at the level of sexuality, especially of young people," explains Sylvie Tasso a French sex therapist based in Barcelona, to Vogue. “We went from a very repressive society to an over-sexualized society. We have the impression that revealing ourselves and showing everything makes us very free and liberated. I believe that ultimately, it is the opposite.”
It is often said that social networks are not a reflection of real life. On the other hand, they allow us to be daring, to show what we want and above all, to show who we want to be - even if sometimes the image we portray is far from the reality. For some people, social media functions as an outlet to express their's fantasies, and to display them in broad daylight like banners.
There are many sexual, homoerotic Instagram accounts, more or less subtle. One example is @ecce____homo, operated by Simone Cotellessa, an enigmatic fashion influencer. With an account created in 2016 and now swollen to more than 125k followers, he supplies his feed every day with unconventional images of inspirations that can be unnerving -or on the contrary, exciting: shots of curled toes, stilettos allied with a pair of holey sports socks, close-up of a pair of Calvin Klein boxer shorts... His singular and daring eye has managed to attract a large community of enthusiasts from the four corners of the world.
Latex
For the past few weeks, celebrities have been making appearances in outfits with a strong BDSM element: Billie Eilish appeared in a pin-up corset on the cover of the June 2021 Vogue UK , Kim Kardashian doesn't leave home without a full face mask, while model/actor/designer Evan Mock, recognizable by his pink buzzcut, recently tread the red carpet of the 2021 Met Gala with Thom Browne latex hood on his head. Provocation or revenge against the pandemic? A bit of both...
Apart from intimacy, fetishism accessories such as leather, Lycra, and other materials have the potential to form a chic and daring fetishwear panoply on the red carpet (or as a street style). Remember Timothée Chalamet who, in 2019, dressed from head to toe in Louis Vuitton by Virgil Abloh, wearing a harness. Subsequently, the look became that year's leading trend. A starry and elegant transition that was unanimous, and already marked a fashion moment, especially in menswear.
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