Monday 13 September 2010

fetishist fashion




perusing the paper on saturday i was interested to see that the sydney fringe festival's alternative fashion parade was to be held that very evening. the use of the word "steampunk" was the draw card that got me motivated to go....


i spent an hour (can you believe it?) trying to figure out the best neo-victorian outfit already existing in my wardrobe. very plain compared to most victorian dress, i suppose it qualified for the neo part extremely well while still managing to include elements of another era. i wore a plain, full length purple satin skirt, A -line with a tulle petticoat for volume, a tucked black blouse, the collar turned under to produce a round button up neckline, black satin sash to create a bow at the back and an antique style marcasite brooch at the neck.
the girls decided to come with me, despite a looming poetry deadline for caitlin. and so we set off.

a bit peckish and with no time to eat without jeopardising our plans we caught the bus with the cranky driver and hoped for some spare minutes at the other end. before we even got off the bus we could see that the mostly steampunk crowd was one of the most colourful i have ever seen. the girls decided that i was looking plain and described the scene as scary but exciting.






the box office was slow so we had plenty of time to be intrigued by multi coloured hair and bosoms spilling from corsets, men in mourning coats and a crowd who seemed all to know one another.
still nervous about time constraints i hesitated to order pizza from the next door cafe but quick sevice and an excellent pizza (eggplant, zucchini, pesto, feta, mozzarella, roasted capsicum & tomato) made everything good.

the fashion was varied with pleasant victorian styles from clockwork butterfly and an edgier version from gallery serpentine. there was showgirl lingerie and fantasy fashion. one chainlink top had the crowd intrigued with the question of whether the protruding nipples were or were not real. there were dresses made from balloons, a pole dancer, a mermaid hanging from the ceiling and an assortment of rubber outfits with cut-outs saw two little pairs of eyes open wide.

the bathroom, too, was an educational experience. where do folks put their beers once safely settled in a cubicle? and was that beer on the floor or was it the puddle of urine it looked like? and how many of the very large women were actually women?

eventually, via the same cranky bus driver, we returned to the safe beige of suburbia.

~above photos "borrowed" from some random facebook person~



36 comments:

  1. Here in Eugene U.S.A., they have an occasional fairy festival, and all these young women parade around the streets with wings and shit. God, but they drive me crazy. Don't even get me started on it, and, for sure, don't start singing that old Rod Stewart song about, "Spread your wings and let me come inside..." No, no, no. Don't SING that song, Kylie, or I won't be responsible.

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  2. Well that looks interesting and certainly bizarre.

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  3. snow!
    i LOVE that song, accompany Rod regularly....

    now i've done it, lost all credibility and YOU ARE responsible!!!

    xx

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  4. jo,
    it was a pretty good night, all told, a bit bizarre but not confronting

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  5. Okay, Kylie, I warned you. Now, I'm out of here--gone to look for fairies.

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  6. good luck with that, snow....
    you know all disabled by pain and all

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  7. P.S. Did I send you those koala photos. Were they cute or what???

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  8. "good luck with that, snow....
    you know all disabled by pain and all"

    Somedays, if I weren't a masochist, I just don't know how I would cope. Even as it is, being old and pathetic just doesn't really seem to draw women the way I thought it would when I was young and hot.

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  9. the biggest sexual organ is the brain, you have one of those

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  10. snow,
    do you read ellie? she's on my sidebar.
    she's excellent

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  11. Kylie said: "the biggest sexual organ is the brain, you have one of those"

    Ooh, baby. Just keep saying that over and over and over.

    I'm a dirty boy--in more ways than one--so I'll be off to the shower and the feed trough pretty soon here.

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  12. I was hoping you'd post about this...but no pic of you in your finery?

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  13. not a full length one, leah, just a bust and it looks pretty plain

    arent the others fab?

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  14. I wouldn't like to meet the dude in the grey overcoat down a dark alley. He looks as if he might terminate me with extreme prejudice.

    A shame we don't have such an event here, I'm sure all the local fetishists would put on a fabulous display. We do have Gay Pride though.

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  15. nickyyyy!!
    this one is a pretty small event for a city as big as sydney.

    we do gay pride here too (i'm sure you know)but there are a lot less clothes involved in that

    do you have a fave among these photos?

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  16. I rather like the woman with the red dreadlocks and the black hat with the gauge. What's the gauge measuring, I wonder? The degree of fetishism?

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  17. A fairy festival? That sounds pretty cool too. If I could just rescue my magic wand from the attic....

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  18. They are fab and you are lovely.

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  19. All I can say is 'oh my'.

    But shame on you for not having a full length piccy done! *tsk*

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  20. nick,
    so nice of you to help snow in his fairy finding quest....

    leah,
    thanks!

    petey!
    imagine the fun we would have had....

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  21. Looks like a fun party, for the young. My caveat for costume parties was always be careful what persona you took on because you were going to have to live with it the entire evening.

    Love the expression "safe beige of suburbia".

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  22. Escapism in the form of kid's dressups for adults.

    Is Mr Charleston a 1920's - 1930's dancer?

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  23. but, mr charleston, for steampunk you dont have to be a character, you just be yourself but with funny clothes.
    the beige thing was adapted from billy connolly

    dad
    i never liked dress-ups but if i can call it art it's ok :)
    mr charleston can introduce hissself i reckon but i'm pretty sure he's a jazz fan

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  24. I do just adore creative fashion, and the people who experiment with it!

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  25. oh darling, imagine the photos!! especially in our little minivan across Oz....hehehe

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  26. I am sure the people watching was more than excellent! what a fun time!!!

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  27. what a wonerful sexy, gorgeous, stupendious, scrumdilicious picture of you, my dear

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  28. Putz said: "what a wonerful sexy, gorgeous, stupendious, scrumdilicious picture of you, my dear"

    Gee, Putz, you never say nice things like that about me--or even about Rhymes, and we both know that he's hot!

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  29. Kia ora Kylie,
    Looks like a great day. Something for everyone's taste I am sure!
    Aroha,
    Robb

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  30. tatty,
    isnt it the best????

    pete,
    when are you coming over to do that??
    xo

    zack!!
    you would have loved it!

    putzy,
    why, thank you, my dear!

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  31. kris!!
    i cannot believe you have stopped by here!! thank you

    now, you can diss our MPs but not my hometown, right!

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  32. robb,
    it certainly had something for everyone alternative!
    i just love looking at what folks come up with

    hope you have a great weekend

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