From Madonna to Beyoncé: the evolution of Fetish Fashion.
By Francesco Sani. Photos by Marco Lorè. Video Source: YouTube.
In 2008 Madonna performed to over 3.5 millions fans in 32 countries in her Sticky & Sweet world tour. It has been one of the highest grossing event of all times. On stage, the “Queenof Pop” showed a provocative look that nothing left to the imagination: riding whip, high heel boots, leather corset and some outfits that reminded us of sadomasochism. The American singer has never been afraid of being hardcore and many fans well remember her 1992’s album Erotica, where she poses naked in photos for the booklet inside the album.
Sticky & Sweet stylist Riccardo Tisci has pushed Madonna’s glamour to another level, she took fetish, which was taboo, from underground to the main stage. Today, ten years later those shows, Madonna’s image is still landing itself to be more dominatrix than a music star, but don’t think she found her outfits in a sex shop. There are brands such as Givenchy, Stella McCartney and Yves Saint Laurent that have contributed to her fetish look!
The Italiandesigner, Riccardo Tisci, at that time Givenchy’s creative director, also showed this style on
the catwalk at Paris Fashion Week 2012. That year magazines and fashion guides stated “Fall fashion has a major leather fetish”. Designers opened an hidden door on twisted fantasies and let them enter “high fashion”… From Marc Jacobs to Thierry Mugler, many of them still use the kinkiers’ favorite materials in their last collections: latex, leather and PVC have never looked quite so stylish!
Photo shoots involving that aesthetic can be seen on the front cover of magazines such as Vogue quite often. Actresses, models and singers seem to appreciate it. Of course this is not the first time that something related to a subculture scene has crossed over the mainstream.
When Punk Fashion, that was dominating the London scene in the 70’s, became popular, people disco-
vered that ripped jeans, piercings and steel collars were more trendy than a subversive message for these young rebels. In fact Vivienne Westwood, who was the first punk fashion designer, started her success at that time.
However, if punk was born from an urban lifestyle and it remained that way, fetish instead was a conce-ptual look originally worn only in bizarre clubs or BDSM events such as Torture Garden. For fetish, MTV and fashion photography have played a more important role in itsdissemination.
In a decade of poor music content and lack of real sexy talented singers like Tina Turner or Whitney Houston of the past, it seems that today they are more focused on hot looks to capture the audience’s attention.
We have a lot of music video by Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry where these starlets play in tight latex dresses. We also remember Miley Cyrus’ provocative live performance at the MTV Music Award in 2013, where she performed her song wearing only a latex bikini.
