Fetish Boudoir – Blog

Torture Garden New Year’s Eve 2008
Wednesday 31 December 2008 @ Mass

Torture Garden had promised us big things for New Year’s Eve. Things like confetti cannons and balloon drops and shows, on top of all the usual festivities. The December newsletter also hinted at big plans for 2009, so what better place to make or break all our new New Year’s Resolutions than TG?

• Resolution 1 : Clear out your wardrobe

Out with the old, in with the new ! I’ve grumbled about cheap lingerie and the dresscode before, but I’m woman enough to eat my words. TG’s latest newsletter announced a stiffer dresscode and though I don’t know if it was implemented already, the crowd seemed to have already decided to dress up for the New Year. Though there was still a complement of lingerie and fancy dress, there was also far more amazing latex, themed outfits, and inspired dressing. Hurrah!

• Resolution 2 : Get fit

The delicious DJ Fidelity Kastrow led the way both in fashion and music, managing to look and sound stunning. Along with Allen and David TG, and alumni Jimmy Mofo and Janette Slack among others, the dancefloors were packed all night long. TG was obviously helping us to fulfill that most popular and impossible of resolutions : exercise more. By dancing and dancing and dancing …

• Resolution 3 : Quit smoking

TG also encourages you to stop smoking ! Without a marquee to trap the heat, those indulging in the smoking area had to cluster round the heaters that were kindly provided, but that freezing temperature certainly stang, even on the mercifully short circuit between the dungeon and the upper floors … The layout on the whole was the same as for Halloween, with the Babalou floor serving as the dungeon. Though people still tended to cluster on their way in, the actual dungeon space was a lot more divided, creating more intimacy and chill out space, which made up for losing the upstairs chill-out to the new green room.

• Resolution 4 : Spend more time with family and friends

Along with the layout, circulation was helped by the bouncers being quite firm about keeping people circulating in the non-club areas. The several cloakrooms were extra efficient and the queues kept to a minimum by spreading them around the club. By dint of opening an hour early, and closing late, TG’s superb organisation gave us as much time as possible to party with friends.

• Resolution 5 : Do less housework !

And party they did. Forget the cleanup – who’s to think about that when there are balloons and confetti being thrown at you on the main dancefloor, music being played and dancing to be done ? While I saw in the New Year Dancing, Josselin was next door enjoying the Libidex stage show, an elaborate Moulin Rouge themed production featuring the entire Libidex team and their exclusive, spectacular new line of printed rubber. Said rubber proved that it’s not only beautiful but practical, as it turned to splosh : again, who cares about housework when it’s turning into a festive foodfight of thrown cake and sprinkles all over?

• Resolution 6 : Delegate

Josselin not only photographed the show, as you can see below, but he was also the hero of the hour when he managed to open the champagne …. with his teeth. For this accomplishment, he was invited to take a bow with the rest of the team onstage. He also demonstrated a fine command of the art of delegation when he handed over his camera for other people to take pictures of him and for him. A useful skill!

• Resolution 7 : Be thankful

Credit where credit is due : A huge thank you to the TG and Libidex for putting on this show and this night for us, and congratulations on another incredible success. 2009 will truly be your year!

• Resolution 8 : Get organised

Here are the Torture Garden dates for 2009, as announced in the newsletter. Please note that these dates are not 100% confirmed until the tickets go on sale …

- TG Valentines Ball – Sat 14th Feb @ Mass
- TG March – Sat 14th Mar @ Venue TBC
- TG Easter Ball – Fri 10th April @ Mass
- Birthday Ball Weekend:
TG International Fetish Ball – Fri 15th May @ Mass
TG Birthday Ball – Sat 16th May @ SeOne
TG Boudoir Ball – Sun 17th May @ Platinum Bar
- TG June – Sat 13th June @ TBC
- TG July – Sat 11th July @ TBC
- TG August – Sat 8th @ TBC
- TG Sept – Sat 5th Sept @ Mass
- TG London Fetish Ball – Sat 4th Oct @ Mass
- TG Halloween Ball – 31st Oct @ SeOne
- TG Xmas Ball – Sat 5th Dec @ Mass
- TG NYE – Thur 31st Dec @ Mass

Put them down in your diary straight away ! The Birthday Ball 2008 at SeOne was definitely one of my highlights of the year and I’m looking forward to the next one already ! Plus the added bonus of Josselin celebrating his own birthday – stay tuned for more info.

• Resolution 9 : Take a trip

TG have already announced that they will be cutting down on their international events and focusing opn other exciting sounding projects. However do look out for Torture Garden events in Athens, Rome, Tokyo, Dallas, Paris …

• Resolution 10 : Be Happy

Happy 2009 !!

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Torture Garden Halloween
Saturday 01 November 2008 @ London (Mass)

It is sometimes useful to have the benefit of hindsight when writing one’s reviews. Or maybe I’m just making excuses for being very late in my contribution to the Halloween Torture Garden event post … In any case, Torture Garden sent out their November Newsletter which provides their take on the new layout, which is highly illuminating. From their point of view, the limitations imposed on Mass for the use of their habitual dungeon turned out to be an improvement. From the punter’s point of view, the use of two full cocktail bars and much more seating was a huge improvement, though there were minor drawbacks, such as the gauntlet to be run between Dungeon/Chill-out area and the dancefloors .. but more on that later.

The vibe was there even in the queue, early as we arrived. This was it, one of the biggest Torture Garden events of the year, up there with the Birthday Ball and New Year’s Eve party. Finally, all those who felt they needed a commercial excuse to dress up could let loose. It was also the perfect occasion for first timers, a little shy in their ‘borrowed plumage’, to make their outing. Traditional-style Halloween costumes, witches, ghouls and mummies mixed with the trashier roadkills, graphic corpses and morbid fetish. A truly terrifying pink clown haunted the halls. Torture Garden regulars could be spotted between forests of feather and tulle wings  … Though they made circulation a little difficult at times, it was truly invigorating to see so many spectacular outfits and appreciate the effort that had gone into them.

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Torture Garden
Saturday 04 October 2008 @ London (Mass)

Torture Garden was back this month headlining the London Fetish Weekend, bigger and better than ever. Perhaps we’re all back from our holidays, perhaps we need relief from the daily grind and the shortening days, or perhaps it’s just more pleasant to wear latex now it’s cooler. Whichever it is, TG was bigger and better than ever, and people were partying like it was the end of the world … at least until the next big night.

Using a fuller Mass layout, the dungeon occupied the downstairs boudoir and the upper floor was taken over by 2 dancefloors to cater to eclectic tastes … increasing eclectic in fact as the night went on. The main room was just non stop, with sets by Allen TG and Janette Slack that had the crowds bouncing and whooping. Many old friends returned for our entertainment : Midori and Kumi graced us with caged bondage, while in the other room Katz Maffioletti conducted medical experiments of the performance kind. On the main stage of the Eclectic Room, when the stage wasn’t taken over by a very cheerful dancer in a kaftan, there were a succession of shows for our delectation : Pandemonia presented some full-on rubberwear, German AMF Korsets combined suspension and fashion, Ryan Styles’ wowed with cabaret interludes. In the dungeon, Charles Gatewood’s visit to London and exhibition were celebrated in an installation by Switch Theatre.

Pandemonia’s take on latex is one of fun and glamour in full bodysuits : blow-up accessories figured as Eve’s snake, film star hair, as the hat of a glorious black and white diva, armed with a bubblegun, greeted with cheers. Ryan Style’s cabaret provided some welcome levity before the next act ..

AMF Korsets’s show had a primeval quality to it – the virgin sacrifice, the goddess of fertility and fire. The flames, the piercing and suspension, the leather of the corsets all called upon our deepest, darkest desires, the very baseness of our natures. Though it started as a more traditional fashion show, it grew gradually stranger and stranger as you realised that one model’s lips were in fact a part of her mum (the technical term I have recently learned for a neck-corset that covers the chin and mouth), that the mechanical device on another’s was going to be used to stretch her lip like a National Geographic African tribal picture, or that the “wings” of the suspendee were attached not to her corset, but to the hooks placed in her tattooed skin. The beautiful fire eater acted as an eerie priestess for AMF’s dark idol, lighting flames along the headdress of the goddess, along her skin and before her own nipples. I was left with a strange prickling sensation along my own back – and a burning (no pun intended) desire to own one of AMF’s pieces.

The bloodlust could be worked off in the dungeons or one the dancefloor, which grew gradually more frenzied. There was a definite feeling, as was being discussed in the enlargened outdoor smoking marquee, that this was the first of the big parties, that the festive season was back for the pervs and the kinksters, that this was the beginning of the best bit. Everyone was talking about TG’s Halloween party in tones of excitement and anticipation, and we can rest assured that London Fetish Weekend has kicked off a new festive season.

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Torture Garden RubberBall Special 2008
Saturday 5 September 2008 @ Mass

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Torture Garden Summer 2008
Saturday 2 August 2008 @ Mass

It is a tribute to Torture Garden, Pope of fetish parties, that even in sunny August weather it draws a crowd of dedicated pervs and fun seekers to its Summer Mass, and that it fulfills all their expectations and more.

From the flyer, you might have been forgiven for thinking the August edition of the 17 year-old club a small, quiet affair. “New smaller 3 room layout for the summer”, it said, back at Mass in Brixton. Luckily I’d been there for the Fetishistas-sponsored International Fetish Ball in May, so I was forewarned not to expect anything too poky. Luckily I avoided queuing for the Ninjattitude club night, also taking place at Mass that night, but trust the fetish club to use the underground entrance!

Some improvements had been made to the layout since the last night there, most notably in the dungeons and the opening of more seating areas, which were very welcome. This wasn’t really your average “quiet night”, however: the pulsating mixes of TG stalwarts Allen TG, Jimmy Mofo and Jimmy Mofo, along with relative (but much appreciated) newcomer Fidelity Kastrow had the crowd on their feet till closing time and past that … (especially given the state of the Tube that particular weekend) Fidelity is an habitué of Tresor in Berlin, and will be mixing at TG for the third time in September, which Josselin is looking forward to as she is extremely photogenic as well as a very talented DJ, as you can tell from his gallery.

London is one of the few cities that could support a summer party 600 perverts strong. Only in London, and possibly only TG, could draw crowds from all over Europe and even further afield: between beats (or in the more quiet areas) you could hear Spanish, French, German and Czech bandied around, and some definite transatlantic twangs. It’s easy to understand why they would make the hop, skip and a jump to come to one of the summer’s biggest and only events. While many clubs close down for the hot months, Torture Garden just keeps going and going, while planning September’s Skin Two special and its headlining event at the London Fetish Weekend in October. Though we appreciate the effort and will undoubtedly much enjoy the results, we were very glad to have something to sink our teeth into in the quiet times. London provides much kinky entertainment, but there is only one Torture Garden!

The crowd lived up to expectations, with a selection of beautiful outfits and wacky themes. Though there does seem to be a trend for cheap lingerie, the quality and the effort put in by others more than make up for it and people-watching is always one of my greatest pleasures, and it makes spotting for Josselin great fun ! Nurses, sailors, rubberdolls, marquises, military uniforms: there was something for every taste. Eclectic and open as ever, Torture Garden isn’t your typical fetish club. It’s often said as if this is a bad thing, not fetish enough maybe, but it remains that even in down time, it brings out creativity and fun. The shows, though low key, were entertaining with Ruby Blues’ strange masked nuns and Lazlo Pearlman’s sailor-themed show : less “Rum, Sodomy and the Lash”, more “Popeye goes to Thailand”. Amrita and Kumi also provided some lycra-clad suspension bondage.

All in all, less about the spectacular on the stage, more about the atmosphere in the crowd, which was great. The fun was efficient, more socializing than play-focused, though issues in the Couples’ Room were swiftly taken care of, and of course you could argue that play is socializing … As ever, a huge thank you to the dedicated TG team, and see you next month !

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TG Birthday Ball 2008
Saturday 3 may 2008 @ SeOne

To step into SeOne on Saturday 3rd May was to step into a different world … and everybody knew it and eagerly looked forward to it as they queued for Torture Garden’s 2008 Birthday Ball. Already well warmed up by a fantastic party the night before at the International Fetish Ball (co-hosted by Tony Mitchell’s The Fetishistas) the queue was shivering with anticip…ation rather than the cold, helped by unusually forgiving weather in London that weekend – not that the rubberwearers mind a little rain, but that deep under London Bridge, they wouldn’t even have felt it.

The anxious queue grew more anxious still as, when they finally reached the hallowed halls, they were hustled into a nightmarish warzone where they were stripped, bullied and hassled by latex clad army sergents. Noone seemed to mind being pushed into a (de)contamination room to change, nor loath to drop their pants and take a beating from the fiercely lovely officers. Most seemed to quite enjoy it (pervs !) and as ever, the crowd set the carnival mood.

Pared down to their party wear, they were allowed to move on and discover the delights that awaited them this year at the fabulously decorated SeOne. From Pre-war Berlin to extravagant New Orleans, the TG team had put in a fantastic effort and created seven different atmospheres, with something to cater for every taste. The uniforms seemed to congregate in the Salon Kitty Bordello, where they only added to the magical impression of being transported back to a more glamorous age, when women were real rubber-clad sirens and men were real uniform-clad gentlemen (or maybe the opposite). From projections of Bob Fosse’s Cabaret it was only a short step easily taken to the live entertainment of Anke Landeau, Lady Ane Angel and Roxy Velvet, which the crowd enjoyed sipping their drinks on gold cane chairs or lounging on leather sofas. Lady Ane and Roxy Velvet later reappeared on the stage of the Voodoo Ballroom where the hep cats and the swinging ladies had been rocking and rolling along to DJ sets from Torture Garden’s own David, the Broken Hearts (or are the Broken Dolls, as listed on the onsite maps ?) and Pandora’s Jukebox. Photographer Maxime Avet was certainly looking very dapper as he swung his partners round. A new performance by Emily Marilyn and Ruby Luster, the presence of Sefi Snake Dancer in the cage and Urban Voodoo Machine’s concert only served to remind that New Orleans voodoo is not only spicy, but can be downright dangerous … A fact which the bravest could verify by venturing into the Hellfire Club and Dungeon Room where strange sex-magic rituals were led by Temple T. It was hard to get near enough to see through the crowd, but the scents of strange incense hinted at lustful mysteries.

The several bars were well staffed and there were enough sofas and chill-out areas for everyone to recover (which is no mean feat with a crowd of 2600), and the luckiest received candy from a skipping nurse. Less compassionate medical staff repaired to the Hospital Playroom, which featured a water-torture performance by Kumi Monster and Amrita. Nurse Amrita waited until Kumi was firmly bound down in a white rubber straightjacket to shave her head, but the worst torture was probably the tickling she endured at the end ! We are happy to say that she seemed entirely recovered as she prowled playfully around the stage later wearing a leopard catsuit in the HWdesign show.

The main stage in the Propaganda Club Arena hosted all the night’s fashion shows : Torture Garden Clothing’s new Virgin Queen inspired collection, Austria’s HW Designs, and the UK’s http://www.prettypervy.com/ Pretty Pervy, all set off by great lighting. Torture Garden Clothing’s newest offering seemed to step from the pages of some strange alternative history book, with a dominant theme of asymmetrical black, red, white and gold. SadEast received her customary ovation as she stepped out, looking beautiful as ever in a white corset with a puffed sleeve, belted in black. HW Designs formed a complete contrast with 1940s and 50s style designs in unusual leopard-print rubber, and Pretty Pervy’s glamorous Martian gowns and strange creatures showed just how much you can stretch to with rubber.

The shows and the dancers owed a lot to Fidelity Kastrow’s DJing handiwork, which was thoroughly fantastic, and almost as beautiful as the lady herself. Josselin was very sorry to see her leave, and everyone missed her beats, but kept on dancing till the lights came on, all too soon, at 6am. Stumbling out into the streets and realising it was already light wasn’t even enough to bring the crowd down, and neither were the dozens of cabdrivers hustling outside the venue doors. Instead there was a stampede of fantastical creatures as they opened the gates at London Bridge tube station, dispersing the last of the Birthday Ball magic into the city. Wandering rather dazedly towards the trains, we decided that despite a lost lensehood and a broken battery pack (Josselin), sore feet and aching limbs (Sarah) and a lot of sleep to catch up on (both) we’d definitely be back to more the next night. Or should that be later that day, since we left at 7:30am ?

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International Fetish Ball
Friday 2 may 2008 @ Mass

Returning to one of its favourite haunts, Torture Garden opened its 2008 birthday festivities with the International Fetish Ball at Mass, in Brixton. As a warm-up event, rather than the big Birthday Ball, it was only using two rooms : one as a dancefloor / performance stage and the other as a dungeon / chill-out / couples’ room. For a smaller event, it had plenty of attractions, and before the doors even opened the queue was forming. It was a pleasure to finally meet Charlotte TG on the door, after many exchanged emails, and Josselin was very grateful to receive his photopass.

As the event was co-hosted by The Fetishistas, Tony was in attendance, keeping an eye on the studio spot (the first pictures are up on the site already), and waiting for the dancefloor to fill up was the perfect time to catch up with old friends from the “French Team” : Maxime Avet, Whisper, SadEast and Frankfrançois. It was great to see Kippiepoo, Viktoria De Luxe and Andy again, and meet Liz, Calamity Amelie (in a sky-high fascinator) and Veronica. The place filled up fast, and by the first show, the dancefloor was packed.

VonLivid’s label House of Bias opened the festivities, with a three-fold collection of latex clothing. Emily Marilyn and Ruby Luster then gave a “Once Upon a Time in the West” style performance, showing us how they do it in America no doubt, and probably everyone in the room wanted to be in one or the other of their places as Emily’s lasso turned into a shibari net round Ruby’s body.

We unfortunately missed the performance by transsexual star Buck Angel but were able to catch the later projection of the film Schwarzwald from the dance floor, where DJs Ritual and Sota Suzuki alternated to keep the crowd moving … and coming back for more between shows. It was however very difficult to catch even a glimpse of Ancilla Tilla’s first UK performance … I think it involved a haughty lady being taught a lesson by her maids, and what could be seen looked great. The crowd in front certainly seemed to think so.

It was around this time that Josselin’s camera suffered the first of the weekend’s series of accidents. The flash was the first casualty, and though Jan was kind enough to give some detailed adviced about where to get it fixed, Josselin ended up pulling a MacGyver and fixing it himself later … with a hairpin. Don’t ask. He didn’t let it spoil his fun though, and it was already light by the time we tore him away from his friends and stumbled onto a night bus, to recover a little and mostly prepare for that night’s Birthday Ball.

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