S&M, latex, corsetry, masquerade masks, the red lipstick of burlesque: a selection of images conjured when considering the concept of fetish beauty. However, the appeal of the aesthetics of fetishism is by no means reserved for a select minority congregating in a clandestine fetishist club. Traces of the visual spill over into all areas of popular culture, from the modern resurgence of masked balls (partly thanks to Gossip Girl) to Dita Von Teese to Lady Gaga to the runways at fashion week.
In the case of the latter, Alexander McQueen has always incorporated a strong fetish quality to its spectacle, and this year was no exception for SS12 – only the third collection produced by Sarah Burton since the designer’s death. Burton is renowned for maintaining the designer’s original drama and darkness yet adding a positive feminine touch; there’s a novel softness to the constraint, which makes it appear not just consensual but desired. The motif of the gimp mask that pervaded the SS12 collection typified this conflation, with the dominating nature of the gimp masks rendered softly feminine through their construction from cream, coffee and lavender lace; others were constructed half from harsh shards of black jet to contrast the other half of polished ivory shell in all its organic lightness.
The stylised formal nature of the fetish aesthetic ensures its state as fantasy rather than reality; constriction and humiliation are permissible when they’re just a lavishly ornate game. Jess Cartner-Morley writes in The Guardian: “McQueen loved to explore femininity and fashion in all its messy, contradictory glory”. An ample summary of the appeal of the image of fetishism, then: messy, contradictory, feminine.
