1: Review: The 2003 SKIN TWO RUBBER BALL
2: The INIQUITY 2003 Hollywood Fetish Fashion Awards
3: Review: BONDCON 2004 Las Vegas
4: IN THREE WEEKS: The San Francisco Fetish Ball!
5: NEW FETISH CLUB COMING TO SAN FRANCISCO!!!
6: GLOBAL FETISH EVENTS
7: DRESSED TO THRILL returns to Las Vegas!
8: Wrap Up and Stuff For New Readers

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Review: The 2003 SKIN TWO RUBBER BALL
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Some consider it the hallmark of the entire world of Fetish Fashion. Others will call it simply the best Fetish party in the world (especially considering that it goes on for 4 days). To some it is a chance to reconnect with old friends from around the Fetish globe, and to newcomers it is like walking into some fantasy Fetish Circus where life as a Perv seems so normal every day, all day, for four incredible days.

Many moons ago the Rubber Ball was a single day event. Then the good folks at clubs like Torture Garden decided to throw a party of their own just prior. Some more people got on board and a few smaller event popped up, and the occasional Fetish flea market was added. One day several years ago someone had the brilliant idea to bring it all together into one, cohesive whole and call it the SKIN TWO RUBBER BALL WEEKEND (long weekend that is).

2003 was a year of one brilliant night of partying after another. The event opened with the Torture Garden party in the infamous warehouse known to Londoners and Goths as home to the eternal Club Slimelight. A brilliant albeit VERY industrial venue spanning several floors with staircases so wide they are like rooms of their own, every room was filled to capacity without being over-crowded. TG put on a show of their own fashions, and for those of you who did not know that TG now has their own clothing line, let me be the first to tell you that it ROCKS. Seriously amazing latex creations, far far away from a mere black dress. If you recall the theme of the INIQUITY / GGPET DomDominion pre-party last May, it was plainly and simply COLOR. Say it with me..."COLOUR...." (oops, that U was a UK slip up).
Back last May, we at INIQUITY rewarded those who showed up in the most colorful outfits with free copies of the DVD of "Preaching To The Perverted" (a brilliant film if you have not seen it yet). 9 U.S.-based Pervs walked away with copies of the DVD because they grasped the singular concept that the days of monochromatic latex (i.e. black and more black) is a thing of the 80's (all due respect to you 80's revivalists).
Well Torture Garden took what has been a European ideal -- that of COLOR in one's Fetish Fashion -- truly to a new height. Rather than try to describe the amazing couture, head over to the INIQUITY website in a few weeks and check out the PHOTOS in the INIQUITY JOURNALS section at https://clubiniquity.com.
Suffice it to say they combined glowing and glorious colors with a variety of ideas inspired by uniforms, Asian designs, traditional lingerie designs, characters, and much more. It was like a parade of living comic-book heroes and heroines (and for that matter WHY OH WHY doesn't Hollywood GET IT that LATEX is what superheroes should be wearing in movies like X-MEN, not the frickin' monochromatic black leather??? See below for the 2003 Hollywood Fetish Fashion awards by the way...).
There were performances and several rooms to dance in, with TG's own Alan TG spinning his famous house-techno mix in the basement. For you Alan TG fans, don't forget that he will again grace the U.S. with his acoustic manipulations here in San Francisco at the SF Fetish Ball coming up!).
The next party was the SKIN TWO "HOUSE OF FLESH" at a fun venue in central London. Much smaller than the Slimelight venue, it nonetheless had all manner of nooks and crannies to hideaway and get lost in or to slip off with your play partner. Pervs continued to dance all night, and little bits of S&M popped up here and there in the well-hidden upper levels and back rooms. Check the INIQUITY JOURNALS for photos of this night as well as all the RUBBER BALL 2003 events.
The biggest surprise to this author was the SKIN TWO EXPO, a convention hall filled with some of the finest Fetish Fashion and S&M toy and furniture vendors from around the world! If the name of your favorite label rolls off your tongue easily, they were probably there at the Expo. There were exhibits for Fetish getaways (the famous KINK IN THE CARIBBEAN amongst them), AMAZING furniture, Artists Galore, more Fetish Fashion than you can imagine, pervy books, nick-nacks and gift sellers, Fetish jewelry of all kinds, and perhaps the one thing that brought the biggest smile to my face -- well made S&M Toys. I say this last item made me so happy to see because for the longest time getting quality S&M toys in England was really hard. It is nice to see that our British compatriots have come round to producing high-quality S&M toys -- paddles, canes, and the oh-so-American floggers -- in quantity at last. Of course riding crops go without saying, and yes they always have made the best ones over there anyhow. ;-)
The night prior to the Rubber Ball they took a deviation from the party list and hosted a cabaret show which in no uncertain terms included some of the funniest comedians I have ever seen. Impossible to convey here, one comedian was from Australia and although his friend who booked him the gig was a Perv, the comedian was most definitely NOT. He was outright RUDE (in the very very best way) about his perceptions of our community and what he had seen over his few days in London, and he had the audience practically falling out of their chairs with laughter as we all nodded our heads at his Vanilla perceptions and how we and the Rubber Ball weekend must have looked to an outsider. Epically funny.
Lastly came the big night of RUBBER BALL 2003. Held once again at the beautiful Hammersmith Palais, it was a glowing night of the finest Fetish fashions Europe had to offer. The theme was "Carnival Through The Ages" and each of the performances and fashion shows capitalized on this idea to produce a stream of visuals that took one into a world of color, glamour, vaudeville and latex. Check out the PICS in a few weeks on the INIQUITY website, and even more so in issue #46 of SKIN TWO magazine.
Probably the single most notable moment for this author came from one performance. How many burlesque acts have we seen over the years in the Fetish Scene or similar events? Many. How many piercing shows have we seen over the years at these same events? Again many. They are wonderful shows to be sure, and their value to the Fetish community inestimable, but the originality is certainly on the wane. Then came Lucifire. This wonderful woman and performer did not one but BOTH shows at the same time as a center piece to the RUBBER BALL 2003. How so you ask? A series of hooks was pierced through the skin across her upper back. These hooks were connected to cords which ran up to a block and tackle. She was hoisted 20 feet in the air in full burlesque regalia, feather-fans and all. Hanging from these hooks she then proceeded to do a complete burlesque strip-tease. If I had been getting a bit jaded to burlesque and piercing shows then Lucifire's show stripped away all jadedness -- it was AMAZING.
Perhaps the only off note to the whole RUBBER BALL 2003 weekend was a detail entirely beyond the promoter's control. The Hammersmith Palais used to be a 3300 person venue. Apparently last April they did some minor remodeling, but that required a re-zoning. After the re-zoning the venue was thereafter rated at 2200 people. So SKIN TWO could only legally sell 2000 or so tickets. It was sad because having been to the 3300 person sold-out event several times before, one could feel the lack of 1000 people. It was still a magnificent event, but truly the SKIN TWO RUBBER BALL is and always will be an event to be enjoyed by as many people as possible...from around the world, coming to London once a year to celebrate in Full Fetish Glory.

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The INIQUITY 2003 Hollywood Fetish Fashion Awards
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Slowly but surely.
That is the pace of Hollywood figuring it all out. They say that the rights of the S&M community trails about 10-15 years behind the progress made for gay and lesbian rights. Well the same could be said of Hollywood and Fetish Fashion -- they tend to trail about 5-10 years behind what is actually HAPPENING in the Fetish Fashion world. Sure SYREN latex made the unforgettable Cat Woman outfit for Michelle Pfeiffer, and the first MATRIX movie brought your basic black latex and PVC into the spotlight like no movie before it, but a few moments does not a movement make.
Nonetheless they do keep trying. This year we got to see whole new levels of coolness in the attire of Morpheus and Niobe, vampires walking around in latex catsuits, and if superheroes HAD to be clad in leather at least it was stunningly put together.
The MATRIX 2 and 3 pushed new limits for Fetish Fashion in Hollywood. The foremost change was in TEXTURE -- the faux animal skin PVC jackets of Morpheus and especially Niobe's entire blood-red faux animal skin outfit including jacket and matching pants. Yet the REAL kudos goes to not MATRIX 2, but MATRIX 3 rather. Yes yes I know many of you could not be bothered to watch MATRIX 3, but trust me: you missed out on a GREAT scene so rent the damn DVD when it comes out in April. In the scene of scenes, everyone's favorite Frenchman, the "Merovingian," who believes that swearing in French is like wiping ones nether regions with silk, well friends...it turns out he RUNS A FETISH CLUB. Yep. A great one too, and right from the 1st moment it is PURE EUROPEAN. Everyone inside is in Full, Strict Dress Code Fetish Fashion!!! Couldn't really see a lot of hardcore S&M going on although some of the costumes had gags, etc. Best of all the beautiful wife of the Merovingian, "Persephone" was clad in a bright, shiny RED outfit, following her debut in the second Matrix movie with an equally brilliant outfit made from clear-white latex. Yes yes, some of you did not like the way Matrix ended (and no I won't spoil it -- lets just say it was a rather European ending loaded with references to the writings of Plato). Nonetheless, if you have not seen these movies, and especially the third one, you MUST. The Merovingian's Fetish Club is worth the rental price alone.
Therefore, INIQUITY awards 1st place to MATRIX 3, followed by MATRIX 2 in 2nd place.
So we all know that traditionally comic book superheroes used to wear spandex. X-Men's "Wolverine" commented on this in an oh-so-witty line in the first movie, "What are we supposed to wear? Yellow spandex?" Heh. Um. Yes, you are...that is if you are going to hold true to the character after which you were developed. But Hollywood will have none of it -- what? Spandex is fine for Spiderman but the X-Men are just too good for it? LATEX dammit, Latex! When will they figure it out? Maybe if the Wachowski Brothers made X-Men 3...
Anyhow, still stuck in some pseudo-biker concept of heroism, the costume designers decided to clad our X-Folk in a set of rather incredible leather attire. Designed largely after the idea of a motorcycle racing jumpsuit, these black leather costumes hug every nook and cranny and in fact genuinely protected the actors in a few cases from minor mishaps. The designers openly said they wanted to capitalize on the bike racing outfit design, but that they wanted to make these outfits undeniably cool, and so they added A LOT of very custom tailoring -- such as the pillowed "X" across the chest -- that one just would not find in traditional biker wear. So for beautiful leather craftsmanship, INIQUITY gives 3rd place goes to X-Men 2.
As a side note, lets not turn our backs on the AMAZING leather creations one DOES find in the bike-racing world. Step inside your local bike shop (motorcycle that is) and take a close look at the custom leather work that is found in there. MANY pro racers, and even many amateur, take great pride in designing outfits -- jackets and full jumpsuits -- that are loaded with color, style, and personalized designs. For a great gander at this world, go see the otherwise dopey-but-fun movie "TORQUE." The lead roles have some incredible leather work that they wear, in all manner of COLORS and design. One guy has a red and white leather riding outfit that has a black and white leather dragon appliqué, Chinese style, running around and around the outside so it wound from his knees all the way to his shoulders.
Lastly with the perennial romantic attraction to Vampires, it is no wonder that Hollywood is finally bringing the vampire's sublimated sexuality into cohesion with the "hidden" world of Fetish Fashion (Janet Jackson's tear-away breast cover and nipple shield aside...). Enter: UNDERWORLD (which has been green-lighted for a trilogy by the way, a pre-quel and a sequel). Although there may be some debate as to the merits of this movie -- take for example when a 1000 + year old Vampire patriarch starts to whine about how he just wanted to do the right thing; had the audience laughing in a supposedly serious moment -- you have to give credit for how absolutely STUNNING the lead female looked running all over the world and throughout her battles clad in a full body black latex catsuit. Now THAT is my kind of vampire woman (but can she do it in 6" heels instead of combat boots? Heh). UNDERWORLD follows the lead of the two BLADE movies which made a pretty good attempt to mix some leather and cool fashions into the world of vampires, but where BLADE stopped short UNDERWORLD plunged right in to outfitting the lead in a latex catsuit. The latex-loving lithe leading lady was in our faces from beginning to end, and plain and simple she made a mainstay -- the black latex catsuit -- look GOOD, Really Good. Bottom line.
Therefore the final Runner's Up award goes to UNDERWORLD.

Got a fave Fetish Fashion moment from a movie you saw? Send it this way and we'll let others know about it. Strict Fetish Fashion only of course. After all that is what IQ is 50% about (S&M is the other half for you newcomers).

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Review: BONDCON 2004 Las Vegas
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They did it again.
Last year was the incredible grand opening of BondCon on the West Coast in Las Vegas. It was amazing.
And this year was no different. In fact it was BETTER.
Starting with a fully catered "Meet & Greet" party the night before BondCon officially opened, the Fetish Community was there IN FORCE! Although a huge number of people came from the West Coast, there were indeed attendees from all over the U.S., and even some from Europe. One expected the opening party to be sleepy -- not the case at all! Within a few hours of starting the place was nicely filled and everyone started their partying early. Open only to those who had pre-purchased a run-of-show pass, there were any number of fine and friendly Fetish folk fraternizing and frolicking. Business transactions began immediately as photographers begin setting shooting dates with models, and a fully stocked bar kept everyone's gears well greased.
The event this year was held at the Las Vegas Sports Center. A very interesting choice. The only downside was that it was 15 minutes from the edge of town, past the airport. This made coming to and from other Las Vegas attractions very hectic as it was a chore getting a taxi back from there. The organizers did however circumnavigate this problem with a very smoothly running shuttle that went both to the nearest major hotel, the Mandalay Bay, as well as the Sands Convention Center located Central Strip where the adult film convention was going on during the day.
Now here comes the Upside: FREEDOM. Yep. By having the event on the outskirts of town, it allowed for SOOOOO much more to go on! The culmination of this freedom came in the form of an actual S&M Play Party which was very well attended on the Friday of the convention. Numerous pieces of Furniture were set up by Los Angeles' "Severe Society" who also had bondage and suspension demonstrations running throughout the convention. Gord was there again with all manner of new contraptions (CHECK OUT THE BOND CON 2004 photos coming to the INIQUITY JOURNAL section soon!). Perhaps his two greatest new devices that I saw included a bondage workout-treadmill where the hapless lady was suspended by bungee cords while being tightly bound and hopping as the treadmill ran beneath her in her spike-hell ballet boots. Now that is what I call slave-training! Another Gord device (he had MANY) was a kind of "tank" where one bound woman drove and as the vehicle cruised around the convention, various models were "kidnapped" and strapped to the device in a parade of purely Gordian Proportions.
Meanwhile, the new venue allowed for a classroom setting where bondage classes of several kinds were taught. The venue also came with a fake "public park" tableau inside where photographers both amateur and pro could jump over and do a series of set shots. Models were tied to the bench, tied to the tree, and even suspended from one cement "tree" branch.
It was a wonderful gathering of bondage fans, pros and models from all over. Everyone was friendly and excited and had a great time. Vendors included some spectacular and very hard to find devices, S&M toys with original designs, and intriguing new ways to bind your partner. There were fully welded beds you could buy specifically made for the most exotic bondage-sex, cages, clothing (Fetish Fashion of course), jewelry, and of course lots and lots of bondage videos. By FAR the emphasis was on female, damsel-in-distress style bondage, although homage was made to Japanese style bondage, decorative bondage, and a variety of pansexual S&M practices.
Truly some of these photographers have taken the image of the bound female form and raised it up to spectacularly artistic proportions. One of the organizers, Jim Weathers, had four poster-size framed prints of his work up on the walls of his booth, and no one could deny that all of them captured a soft and universal sensuality that even the most Vanilla viewer would have to own up to. In a sense you could say that BondCon as a whole was a kind of shrine to a sort of Bound Goddess if you will, an image that seems to have pervading power throughout various cultures and ages.
About the only real difference in anything missing besides the more central location of last year's event where guests could stay AT the event (at the Stardust hotel -- VERY convenient), was the regular cocktail party that occurred last year at the close of each day. These cocktail parties let everyone wind down and relax together before heading out into the night and occasionally included shows. So there was the toss up: lose the freedom -- particularly the ability to have a Play Party -- and gain the location and the cocktail parties, or appreciate the Freedom that the Sports Center gave everyone. It will be interesting to hear about what the overall feedback was and what the plans are for next year. Regardless, I have great confidence that it will be spectacular no matter what they come up with. The organizers of BondCon obviously put a massive amount of care and thought into choosing the venue and organizing the event. You can feel their heart and sweat in the production values, and everyone appreciated the results.
On the closing eve of BondCon 2004 the organizers really finished up with a very classy touch and once again hosted a fully catered after-party where the opening party had been held. It was a happy and relaxing close to a wonderful 4 days of this practical and focused celebration. To say the least, BondCon 2005 will be an event to look forward to.

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IN THREE WEEKS: The San Francisco Fetish Ball!
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Once again Mr / Madam S, the INCREDIBLE BDSM supply store in San Francisco, will be hosting the San Francisco Fetish Ball on March 18th - March 20th.
For ALL information and details, check out the website at:
http://www.sffetishball.com/
And just to get all questions aside, yes, that is my ass in the shiny red pants on the opening page, no I did not ask them to put that photo there, yes I am flattered they chose to do so, and yes I am wearing a gas mask (all from a candle wax show I did at last year's ball). No, I am not booked to do a show this year, yes, I am telling you all about this event because it is genuinely worth attending. The shiny red pants are by PHAZE of London by the way, and their PVC pants ROCK. :-D

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NEW FETISH CLUB COMING TO SAN FRANCISCO!!!
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On April 17th, San Francisco will be graced with the grand opening of a new, regular Euro-Style Fetish Club. For those of you new to the Euro-Style concept, it means STRICT FETISH FASHION, NO CAMERAS AT ALL, an S&M Play Area, and an Amazing evening. There plainly and simply are not enough of these clubs in the U.S. Straight-Up, the Euro-Style idea is what INIQUITY was founded on, and anywhere we find a club like this we are happy to support it. It means an evening of EYE CANDY no matter where you look. Like stepping into a parallel universe, your eyes only catch the continuous confirmation of Fetish fantasy made REAL as you all come together to truly step out in style and celebrate our "secret" world.
The new club is called DEVIATIONS, and it will occur on the 3rd Saturday of every month starting in April, at the "UP & DOWN" club.
Check out the flier by clicking on the link to their website below:
http://www.clubdeviation.com/


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GLOBAL FETISH EVENTS
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(thanks to our friends at Wasteland for this info: http://www.wasteland.nl)

March 13th 2004 – The Clinic
The notorious underground fetish party The Clinic will set up shop Saturday, March 13th at The Force in Amsterdam. Entrance fee: 30 euro. For more details, please visit the Clinic website: www.clinicparty.com

April 16th 2004 – Wasteland limited edition – CONFIRMED , PRE SALE STARTS WITHIN TWO WEEKS
Wasteland, Europe’s biggest and classiest fetish fantasy event is celebrating its 10 year anniversary. This milestone will not go unnoticed. All our events will glimmer with an extra touch of pervvy delight. The kick off will be held Friday, April 16th with a special limited edition of Wasteland. A limited number of tickets will be available at 45 euro each. A more intimate Wasteland to go back to its original roots and humble beginnings. Presale starts within two weeks.

July 10th 2004 – Wasteland special edition at Sensation Black – NOT CONFIRMED
Saturday July 10th is the date set for a very special edition of Wasteland; Wasteland Black deLuxe in the Amsterdam Arena as a vipsection at Sensation Black. The world’s two most extreme parties join forces for an unforgettable night smothered in beautiful glamorous black. The Wasteland ticket allows entrance at Sensation but regular Sensation Black tickets will not get you into the darkness of Wasteland Black deLuxe. For more information and updates, please check out: http://www.wasteland.nl

May 15th 2004 – Europerve
Europerve also known as the Demask Party, the well known kinky parade of fetish connoisseurs will this year be organized by the Wasteland troupe on Saturday, may 15th at the Panama theater in Amsterdam. This oldest fetish event of Amsterdam has earned credits throughout the world. Entrance fee: 55 euro. For more information, go to: www.demask.com. Take a peek at the location at http://www.panama.nl

and elsewhere...

The infamous "Night Of Passion" party, in Bavaria
http://www.night-of-passion.de/
Next Party: March 26th

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DRESSED TO THRILL returns to Las Vegas!
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It was a spectacular event last, er, I mean 2, no 3 years ago. OK, so it has been a long time since we have heard from the DTT folks, but it is VERY good to know they are back. DTT is an event that focuses on Fetish Fashion, and their last event at the Alexis Park Hotel in Las Vegas -- where the event is AGAIN being held this year -- was just a tremendous amount of fun (barring of course the DJ who played the same Brittany Spears song twice in the same hour. He was summarily executed...or at least in effigy no doubt).
DTT 7 will again return to the Alexis Park hotel from May 13th to May 16th. If Fetish Fashion and just relaxing in the heat of Las Vegas is your thing, then you really really should be there. It was just plain fun. Last time I personally helped host one evening of an S&M play area, and word has it that this year there should be an even bigger and better play area. Fetish Fashion, S&M, latex by the poolside in Las Vegas...yeah, that sounds like our cup of tea. ;-)
More info:
http://www.dressedtothrill7.com

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Wrap Up
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Hope it was worth the wait. Its good to be back. :-)
(And the password is "Iniquity")

Fetish Dreams,
-- Arcane & The INIQUITY Staff