After writing about my time during the past Anime convention, I realized after a good deal of time that perhaps I should write a follow up post about my time at Frolicon. For those of you not into the lifestyle or have read "50 shades of Grey," look up fetish on wikipedia. Frolicon is a convention in Atlanta, Georgia for those interested in the fetish lifestyle as well as Steampunk and Otherkin. I had the opportunity to attend this event. Awhile back, let us say for the sake of this post 2 years ago, a friend who is in the lifestyle looked at my design work and told me I should look into fetish clothing.And after doing research and talking with a good deal of my friends, Yes as a matter of fact, I should go into fetish clothing. So, part of my "Research," (you can picture that word with finger quotations if you wish) I traveled with two friends to spend my weekend at Frolicon, out amongst the riggers and latex, the furries and the ponies.
I learned knot work and rope corsetry, I learned suspension and how to make people fly. The furries got to me a bit, but I think that has to do with the one who had a vibrator in his nose. But, unlike my time at the Anime convention, the clothing and costuming was pretty good. If a man was crossdressing, he attempted to look as damn good as possible. one woman wore only body paint and it was amazing. I have seen bad body paint before and hers was very good. They even had a Steampunk section. We went to what was coined the Sky Captain's Ball. It was an entire Steampunk themed ball with waitress dressed in corsets and bussells serving martinis and mixed drinks. Everyone's clothing was amazing. I wore my suit jacket and was told I looked like a homeless mob boss by my friend. This will be a project for next year. My clothing and costumes sucked. The event had everything from a full market area to a bouncy castle. Lots of nude people and those involved in various acts. A large Burlesque show and a variety show to a kin to coney island freak show.
My mind is teeming with possibilities (both costume and prop) and the pages of my sketchbook are flowing with ideas. Its like Salma Hayek from Dogma is standing next to me in that cute schoolgirl outfit and is urging me to draw, draw like the wind.
Clothing with rope instructions, handles for floggers and paddles, steampunk clothing, kilts (which seemed to be the male uniform at the event), dresses and skirts of latex. The idea of making such interesting, diverse, and unique clothing and props calls to me and screams build me damn it. This event will be one I will attend again with an eye to a potential market.
The beginners costumers guide to frolicon (for those interested):
Link of interest:
- Illano clothing (the site is closed, but has a lot of fun ideas.)
- Making latex clothing (an amazing blog with lots of instructions)
- Kink engineering ( a good site for latex. They are very polite and offer great service.)
- UtiliKilt Construction: because they are awesome
Have fun. This is the time to experiment with fabric you normally would not use or try something a bit more revealing. It is hard to talk about everything in the fetish community and not make this a 30 page document. Books have been written on this topic alone. But do not be afraid to experiment and have a lot of fun.
