| The New
Flesh
Mark Bennett 16/12/97 revised 31/7/98, 7/10/98, 18/2/99
The first steps of a new cultureal movement is rapidly emerging from the edges of fetish scene. Born from an influx of sensual new fabrics, expanding manufacturing processes, a profusion of cyber technologies and need to push the imagination and desire to step beyond into the real world of the New Flesh.
Fetish culture is now irrevocably changed and is no longer restricted to the black latex uniforms and gas masks of old. It's now beginning to encompass the whole body in a rainbow of colours and taking the human form and metamorphosing it into diverse, yet still tantalisingly erotic shapes to the initiated few.
The seed of the modern manifestation of these transformations can be traced back to the earliest cultures where shaman used skins and elements of animals in ritual ceremonies to summon and take on the powers distinct to each animal or elemental force. Using the skin of a bear the shaman would enter into an altered psychological state where valuable skills or knowledge was gained for the benefit of the community. These were real tools used by our ancestors (even in use today) and not merely some folk legends as anthropologists would have you believe.
The word 'Fetish' when used in anthropology thus describes a prop used to represent an element or an attribute. The shaman uses the fetish for controlling or summoning power in an act sympathetic magic. In psychoanalytical theory a fetish is similar, but with a sexual overlay and applies to the specific sexual trigger of an individual, be it latex, high heels or whatever. In the modern usage, a 'fetishist' is not necessarily dedicated in that they only require the fetish item to be sexually aroused, but rather acts as a supercharger and/or empowered to their sex and social life. In this way they are similar to shaman, who are using fetishes to go beyond the normal into another realm carefully defined by the objects used in the rituals.
The Skin of Animals
While all the above may seem archaic and academic to the cyber aged New Flesh proponents, it does point the way intertwining of the two definitions and shamanic acts of magic.
Mark E-Garb's ongoing project entitled Auto-zoophila has tangible routes in shamanism. Auto-zoophila - the love of the animal within - is a word that he made up to describe what he was trying to create with the aid of garments and accessories. He candidly admits "I have made clothing for practical and magical shamanistinc work" Fabien who has worn Mark's creations commented on one piece "you don't wear this dress - it wears you".
Mark added "The clothes I make are trying to externalise the clients internal desires, from simple bust altering bra sthrough to the exotic designs of Van Saper." His personal projects push the envelope of what ordinary people and even those from the fetish community may find erotic.
Transformation of self is the key and the elements are as important as the process and the end results. Until fairly recently eroticised transformations have come from the genre of horror stories with the strong flavours of sex and death which a segment of the population identifies with. Halloween is now a major excuse for adults to get dressed up and play out their fantasies with the cachet that it's acceptable at this time of year. This is the time when mainstream America bares it's soul and it's closet for it's transformation fetish so they can dress as nurses, as super heroines or wear their latex collection out of doors for the first time.
Major tranformative fiction relates back to basic elemental ideas which are also the foundation of horror stories; the were wolf, vampire and the zombie. At the full moon the person changes and is turned into his stronger animalistic predecessor.
Ironically the folk tales have an element of truth in them, the moon's orbit does effect life here on earth in both gravitational and ionic density/charge of the atmosphere though some people are more sensitive than others. Negative ions are good for you and influence your mood and temperament in a calming fashion. High densities of positive ions however cause aggression.
Vampires on the other hand relate to both the physical and psychical characteristics in people and is now a subdivision of the romanticised history of Goths, a character that is eternally cursed, yet sexually liberated, whose bite can transfer it's power as also is the case with werewolves. The modern subculture of vampires is currently thriving in Toronto, Canada where they have clubs, shared blood feeding and info on which dentists to visit to get their fangs done.
Birth of Materials
The modern age of materialistic fetish-ism started with specific and rare materials like silk and later rubber. World War II spawned and entire generation of latex fetishes with the uses of rubber for clothing and protection. The inner world of the gas mask, with it's unique smell, sounds and perspective. Undoubtedly giving birth to the modern latex fetishist.
Armouring the body in new materials is thus the dividing line between the old shamanistic elemental based transformations. Initially these materials are for survival as in the case of the gas mask,or mackintosh rain jackets which explains certain British fetish magazines. Specialized use of materials being the hook to a fetish. In post W.W.II plastic was the new wonder material and it was being used for everything around the house, but with improved manufacturing processes it became wearable in the Sixties. Not only was your furniture and household appliances plastic, now you could cocoon yourself in it with PVC boots, jackets, mini skirts and trousers.
Lycra and more lycra
While plastics heyday of the 60's ceded to the nylon's and rayon's of the 70's it wasn't till the 80's that material advances brought synthetics back into the mainstream. Lycra is now woven into almost everything and dance wear cat suits and full enclosure suits made from plain and patterned Lycra has spawned a new fetish and in Japan has the name of Zentai.
The fetish has partly evolved from the location of it's original use, i.e health clubs and dance studios, but the other major usage being in superhero costumes whose imagery is the backbone of comics and increasingly western culture with the Power Rangers. By donning such a costume, your physical appearance changes and your old self is erased in all but shape. Even your sensations are re-defined -feeling smooth Lycra on who-ever and where ever you touch.
A design duo that make use lycra with Manga styled overtones is Plastic Pony from Finland, which is a place they felt" needed some colour".But the idea of a totally Plastic Pony land has fallen by the wayside "with everyone wearing colourful clothes, makeup and wigs' we don't want to do it every day now." sighed Jona.
One of the themes in Plastic Pony's total enclosure outfits is the question of mixed genders of the costumes themselves versus the person who may be wearing it at the time. "Many people say that they bring something outwhen wearing our clothes." Jona doesn't notice a change in himself when wearing his outfits, but none the less he still remains attached to his creations and declines selling his own personal designs to interested parties.
"I don't like to simplify my ideas, I'd like to get back to making the complex suits and performances. I don't like traditional fashion shows and the 'beautiful people' that populate the catwalks" Since the suits are all encompassing, the gender and visage of the wearer is irrelevant and the suit is the focus of attention with the human merely a way to animate it.
Totems in Any Culture
An obvious fetishised piece of industrial apparel are the Doc Martin boots which are themselves fetish triggers for specific groups.
Taking a totem or team logo connects you in your mind with the power of your favourite football team and shows your solidarity and support for their quest to be top of the league. This connection, not surprisingly is the subject of ongoing scientific study - how the home teams actions effect the health and well being of the fans. One noted effect was the increase in fans ulcers when the team does badly along with endorphine highs when they win.
Out of Fashion
The military and uniforms have long been a source for fetishistic imagery and clothing. Whether the appeal lies in the tailoring, the power associated with the specific uniform or the restriction of identity it's up to the wearer. But recently a fetish club in London has forbade the wearing of military camouflage trousers because they had become too popular with the mainstream. Context is everything in the fetish world and acceptance of the fetish item into the high street, thus destroys the garments power or sacredness in the eye of fetishist.
Fortunately, the next generation of military fatigues may become items of desire and push the users into weird self contained worlds of super-human strength and augmented sensations. The US military is looking into the structure and materials created in the world of various types of bugs, whose strength and armouring would surpass current technologies if they could be scaled up to human size. Current experiments with spinning industrial usage gossamer spider webs create silken fabrics that are bullet proof. Adding another layer to such combat fatigues would be electronically enhanced perceptions of sight, sound and smell all of which already have the cyberpunks trying to assemble home brew versions with discarded video game components like the Nintendo Powerglove.
Bug Out Man
Insects themselves are source of inspiration in fetish fashion. The House of Harlot splashed onto the scene with their wasp women - the wasp waistedlook being a term long used in corsetry which denotes a very small and pulled in waist. The costumes were inspired by a gag cartoon about a wife being dressed up as a bee with straps etc with the speech bubble saying 'When you said I'd be the Queen Bee, I didn't think you meant quite like this.' Robin Archer thought it was a great idea "Harlot is about humour as much as sex."
The colouring of the wasps of yellow and black are biological threats signals which we all respond to "We had a correctly designed wasp tail, based on the German Wasp - so we did actually do some research into the design. It's become a fetish icon and launched us onto the scene" Robin added.
The infamous cow costumes also started off as a prank and was an aim to highlight the herding of self organising groups of subcultures. Robin explained "You can still be radically different to the mainstream world, but still look exactly the same as the person sitting in the enclave next to you." While most people in the club reacted positively to the group one person even going as far as offering raising space to the heard another punter took considerable objection to them and almost started a fight to defend his corner of the fetish world.
"There's enough potential to look bizarre and threatening without using black and for it to be in your face sexually or for it to be threatening or even stimulating. With masks, the removal of identity is a way that means you are no longer yourself. By someone not recognising you, you can change your persona as well to suit - it becomes a role playing thing, or an extended physical fantasy."
Pushing further into the world of bugs which have dramatic gestating transformative cycles - worm into butterfly, comes a range of fetish imagery and fiction with bondage overtones. Superbly visualised by 'Rob' from Switzerland in an illustrated portfolio published in Marquis and now his own website, is the idea of fetish bugs reshaping the body to exotic ends with black latex skins and real wasp waists along with female forms captured and gestating in semi-transparent latex balloon cocoons.
He explains; "The nudity of the human body is something I find absolutly normal and so I began soon to interest me in ennobling the female body with shiny materials. In opposite to the possibilities of photography or film I had with my illustrations no limits to translate my fantasy into pictures. In a pleasureful manner the female beauties became with the showed distortions more erotic. As my heroines became so wasp waists and spider legs the theme of the insect women was born. I was self astonished, that no one before had the thought to cross women with insects although the possibilities are as numerous as there are breeds of insects! Another theme I seem to be trendsetter is the combination of the female body with very erotic and "friendly" plants or slimy elements. In all (horror-)films we know, these things are unfortunately deadly and have no sexual stimulating effect to the victims."
Unfortunately he has yet to see any of his bug or plant women realized in fetish clothing. "Since I work as an architect I have almost no time to do other things, but is a wish of mine to design fetish fashion, especially the three dimensional aspect of latex fashion is something to be developed.
The S&M fantasies that can spring from such imagery are obvious, though one of more intriguing ones floating around the net is a sweater fetishists desire to be cocooned head to toe in an angora sweater which then slowly transforms him into a female slave for his wasp waisted black latex cat suit mistress who controls the process and immerses him in the new world she inhabits.
The insect theme is not limited to fiction and illustrations and does materialize further into the 'real' world and then into the mainstream. Such a realization came from BC Clothing's preying mantis's at the Skin Two Rubber Ball in '97 with the use of costumed stilt walkers conducting a ritualistic courting of the preying mantis - where the female eats the male. Both Theiry Mugler, and Viviene Westwood have had insect themed collections and king of spiky accessories Craig Morrison's latest backpacks are aptly named - Razor Bug and Honey Bug.
Beyond Nip and Tuck
How far will people go in achieving there aim in redefining their appearance? Orlan a French performance artist has used her face as a canvass to express the idealized beauty of half a dozen historical women, with each plastic surgery 'performance' being meticulously documented and in some cases broadcast to the initiated few. But as a living work of art Michael Jackson had beaten her to the punch a long time ago, although he never sold the leftover bits as "art". Further, in a recent set of performances entitled "The Reincarnation Of Saint Orlan", she has ventured into territories away from traditional beauty and into landscapes of the new flesh with cheek implants mounted in her forehead to create the largest nose her face is capable of supporting.
Becoming an idealized form is paramount in the territory of new flesh - by becoming art or by becoming an object. Like the aforementioned, artist Cindy Jackson has redefined herself through cosmetic surgery into a living version of one of the 20th century's most potent icon's the Barbie Doll. At last count over 30 operations had been done to mold her appearance from a plain British looking woman into a plastic American doll.
Total interaction with art is already happening in a perverse way as documented in "Tokyo Lucky Hole" a photographic book published by Taschen. NobuyoshiAraki records the seedy going-ons in a area of Tokyo which include paintings of women, with Anime styled bodies or cut out heads of girlie popstars stuck on are part of the brothels decor, but these have 'live' holes in the right places.
Specific function of the body also defines how one may want to redefine the body. Easy access to steroids are producing what could be perceived as another race of men that are 100% beef. Likewise body building women have gone down this route and transformed themselves into character's of their former selves. Is there a sexual appeal to these Uber-people? Well the publishers of Muscle & Fitness & Flex magazine must of thought so when they published the Sensuous Muscle - The Women of Body Building - Official Collectors Issue which included three pull out posters and photo spreads of16 women with varying degrees of enormous muscles, some looking not unlike Arnold Swartzenear in drag.
Don't Drink the Water
Another way to effect the shape of the body is through the in take of the opposite gender's hormones. But for those women who don't want to cultivate there facial hair into a goatee beard or men disinterested in increasing there chest sizes, it may already be too late. Already a problem in nature is re-sexing of animals in the wild. Scientists have noticed that indigenous fish in the Thames are changing genders and this was theorized to be caused by the dumping of female contraceptives into the water from London. However this was not the only possible cause of the forced transformation of unsuspecting fish. It was discovered recently that a common component of everyday plastic contains a chemical that mimic's female hormones which has now been traced to birth defects, late puberty, increased number of hermaphrodites and full blown gender change in some animals.
For some the transformation brought about by plastic mimicking hormones may be subconsciously welcomed. In the more obscure annals of subculture publishing is a genre of fiction with forced gender changes by one's girlfriends or wife slowly through the judicious addition of female hormones to the unsuspecting victim's daily diet. One publication even sold a range of apparatus to control permanently chastised useless male organs with other helpful products to speed along the changes and included suggested forms of hypnosis and mind control for the total and rather permanent makeover.
It's not what you have....
Delving further into subcultures, the fetish amputee may not necessarily be any kind sexual stimulation, but may stem from a need to capture the perceived power of the amputee. To this end a man blew off his leg with a shotgun so that he too could have the power he perceived a local kid demonstrated who only had one leg. Once his leg was gone, the bubble burst and he realized that he had sacrificed the leg for nothing. The route to all these forms of transformations may not be the final stage but the act or work itself.
On an aesthetic level Tomorrow's World demonstrated the latest micro-chip controlled mechanical legs with the owner having lost her legs mid thighs. With the new battery powered leg the woman was able to live a normal life and wasn't burdened like she had been with a NHS styled replacements. Upon seeing the segment a cyberpunk commented "wouldn't it be great to be able to redefine the shape of the leg using that technology as the base. You could extend the leg, and have any sized shoe or heel that you wanted which you could never wear before."
As if sensing these ideas through some sort of cosmic creative ether, London designer Alexander McQueen has picked up on the meme of using disabled models in the guest-edited issue of Dazed & Confused. The highlight of the photo spread and McQueen's show was 23 year old AimeeMullins who set the world long jump records for 100m and 200m in the '96 Paralympics and her custom designed solid ash wooden legs valued at £3,000. McQueen originally wanted to cover the legs with snakeskin with snakeskin heels and even considered giving her glass legs.
Big Is Beautiful
Some people have already found that their natural shape has gotten in the way of their fashion. Women have gone beyond cosmetic surgery and had ribs removed for a more hourglass shape and better fit to their corsetry. But rather than going bulimic to get the super waif look others have gorged themselves to put on extra weight to become their partner's ideal. Another way to get that ideal body shape is to wear a special fat costume as have been used in films and music videos.
A faster route may have been discovered by a University of Wisconsin Medical School doctor who has been studying obesity and found a virus may be the fundamental cause of obesity in some people.
While this research offers hope for obese people who want to loose weight, it may prove to be the fast track for those who want to put on weight quickly. Thinking two steps ahead and possibly conceiving the foundation of a billion dollar industry, maybe there is a supermodel virus that when infected keeps your weight down to Jodie Kidd proportions without giving up chocolate or ice-cream.
A Word from Our Sponsors
Mainstream absorption of the imagery of transformation is all around once you start to look for it. Maybe it's gestalt of the approaching Millennium that's catalyzing the idea in people that it's time for a change.
Some New Ages believe in the 'Photon Belt' loosely described as a band of energy that the earth will be moving into in the near future that will transform mankind whether they want to be' transformed' or not. But until that day comes to pass the finger of blame can be still be safely pointed at technology.
Specialized contact lenses that can be painted in any style: animal, mirrored, black or blank has seeped into the high-street from specialist film use and was then picked up by a London designer for his catwalk show taking the models to a different realm. Giorgio Armani's advertising campaign used models fitted with blank white contact lenses and combined with over-exposing the image, created the look of mannequins out of the models.
Another step towards the new flesh in the fashion world came with the trend of keeping the models slightly wet, glistening sheen and with the case of Karen Elson posing for Versace made her look positively synthetic. Following in the footsteps of Naomi Campbell's silver android transformation in the fashion press, Gillian Anderson also had a new flesh makeover with bald cap and a complete silver make-up job, transforming her into a hybrid alien on the cover of Details magazine.
On the more experimental shores of the fashion press was Scene magazine's Spooky issue which featured a group of models as blond haired Aryan clones and a dark Frankenstein take on Metropolis with favourite fetish model Polly being fitted with robotic prosthetics to illustrate cosmetics. Polly kept the robotic arm designed for one photo and said she'd wear it to clubs thus completing the media feedback loop.
In the US, the Power Rangers super heroes are spawning a new generation of fetishists with countless stories dedicated to the Pink Ranger on the net. But super heroes were always a source for fetishistic transformations with their tights and Lycra. No need to go into detail over the effects of Tim Burton' Batman films on the sale of black latex cat suits to middle American housewives.
Metal Work
The military has been and will always be the testing grounds of new sciences and will the new flesh be the avant garde for changing and adding to the humanform. However one US piercer got the jump on them and the US media spotlight by having screw mounted sockets directly drilled and mounted into his skull from the top of his forehead to the back of his head. With the mounts in place he then had a range of spikes that he cold screw in to create a fetching metal mohawk. While this was a purely decorative function, the application of mounts has really not been taken up by the piercing community such as using the loops on the eye brow to attach mirror shades, though one could speculate about certain piercing being used to lock shut parts of the body.
The military have been using implantable microchip dog tags of late and the Extropians have been playing around with the idea of subdermal surgically mounted clocks. If you want an implant now you can get it courtesy of Steve Haworth a Phoenix based artist who in an operation costing between US$300- US$600 will slice into your skin, insert a metal probe to separate the skin from tissue underneath and then slide your choice of stainless steel objects in the space between. The objects which include, barbells, spheres and for the forehead - horns are then taped into place so that the skin grows over them.
In the medical arena, a NYC based research team discovered that a slight electrification of blood will stop infection of bacteria and viruses so they devised and patented a system that involved implanting and connecting a small battery system to a patients veins to provide constant electrification. With this the number of surgical and mechanical body augmentations is spiraling upwards with no signs of stopping until your brain can be saved onto a suitable storage medium.
A darker view of the merging with metal came from cult Japanese film Tetsuo: The Iron Man, and starts with the hero attempting to augment his strength by inserting by hand a metal rod into his leg. This eventually leads to a state of metamorphic flux in which the hero attracts and merges with any metal he comes in contact with eventually loosing control and mutating into a giant mobile junk heap that incorporates his enemy which he had been dueling with through the film. Together they set out to rust the world.
Remote Controlled
Back into the realms of 'performance art' is Australian Stelarc who clothes himself with robotic appendages and probes his body with medical sensing devices. Stelarc is looking to be desexed by technology and believes we will have to embrace the amortization of the body if we are to leave the womb of the planet for the stars. "What is important is to no longer see the body as an object of desire, but as an object for redesigning. For me the premise is that if you alter the architecture of the body you alter the body's awareness of the world and that's what's intriguing. We're at the end of philosophy because our physiology is obsolete. My strategy in terms of redesigning the body would be to hollow, harden and dehydrate it " explains Stelarc.
Early performances by Stelarc involved shamanic styled suspensions with large metal hooks piercing his skin and holding him aloft horizontally over crashing waves and a downtown street. In recent performances he hands controls of his body over to people from the outside world with, electrodes stimulating muscles causing him to jerk around on stage like a epileptic doll, but a doll who's being controlled by people around the globe from their home computers.
Wind Me Up, Turn Me On
The slow surrender of control or total relinquishing of your control is a fundamental aspect to S&M and is reflected not surprisingly in the total technological fetishisation of robots. While more common in Japan and kindled by the images of Soryorama, robot fetishes share the same aspects of becoming "something else" with enhanced powers, nestled in ecstatic feedback loops. With the obvious built in techno-friendly user base of the net, it didn't take long to find a newsgroup (alt.sex.fetish.robot) and a collection of websites dedicated to this particular kink. Muggler must be credited with the best implementation of a Soyorama styled costume in recent years and is the most prolific designer making use of nonhuman imagery.
If it was possible to replace normal skin with alt.sex.fetish.robot styled costume through some magical or technical process - would they consider this? " Only on a temporary basis. I also want to be the opposite sex, several anthropomorphic animal-people, and a few mythical beasts from old legends (all on a part-time basis, of course). Once again, I think it really would get old after awhile." commented one newsgroup regular.
Cuddly Toys
Changing or transmuting the skin is another strong theme in the fetishisation of the new flesh. New PVC fabrics with animals skin patterns are saturating the high street and fake furs are the bases of new cruelty free coats, but also the main ingredient of a Plushies fetishist desires. Plushies is slang for stuff toy animals whether they be cartoon characters, teddy bears or realistic reproductions of animals in any shape or size. The Alt.sex.plushies FAQ details sexual practices with plushies and information on fur suits which are full bodied suits like those seen being worn by staff members at amusement parks dressing up as cartoon characters.
Vanessa Ravencroft a special expert based in LAonce created a werewolf animatronic suit costing the purchasers US$25,000 . This was no fair ground attraction since it had a definite sexual element...the" werewolf is "well" hung with a silicon dick used to "dog rape" she explained. Other specialist outfits included several Star Trek 'Borg' costumes for members of the LA gay community.
Any Color
A product that is more potent as an idea than the real thing is liquid latex. Ideally one applies the liquid latex to shaved skin, in multiple coats to build up a smooth and unbroken surface, slowly transforming the wearer into latex as it seeps into the skins pores.
Color paint, specifically gold and silver are other strong emotive fetish lusts, transmuting the body into 'art'. Several years ago came a report of a discovery of a chemical which was developed into a pill that would temporarily but rapidly change the pigment of Caucasian skin to varying shades of brown. Unfortunately the product has never seen the light of day although it was designed for resistance to UV sunlight and would imaginatively have applications to race relations.
In the ancient magical science of alchemy the great work is to transmute the base material of lead into gold and at the same time the alchemist into a higher being by the completion of the work. Interestingly the end result of the perfected being is a hermaphrodite.
Role Models
The search for an ideal is mirrored in Agalmatophiliacs or mannequin fetishes. With supermodels being held up as the role models for society the first and probably closest most people will ever come to getting near one is their plastic simulacra, and even these are refined versions of the actual models. It's hardly a surprise that people fantasize about being transformed into mannequins or erotisize them in various ways being the height of consumer aspirations. This fetish may also be compounded by the fact that humans spend more time touching plastic than any other material throughout a working day.
An enthusiastically and frequently updated website in this field is the Mannequin Lover's site which hold megabytes of photos, fictions, mannequin buyers guide, background articles and is currently rapidly spawning several other websites.
One of the contributors to the site's vast fiction archive is pen-named 'Rotwang' after the mad scientist from Metropolis who creates the robotHel. His first contact with ASFR material was seeing Metropolis "when I found out the robot was somebody in a suit, I was flabbergasted by the idea. My second blast came in 1985 with the commercial for the Lancia Y10 car which featured a stunning live version of the Japanese artist Sorayama 'Gynoid' robot... From then on I was hooked." He find's that in the case with robot's and mannequins it's not the object itself, but the fact that there is a women contained inside and to this end he's written several short stories along the lines of people being encapsulated into mannequins.
What starts out as fiction will generally end up as fact if you look hard enough. Vanessa Ravencroft has built several of such mannequins to order: 'They do look like real mannequins, but are not as skinny as real mannequins and no real mannequins are used...except for the head molds and the wigs. They are reusable and basically a "coffin in female shape "and made from glass fiber and have akevlar fiber core to be very rigid and nearly indestructible. One guy wanted it lined with velvet another customer wanted wet latex. They're custom made so none are alike and have anatomical detailing, usually of heavily busted females with mannequin heads and hair." She adds "Onlyone wanted to look out so I made him little holes. The longest anyone has stayed in one was 8 hrs...I have a customer who wants to do it over two nights!"
Another variation on the theme is being transformed into a doll and several more websites support interest along these lines, most notably the Living Doll page and the Female Mask page which also runs an e-mail list of people sharing tips and techniques in this area. One list member detailed how he took a sex doll called 'LatexLady' and modified it to be wearable, while the latest news is that Paul Barret Brown is now producing realistic female whole head masks with possible plans for making full body suits.
Marilyn Manson who may be a closet agalmatophiliac has lashed out on a special effect costume which blends his gender, giving him breasts and removing any sign of his genitals along with large cloven toed hoof like feet. His costume which was used for the UK released CD cover photo along with one of his pop videos is coveted by several members of the internet newsgroup and may start spawn a trend amongst his devoted followers.
Total Enclosures
Closer to transforming the wearer into the 'other' is the total enclosure of the brightly colored jelly babies cat suits by W< of Paris which were inspired by Mexican wrestling outfits. These total enclosure cat suits with matching hoods redefine the wearer to his shape and the primary color of the cat suit.
In a similar vein, US based manufacture Outer Planets use dipped latex process to make startling seamless masks and clothing. The range reshapes the body and submerges the wearer in the gossamer opal alien identity.
A Trip to the Hospital
The idea of a custom skin may not be as far off as you think with hospitals already able to mail order human skin growing kits while industrial use have vats of skin grown to order. Next on the xenomophic fetishist's Christmas list would be a home version of the system that could output a 3-D shape from a computer data file and then grow skin on it as in the famous demonstration of a man made human ear transplanted and growing on the back of a mouse. Oh what fun could be had, though the initial marketplace may be Star Trek fans wanting realistic Spock ears.
Actual pony girls may see the light of day beyond costuming. Cutting edge medical research is developing techniques and drugs that will allow for transplantation of animals parts into humans. Modified at the DNA level these transgenic animals have enough similarity to human DNA that the human body won't reject it when it's spliced into the body. The main use will be for organ transplants, hearts, liver, kidney etc, but for the extreme environments and battlefield, the surgical metamorphosis may be considered. Unsurprisingly there is a subgenre of ponygirl fetishes that revel in the slow surgical details of the forced transformation on willing and unwilling subjects.
Going Digital
A somewhat less intrusive form of bodily metamorphosis is already on the doorsteps with the home computer and videogames, home grown digital character Lara Croft, star of the best selling computer game Tomb Raider. Since Nintendo's Mario character, Lara is probably the best known computer generated image and while Mario was originally designed to be drawn by a handful of luminous pixels, Lara's shapely rendering requires a state of the art home gaming system to come to life.
But the software company that created her Eidos, is not content to leave Lara trapped behind the glass screen of a computer console, so they found a doppelganger, someone who looked like Lara so she could be used in public events for PR.
For those who want to be Lara or any another digital character, you already experience their POV through computer games, but to step into the game isn't to far away either. Digital costumes are currently being used by television companies to bring cartoon, historical or politicians to life. It works by having an actor wear a special lycra bodysuit that maps the wearers motion and actions into data that can then be manipulated and changed. Instead of seeing the actor on screen, you see the rendered character moving in time with the actors jester, with voice being modified by computer synthesis. The next step would to have a computer projection or a 3-D view of a world to inhabit and then you'd truly have immersive virtual reality.
Beam me up Scotty
For those of you looking for a real world to step into and not computer generated one, one of the largest and most involved subcultures is that of Star Trek and for the fetishist the lifestyle of the Klingon. The TV series has given birth to a truly immersive world with a working language, codes of conduct, appearance altering prosthetics and militaristic fashions.
These worlds are pure escapism, taking on the power and strength of the fictional TV characters and living out the fantasy away from the semi-detached and nine to five office job.
Fifteen years from now signs of a new metamorphic subculture may arrive over fond memories of Telly Tubbies and new clubs will be spawned to submerge your identity by parading as TinkyWinky.
The Womb
Getting gooey or wet and messy is a huge fetish in itself and one begins to wonder where the ideas came from to thrash around in amoebic fluids or be imprisoned in a cube of jelly. To that end the recipe for various types of slime are available on the Internet with suggestion on how to get your hands on the industrial chemistry needed or where to acquire silicon gel to be warmed and spread into a waiting full-bodied latex cat suit.
Just Do It
The route of all these transformations, at least subconsciously seems to be a need for a change and to go beyond into the super-ordinary. The magical is all around if you look for it and what you bring to the ritual defines what you get out of it.
In the most recent evolution of magic called 'Chaos Magic', users point out that magic should be an open book and they discard the heavy detailed rituals of millennium old traditions. Instead proponents suggest that you can ritualize and access modern archetypes just as easily. This idea could be simplified into the self help book and magical saying 'fake it till you make it'.
Anticipation of the event is as important as the event itself. The ritual of going out at the weekend is still a ritual, donning of the lucky pulling pants is repeated throughout the country. Another aspect which is parelled in magic is the idea of entering into a sacred space which is out of reach from the ordinary. Fetish clubs can be seen as such and even contain strict control over the access to keep the space scared from the unwashed or un-believers. Once inside you're confronted with a different world view and radically different appearances from the 9 to 5existence. Like shape shifter of tales of old, one regulars appearance in various venues changed so often that the only way you can identify her on a given night is through the totem of her metal articulated ring which is the only constant in her many visages.
In Space
Where is the best location for the invokers of the New Flesh, the club, catwalk or somewhere totally different? The work of VanSaper, a NYC designer on metamorphic edge is only partly drawn from classic fetish imagery, "The homunculus is a very compelling image that is normally found in the psychology textbooks. It's the only classical representation that relates mental activity directly to physical shape and because it's distorted it's suggestive to new relationships in a surrealistic way. The real essence to it is that it's malleable, the elements on the surface of this object can move around to represent new relationships and this means that it's a single object and not an accessory." Summoning up the creatures he feels that" it's a work that needs to be done, images which I'd like to see actualized which I don't see elsewhere and I'd like to see them in physical reality."
Mark E-Garbs who has been implementing VanSaper's latest designs finds that the collaboration is "a way to explore Van Saper's headspace and the possibility of developing interesting new ways of pattern cutting and viewing the human body."
As the millennium dawns, the womb of the collective subconscious is summoning shapes and forms of the new flesh which are now being tested on the edges of fetish culture. What will emerge into the light of public arena and what will be the end result? Who now's, just be ready for change. this article is thanks to Marc Bennett, http://www.torturegarden.com/ , http://www.torturegarden.com/bodyprobe.html and http://www.torturegarden.com/tgfabric_dec99.html Amazon
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