Good business for Fetish Stores Pre-Mardi Gras

By Ben Walker
The numerous stores selling fetish clothing on Oxford Street and King Street have had good business in the lead up to Mardi Gras.
While the fetish scene used to have a reputation for having cheap and nasty clothing, the style of clothing used by S & M (sadomasochism) enthusiasts has now entered the realms of high (and expensive) fashion. Upper level clothing brands such as Versace and Dolce & Gabbana have now taken on fetish imagery, and they are selling clothing with an associated high price tag. Some have joked that S & M stands for ‘stand and model’ rather than sadomasochism. Even Britney Spears and Madonna have used fetish clothing in their video clips and mainstream brands such as Diesel and Ikea have used fetish imagery in their advertising to give them an edgey stance to differentiate them from competitors.
Serge du Bois, company secretary for the store In & Out, said that ‘business has been very, very good for us in the lead up to Mardi Gras. There have been a lot of international visitors who have come to our store. We specialize in designer labels with original clothes with only a small run of items made, so that people can be individuals’.
Bois says that the high end of fetish fashion is not related to S & M, but is a fetish. ‘There are private parties where people go and wear these clothes. These clothes are a part of a sexual fetish’. High end designer fetish clothes are a status symbol and people who buy them want attention, which includes sexual attention.
There are clubs such as the Hellfire Club, which meets on the third Friday of every month at a club behind The Gaff on Oxford Street. The dress code is very strict and requires a fetish sensibility. People go their to dress in fetish and to meet and associate with others who similarly share an interest in the fetish scene.