Fashion, Fetish, Film: How Do They All Interlink? One Central Saint Martins Student May Have the Answer

Raegan Rubin is a final-year BA Fashion Journalism student at Central Saint Martins and, like the majority of final years on creative pathways, was tasked with directing her own creative project as part of her degree. The brief? You set your own, no questions asked, with students producing an admirably broad range of work, dabbling in producing podcasts, magazines, documentaries, online platforms and more.

Armed with a hunger to explore fashion's relationship with fetishwear, Rubin turned her interest in the subject to uniting fashion, fetish and film for her final major project Saturnalia; a documentary uncovering her own research in the underground kink scene. While interviewing people at the forefront of this topic, Saturnalia also looks to the seminal SHOWstudio project ikon-1, interviewing SHOWstudio director and image-maker Nick Knight about his thoughts on the future of avatars in the fetishwear scene and beyond. We speak to Raegan Rubin to find out more.

SHOWstudio: Why did you decide to call your project Saturnalia?

Raegan Rubin: The Fetish underworld is a smouldering kaleidoscope of talented creatives dating back to Roman times when people indulged in orgies and masquerades. Their debauchery climaxed during a midwinter festival called Saturnalia, which honoured the harvest god Saturn and was marked by untying a woollen rope from around his feet (they were bound throughout the year). The act was said to unleash the sexual animal and creative soul. This carnivalesque spirit is manifested in a variety of kink clubs today including Torture Garden, Riposte and Klub Verboten, spaces that take centre stage throughout the film. The ambiguous nature of Saturnalia's name reflects the Fetish community’s eclecticism, as well as the myriad of music-led style tribes, sublime physicalities and LGBTQ+ solidarity at the film's core.

Ss: Why did you decide to interview the people that you did for the film?

Rr: It was important for me to talk to a combination of creatives and industry professionals that form the fetish vanguard. Timothy Woodward, for instance, took over the first Fetish club 'Skin Two', in the 1980s and was the editor behind its eponymous magazine. Fashion journalist Caryn Franklin MBE also witnessed the influx of fetish onto the high street during her editor role at i-D in the 1980s. Her role as presenter of The Clothes Show also saw her interview Leigh Bowery. Her account of Bowery's jaw-dropping performances is echoed by the legendary fashion and subculture photographer Derek Ridgers.

The iconoclastic club Wraith has also created a space where artists can revel in avant-garde beauty, resulting in an emerging subculture of sub-human fetishists who party in alien-esque prosthetics and cyber-wear. Their futuristic garb mirrors the digital clothing and avatars dominating the metaverse. My interview with Nick Knight on SHOWstudio's ikon-1 project exposes the personal autonomy and creative potential that's available online.

Ss: How important is club culture to fetishwear? Why do you think they are so strongly connected?

Rr: Creative director and stylist of SORT Zine Matt King says it best, telling me in the documentary that, 'A lot of the time, the people on the dance floors are the fashion designers.'

Club culture is the lifeblood of modern Fetishwear. Like a goldfish bowl, society's desires and taboos are concentrated in the Fetish world, and bondage gear is constantly used to draw attention from across a crowded dance floor. The chameleonic nature of kink clothing allows people to influence and nurture their own identities, free from social prejudice. Club culture has also witnessed the Fetishistic ingenuity of fashion legends like Leigh Bowery and John Galliano, who partied at Taboo, Alexander McQueen at Torture Garden and Jean Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood at The Rubber Ball.

Ss: Why do you think this film is important? What do you want it to say? Who does it speak for?

Rr: Tragically, the fashion industry tends to misconstrue and underrepresent the Fetish community. As we've seen with Balenciaga's disastrous November 2022 campaign. Nowadays, fetishwear transcends underground clubs; storming magazine spreads, runways and the high street. This is a blessing and a curse. While society grows desensitised to kinky aesthetics, their original use and culture are often lost. Saturnalia aims to educate viewers on fetish history and inspire them with the club's electric hedonism. It's my hope that creatives will take the film's message to heart and include fetish culture and people in the creative process. Put simply, Saturnalia honours the sheer ingenuity, camaraderie and legacy of London's fetish scene. It exposes a community that sorely deserves to be celebrated for its individuality and self-expression.

Ss: What do you think the future of fetishwear looks like?

Rr: To quote Nick Knight in Saturnalia,'I think we're entering into a completely new cultural era. Which is very exciting, but also undefined.' Fetishists are already digitally upgrading their kinks and experimenting in the metaverse as avatars; free from censorship and with safeguards in place to prevent deep-fakes and online abuse. Some Fetishists are clubbing in cyber-surreal looks that echo the Cyberpunks of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Fetish fashion brands like Anoeses have already released virtual design filters with the digital fashion platform DRESSX. While safety and consent are honoured, the future of Fetishwear looks bright.'