Wednesday, June 16th 2010 20:12

*Disclaimer – the delay in getting this online was due to a family emergency, however you folks should still know about the event!*Kudos to Craig Galbraith for bringing together Toronto’s first weekend-long fetish event – and with Torture Garden, no less.“Craiger” – as he is affectionally known by the local community – hosts the monthly “Subspace” (http://www.subspacefetishnight.com/) event, but wanted to do something on a grander scale.I have to say that I am more than a little impressed with how he was able to pull so many well-dressed people together and over a 5 day period.*You really did it, man!*Thursday night was a “martini party” for fetish industry folk, held at local Goth club “Nocturne”.(http://www.nocturneclub.com/)I knew I arrived at the correct location when my boy and I stepped out of the taxi to hear a very distinctive laugh – my good friend “Ohhh” (http://www.thestoryofohhh.com/).We walked up the stairs and into a surprisingly well-appointed yet moderately-sized nightclub (have never been there before) that was jam-packed with people involved in the fetish industry in some
fashion.They even created a martini menu specific to the event – including drinks with names like “The Pink Bottom” and “The Hobble Skirt”.I quickly found Craig (a man who’s height is near impossible to miss!) so I could thank him for the invitation and introduce him to my boy.We then spent some time chatting with Lady J, KardynylSynysTyr, and the folks from Kink Engineering.Craig had suggested that we attend the Friday night event held at Club Wicked so that he could introduce me to Kaori Matsubara (http://www.kaorislatexdreams.com/) as he felt there could be a useful interview there.The club was packed shoulder to shoulder and the music was so loud that I achieved a sore throat after briefly introducing my boy to my dear friend Mistress Katina’s (http://www.mistresskatina.com) boy.I found Craig, who then led me to Kaori. By the time we were within “earshot” of one another I knew this interview would be impossible in this environment.I suggested to her that we conduct the interview via email, but she suggested that I meet up with her backstage after her fashion show the very next day.Even better.The results will be coming soon as she deserves her own story.My boy had commissioned Ewa of Latexworks (latexworks@gmail.com) to make him a catsuit for the Saturday night party.We went to visit Ewa and when the catsuit was finished it looked amazing on him!!!(There will be a pic or two to follow.)The Saturday and Sunday parties were hosted at The Opera House (http://www.theoperahousetoronto.com).Saturday included a fashion show featuring Kaori Matsubara’s work displaying her signature style – a design concept making the wearer look as if they were coated in candied syrup! Delicious.This was followed up by a performance.Initially the show was intriguing.The performer was wearing a relatively modular outfit, would remove pieces to create a distinctly different outfit and I thought this was both interesting and quite creative.Then the disappointingly predictable happened – more came off, then she was topless, played with her breasts, rubbed whipped cream on her private bits and more lowest common denominator stuff.Needless to say, my interest was lost when the show was reduced to the usual vanilla pap.I took this opportunity to find my way backstage to speak with Kaori about her work with latex design and her history.She was welcoming, genuine, interesting and surprising.I look forward to writing about this lady and her work shortly.There were merchant booths on the main level and Kink Engineering managed to secure a spot where they were encouraging guests to examine and try out the vac bed and the vac cube. The trials were all done clothed and so were safe for public consumption.: )For Sunday’s performance, Kink Engineering displayed 2 difference cubes – the “swim cube” featuring a water wave print by Ego Assassinand the “tower cube” incorporating a self suspension within the cube itself.Matt’s performance background was definitely showcased with these theatrical demos.First Archean was wheeled out “swimming” within the cube and was then suctioned in. There were other performers playing badminton in this beach-time vignette.Matt then appeared dressed as lifeguard with Lotuslily, shooing the other performers offstage.He set up the vactower – 1 1/2 times the height of a normal vac cube.He rigged it up to be suspendable. Lotusily entered the cube, did some of her rope magic suspending herself within the vac tower – there was a suspension point inside the vac tower It was then vacuumed with the tower now being suspended by Lotuslily’s body.An FYI…At the end of the performance, Matt got into tower, helped Lotuslily unrig,removed the breathing tubing, cut out a hole and the two of them jumped through with a bit of a “ta da!”This seemed to cause some misunderstanding as many folks thought the choice to cut came as the result of some “emergency”.There was no emergency – this was all theatre.Monday was about wishing those who remained a fond farewell by offering up a casual, but lovely wine and cheese wind-down at Cafe Taste in Parkdale – a mere walk away from my home!Every night brought together an impressive number of delightfully well-dressed eye-candy, making this event officially the only multi-day fetish event in Toronto – and yes, this included a hell of a lot of latex.Congratulations Craiger!