The Batcave
In this clip, Fashion & Identity Commentator Caryn Franklin tells us about the evolution of Fetish-wear from the club to catwalk in the 1980s.
Fetish-wear and music go hand in hand at the club. Tight outfits allow you to grind to the beat. Large silhouettes and harsh or spiky fabric makes you more aggressive. And bold colours and cuts draw the eye in a sea of writhing bodies.
Parma Ham’s industrial sound originates from the Techno Goth and Death Rock music that emerged in 1979, when bands like Fields of the Nephilim, Specimen, Alien Sex Fiend, The Psychedelic Furs and Christian Death reared a swarm of Goths from the ashes of Punk.
In the '80s, Goths took the attitude of the Punks and the flamboyancy of The New Romantics and wore fetish with a rebelliously morbid flair. They scowled in dog collars and 18th century corsets and were fascinated with death, the supernatural and Gothic literature. Techno-Goth clubs like The Batcave played Specimen and turned the dark romanticism of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dracula and The Addams Family to the max.
Click here to watch the clip.
Click here to watch the clip.
"Nightclub culture was much more than hedonism, we had no way of connecting to each other. There was no social networking, there was no internet. So and in a very loud club, the most obvious thing was the optics. What was someone saying about themselves? Or how are they speaking to us through their clothing. And so a big part of the 80s was kind of individual expression and experimentation.
There were many, many young designers fashion was a very new burgeoning space for the UK, we suddenly weren't looking to European fashion, we were making something right here in London. And so beginning to see different fabrics creeping in the leather, the rubber, some of the more kind of provocative elements of bondage culture sort of blurring of lines, was quite standard as people began to work out what they wanted to say about themselves." ~ Caryn Franklin
FEATURING
Caryn Franklin. Fashion & Identity Commentator & Agent of Change
The Batcave, 1983
Flashbak
Vivienne Westwood SS94
Yoox Net-A-Porter Runway Collection: Fashion Footage Archive
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975
Creative Commons
Bram Stoker's Dracula, 1992
Creative Commons
Jean Paul Gaultier SS88
Yoox Net-A-Porter Runway Collection: Fashion Footage Archive
Cover image
Siouxsie and the Banshees. All Souls album cover. 2002