Front cover of Twisted Latex magazine

I am on the cover of the latest and last ever issue of Twisted Latex magazine :') I did my own hair and makeup.

Other than celebrate Boyfy's birthday today, I also got around to creating a Beauty Detox UK Facebook fan group, a little thing I've been meaning to do for ages. If you are interested in healthy living, please feel free to join :)

What do you think? Comment on Facebook!

Hair Colour Clinic, Manic Street Preachers, foot #FetishFriday, book, Yule

Next in my list of publications/ commercial jobs that I failed to mention properly at the time is this hair colour shoot I did for the Hair Colour Clinic, right before I went on my Southeast Asia Tour in October. I love colour!!!

This is a bit of a different look for me, but it is nice when people have faith that I can do more commercial fashion and beauty looks, as well as the more retro/ fetish type looks I get booked so much for :) I am a chameleon, after all!

Hair by Val Mallia, skincare by Bareskin Beauty

 Photographer and wardrobe stylist: Edgar Brambis

 Apologies if you already saw the silver sparkly ones on Facebook!

I really want a silver sparkly tuxedo now, possibly complete with top hat, cane and slight air of campness ^_^

I was lucky enough to catch the last night of the Manic Street Preachers' Holy Bible Tour at the Roundhouse on Wednesday, which was actually the first time I've managed to see them live. I'm starting to get a bit bored of just "going to see rock bands" as I've kind of been doing that since I was 14, but they were amazing! Super tight and of course, great songs, one of my favourite rock albums ever. I was thrilled that they closed with glitter cannons to my favourite song, A Design for Life! It's only now I've gone back and looked at the fun socialist propaganda video for it, where they all look like teenagers, that I notice it appears to have actually been shot at the Roundhouse:

I'm sure askygoneonfire will be able to tell me, if she reads this ;)

I know I also had something published in Obscure magazine this autumn/ winter, but appropriately enough, I now seem unable to track it down anywhere, lol. But before I forget, you can at least check my Twitter for this week's #FetishFriday photos: elegant barefoot/ wrinkled soles images by SilkSoles.com :)

I've had my last shoot of the year now, which could be seen as meaning I'm on holiday, but really just means I have more time for the non-shooting work, as well as trying to gather Christmas gifts together and make sure all my Christmas cards are posted off, as well as my father's gift (he lives in France).

The book is still floundering at its very final stages of formatting before printing and publication, which is incredibly frustrating, as in my mind it has been DONE for months and months, but just not ready to print, for various technical reasons! I'm disappointed, as I had really expected it to be out for you guys before Christmas, but I know these things happen in their own time, and I certainly would never want to rush it out to catch the Christmas trade in exchange for lowering the quality of the information or presentation. Try to stash £12.99 away (or flog £12.99's worth of unwanted gifts on eBay in January) for the New Year, when I promise it will be ready for you to use to enhance your career and personal freelance modelling journey, and all for the price of a couple of drinks this season, or one cocktail in London ;) I'll let you know when, of course. Hang onto the e-receipt, because I want to be able to give gifts to those who acquire the book to say thanks :)

Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice, according to my diary, so I'm going to check out some of my local celebrations in Glastonbury, although "real" Winter Solstice this year is technically the day after tomorrow, apparently. I don't really care, I just want to see wah gwan :) The last time I went to Glastonbury was with Roswell Ivory, and we were surprised and delighted with the level of Pagan hippie shenanigans on an ordinary weekday afternoon, so I'm kind of hoping they'll be pulling out all the stops tomorrow!

Meeting Dita Von Teese

In case you didn't already know, I met DITA VON TEESE in Bloomingdale's in March!

I know!!

How I looked on the outside:

Photographer: Jennifer Mitchell

 How I looked on the inside:

Dita's book Burlesque and the Art of the Teese is what first inspired me to actually try modelling nearly eight years ago, and along with my now quite decent library of vintage photo books and glamour icon biographies, has been a part of my creative make-up ever since. I might never have tried to make a living from doing and being what I love if it weren't for this amazing lady!

I was interviewed and photographed by Dita's team before proceeding to blather to her in an exceedingly starstruck but totally honest way about what a big fan I am, how inspiring she is, etc. I handmade her a personalised little "business" card in case she ever happens to need a well-informed pin-up model for one of her events in the UK!

It could happen!!

Photographer: David Prutting/ BFA Photo

I got a pair of Dita's Madame X knickers, too. The Madame X range is awesomes for petite/ athletic ladies. It kind of marks out where your curves are so they can't be missed.

Also, I got this :)

***Squee!***

Sexy corsetted black latex catsuit photos!

Atm I have that rather wonderful problem of having too many photos that I'm really happy with on my hard drive and not enough time to post them properly :) I like the convenience of being able to quickly upload the odd captioned photo  to Tumblr and Twitter, and Facebook if there's no "nudity" (i.e. nipple or pube nudity), but I'm a blogger/ journal writer at heart :) I really like having a record of my life that I can look back at, so it's good to write down the proper details surrounding the photos so that I remember them. I've been keeping diaries of one kind of another since I was nine or ten :)

Anyway! Here are some more photos of my me in my very own latex catsuit and Fabulously Fetish patent leather boots, from my shoot with Andrew McMeek to promote Robert Owen Haircutters last November! Just click on the images for larger versions:

 I did the makeup, as usual.

I like doing my own makeup :)

Skincare by Bareskin Beauty

Had another wonderful shoot with this catsuit minus the corset at Murder Mile Studio in London yesterday, which is I think is run by Morrigan Hel and the drummer from Cradle of Filth, if my teenage fangirl stalking skills are up to scratch! Either way, it is a cool studio with lots of fancy furniture that I would love to own :)

Lazed around at home watching Buffy all morning and then went into turbo spring-cleaning mode this afternoon, including sorting out a huge pile of really nice quality books, platform Pleaser fetish shoes (UK 7!), Lady Lucie Latex (UK 8) and some other nice bits and pieces that I don't need anymore to list on eBay, including my worn stockings, for you nylon fans! I know you love to have my well-worn seamed vintage nylons straight from my feet into your hands :) I'll blog when they're up on eBay, so please add me to your favourite sellers list, or subscribe to my blog (above right) to be automatically alerted when they're ready to be bid on.

Must go and pack now, full day photography workshop to model for in London tomorrow, with four different looks to put together! I'm thinking latex, leather, and two retro lingerie looks :)

'The Horned Goddess' in Freque magazine with Lady Allura's Latex. Happy Halloween!

This was published earlier this month but I thought I'd save blogging it until closer to Halloween as it seemed appropriate :) I love this Lady Allura's Latex editorial in issue 3, part 1 of Freque.

 Click the images for larger versions!

Photographer: Adrian Jones | Helmet: Proteus Creative

I don't have any major plans for Halloween- the house is decorated with lots of spiderwebs, jack o'lanterns, dying roses, rubber bats and so on, and I count going to Perou's Bunker Party last Saturday as my Halloween celebration, since it was fancy dress, or rather, "fancy mess"!! Halloween is a bit like Christmas at our house; we have the place decorated for most of the month.

This weekend I'm shooting at my local studio, Adrian Pini's, all day on Saturday, and then doing a runway show at Erotica for Lady Allura's Latex on Sunday, and then I have another all-day photo shoot on Monday, so strictly no time for partying!

I'll probably stay in front of the fire with pumpkin apple smoothie or dairy-free pumpkin soup of an evening, and watch old Hammer Horror films. I love the costumes and set design so much! Twins of Evil is probably my favourite. LOOK AT THOSE HATS!!!

Velvet tricorn + ostrich feathers and matching gowns = wiiiiin

 

Happy Halloween!!

Anita x



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The making of Jessie J's 'It's My Party' music video (new single)

In case you hadn't already guessed from me suddenly RT'ing Jessie J last month, it was her music video I was shooting, I just wasn't allowed to say at the time ;) Now it's been released, I can blab, blab, blab!

I got picked up from my house at 4 am and driven to Malcolm Ryan Studios to shoot the video. We weren't even allowed to tweet our location in case we got overrun by a flash-mob of Jessie fans, but it just so happened that my friend Perou was shooting a billboard ad for a new Fox show upstairs, which was a nice surprise. I'm not sure us playing 'It's My Party' a million times at a million decibels for 16 hours was a nice surprise for him, though :p

Wardrobe liked the outfit I wore to the audition so much that they asked me to wear it in the video :) It's been a while since I teamed a black fishnet top with a dog collar, but turns out, it's like riding a bike ;) I did get a cool biker jacket to wear in one scene, in fact, so I could give it to Jessie at our punk party :) It's a gorgeous jacket, but I was glad to be rid of it; it was SO hot to rave for hours under the boiling hot studio lights in a leather coat!

Jessie's professionalism genuinely blew my mind. She had 100% energy on the first take, 100% energy on the second take, 100% energy on the nineteenth take, and every shot of her (from what I could tell) was perfect and looked effortless, although she must have been even hotter and more tired than the rest of us as she had to shoot a separate solo scene too.

Jessie was singing to herself in between takes when shots were being set up and so on, and my gosh, her voice really is amazing. It has an absolutely pure sound, and trickles completely freely and naturally, like running water, yet is held in perfect and light control. I don't think her records really show what she can do, maybe because then they'd be a bit much for the average pop fan to handle ;) I bet she's good live, though.

Here's a pic Jessie posted on her Instagram of the director and crew filming us in our little party rooms:

 Sorry to go on like a bit of a fangirl, but Jessie was also one of the nicest and most genuine/ down-to-earth people I've ever worked with. I'm pretty sure she'll never read this, I'm just saying it 'cos it's true ;)

Anyway... here's the actual video for 'It's My Birthday' :) Hope you like!

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Futura

I have some new photos from an old shoot with Shawn Bishop at Scarlet Door Studio :) They are a bit different from my "usual" retro look, but I really like them and would like to do more photos like this, with what I always think of as a Mechanical Animals kind of a look. They actually played the album in the studio while we were shooting to help me get in character!

Hair and makeup: meee

I adore the art work from the various eras of Manson. He is still one of my favourite models- always able to perfectly project character and scenario through pose, self-styling and expression, always a strong presence on camera, always demanding a connection and response from the viewer. Many of his photos from the 90s and Noughties are what inspired to me to want to model in the first place, for example:

Photographer: Perou

I remember posting that last photo on MySpace, which just shows how long ago it was, along with a blurb about having just found this photographer, Perou, and my somewhat fantastical dreams of working with him one day. In my defence, I may have only been modelling for less than a year at the time, but even then I knew it was fantastical. Perou also took some of my favourite photos of Dita, whose book I was probably dissecting with absolute ardour at the time (I still like it now).

I think maybe a couple of people reading this did actually read my old MySpace blog too back in the day and so might appreciate this.

PEROU MESSAGED ME ON FACEBOOK TO ASK ME TO HIS PARTY LAST FRIDAY AND I WENT AND WE HUNG OUT AND HE SAID HE LOVES MY LOOK AND WANTS TO WORK WITH ME AND I DIDN'T FAINT OR THROW UP OR NOTHIN'.

In fact I took his card and called him today and am meeting him at the Bunker on Friday to talk it over. *insert head-exploding emoticon here* And I was actually able to carry out a reasonably sensible conversation while dressed like this:

Me & Dan Hubbert on our way to the party

It's no exaggeration to say that I think Perou is one of the best, if not the best people photographer alive today, and yeah, it's almost pathetic how many times I've named him in interviews when the magazine person inevitably asks what my dream shoot/ project would be.

I'm like

right now :o

 *faints*

It goes to show that you might as well be optimistic because you never know what's waiting for you in the Futura.

Anita xxxx




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Land, Sea and Hair

I've been very busy since my last blog, but thought I would give myself a moment to settle down on the settee in my vintage satin robe and share a little of the last few days with you :)

I popped up to Scotland over the weekend for a shoot at Pavilion Studio in West Lothian, which is owned and run by photographer Barrie Spence. I've shot with Barrie before but this was the first time that I'd seen the studio and I was very impressed with it! It was warm, clean, well laid-out and well-equipped. I had three photo shoots in one day there (8 hours altogether) in great company, so it really was a very pleasant getaway! I will be able to share some of the photos, including Lady Lucie latex and Playful Promises lingerie, very soon, so subscribe to my blog now if you don't want to miss it (top right of this page)!

I watched about half of the Olympic opening ceremony with Barrie, his partner Fiona and shy Labrador Molly, and enjoyed it more than I expected! I even found the bit at the beginning with the suffragettes and soldiers very moving! It's easy for me to be cynical and forget just how much this country has evolved and contributed, considering how small it is. We became a non-slave-owning, atheist, openly gay, scientific, anti-fascist, artistically progressive culture with votes for women relatively early on and I like to think we are still progressing now!

It's a shame that they didn't make reference to important British scientists like Charles Darwin, or the UK's (relatively) thriving LGBT/ queer culture, but I suppose you can't have it all. You know that if I had been organising the event there would have been plenty more latex, 6" stiletto heels and fully fashioned seamed nylons! If you like those things too, then you'll love what I have in my Shop right now!!

Here is a brand new picture, as a reward for you if you actually read all that waffle up there ^

It was taken on the hot, sunny streets of Singapore last December by Singapore's leading photographic team, CaKe! We always shoot together at least twice when I visit Singapore and are already discussing our upcoming shoot this December!

Photographer and wardrobe stylist: Callan Tham @ CaKe! | Hair and makeup: Kenny Tan

On the theme of street fashion, I also have an outtake from a more recent shoot in Camden with my cat, Dexter! It was the first shoot where we've been officially booked to model together and my little boy did me proud! Can't you just tell that this photo was taken in England and not in Singapore?! In fairness though, it was taken at night!

 This has got to be my most successful Mohawk to date! I got this new hairspray and it's like spray-superglue. It kicks the arse of both Elnette and Schwarzkopf, my preferred brands up to now!
Photographer: Donald Ogg | Styling: me! | Male model: Dexter ;) | Assistant: Jo

Little bit of nerdage: the alley we were shooting in is the very same one that Edgar Wright used to shoot the famous "fake gun fight" scene in Spaced. Conveniently, it also happens to be outside my favourite Camden pub, The Black Heart *nods*

Also this week was another first: my first underwater shoot! I was really lucky to get to do it with my model friend Ivory Flame (Holly), who is not only amazing at modelling in general but experienced in underwater modelling specifically, so she actually coached me through the whole thing, from emails before we even got there, to wrapping me up in towels at opportune moments and recommending breathing and relaxation techniques, to texting me after the shoot with further advice and encouragement ♥

It was a very exciting day for me as the learning curve was so steep! Although I don't panic in water at all, the first few photos looked more like I was drowning or had just fallen into the pool and was having a laugh, rather than graceful and ethereal, but by the end of the day I was promptly counting myself in and dropping to the bottom of the pool to pull poses with Holly that would have been impossible on dry land!

I will share the photos when I have them, but for now, here is a little behind the scenes snap I took of Holly and the photographer testing the lights- underwater!

Underwater modelling is so addictive because of the physical challenge and your sudden ability to float! I hope I get to do more! I have tons of ideas, including being a mermaid and floating around in a long silk dress!

Let me know if there is anything that you would like to see me do underwater..!

Love and kisses,

Anita xxx



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