Kink Goes High Fashion at Art Basel
All photos courtesy of BFA
Kink went high fashion at this year's Art Basel. NSFW partnered with Extreme Restraints, Zirkova Vodka and Bijoux Indiscrets to bring a fetish twist to Visionaire's Art Basel party at The Standard Spa in Miami. Featuring the work of photographer Steven Klein, the event featured his collaboration with avant-garde publication Visionaire.
“Something I learned, which I definitely never knew about, was saran wrapping,” Cecilia Dean said Thursday evening. “So there’s a mistress who saran wraps a man to the table and it is a legitimate type of play, which I did not know.”
The spa’s rooms featured varying performances by BDSM professionals: in one room was the aforementioned saran-wrapping, while another had a man on a leash, restrained by another leather-wearing performer.
The theme is a continuation of Klein’s “Fetish” project centered around high heels that launched at Sotheby’s earlier this fall; entering the party, guests were welcomed to help themselves to whips and blindfolds provided by Extreme Restaints and Bijoux Indiscrets.
“The whole theme of the party is fetish, but I think if you look at all the scenarios that are going on, it always shows women in the role of empowerment — that was very important for us,” Dean said. “On one level, yeah, it’s fetish and it’s S&M and that whole community and it’s fun, but it’s also for us very much about women’s empowerment.”
Around 11:30 p.m. rapper Brooke Candy performed in the open room, swinging about in a harness and a bejeweled strap-on, a leather net draping part of her body. Klein, who said he’s been working with Candy for around five years, crouched down to snap photos of her performance, at one point standing back up to pinch her nipples as she spit lyrics in his face.
“The whole production of this event has been so educational; obviously we cast models and dress them up, because we wanted to make these live installations, but we also wanted to talk to the whole BDSM community, in an authentic way. So actually the performers are all from the community. It’s the real deal," Dean told WWD.
Whether the crowd was there for education or a NSFW Instagram didn’t seem to matter.
“The whole idea was to offer these aesthetically beautiful moments but also maybe promote the conversation about what’s going on and if that’s something you’d be interested in doing,” Dean said. “Someone could come here and it’s just fun — it’s to titillate people.”
Find some of the pics from the event below and then peep our shopable picks from Extreme Restraints.
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