Perhaps because they’re not a London-based label, Lickorishlatex are often treated, they say, as the new kids on the latex fashion block. In fact, they argue, they’re far from being a new label by latex fashion standards.
Lickorishlatex was formed in 2005 in the West Yorkshire town of Huddersfield by three friends with disparate backgrounds (art, fashion and theatre wardrobe) who shared a common love of uncommon clothes.
Three became two soon into the label’s story, when one member veered off into cloth fashions, (and is now doing a roaring trade in bloomers for the steampunk scene!), leaving Nick and Jo (aka Scarlet Kitty) to build Lickorishlatex into the brand we see today.
So with five years of trading under their belts, the partners realise many of you may be wondering what they’ve been doing all that time, and asking why you haven’t heard of the label before.
“This is what we frequently ask each other,” the pair admit. “Our only excuse is that we have a terrible habit of wanting to do everything ourselves.
“It’s an affectation,” they add, “that makes life extremely slow going when there are only two of you, and you have to teach yourselves how to do a thing before you can accomplish it.
Happily, they reckon they’ve started breaking free of this “terribly time-consuming indulgence”, realising that as fiercely protective of their label as they are, they really should leave aspects of it to the experts, like accountants, photographers, models and, one day, even a web designer.
“Then,” they say, “we could devote our precious time to the part of the business we live for — designing and making delicious latex goodies!”
Lickorishlatex claim they’ve long been well regarded by the latex fashion cognoscenti for their unusual designs and original use of latex, but have found it difficult to expand beyond cult status and into the latex mainstream.
“When we started out we quickly became well known for our pioneering of the latex hair accessory, in particular our amazingly cute latex bow hair clips in various incarnations,” they explain.
Over the years their range of latex roses and rose accessories has garnered much attention. Last year, their appliquéd accessories and garments, simulating printed patterns by hand and using cut-out latex silhouettes for a range of eye-catching effects, had a similar impact.
The current focus in the life of the label is to “get our garments out there and receiving as much recognition as our accessories”. To that end they’ve started taking Lickorishlatex on the road.
“All our garments are finely tailored and impeccably made,” they say proudly, “but it’s very hard for people to tell the difference between a quality item and an unskilled knock-off at a distance of 400x600 pixels.
“It can be difficult for someone shopping on the internet who doesn’t know us to place us correctly on the sliding quality scale of latex designers, and they are more likely to order from an old tried and tested label than risk the cost of a garment from an ‘unknown quantity’.”
To get around this difficulty they’ve started physically taking their garments to the people, explaining: “If this means we have to go out to fabulous nightclubs while we’re doing it, that’s simply one of the many burdens we’ll have to bear for the sake of our business.”
Their first London fashion show, choreographed by Mimi Demure and Miss Cissy P, took place at Festival of Sins: Pride at the Purple Turtle in Camden in April. Our gallery for this article was specially shot at the event by Andy H in the studio he set up there.
All latex garments and accessories in the gallery are by Lickorishlatex, except for Mimi’s black dress and black/white waspie, which are by Cathouse Clothing.
If you missed the live show, you can still watch it, from the comfort of your desk, at the Festival of Sins website. And no doubt there’ll be more live Lickorishlatex lunacy coming soon to a venue near you.
‘It can be difficult for someone shopping on the internet who doesn’t know us to place us correctly on the sliding quality scale of latex designers’
