About a year ago, Margot Strik, owner of the erotic NondoNoir boutique in , contacted Netherlands-based latex label  with an interesting proposition.

She told label owner/designer Barbara Sandri and her partner, photographer Ardi Foto, that she wanted to add some latex to the boutique’s clothing range.

Not, she explained, the usual kind of latex that she considered too bdsm-orientated, but something more elegant, to reflect her boutique’s upmarket image and appeal to the store’s customers.

“Margot asked us if we wanted to design this exclusive collection for her boutique,” says Ardi, “and this of course fitted perfectly with the Ardita philosophy.”

So, even though the couple were busy with the development and production of the label’s new Passion collection, and had a full order book to deal with, they were eager to collaborate.

After a few meetings where everything was discussed — from what was possible and what everybody really wanted to decisions on the colours for the prototype garments — Barbara started making drawings.

The concept was of a small and elegant capsule collection with something for every time of day, from work in the office to a fancy dinner or night out, to a nice lingerie set for the bedroom.

After more brainstorming and mailing of drawings back and forth, the decision about which pieces would go into the collection was finally made. It would include a short mini skirt, a sleeveless top, two dresses, one simple day dress and one more elegant evening dress.

In addition there would be a pair of trousers, a blouse and jacket, and, for the lingerie set, a bra with matching girdle belt, briefs and stockings.

The big challenge, says Ardi, was coming up with the pattern for the collection’s handcut latex appliqué (an Ardita speciality which fans of the label know is a unique selling point of Barbara’s work).

Nondonoir is the name of a butterfly and Margot wanted to have butterflies in the pattern. But to develop a pattern with butterflies that could be cut out by hand and was also strong enough to glue proved to be “a big brain-breaker” says Ardi.

“But finally we managed, and even kept it a secret from Margot till it was time to organise the product photography for the web shop at the end of June.”

In addition to that studio shoot, Ardi (the man behind the unique look of all Ardita’s in-house photography) set up a location shoot to create a complementary set of lush editorial images.

By early August a selection of finished pictures from both shoots was on its way to us at The Fetishistas. Our plan was to publish them on Thursday September 18 — the day scheduled for the official live launch of the collection in the NondoNoir store — and that’s what we’ve done!