EVIL WOMAN & RUBY ALEXIA at SonicBoom, the first dresscode party in our GFB 2022 Report (photo: Tony Mitchell)
GFB 2022 Report Part 1:
An unexpected journey, a hotel fire scare and a Sonic Boom!
JULY COVER STORY: Late May saw the return of the German Fetish Ball Weekend to Berlin, and Tony Mitchell, keen to cover the event in person for a Fetishistas GFB 2022 report, decided to make the GFB his own return to fetish partying too. As he reveals in this first of three reports from Berlin, choosing to take the plunge came with reservations, but these dissipated once the partying started. Part 1 of his report covers unexpected local transport problems, a somewhat surreal fire emergency, and SonicBoom, the GFB programme’s first dresscode night. Banner: @xoprincesspetra & @ruby.alexia in Pandora Deluxe’s fashion show at the Ball.
Photography: Tony Mitchell, Josselin Guichard. Video: Cole Black/Latex Fashion TV
When I decided to head out to Berlin in May to personally cover the return of the German Fetish Ball Weekend for this GFB 2022 report, I knew I was taking a gamble choosing this as my first fetish event for two years.
But it was a gamble I’m very glad I took. And my enduring impression is that a lot of the other people who chose GFB 2022 for their ‘post-pandemic’ return to pervy partying feel equally satisfied with that choice!
The five-day programme from May 25 to 29 was well attended, and while not everyone considered (temporary) new Ball venue Club Ost a perfect substitute for Spindler & Klatt, it was surely a reasonable compromise in the circumstances.
The Berlin weekend’s familiar supporting events all took place on their usual days at their usual venues. And from Thursday’s SonicBoom — the first official dresscode party — to Saturday’s headlining Ball, the atmosphere I observed was palpably joyful.
Big-event-starved pervs seemed so happy to be present at the return of this premier fetish calendar event. UK people were prolific among the international visitors, and their German counterparts seemed as pleased to see them as they evidently were to be there.
Overcoming initial covid reservations
My personal reservations prior to this big gathering had basically revolved around not being certain how, as someone with increased covid vulnerability, I would cope with jumping back into the deep end of partying after two years of abstinence.
How well would I handle crowded venues where most people would be unmasked? Would it even be feasible to enjoy the events while wearing an FFP2 (if that felt necessary) — never mind photographing them effectively)?
And, given my experiences of the UK testing environment, was it really going to be as easy as Berliners claimed to access those official
negative tests required ‘on the day’ to enter a couple of the Berlin party venues?
These questions would be quickly answered once I started going to the parties. But before that, there was the little matter of actually getting to my hotel (the nhow) from Berlin’s fancy new Brandenburg Airport.
Weds May 25: planes, trains & buses
My BA flight from London City proved uneventful enough. But the one hurdle I hadn’t factored into my travel plans was the massive local transport screw-up I would encounter after arriving at Brandenburg.
What had been presented to me as a 35-minute journey on one S-Bahn train ended up involving four different trains and a replacement bus service that took, in total, three hours to get me to within walking distance of my hotel.
By the time I checked into the nhow at around 8pm, I was completely exhausted. Thus, I was forced to abandon any thoughts of doing a quick turnaround and heading back out to one or both of the Wednesday night parties — the official Kinky Cocktails at 260Grad and/or the alternative Savage Wear Fetish Night at Baderhaus.
So I am unable to give first-hand testimony as to whether, for example, the bar service in either venue has improved since I was last there. But I did hear that it was quite easy to find a test centre to get the local negative covid test required to enter the Savage Wear venue.
To provide a little taster of what lies ahead in subsequent parts of this GFB 2022 Report, below is a panel where you can watch a short video shot by Cole Black of Latex Fashion TV featuring some highlights of Saturday’s German Fetish Ball.
Cole and I buddied up as a sort of casual video/ stills team to cover several of the weekend’s events, and the panel below includes my account of some of our exploits together.
The GFB 2022 video above has been generously contributed to this article by Cole Black of Latex Fashion TV (aka LFTV) — writes Tony Mitchell. Cole put together this compilation of highlights from Saturday’s Ball especially for The Fetishistas after he and I ended up going around together during the five-day Berlin programme, shooting video and stills respectively. We’d said earlier that the event might provide an opportunity to collaborate on something while we were both in Berlin. But there was no plan beyond agreeing to see how things panned out once we were there. As it turned out, both of us being part of a little UK group (including LFTV presenter Psycatt and Mags and Michael from Pandora Deluxe) who were all staying at the nhow hotel made it relatively easy to partner up on stuff where our objectives were similar. Our first team outing found us setting out to cover Thursday’s SonicBoom party at Matrix — the weekend’s first dresscode party. More on this in the main text above. Friday’s German Fetish Fair Day 1 found us mostly wondering around the Fair separately doing our own thing, before our whole group later headed over to KitKat for FetishGuerilla Revolution, where I was photographing but Cole was having a night off (as FGR doesn’t allow video shooting). Saturday afternoon saw Cole heading over to new Ball venue Club Ost to get footage from the fashion show rehearsals before the two of us met up at the Fetish Fair for a final hour of shooting stands and people. We agreed we’d head out together later to Club Ost, where Cole’s prior knowledge of the venue layout proved very handy. However, when it came to getting set up to shoot the shows on the top floor, we found our options were limited because the space was already overcrowded and provision for photographers somewhat lacking. But, as you can see from our video, Cole was still able to get some striking footage from the latex fashion shows (staged by Pandora Deluxe, Maniac Latex, Inner Sanctum and Antidote London) and the performances by XelK and Mie Neko. After the shows finished, we were both approached by scores of people from the audience who wanted to be photographed and filmed in their fetish finery, with many choosing to pose in front of the GFB backdrop. We were both happy to oblige, and the video includes a nice selection from Cole’s audience footage. I, for my part, shot hundreds of photos alongside him and you’ll find 250 or so of these in Part 3 of this three-part GFB article. If you’re not already familiar with the fine work of Cole Black and LFTV, check it out via the LFTV links below. You can also read our in-depth Fetishistas interview with Cole from late 2020. latexfashion.tvGERMAN FETISH BALL 2022: LATEX FASHION TV GUEST VIDEO
latexfashiontv/patreon
thefetishistas/cole-black-interviewContinue reading Part 1 of our three-part GFB 2022 Report on next page
Tags: Fetish Weekends, Parties, Transport & Hotel Issues
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