MANIFEST: JULY COVER STORY

Recent Fetish Fashion Parties there have featured catwalk shows by Dawnamatrix and Pandora Deluxe. This September’s event will present two top international latex brands from London: Bondinage and House of Harlot.

Also appearing onstage is burlesque queen Kalinka Kalaschnikow from Vienna, who will perform The English Riding Lady and a second piece from her repertoire.

In addition, Anna Rose and Amarantha LaBlanche, whose performance at this year’s German Fetish Ball went down a storm, will be serving up another Kinky Rubber Show for the Copenhagen crowd.

Among other fetishistic attractions this year will be what is claimed to be ‘the biggest gathering of heavy rubber dolls in Scandinavia’, who will ‘fill the dancefloor, catwalk and playroom’.

There’ll also be Oxygasm — ‘a doorway to ecstatic orgasm presented by the O-Team’. It’s all about deep breathing, apparently — and you’ll also be able to ‘get a sensual massage wherever you want it’. I’ll have mine in Tokyo, please.

The party, which runs from 22:00 to 04:00 UTC+02, will feature a variety of spaces for various different activities.

The BDSM Playroom is for players and cruisers, the latter defined as ‘the curious ones who might create an opportunity to let play evolve in a new direction’ but must ‘keep a polite distance and join play by invitation only’.

The Darkroom is for those who ‘get turned on by the unknown and the unpredictable’; by not quite knowing ‘who is touching you or who you are touching’.

The Redroom provides ‘an opportunity for kinky couples to play among other couples’. It is equipped with ‘couple-friendly play furniture’ and bathed in ‘seductive red light’.

Music will be provided by DJ Waqar, ‘renowned as one of the best all-round DJs in Copenhagen’; DJ Suck My Rabbit, a Belgian specialist in ‘dirty, danceable sex beats’; and DJ Mashti, resident ManiFest DJ, who’ll be taking care of the soundscape on the upper floor.

Last but not least, there’s a Singles Meet-Up, especially for new guests and singles who’d like to arrive at the party as part of a group. It takes place at Café Overfor from 9pm, leaving the café for the party at 10.30pm.

Tickets for the Fetish Fashion Party on September 15 are currently still available at two earlybird rates: DKK 355 (approximately £43/€46/$57) and DKK 385 (£46/€50/$62).

Tickets that combine party entry with a hotel room for one night cost DKK 1045 (£125/€136/$167) for one person and DKK 1535 (£184/€200/$245) for two. The hotel in this package is the Cabinn Scandinavia in Frederiksberg, just 250m from the venue (see link at bottom).

A handling fee of DKK 24 (£2.90/€3.10/$3.80) will be added to all the above prices.

Tickets on the door will cost DKK 450 (£54/€58/$72).

COPENHAGEN COOL WITH KINK

While the Fetish Fashion Party is returning for a third year to what is clearly a good venue for that event, and while venues that have proved popular for regular ManiFest parties are also revisited, there is an ongoing commitment by the partners to find fresh venues to keep things interesting.

“I think of ManiFest as a playground,” Stig says, “and if people have been to a venue many times, they might get a little bit bored with it. So it’s interesting to come up with new playgrounds, and we move the party around whenever we have the chance to get into a new venue.”

I ask him how the City of Copenhagen feels about having fetish parties within its boundaries these days.

“No problem at all,” comes the reply, “it’s really nice. Way back, the police and the authorities were sort of checking up on our events. But now they know what’s going on — they know it’s a good crowd, there’s never any trouble, fighting or bad behaviour, and not a lot of drugs either, actually.

“But we do have some problems with some venues who say, ‘This is too controversial, we’re afraid this is going to ruin our reputation’. So in some people’s views, what’s happening at a fetish party is still controversial.”

Stephen takes up this thread. “Our tactic when speaking to new venue owners is to tell them right off the bat exactly what goes on, and how hardcore it can be.

“We don’t try to pack it into some kind of soft description. That way, we don’t get surprised the week before the party by them saying, ‘We didn’t know it was that hardcore, we’re going to have to cancel’.”

I am told that even Copenhagen, with its beautifully preserved historic buildings, does not completely escape the attentions of developers. And as a result of this — as in many other capital cities — suitable central venues for fetish events are becoming harder to find.

Says Anton: “You have to go out to the suburbs now to find the kind of old warehouses and industrial buildings that used to be available. And people in Copenhagen are a little bit spoiled — if they have to drive more than 15 minutes, you can forget the venue!”

THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY

This must have made it something of a gamble to give a first-time try-out to Halvandet, the venue chosen as the location for ManiFest’s 20th anniversary celebrations.

Consulting a map after my arrival in the city on Saturday April 14 (the same day as the birthday party), I conclude that Halvandet doesn’t seem too far away from where I’m staying — just across the harbour, in fact.

However, travelling there by taxi (my only option) feels like entering the action of a Scandi noir drama at the exact location they’ve chosen for the next murder.

The drive takes me down long, narrow, winding, unlit roads, past acres of marshland alternating with scrap metal dumps and caravan sites. In the distance, a power station pumps out clouds of white vapour against the dark night sky.

You couldn’t get noirer if you tried. Needless to say, even with satnav, the driver can’t find the venue.

Eventually I spot a sign at a junction in front of us that reads ‘Halvendet’ in large letters with an arrow pointing to the left. Otherwise we’d have been driving around for another week at least.