AT THE CUTTING EDGE, above: Peter Czernich with ninja Jade Vixen (photo: Peter W Czernich). Top banner: Jess Jansen, who was due to perform in the Marquis GFB show (photo: Peter W Czernich)
Marquis Ninja Girl show pulled from GFB by mag’s new owner.
The Marquis Ninja Girl show due to be staged on Saturday at the German Fetish Ball, where it would have shared top billing with Japanese latex label Kurage, has been cancelled.
The first many people knew of it was via a brief and evidently shellshocked post on Facebook from former Marquis publisher Peter Czernich.
Peter had continued to be involved in the company following its sale to Martell, and was closely involved with the Ninja Girl show.
Fashion show cancellations are an almost inevitable part of big fetish events like the German Fetish Ball.
It’s not unusual for one or more designers to pull out when they find they can’t afford the expense of participation, or have run out of time to produce new outfits to put on the catwalk.
However, it quickly transpired that the Marquis Ninja Girl show cancellation was actually the tip of a much bigger iceberg.
It wasn’t just the GFB performance that was off. Czernich’s continued involvement with Marquis had also evidently been cancelled.
It appeared that owner and ex-owner were no longer of one mind on the future editorial direction of the magazine.
Reading between the lines of a statement issued by Martell, it looks like he felt Czernich was grabbing too much of the limelight for himself, still, and also continuing to focus too much on European fetish endeavour rather than considering the needs of the US and international markets.
Martell’s statement said: “Marquis has played an important roll [sic] in attempting to spread the interests of the Fetish Community since its inception and that continues to be our primary focus.”
But he added: “The new Marquis magazine must grow beyond a regional focus in order to continue to expand the base focus and do our part to help the community grow and thrive.”
He went on to assert that lack of “a clearly defined path that the entire media company is following” along with “clearly defined guidelines for quality control and media growth” and “ever expanding improvements in the visual quality of the product” would “only hold us back from expansion into new areas”.
“The mission for Marquis at this time is to redevelop our image into a mainstreamed fetish oriented product that will be widely read around the world,” he explained.
But it is the following two sentences from Martell that show the writing was clearly on the wall for Peter Czernich’s continued involvement. He wrote:
“We cannot proceed as a representation of the community without all players in the production of Marquis working together towards theses [sic] goals.
“Marquis magazine can no longer sustain itself if the focus remains to be about any one person.” [Our italics]
The general reaction on Facebook to the Marquis Ninja Girl show cancellation has been one of disappointment and dismay, somewhat contrary to assertions elsewhere that social media opinion broadly supported the decision.
Meanwhile, models involved in the show, including many of the fetish scene’s top names, have found themselves with no GFB show to perform in, and also with no likelihood of receiving the expenses they were promised for appearing.
Understandably, some, like Sister Sinister, have decided to cut their losses and not attend the event.
Others, like Lara Aimée, have taken the view that even without a formal performing job or their expenses covered, they don’t want to miss this major international fetish gathering.
Other performers in the cancelled show were Yeva Shiyanova, Elegy Ellem, Iris Profile, Lotte Groeneweg, Tanja Borissova, Markissa Moore, Stella Curve, Sarah Shearer and Jess Janssen (shown in our top banner image).
GFB organiser René has offered all the performers guest list places so they can still enjoy the party.
And he rightly points out that even without the Marquis Ninja Girl show, Saturday’s Ball still offers seven fashion shows including an appearance by Tokyo’s amazing Kurage label.
As for Marquis in Germany, a post by Peter Czernich comments that “everything has gone to America”.
The US-based business has “several extraordinary events” coming up, including involvement in a coast-to-coast rally as part of the goldRush Rally, and a second edition of the Marquis Manor Model Retreat.
Tags: Designers, Fashion Shows, Fetish Weekends, Latex, Models, Parties, Performers
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