LOOK BOOK, L-R: Sonya Fishnet High Leg Panties (worn with Larissa Harness Bra and Luna O-Ring Belt); Sonya Fishnet Biker Jacket and Sonya Fishnet High Leg Panties; Valentina Lace Bra and Astra Organic Structure Lace Thigh Zip Split Maxi Skirt; Astra Organic Structure Lace Puff Sleeve Dress (model: Olivia Harriet; hair/make-up: Gabriella Havens; photos: Pandora Deluxe)
She explains to me that there are Javascript-based open source programs that enable a designer to write computer code to generate the patterns, and that there’s also an Illustrator one that can do the same thing.
“The actual pattern I’m using currently was a regular grid with five to six hundred random points integrated to create the impression that it’s more random, like in nature,” Mags says.
“Then you process it using the algorithm that creates this structure and the end result is the vector pattern that looks like the organic structure lace I’ve used for some of the garments.”
The finished pattern is then fed to the laser cutter via one or other of the standard autocut files such as AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Exchange Format).
A common way for laser-cut patterns to be incorporated into latex garments is to create trim strips that can be added similarly to the way lace trim is added to fabric garments.
Where lace effects are desired for larger latex garment panels, the lace pattern is commonly produced as a sheet that is laminated onto a backing sheet and then cut to the required panel shape.
But for the Chrysalis Collection, Mags went a step beyond either of these construction methods. She started to use digital pattern drafting.
‘What I’m doing now is generating garment patterns and lingerie patterns using computer software, so I can send complete panels to the laser cutter, cut them out and just put them together’
“What I realised when I started cutting the [lace] sheets,” she explains, “was that cutting them and then tracing, for example, garment panels and putting them together is too much work.
“So what I’m doing now is generating garment patterns and lingerie patterns using computer software, so I can actually send the complete panels to the cutter, cut them out and just put them together.”
In other words, instead of creating complete panels the traditional way — by producing separate plain and laser-cut elements and joining them together — she is integrating these two elements at the design stage and sending only finished panels from the computer to the cutter.
With hindsight, she says, it was an obvious progression. “But I didn’t immediately realise — it took trial and error to get there.”
To be clear, she adds, “It’s not automation of the production process, more optimisation. It’s less work, and the less work the better, but it’s still so much more work.
“The computer part of the whole design process is just so time-consuming. I spent maybe a few hundred hours just doing that, and it’s still nowhere near finished.”
She admits she didn’t realise how long it would take to do all the so-called ‘rapid’ prototyping to complete one garment and actually make it work.
“To get the right fit, there are more parameters to take into account than just the way normal latex sheet stretches. So I ran out of time and I didn’t finish everything before Berlin.”
Consequently, despite the launch of the Pandora Deluxe Chrysalis Collection with ten outfits at the GFB, there’s “half of the collection” still to be made.
And interestingly the styles still to come may well include a couple of catsuits — something many Pandora Deluxe fans have long been hoping Mags would add to her repertoire.
This prompts the question: why hasn’t she already included catsuits in her range?
“Because catsuits are a lot of work. Let’s not pretend otherwise because that’s the truth,” she says.
“I know people that claim they can make a full catsuit with a zip in two to two-and-a-half hours. I believe them — practice make perfect.
“But at some point when I finally manage to finish creating a catsuit pattern that fits, and I’m happy with the fit, I will probably produce a couple of examples.”
However, whether they will be purely showpieces for the catwalk or styles that will be made available to the public is something yet to be decided, I’m told.
I ask her if she’s thinking about any other creative uses for her laser cutter, such as latex etching. This is an effect you may have already seen if you’re familiar with the Latex 101 garment range for example, and it can be produced with any laser cutter.
“You just reduce the power and the speed goes up. But it’s a painfully slow process because lasers are very high precision machines and it takes two to three times as long to etch as to cut.
“Even if you have a big machine it doesn’t go any faster.”
So the message about using laser cutters with latex is that if you think it will save you production time…
“The actual laser cutting — putting the latex into the machine and cutting it — doesn’t take that long,” she admits. “It’s only a tiny fraction of the total time it takes to produce the garment.”
But, she adds, laser cutting can actually extend total manufacturing time, because it introduces a delay you can’t avoid: the curing time necessary before you can work with the cut element.
“When you take the cut latex out of the machine, it will still smell of burnt latex and still be a bit sticky, and it takes ages to clean it — you have to clean it twice”.
If you’re under pressure, she says, it is possible to begin working with it after about 48 hours of curing.
“But the longer you wait, the less smell there is,” Mags continues. “Ideally you want to wait at least a week, and after two weeks the smell has completely gone.”
So it would be a mistake to imagine that a latex garment produced with the aid of a laser cutter will have been produced more quickly and therefore at less cost than one produced by wholly traditional methods.
What you can expect — at least with the Pandora Deluxe Chrysalis Collection — are beautifully decorative garments that are simply impossible to produce by any other means. And unsurprisingly, such beauty does come at a price.
Let’s take as an example the Valentina Harness Dress featured in our cover banner and in our June Special Offer (full details on page 1 of this article).
The normal retail price of this mini-dress, with its filigree latex cup detailing, is £295. A similar harness style without the lace cups would cost closer to £195, Mags says.
So in round figures the lace cups of the Valentina dress add about £100, or 50 percent, to the cost of a similar plain dress.
But like the other styles in the Chrysalis Collection it is, Mags emphasises, a luxury product, using the latest computer and laser technology in its production.
“And even though the laser cutting is only in the cups, there’s the whole design process — the computer design process takes a very long time.
“I don’t know how many hours I spent editing those cups! I needed to create the actual lace, then I needed to adapt it so it’s actually a cup, then how many cup sizes do you have? Maybe 20 cup sizes, so it’s a lot of work, you know.
“Then having those files ready so I can actually produce those sizes — it takes time. This is a part of the extra mark-up. The other part is the actual cutting (which is a tiny fraction of it), then the cleaning process and the curing.”
I tell Mags that I find it very easy to imagine styles from the Pandora Deluxe Chrysalis Collection finding favour with the current crop of latex-wearing pop chicks and other glamorous celebs.
She tells me that she agrees. “I can definitely see, for example, the Hadid sisters in these designs,” she says.
Then she reveals she is currently working on another set of skills she hopes will bring her work to the attention of such folk — or more accurately, their stylists.
‘I’ve started doing my own photo- graphy, partly so I can create a look book. I felt if I could do my own, I could take it in the direction I want to go with it and do what I want to do’
“I’ve started doing my own photography, partly so I can create a look book. I felt if I could do my own photography, I could take it in the direction I want to go with it and do what I want to do.”
She has already done a couple of shoots featuring model Olivia Harriet in styles from the new collection — four examples of which you can see below.
The shoots were done under the tutelage of photographer friend Lukasz Zandecki from Poland, who has been showing her “how to work in the studio, how to set up the lighting, how to work with the model, what to look at and how to get the look I want”.
Once she has produced the look book, it will be on the website and, she says, “There will be an option for stylists to send a request if they want to borrow something for a shoot.
“So we’ll see how it goes. I’m not going to put loads of pressure on myself just to get celebs to wear it. I’ve already had a really amazing response on the internet.”
And from people who saw the Pandora Deluxe Chrsyalis Collection in Berlin too, it seems.
“People like it — it’s different, it looks very unique, there isn’t anything that’s been done like that before,” she says proudly, before adding:
“I’m not saying people haven’t laser-cut latex before, because of course they have. But it’s just the way it’s done, you know — it’s very fresh and unique.”
And my prediction is that it is likely to remain so for some considerable time to come.
Meet Kink Engineer, who shot our June cover image of Nephilla
Photographer Kink Engineer shot our June 2017 cover/banner image (shown above in its full-frame version) and one of our two Berlin galleries featuring the Chrysalis Collection. He tells us:
It was getting harder to separate the job from leisure time and I really missed the creative part. As I was always interested in photography, I began doing small photoshoots more and more often.
Initially these were only with my girlfriend, but I soon started with professional collaborations, working with designers, different models, stylists and so on.
I went one step further and even found a nice industrial building where I established my own studio. I still own it, but at the moment, you find me working on location more often.
Nothing at this point was fetish related. I had no experience doing latex photography, but then tried it once just for fun.
I loved the look when combining fashion with kinky elements. People loved the results, and as I had been in the fetish scene for many years, I started doing photo shoots for them more often.
It’s not so easy in Switzerland as the country is rather prudish and we don’t have any interesting nor creative latex fashion labels here. Therefore, I really loved meeting others in Berlin during this year’s German Fetish Ball.
Another collaboration had been planned in Berlin with Pandora Deluxe as we were all so happy with the results from last year. As a photographer, the GFB Weekend provides a great opportunity to work with so many international people together.
This time, we planned the photo shoot outdoors, somewhere hidden in one of Berlin’s courtyards. Mags from Pandora Deluxe had shown me some pictures of her collection a few weeks before and I already knew: “Need to shoot this!”
I was working with models Nephilla, Mary D and
Nephilla is great when portrait and three-quarter poses matter. She has such huge skills doing all kinds of amazing looks with her face. I could tell Nephilla, “Give my a hundred different faces” and she would do it! Elegant, surprised, erotic or just silly fun stuff — and even after a hard party night!
Working with Mary D was also fun, as always. I once asked her during a party if she wanted to join us on one of our photo shoots. I’m still happy she agreed. During our very first collaboration, it took me only two shots to realise: this girl has some great posing abilities!
And when it came to make-up skills, I was so happy to be able to work with My Little Vronie. She really has that ‘your eyes gonna pop out’ style that’s perfect for the scene, and I’m sure we will see a lot more of her during the next few years.
All the models did really well during this shoot, especially considering it was so cold and windy outside.
If asked about some future projects, I mainly tell people about my idea for building a group of designers, hair stylists, models and make-up artists and then going on a week-long trip on a cruise ship, from one city to another.
It would be perfect — you could take lots of luggage onto the ship, doing photo shoots each day in a new city, but always carrying around only what you needed for that day.
In the evening, the whole team could sit together in one of the restaurants or lounges on the ship, checking all the pictures and planning the next day, while your ‘hotel’ is already on its way to your next location.
If anyone wants to join, feel free to get in touch via my Facebook or Instagram pages below.
pandoradeluxe.com
facebook.com/pandoradeluxelatex
Instagram.com/pandoradeluxe
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Kink Engineer/facebook
Kink Engineer/instagram
Christian Gschweng/facebook
Caelyx
Cat Atonia
Celene Nox
Ellen Lovebite
Ian Darkpilot
Lambkiss
Laura Liquor
Mary D
My Little Vronie
Nephilla
Olivia Harriet
Satoria
Symphony
Sulastri
Tags: Awards, Designers, Discounts and Sales, Latex, Retail
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