STEP SISTER: Sister Sinister out and about in Westward Bound catsuit (pic: Josefine Jönsson)
Sister Sinister: a sweet success story from Sweden.
The Fetishistas’ November 2014 relaunch leads with an in-depth examination of the incredible impact of Swedish models on the modern fetish scene. And for our first cover story on the new-look site, who better to focus on than Sister Sinister? This Stockholm-based beauty began modelling in 2007 and has made it to the very top of her profession while maintaining a reputation as one of the industry’s nicest and most genuine people. Interview by Tony Mitchell. Main picture by Belinda Bärtzner
Sister Sinister has one of the most instantly recognisable faces on today’s fetish modelling scene. It’s a face that, with a little help from a trim but curvy bod that looks fabulous in latex, has launched a thousand fantasies — not to mention a very successful modelling career for its owner.
Unsurprisingly, this 27-year-old from Stockholm, who began modelling in 2007, is a heroine for many young women dreaming of a fetish fashion career today.
Perceived as someone at the top of her game — an impression confirmed for many when she was crowned Miss Fetish Europe in 2012 — she is also much admired for having got to that exalted position entirely on merit, and with her sweet character and natural modesty intact.
She is smart, for sure, and thoroughly professional. But the personality that has come across consistently in the half-dozen years I’ve known her is pretty much the opposite of what her gothic-tinged modelling name suggests. Which may not be a coincidence.
I first met Sister Sinister, aka Susanna, at the very first London Fetish Weekend in October 2008, when The Fetishistas was media partner to the Xpo at the Barbican. So when we set about doing this interview, I started by asking what that first London experience had felt like as a relative newbie.
“Actually that wasn’t just my first London event,” she says, “but my first fetish event outside of Sweden.
“I had been to a few of the Swedish Dekadance parties before that. So going to London and attending a big international event was for me a very big and super exciting thing.
‘Life just looks so much better upside down!’ Sister Sinister quips, before adding that all these activities help to keep her fit ‘which of course comes in handy in my modelling’
“I didn’t really think about if I should be there or not, I just really wanted to get closer to the whole fetish world, and since we don’t have much of it going on in Sweden I had to get me some plane tickets to London! I definitely don’t regret doing so.”
But it turns out that for a newbie, she’d already got some pretty impressive creditials under her belt.
“At that point I had been modelling on and off for almost two years. I must have been really lucky, or just really good at hassling people on e-mail, because in my first year of modelling I got to go to Solingen and shoot with [Marquis publisher] Peter Czernich.
“I don’t think I even knew what I was doing at that point, but I was just super excited. I had also had my first feature in Marquis magazine, a centrefold in Clinic magazine and a cover and feature in Bizarre magazine, for example.
“So I guess attending LFW was kind of a natural step for me to meet more people in the scene, and not just be an anonymous girl in Sweden that hides behind her computer.”
Up to that point, she hadn’t felt part of any ‘Swedish scene’, because she was mostly working from and shooting at home — with her then boyfriend who was also a photographer.
FETISH DAIRY: One of the creative bonuses of Susanna’s recent sojourn in to Australia was hooking up with Polish artist Jaroslav Wieczorkiewic, aka Aurum Light, for one of his legendary Milk Workshops, producing the piece above (www.aurum light.com)
“I started editing my own pictures and experimenting with self-portraits early on and was, I guess, pretty good at networking and emailing. So back then I was just a shy nerd with a love for shiny latex. And yeah, yeah, I still am,” she laughs.
But how did she progress from that rubber love to actually modelling the stuff?
“I’m pretty sure that just seeing latex models online got me interested in the fabric and in the modelling itself. At that time I was still in school and I was in some kind of goth phase.
“I was wearing a bit of PVC and lace, so when I saw latex, it was like a serious upgrade from PVC. I remember being very impressed with models like Elva, Bianca Beauchamp and Zlata. I have a soft spot for bendy girls.”
Overcoming her camera-shyness with her first ever shoot, she was ready to incorporate latex into the second one. “And since then,” she says, “it’s been almost all latex.”
‘It’s funny when I meet someone for the first time who thinks from my pictures that I’m really tall. “But you’re so tiny!” is usually the first thing that comes out of their mouths’
Facebook pictures of her hanging upside down from hoops and climbing ropes are clues to Susanna’s interest in energetic activities — she lists dancing, riding, gymnastics and aerial performance among them. Where do such things fit into her fetish modelling life?
“Life just looks so much better upside down!” she quips, before adding that all these things help to keep her fit “which of course comes in handy in modelling”.
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Sister Sinister’s first big career milestone was undoubtedly that early shoot with Peter Czernich in Germany.
“It was my first shoot outside Sweden, and to get invited to Solingen for a shoot with Mr Czernich himself was quite overwhelming,” she recalls. “I remember being very nervous as I hadn’t yet gotten a good understanding of the fetish scene and didn’t really know my own limits and strengths.”
After that came London Fetish Weekend in 2008, and her first runway experience modelling for Libidex and Rubber55 at the Barbican Xpo.
She remembers “being impressed with how confident and relaxed most of the models were, and that everybody was so nice and treated me like I belonged there”, and credits British model Roswell Ivory for enabling her to survive her first international appearance at the Xpo’s press call.
By the time she was asked to model for House of Harlot at Torture Garden, she was “hooked on the whole thing” and decided to make the most of modelling. Shooting for Latexa in Germany with Sway and Norman Richter was another early high point.
She cherishes all her shoots with Czernich (see above) and Marquis magazine covers. “When I first got offered the cover along with a story inside, I think I actually cried a little from pure happiness.
“That had always been my goal in my career, one I thought might never happen. It made me feel like I was really accepted as one of the hardworking models at the top.”
Other defining moments she mentions include modelling the new collection Inner Sanctum, “one of my long time favourite brands”; winning the Miss Fetish Europe 2012 title “which was huge and also lead to another Marquis cover”; and being poster girl for next year’s German Fetish Ball Weekend.
Product self-portraiture aside, Sister Sinister has of course collaborated with many of the best fetish designers, photographers and models in Europe and beyond. So it’s time to put her on the spot and ask her to namecheck a few of her favourites.
“Oh wow this is really hard,” is her reaction. “There are so many people I’d like to mention. All of the people I work with mean so much to me in different ways. Some have been with me for a long time and some are newer acquaintances.
“For designers I of course have to mention [now defunct] Naucler Design, as the Swedish latex brand and also the designer I worked with a lot during my first years in modelling. Sophie’s designs were always wonderful.”
She also rates Inner Sanctum (“a long time favourite — the quality is amazing”); Brigitte More (“she makes the most amazing creations and also takes a lot of inspiration from her models”); and Pandora Deluxe, above (“a newer label whose designs really appeal to me; the quality is amazing too”).
Tags: Latex, Models, Personalities
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