I first saw the possibility that latex design could achieve this back in 2003, when I met a Danish trio who had just launched a label called NPNG (aka No Pain No Gain). 

At that point I started to rethink my taste in latex clothes. Prior to meeting them, my wish list would have included lots of fetish archetypes such as latex nuns, nurses, corsets and catsuits. 

But seeing their work was eye-opening because much of what they produced was more rooted in contemporary fashion, but made in latex, with the same finishing touches such as buttonholes and linings. 

Seeing latex used in fashionable skirts and men’s dinner jackets inspired me, and expanded my knowledge of this material. 

It left me wanting to see more designers explore it in a similar vein — such as NYC’s pioneering label, the now defunct Gaelyn and Cianfarani, who made waves by outfitting rap artists and performers for magazine and newspaper photo shoots. 

So of course I keep a keen eye on latex when it bursts into the fashion mainstream, whether on the catwalk, or in museums, adverts, music videos or fashion magazines. 

But I’m often underwhelmed by the latter, as fashion stylists tend to reach for black latex opera gloves and knickers, and not much more. And often the fetish versions of vanilla styles skimp on the details and look more like fancy dress than the original garment. 

Tableaux Vivants, however, seems to have found its own niche, crafting latex pieces with attention to conventional fashion styling. By doing so it has made inroads into high fashion and in the process has helped to expand the public image of our favourite material.

Started in 2009, its founder, Brooklynite Sonia Agostino, chose the name Tableaux Vivants because to her, it meant ‘living picture’. “That’s what you should feel like in my designs,” she says. “A gorgeous living picture!” 

Sonia studied fashion design at famous New York institution The Fashion Institute of Technology in the early millennium, supporting herself by working as a cigarette girl at some of the more legendary and now departed New York clubs such as Twilo, Tunnel and Limelight. 

“It was there that I met a lot a great people and it’s where I got the connections into my first design jobs,” she explains. “I was working with designer Garo Sparo — making beautiful custom garments for some of the most influential people in fashion, nightlife and music.” 

Her work with fashion influencers continues, and her creations have been worn by such notables as Madonna, Winona Ryder and Kylie Jenner. 

The latter’s S&M-inspired shoot for Interview magazine’s cover, photographed by Steven Klein and heavily influenced by the artist Allen Jones, caused quite a stir in the media.

Showing black-latex-clad Jenner in a gold wheelchair, it was accused of insensitivity to people with disabilities. 

You will also see Sonia’s collections mixed with high-end fashion and couture clothing in print magazines such as Vogue, V and Vice Magazine, which puts her near the top of the food chain and in the company of other Fetishistas favourites like Atsuko Kudo, Dawnamatrix and Vex. 

Earlier Tableaux Vivants collections featured feminine shapes, capri trousers, capes and full skirts mixed with classic macs in heavier gauge latex. 

DEBUT: Ad for first Tableaux Vivants Collection

Subsequent collections have nodded to fetish classics as well as mainstream high fashion, incorporating basques, collars, slashed latex effects and lacings. 

Last year’s Fall/Winter 2017 Collection offered transparent latex in pink and natural hues, and slightly retro styling with cute puffy shapes, flirty blouses, cropped tops, prints, whimsical floral appliqués and leggings — all photographed for her lookbook on a classic gamine-like model (see gallery below right).

This year’s Spring/Summer 2018 Creatures Collection embraces an ’80s punk/goth/new wave vibe, especially in its lookbook stylings, and details such as zippers, slashed and lace seams and accents, peaked collars and net effects (see gallery below left).

What’s so inspiring to an admirer of high fashion such as I am, is how well-curated Tableaux Vivants collections are, and how consistent the imaging and branding are. 

This cohesiveness of approach is likely an advantage gained from Sonia’s formal fashion education — a benefit not enjoyed by all latex clothing designers.

Latex fashion ranges often evolve in a more haphazard way, inspired by customers’ demands and whims as opposed to executed from scratch as part of a whole.

So naturally, I wanted to learn more about the Tableaux Vivants designer’s rise, and how she ended up embracing latex instead of working with more easily-obtainable materials.

Sonia first got to know latex when she met legendary NYC figure and latex doyenne The Baroness, who was looking to hire a new assistant. 

“I knew nothing about this material, and even less about the fetish industry,” Sonia says. “That is where I learned how to work with this amazing material.