Day 12. Sadomasochism, fetishism, Hitler, SS.... what's going on?

Couple of days ago after watching the "final" Paris fashion week's show, which of course was Louis Vuitton by Marc Jacobs I felt like I've cought the thought... It seemed kind of strange to me. I thought about this sex/war influence which is quite obviosly seen in different cultural spheres in past decades and is certainly having its peak right now. The church is giving its positions down while vairous anti-religious organisations agitating newcommers to join their philosophical views. Racism, antisemitism, nazzism are showing up everywhere in the world right now.. and it seems, like they were never gone.



Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2011

Backstage, Jacobs explained that the fetish idea came from a conversation with LVMH's Bernard Arnault about women's "inexplicable" (his word, not ours) obsession with bags. "And that got us started thinking about passions, and any of the disciplines that require effort and work and commitment," he said." (Style.com)

The Night Porter (Italian: Il Portiere di notte) is a controversial 1974 film by Italian director Liliana Cavani, starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling.

Dirk Bogarde plays Maximilian Theo Aldorfer, a former Nazi SS officer, and Charlotte Rampling plays Lucia Atherton, a concentration camp survivor who had an ambiguous relationship with Aldorfer. Flashbacks show

Max tormenting Lucia, but also acting as her protector. In an iconic scene, Lucia sings a Marlene Dietrich song to the concentration camp guards while wearing pieces of an SS uniform, and Max "rewards" her with the severed head of a male inmate who had been bullying the other inmates, a reference to Salome.
Thirteen years after World War II, Lucia meets Aldorfer again; he is now the night porter at a Vienna hotel. There, they fall back into their sadomasochistic relationship.

In responses to The Night Porter, Cavani was both celebrated for her courage in dealing with the theme of sexual transgression and, simultaneously, castigated for the controversial manner in which she presented that transgression: within the context of a Nazi Holocaust narrative. The film has been accused of mere sensationalism: film critic Roger Ebert calls it "as nasty as it is lubricious, a despicable attempt to titillate us by exploiting memories of persecution and suffering." Given the film's dark and disturbing themes and a somewhat ambiguous moral clarification at the end, The Night Porter has tended to divide audiences. It is, however, the film for which Cavani is best known. (Wikipedia)

Another collection in this style (not exactly, but still - cat costumes are also for sale in fetish and sex shops)

 is from Thierry Mugler

The show was ended by Lady Gaga, who recently has been cooporating with Thierry Mugler.

Gaga in Thierry M. / Kate in Louis V.

Both with cigarettes.. 

Her video "Alejandro" is another argument

nun's dress

jewish signs..

SS's uniforms, fetish things..

Is it a porn video or what?

Eva Braun

I was quite shocked when I saw this one..

Lara Stone by Steven Klein for Vogue Paris 2009

Gaga's single wasn't the only one made in this style

Christian Aguilera's video Not Myself Today

Rihanna's single Russian Roulette

Another Louis Vuitton "bags fetishist" Madonna

who was also the face of the company for the past 2 years

These are photos from her book "Sex" which was published in 1992

"Sex"

 is a coffee table book written by Madonna with photographs by Steven Meisel Studio and film frames taken from film shot by Fabien Baron. Sex was released on October 21, 1992 by Warner Books. The book was released by Madonna as an accompaniment to her fifth studio album Erotica, which was released a day earlier.

The extremely controversial book featured strong adult content and softcore pornographic photographs depicting simulations of sexual acts, which included sadomasochism and analingus. Madonna wrote the book as a character named Mistress Dita, inspired by 1930s film actress Dita Parlo. (Wikipedia)