EXCLUSIVE: F-Listed Q&A w/ Bianca Beauchamp

CAREER GIRL, LATEX LOVER, GIRL NEXT DOOR

How did you fall into becoming a latex and fetish model? Good question! By coincidence really. When shopping to a sex shop with my boyfriend Martin, I saw a short black latex dress hanging there between some outfits. He fell in love with the material but I was scared a bit by it.

Although I was a sexy young woman and always enjoyed wearing sexy kick-ass outfits to surprise my man, latex took me by surprise and seeing Martin so aroused by something I didn’t know kind of freaked me out. I guess at the end, I thought I was not in control and I didn’t like it. But I thought about it and realized my fears were childish. So I went back and bought the dress. When I first tried it at the store, I too fell in love with latex.

It’s not so long after that Martin started to take photos of me while wearing it (he has a background in fine arts) and to his own words, I became his muse. It was difficult for me to pose for him as I was insecure and thought I looked weird on photos. If you’ve noticed, a lot of people get nervous in front of a camera, and I was too. But when I decided to let it go and just have fun, I started to really enjoy posing.

It’s in 1998 that my first web site, Bianca’s Latex Lair, was born. But right before that, Martin did open one called Fetish Latex Lover. Together, we wanted to share our love for latex fashion, and also our vision of glam. Back then, internet didn’t have much latex web sites. In fact, mine was the very first “latex model” website. We were pioneers in that niche.

What is it about latex that you think is so alluring to fans? Latex is like a second skin. So tight and sometime so thin that you almost don’t feel it anymore. It’s like being nude but not really. Some, on the contraire, like it very thick. We tend to call thicker latex clothes “rubber clothes” for some reason. The color is appealing too; sometime bright, sometime clear, or dark. And the silicone lube you spray on latex gives it a shine and does make the body silky. It’s very sensual for both the hands and the body. I think latex is the ultimate to feel sexy and invincible, just like a super hero.

What’s the biggest misconception the general public has about fetishism? Lot and lot of people mix up fetishism and BDSM. It’s a very popular misconception. People think that if you wear latex, for sure you are a dominatrix or a slave but that’s not how it works. Fetishism is an attraction for a body part or a material (in this case, latex). It’s sexually oriented but also, since more and more pop stars wear it in video clips, it’s becoming a trend, a glam fashion. BDSM stands for bondage-discipline-sado-maso. Lot of people who play BDSM games such as Japanese bondage, restrictive disciplines, spankings… wear fetish clothing such as leather or latex. It’s part of their character. After all, a dominatrix will look more powerful dressed up in a latex catsuit than a LeJaby lingerie. But that doesn’t mean everyone who wears latex like BDSM games. Some just like it for the glam.

Similarly to Dita Von Teese, you put up your website at a quite a pivotal moment in media history, when the online market had less to offer and yielded fewer results. What propelled you put up your website so early and how do you think that has impacted your career? In 1997, before the Lair, we found so little about latex photography. What we could find was BDSM related, or porn. Not the vision we had.

Apart of Marquis magazine who always offered high quality pictures, and apart Dita (who didn’t have latex photos on her site back then, only corsets), we didn’t find much. So of course, when the Lair opened, we brought a breeze of fresh air. Although my modeling skills and Martin`s photography skills were amateur at the time, the web site was well designed ( by Martin) and different than others and offered a lot like a forum, a free diary, a chatroom, etc.

Those things were very new back then. With time, we improved ourselves; invested in better equipment and clothing, and I got rid of my fear of ridicule. Of course, our skills just got better. I am often referred as The Latex Queen. This is a title that was given to me when I did my first magazine cover (Whiplash magazine). Since then, medias and magazines continue to use the expression and it got stuck to me. Over time, I got used to it but I don’t really like to refer to this tag as I find it cocky…

Speaking of Dita, have the two of you crossed paths during your careers in the fetish industry? I have met Dita twice. Each time, she was very busy getting ready to perform so we barely spoke backstage. Her striptease shows are really well done! After her performance on stage, she tends to disappear fast. She seems to be a nice person but very shy and reserved. So although I did see her, I never got to really know her.