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Nina has many sources of inspiration. Unsurprisingly, haute couture
plays a big part, but so also do taxidermy — and dolls! While Jane
Doe styles have become recognised for their clean lines and use of
appliqué, the minimalist designs found in the label’s online shop
are in marked contrast to the decadence of Nina’s fashion shows and
photoshoots. Her work has already been the main focus of four
fashion shows and has featured in many more.
She has also pulled off an elaborate Japanese-inspired photoshoot
with some of the best creatives in the fetish scene, and a decadent
Jane Doe wedding. The wedding outfits — matching appliquéd kimonos
for the bride and groom, five high-necked mini-dresses for the
bridesmaids and four groomsmen’s kimonos — sound like the stuff of
celebrity fantasy. But the couple were, says Nina, “just an ordinary
couple that wanted something different”.
In common with various couture designers, Nina has come under fire
for her use of real fur and feathers in fashion shows, and her
position on this was something I wanted to clarify. “I only use
vintage fur — recycled materials,” she stressed. “Personally, I do
not see a difference between the use of leather in shoes and the use
of fur in clothes.”
Though her showpiece items are for sale, none of the standard lines
on the Jane Doe site incorporate fur or feathers, and whatever your
stance on animal rights, it is a relief to hear that “nothing has
been killed in a dingy warehouse” and no living creatures are
mistreated for her shows. Unless they volunteer, of course...
I’m reminded of a particularly infamous fashion show at the 2007
Torture Garden Birthday Ball in which men were paraded around on
chain leads attached to flesh-hooks in their backs. “That was a
chance good idea,” she told me. “I was inspired by French fashion
and wanted to use small dogs, but they weren’t allowed in the show.”
Men may have been her second choice, but they clearly sufficed.
Asked about what she has coming up next, the designer’s answer was
tantalising: “I’m planning another fashion show, and I’ve begun to
make some new items.” “Clothing items?” I asked. She shook her head.
What could she mean?
Over the time we spent drinking raspberry beer and discussing
weddings, fur, and men on leads, it became clear to me that Nina
Kate has only just begun!
Originally published on
www.thefetishistas.com
April 2008 |
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Interview from The Fetishistas website. Original content HERE
Jane Doe Latex: an easily identified body of
work
With Jane Doe Latex, designer and model Nina
Kate is aiming to avoid the clichés of rubber clothing that restrict
it to the fetish market. But her inspired blending of fetish and
high fashion still has enormous appeal to kinksters, says Roswell
Ivory
Jane Doe Latex seems like it’s been around as a brand for a lot
longer than the label’s mere three years or so of existence.
The name (which, though pretty-sounding, comes from American police
slang for an unidentified female corpse) crops up so often when
browsing through model profiles and recommended designers that you
know there has to be something special about it.
To find out more, I set off for London to interview Nina Kate, the
designer behind the label. Arriving for our meeting, I was greeted
by a slim, blue-haired woman who looked far younger than I had
imagined her to be.
But Nina’s career began early — at 15 she had bought her first latex
outfit and at 18, was already working for a latex clothing company.
She broke away to form Jane Doe in 2005 and has since collaborated
with some of today’s most prominent names in the fetish design
world.
Some of her best images come from her work with Hyperion Photography
and with avant-garde hair stylist Robert Masciave, both of whom are
represented in our gallery on the right. As are her collaborations
with artists Rachael Huntington and Stuntkid (see also info panel).
The Jane Doe website describes Nina’s designs as “rubber clothing
like no other; removed from the clichéd outfits using overdone
imagery of the wayward nurse or the stern policeman”. This is
obviously something Nina feels strongly about. When I brought the
subject up, it was clear that while she does not exactly have a
hatred of fetish clichés, she is weary of them.
“Obviously, they work,” she says. “They’re clichés for a reason but
they’re not for me. Not at all.”
But this designer has done more than merely steer clear of fetish
clichés — she has created her own genre. Jane Doe style seamlessly
merges fetish and high fashion — something that is becoming
increasingly popular.
Unlike some other latex ‘fashion’ labels, Nina does not include
pervier accessories such as hoods in her range, but her style is
still immensely appealing to fetish people. Models such as Darenzia
wear her clothes with pride, they are popular with many kinky
clubbers and are especially striking on the tattooed models this
extensively tattooed designer often uses on the catwalk. |
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