The Bondage Gear To Add To Your Everyday Wardrobe

If you work in the creative industries, and/or in an open-minded office, bar a pair of crotchless chaps, these days, it's difficult to think of an outfit that might make your colleagues raise an eyebrow. In 2016 you can wear a tracksuit on the red carpet, glittery platforms to work, and denim anywhere. The final frontier it would seem, is fetish wear.

While it would be easy (and somewhat lazy) to credit the Kardashians with the general air of hyper-sexuality that's influenced our approach to both Friday night and Monday morning dressing, it would be better to pass the buck to the designers dressing the 'klan'. On a luxury fashion level, houses originally heralded in the '80s and '90s for their sexy designs are now enjoying glorious revivals; Versace, Cavalli and Balmain, have been dragging our necklines down, hitching up our hems and trimming away at our waists.

Of course fetish wear wasn't always mainstream; it wasn't always Bella Hadid in leather chokers, Kate Moss in fishnet dresses and Katy Perry in skin-tight slips. Latex, leather, PVC and nudity might be standard fare for club-goers queuing outside spots like Brixton's Torture Garden, Europe's biggest fetish club, which opened in 1990, but in general the majority of us shy away from squeaky, wipe clean clothing in our day-to-day wardrobes.

As fashion turns its lighthouse beam back over the 1980s it would seem as good a time as any to look at the brands bringing bondage back. If you think that a latex leotard is better left at the front door of Heaven on a Friday night, fear not, we spoke to Claire Davis, founder of latex and rubber specialist label Hanger, about how to do rubber gracefully.

"I like [latex] for its minimalism; both texturally and colour wise it is always very distinct. Of course the biggest latex labels in the UK have been running for ages and fetishists have been around for decades, but I think rubber was introduced into the mainstream-eye through music artists and editorial styling. I remember Rihanna wearing a baby pink catsuit and hood for her S&M video. Then Alexa Chung was wearing some pretty shiny trousers at Glastonbury over the past weekend. Latex has been utilised by high-end designers and luxury houses already and now it’s trickling down, and no doubt will soon be passé! But maybe by then people will be able to look at latex without a fetish connotation. Who knows but I hope so, because I love it."

However, Claire is realistic about getting the stuff on and off: “I would always suggest some lube, sorry guys, or a sprinkle of talc”. Gulp.

Time to brave it. Here we’ve rounded up some of the most wearable fetish gear that'll add a highly palatable piquant to your basics. From PVC coats and chunky leather chokers, it's time to get in touch with your inner provocateur.