Dressing for Pleasure: The Best of AtomAge
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| Author: | Jonny Trunk (Editor), Damon Murray (Editor), Stephen Sorrell (Editor) | |
| Language(s) | English | |
| Publisher | FUEL Publishing | |
| Pages | 208 pp | |
| Dimensions | 5.51x 8.07 x 0.8" | |
| ISBN-10 | 0956356230 | |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0956356239 | |
| Available at: | Amazon $138.00 | |
- Dressing for Pleasure
- The Best of AtomAge 1972-1980
- May 1, 2014
John Sutcliffe was the father of British fetishism. His AtomAge magazine was published throughout the 1970s; for many who loved dressing up in rubber and leather, to receive the little copy of AtomAge in a plain brown envelope was a secret thrill. In those days before the internet, to know that there were others around the world who shared your passions was really a lifeline.
Back then, a love of dressing in rubber and leather was often regarded as weird and somehow undesirable. But AtomAge showed you what really went on in the suburbs across the country when the kids weren’t around. The photographs of folks who might easily be your Mum and Dad in the front room wearing full enclosure rubber catsuits and masks bring it all flooding back.
This book mostly consists of images from all 32 issues of AtomAge, from 1960s ‘kinky boots’ to smiling girls in sports cars and on motorcycles – and lots of total enclosure, gas masks and hoods. Some text, extracted from the magazine, adds to the flavour. There is no hardcore SM – that went on all right, but only behind the scenes. I love the happy suburban housewife, in the fields, walking the dog – dressed in full rubber. And the couples relaxing at home, against flock wallpaper, on patterned carpets, in their latex mackintoshes and goggles.
Back in 1984, when we started Skin Two magazine, I got to know John Sutcliffe and I remember him with great fondness. John flew with the Royal Air Force in World War 2, helping to defeat fascism. (His co-pilot was Freddie Laker!) Later, he worked as a photographer, then made a leather catsuit for a girlfriend, and went on to create leather costumes for opera productions, for ’60s artist Allen Jones and the iconic show "The Avengers" as well as an increasing number of private clients.
In 1972, John started AtomAge magazine, which showcased his clothes and also featured the AtomAge Correspondence System, through which fetish fans could get in touch. A precursor to the internet! Atomage also sold books and a member of the public referred a copy of the book "The Story Of Gerda" to the police. The Atomage premises were raided and all the published material on the premises was seized.
John was informed that he would not be prosecuted for publication of the Atomage magazines if he allowed his entire back stock of magazines and printing plates to be destroyed. He was not so lucky with the Gerda books; for these he was fined £1,000. The prosecution created serious financial problems for AtomAge. The level of public outrage at John’s prosecution was such that he started receiving cheques and money in the post from customers of Atomage, to help him keep the business running. I visited one day, to find John deeply touched after a total stranger came to his office, put an envelope of money on his desk, wished him well and left.
Sadly John died one Sunday afternoon in September 1987, whilst working at his desk. At his funeral in Mortlake, we all dressed in leather and rubber. I think of him every time I pass. One of John Sutcliffe’s intentions was to bring into the open the idea that people have fetishes. Today, we reap the benefit. John is considered one of the patron saints of the worldwide fetish community.
Tim Woodward
- Editorial Reviews
- For early devotees of leather, rubber and vinyl fetish wear, Atomage magazine was the underground bible of the 1970s. Founded, designed and published by the English designer John Sutcliffe as a platform for his extraordinary talents as a manufacturer of weatherproofs for lady pillion riders, it quickly became a rallying point for explorers of every kind of fledgling clothing scene, functioning as both an instruction manual and a mirror. The experimental clothing showcased in its pages, including items made by the readers themselves, transformed a passion for a sexual proclivity into a cult phenomenon. From motorbiking and mask-wearing, to mudlarking and wading worship, Atomage covered every conceivable variant on and use for fetish wear. The amateur photographs reproduced here reflect a golden age of DIY enthusiasm, before fetish became the industry it is today, and inadvertently depict a suburbia from which dressing for pleasure was a necessary escape. The outrageous costumes found in Atomage also served as inspiration to a then-new generation of fashion designers such as Vivienne Westwood, and many of these costumes have since been acquired by high-end collections. Compiling the most astonishing imagery from all 32 issues of this now extremely rare and sought after cult magazine, Dressing for Pleasure illustrates not just Sutcliffe's exceptional designs, but also, through their own photography and writings, the fantasies and desires of the Atomage followers.
- AtomAge remains Sutcliffe's greatest achievement. It made extreme fetish outfits look as threatening as a car boot sale in Cobham, normalizing something previously seen as shameful...
- The book revives a strangely innocent secret world, one that almost gained wider exposure in 1977 when the documentary-maker John Samson shot a profile of the fetish scene, with Sutcliffe looking and sounding for all the world like a retired major, albeit one wearing a vinyl catsuit and a chain around his neck. (Will Hodgkinson The Guardian Weekend 2011-09-11)
- Fuel Publishing, an arm of 20-year-old London-based graphic design firm Fuel Design, has built a solid reputation for producing distinctive books exploring themes related to art, design and photography. This month's Dressing for Pleasure is a smart edit of imagery from AtomAge, the cult fetishwear periodical founded in the 1970s, by clothing designer John Sutcliffe.
- Enjoying a 32-issue lifespan, it explored the emerging fetish scene, revelling in professional and amateur designs in leather, rubber and vinyl. Now that fetishwear is a sophisticated industry, and integrated into high-fashion design, this collection of AtomAge photography is a fascinating documentation of its suburban underground roots. (Emma Moore Wallpaper 2010-08-01)
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