BDSM RTV MEDIA NEWS!!!!



31 oct 2010



Halloween trend: Bondage masks, Lady Gaga costumes & whips


Source: www.chicagonow.com  - Chicago Now - USA


USA- CHICAGO- Taboo Tabou sells everything from eco-friendly sex toys to corsets and whips. But at Halloween time, caged pleather bondage masks transform into Lady Gaga costumes and lingerie usually reserved for the bedroom makes an appearance at parties and bars.


"It's weird when people ask if we have anything sexier," said Cara Young, an assistant manager at the store. "Beyond offering pasties and a thong, I don't know how we could give them more."

For the stores in Boystown that sell costumes, vintage clothes or fetish wear, every day leading up to Halloween is like Black Friday. While these workers are busy selling wigs, masks and stockings, they're also taking in plenty of bizarre behavior. Some of their craziest and most outrageous stories come from customers digging through the racks in the days leading up to Oct. 31.

Beatnix, employee Natalie Thannum takes Halloween very seriously. One year she dressed for work as a zombie Marie Antoinette. Another time, she wore an outfit she described as "Salvador's dolly," complete with a thin Salvador Dalí mustache and blond pigtails. Before the season arrived, she went through the store's vintage collection and came up with 50 costumes to help shoppers who need ideas. But some need no assistance coming up with original outfits.

At Taboo Tabou, Young said someone once asked her for fake genitals to sew into boxers as part of a "pervert" costume. One man even went the full body part route, dressing as a part of the female anatomy from head to toe, Thannum said.

And it's not just the costumes that are outrageous. Even people's behavior while costume-shopping can be shocking sometimes.

"I had my hair dyed red last year and someone grabbed my hair thinking it was a wig so they could try it on," said Thannum.

After two Halloweens at Beatnix, Thannum said she's no longer surprised when men take off their pants in the middle of the store to try costumes on, even though the store has dressing rooms.

And at neighborhood sex store Cupid's Treasures, Daniel Johnston said often people come out of the dressing room wearing packaged fetish wear made from sheer fabrics and synthetic materials that hug their bodies, showing more than they might have expected.

"People walk out of the dressing room and not realize that we can see everything," he said. "They don't know how revealing it is."

Halloween Hallway, a pop-up costume shop, sells sexy costume options like a pin-stripe dress and cuff links for a "Gangsta Lady" look and a "Rag Doll" outfit with a tiny blue-and-red polka-dot dress. But manager Brad Babcock said one woman complained that their costumes weren't "skanky enough."

And some of the costumes people are looking to put together aren't just sexually explicit, they're downright offensive. Ron Kelly, who manages the $3 Store, was shocked when a couple once came in looking for costumes to accompany their "blackface" costumes.

"They wanted overalls and a gingham shirt," said Kelly. "I thought it was culturally insensitive. They thought it was funny."

Kelly said he politely declined to help the pair.

"I just very professionally and politely shut down the situation," said Kelly. "It was one of the more extreme examples I've seen of human behavior."

But not every request is so disturbing. Some people are simply searching for that perfect Snooki wig or need a little help getting the right look.

People either have a very clear idea of what they want or are looking for suggestions, said Babcock. While he has received requests for sexy sailors and pirates, he's also been asked for a zombie Obama mask, a satyr (half-man, half-goat) and "Saved by the Bell" principal Mr.Belding - all requests that he tried to accommodate by piecing together different items in the store. Babcock said his most interesting request came from a woman tying the knot on Halloween dressed as a bloody bride. Her entire wedding party is walking down the aisle in costume.

"Her father is going as the devil and her brother-in-law is going as Jesus," said Babcock. "That's going to one heck of a wedding party."

With longer hours and a heavy influx of customers, you might think that these employees can't wait for Nov. 1, but the Halloween season remains Thannum's favorite time of year.

"It's really hectic, but it's for a great cause," she said. "We all love it."

See more photo's: chicagonow.com.