KariwanZ: Latex Luxury and Canine Couture
KariwanZ is the name of a rubberwear designer couple from Japan. They create intensely elaborate outfits for themselves with themes ranging from Rococo to the space age to marine life, employing layers of ruffles that look like cake decorations, detailed appliqués and inflatable portions that transform their limbs into claws or unheard-of appendages.
The outfits are not for sale, and seem to be made purely for the couple’s roleplaying and creative pleasure. No matter what style the outfits, they all have one theme in common: the lady, named Karin, is always the mistress dog-keeper, and the man, named Wanco (“doggie” in Japanese), always appears as her pet.
There’s a lot of exuberance here; the smiling eyes peeking out of the masks, the comic book format in which they tell the story of why they began to make clothing, their willingness to share the steps of their creative process (they even publish the formula for their latex glue, a jealously-guarded trade secret of every latex designer in the West), all these things point to a genuine love for latex and their desire to share their creative fetish bond with the world. They also sell cute latex teddy bears, all of which are currently sold out.
On their “about us” page, they write “We can create costumes we want to wear, and can create anything that we want to have!” Good for them!
November 11th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Wow, that’s fabulous.
November 11th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
They’re all fantastic, and i especially love the attitude toward their latex, but for me nothing beats that first gloriously blue & ruffled outfit! Beautiful!
November 12th, 2007 at 12:03 am
The artistry in these photos is just exquisite — and I love seeing a happy couple obviously enjoying themselves and each other . . . the “how we got into latex” story is too cute!
Looking through all the galleries on the site and marveling at how versatile latex couture can be . . . it’s beautiful work, and I’m glad to have gotten a chance to see it. Thanks for the article!
November 12th, 2007 at 2:19 am
High art Santo Furries? Tasty stuff!
November 12th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Read an article about them on Bizarre some months ago… they came off as really open minded, un-cliqued people who learned everything by trial and error and wanted to share their passion with others. Those outfits are works of art… and, creative impusle aside, just thinking of the patience required for assembling them is enough to make them stand out!
November 12th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Fantastic! Some of the costumes are reminiscent of Leigh Bowery.