LOS ANGELES—For more than a decade, Los Angeles has been the host city for one of the top professional and lifestyle domination conventions in the nation. The event, which took place May 13-18, drew hundreds of BDSM professionals and their acolytes to the Los Angeles Hilton LAX.
What they found when they ventured down the escalator in the vanilla-flavored lobby to the meeting spaces below was a playpen of kinky entertainments: classes, lifestyle parties, stage performances and a lively vendor floor. In charge of it all was Mistress Cyan St. James, serving in her capacity as a catalyst to bring together the BDSM, leather, fetish, and professional domination communities.
The event is billed as an opportunity for newbies to get a taste of the lifestyle, and it more than lives up to that promise. Anyone with an open mind and an interest in stylish, fetish-tinged fashion could have a good time at this good-natured gathering.
Various entertainments were offered to the attendees, including the Mistresses’ Tea, The Master/slave Social, Dom/sub Speed Dating, a Pro Domme Social, human pet show contests, a cross-dressing pageant, and the Fetish Ball (which took place at Mistress Cyan’s nearby Sanctuary LAX). The event showcased the talents of three Mistresses of Ceremonies: Mistress Ella Strictland of Houston, Mistress Indica Torture of Las Vegas, and Mistress Hudsy Hawn of Los Angeles.
Those in the professional domination business found a lot of value in the workshops, demonstrations and performances. And just about any adult entrepreneur—including boutique owners and pleasure product manufacturer—could find inspiration on the vendor floor.
One of the first sights upon entering the exhibit area was the Stockroom booth. On the first afternoon of the show, DomCon guests of honor Ernest Greene and Nina Hartley were at the booth signing copies of Green’s Master of O (they also read excerpts on the DomCon main stage). An assortment of Stockroom items were on display, but the real attention-grabber was the Strap, a bondage device inspired by guitarist Dave Navarro. Resembling a guitar strap, it can be used to restrain in various configurations. On display was a gold-plated model, though that version is still a prototype with no delivery date set.
There were many familiar faces among the exhibitors at DomCon. Several were veterans of AVN events, including the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo and its BDSM playground, the Lair, including Orchid and Serpent Erotic Accessories. Susan of Orchid and Serpent had two booths at AEE this past January: one in the fan expo and a second one in the Lair, with different product mixes. She praised Mistress Cyan’s ability to put together a good show, both at DomCon and in the Lair.
Susan, who started Orchid and Serpent with her significant other, said their goal was to provide people with “high-quality sex toys at low prices.” With sales online and at events, they carry products suitable for all levels, from beginners to “totally practiced people.” Based in Southern California, they travel all over to attend fetish events, leather events and adult events. Asked what was selling at DomCon, Susan mentioned the Arcana wand and Zeus Electrosex items. (For more, go to OrchidAndSerpentStores.com.)
A pioneer in the e-stim field and another veteran of the AVN Show, Dr. Clockwork’s Home for Electrical and Medical Oddities was also at DomCom. The ebullient Dr. Clockwork always attracts attention with his custom e-stim kits.
A self-described computer nerd, Dr. Clockwork talked about his path to e-stim. It was at a lifestyle event when lightning struck—sort of. “Somebody asked if I wanted to try a violet wand,” Dr. Clockwork recalled. “He zapped me with it and I said, ‘Ow, that hurts.’ Then I said, ‘Do it again.’”
He was hooked—but the toys were quite pricy. With his background in computers and interest in engineering, Dr. Clockwork vowed, “I’m going to built it myself.”
That was back in 2008, and it’s been steady growth since then. Many of his sales are done at trade shows: “I’ve shaken the hands of about 80 percent of the people who’ve bought my products.” Selling at shows allows Dr. Clockwork to create custom kits for the end user—“all the accessories you want and none that you don’t. It gives people the feeling I had when I built my first kit. It’s not a store-bought toy.” (For more, go to DrClockwork.com.)
Wearing a top hat with stylized goggles and a leather vest, Dr. Clockwork evokes the steampunk aesthetic—a not uncommon look at DomCon. Another proponent was Industrial DisEase Toys, out of Madison, Wisconsin.
In business since mid 2011, the company got its start with the Triple Play Flogger System. With its hodgepodge of elements—a handle that looks like a piece of pipe, topped by various detachable heads—it hews to the steampunk aesthetic. The heads are made of various materials that provide a wide range of sensations: metal, natural rope, synthetic rope and rubber.
A company rep explained the significance behind the Triple Play, noting that the name refers to sensation play, electrical play and impact play. Each of the materials in the detachable flogger heads provides different types of impact and sensation. The variety is impressive; among the choices in metal, for example, are floggers made of nickel, brass, copper, chrome-plated sash chain, and stainless steel and powder-coated steel.
In addition, the metal can be used for electrical stimulation or temperature play. “It’s a great complement to leather—heat it, cool it, get it wet, electrify it,” the rep said.
Also in keeping with the steampunk look are restraints in many colors and hip holster harnesses to keep one’s gear at hand. And in a totally different vein, Industrial DisEase also offers items for furry fetishists. In addition to tails and ears, there’s the Claw Paw: a glove of rabbit fur with stainless steel claws. (Producers, take note: The folks at Industrial DisEase are interested in product placement opportunities. For more on the company, go to the under-construction site IDEToys.com.)
Another player in the e-stim field at DomCon was Current Pleasures’ Miss Vixen, who opened her company in August 2012. Her first show, two years ago, was DomCon and she’s since tried other shows, including the Lair at AEE. Most of her sales are online and at trade shows. Vixen has worked as a nurse for 22 years, so she also can speak with authority on the therapeutic uses of e-stim. Her goal is to make her products affordable.
Among her items were two styles of insertables: some with side panels that conduct a charge, and other with horizontal strikes. The side panel insertable, Vixen explained, helps women stimulate the PC muscles more effectively than they can doing standard Kegel exercises.
“Everything I’ve got has a medical purpose as well as a fun one,” she says, noting that she offers live chat informational support on the website. “I’m always creating new things—we get new items in every month,” Vixen said. She can also fill special orders: “If they can find a design I haven’t thought of, I’ll make it.” (For more, go to CurrentPleasures.com.)
Though there were many innovative takes on BDSM gear at DomCon, some of the highest levels of craftsmanship and creativity were lavished on whips, floggers and crops. Leyland Craftwork’s brightly colored, expertly made crops were a fine example, their handles decorated in rich yet subdued hues. The company also carries spankers styled after carpet beaters. (For more, got to LeylandCraftwork.etsy.com.)
At the RavynBlood booth was the eye-catching Dragon Tail, with its ergonomic hame handle and long, sturdy leather tail. More compact were the Hand Paddles, which slip over the hands to add more sting to a spanking—one can choose from Featherweight, Welterweight and Bruiserweight. And the clever Composition Book Paddles look like the workbooks one might remember from school. RavynBlood’s stock also includes blindfolds lined with shearling and shaped to allow no light to enter. (For information, go to RBLeather.com.)
On the other end of the whimsy scale is the Bunny Flogger. Exactly as advertised, it’s a flogger with falls made of velvety rabbit fur. Its creator, Daemon, explained how the flogger came to be. When he first got interested in BDSM, “I couldn’t have toys because I couldn’t afford them.” So he concocted his own from rabbit—a decidedly odd handmade version that he said he still keeps around. Daemon has since diversified and offers floggers with leather falls made from various animals—cow, moose, elk, buffalo, deer—as well as horsehair. (For more, go to BunnyFlogger.com.)
In addition to the obligatory latex, leather and corsets (including the striking steampunk styles of Hilary’s Vanity, there were other tempting body adornments. Based in Palm Springs and run by Ross Tubbs, Felisa Tubbs and Jason Dodough, Blackwood Creations offers a variety of gear—floggers, collars, chain mail garments and lashes—made out of stainless steel or anodized aluminum. These artisans also craft attractive aluminum jewelry that is suitable for even the most vanilla shopper. (For more, go to BlackwoodCreations.com.)
Speaking of which, Vanilla Cuffs & Collars was a first-time exhibitor at DomCon. This couple, based in San Francisco, designs jewelry that subtly incorporates symbols of bondage such as chains and locks in precious metals. “We first wanted stuff to wear to the office as an expression of the lifestyle,” they explained. “We make the rings, weave them by hand. It’s truly a labor of love.” Vanilla Cuffs & Collars started in 2007 and has been to other fetish happenings, including the Folsom Street Fair (“one of our best events”). According to company’s site, VCCjewelry.com, it provides “lifestyle jewelry that can be worn from the play space to the work place.”
For more, go to DomConLA.com. Sponsors of the event included the new social networking app Whiplr (designed to “help kinksters find kinksters”), The Stockroom, Kink.com, Clips4Sale.com and the AVN Show, which in 2016 will feature Mistress Cyan’s Lair, a lifestyle playground inside the expo.
Pictured above, Hudsy Hawn's show at DomCon LA 2015; photo by Chris King/ReelSeduction.com
