Passion, fashion and kink-themed late-night parties are the order of the day when fetish lovers from around the world jet in for the Montréal Fetish Weekend, a throwback to the revelry of Montréal’s Sin City golden era. This year’s 12th annual Montréal Fetish Weekend has workshops, kink expos, fashion shows and all kinds of fantasy adventures programmed over six days, from Aug. 31 to Sept. 5.
Here are some highlights from this year’s Montréal Fetish Weekend:
Attendees come from as far away as Japan and Germany, and the hugely popular Welcome Dinner and Cocktail on Sept. 1 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Hotel Gouverneurs is one of the best ways to meet new friends and renew old friendships. The ambiance is casual to all-out fetish. A fetish-fantasy, goth-glamour dress code is suggested.
The annual KABARET KINK takes place Sept. 1 at Montréal’s iconic Café Cléopatra, a showbar since 1893 and the last hold-out from Montréal’s fabled Sin City-era red-light district. Cleo’s classic cabaret space is on the second floor, above their first-floor strip joint. Featuring seating for 100+ guests—with décor, lighting and disco balls straight out of the 1970s—this year’s theme is “Burlesque Elegance.” The floorshow will feature many sexy and exciting performers, including the Candyass Club Cabaret with host, Montréal burlesque queen Velma Candyass. A fetish-fantasy, goth-glamour dress code is mandatory.
Montréal has always been a very accepting city, so it comes as no surprise that Montréal Fetish Weekend is also presenting outdoor events that are sure to enlighten and provoke.
The festival’s colourful Mode en Folie street fair and celebrations on Sept. 2 will showcase Shibari presentations (Shibari is an ancient Japanese artistic form of rope bondage), street fashion shows, fetish presentations, live hairstyling, all from 2 to 8 pm on the red carpet on Rue Ste-Catherine in the heart of Montréal’s Gay Village. Free admission, and all are welcome. The photo opportunities are legion, especially with Montréeal’s iconic “Boules Roses” installation covering the lively terrasse-filled one-kilometre-long pedestrian mall in the Gay Village.
Montréal Fetish Weekend will also pay tribute to Montréal’s famed fetish emporium, Il Bolero, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2016. On Sept. 3, the festival will host the LATEXTACY FAIRYTALE FANTASY Il Bolero 25th Anniversary Ball, a grand costumed event with a fetish fantasy theme at one of the hottest dance clubs in Montreal, Club Unity in the Village. Tops DJs, three floors of fetish fun and a rooftop terrasse, followed by an after-party in the Hotel Gouverneurs fourth-floor ballroom.
Also, Montréal Fetish Weekend will host its eighth annual legendary Fetish Photo Tour on Sept. 4. Dressed in full-fetish regalia, participants will visit some of Montréal’s most picturesque hotspots that are popular with both locals and tourists. There is an official contest for the best photo (amateur and semi-pro), but bystanders always want to take photos of what they are seeing, as well as take selfies with tour participants.
The 2016 edition of Montréal Fetish Weekend runs Aug. 31 to Sept. 5. Surf to montrealfetishweekend.com.
Up next: Summer in the Gay Village: Patios to discover
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