I could start a blog based purely on showing terrible representations of kink and fetish in celebrity culture. The commonest scenario is describing any celebrity dress with a hint of straps, leather or latex as a dominatrix outfit (for example this recent article). That’s just journalists being lazy and cliched, but now and again you get cases where the celebrities and artists have been the ones to make a hash of things. The recent photoshoot for V magazine, featuring Katy Perry and Madonna, is a great example of this.
They’re obviously going for a retro-fetish look, probably inspired by Bettie Page, but they don’t have a fraction of the presence she brought to her shots. Somebody should explain to them that fetish and kink are all about powerful desires and sexual attraction. And, as with all powerful feelings, they can risk invoking aspects of darkness, danger, yearning and compulsion. There’s none of that in these shots. Just two women wearing silly outfits and exhibiting no chemistry together. Although is narcissism a fetish? If it is, then they could at least have one fetishistic element covered.