15th
Q&A with Bianca Beauchamp – DIRECTOR’S CUT
For a brief period I wrote a sex column for Nightlife Magazine. It wasn’t so much Carrie Bradshaw as it was Margaret Mead mixed with a bit of Marquis de Sade. That is, I took a very studied approach to the darker and freakier side of sex; in some cases it was fun, while in others, painfully uncomfortable.
My interview with Bianca Beauchamp was one of the best experiences during my short-lived tenure as a columnist. Bianca, born and raised in Quebec, is without exaggeration the most famous fetish model in the world, and is worshipped on every continent as the pre-eminent goddess of latex, glam and kink. Due to space restrictions I had to cut the majority of our conversation together, so here is what didn’t make it into the magazine (plus some highlights that I couldn’t resist re-printing):
So Bianca, what’s your fetish?
Bianca Beauchamp: My main fetish is latex…I discovered it in a sex shop here in Montreal. After that I started playing with my boyfriend in the bed, but then we wanted to find a place to go out. That’s when we found the Fetish Café [now closed]. Now there’s another place in Montreal called Club Sin.
You recently did a show in the Caribbean called “Kink”.
BB: I was the Queen of the Island, the guest of honour. I’ve been working for six years now in this industry and I’ve done about 22 magazine covers. There are a lot [of models], and I’m the best known in the latex industry.
You and your boyfriend have been extremely ambitious – almost aggressive – in developing your profile, developing your image…and the people I talk to about this image say it’s very classy, that it emphasizes the glamour side of fetish rather than the scary side of it you tend to see portrayed. How important is it for you to have your own image?
BB: When I started modeling I was 18 years old…I think I was still a kid back then, you know? I remember some shoots that we used to do then I would never do these days. I would do more sexual shoots, without penises or anything like that, but like with dildos in the background and stuff. Back then I was trying to find myself, my own identity as a model. It’s always an evolution, and now I just feel very classy. You can see the evolution, and it’s not just my body. Of course, I had the surgery on my nose, but it’s just the way I started looking at the camera. In the beginning I was always laughing and doing silly things in front of the camera because I was nervous, and now I’m just so confident that I can look and act differently, and be classier in that way. Playboy helped me a lot to develop that kind of photography because in the fetish industry it’s more aggressive and kinkier like the pony look, catwoman, or whatever. I can be really aggressive in front of the camera and look strong, but with Playboy it’s more sensual and I have to look more innocent. So both those worlds help me to be who I am right now – a mix of both I think.
On your website, you write that the idea of having to wear a uniform in high school was something that kind of clicked with you.
BB: Oh yeah, this is for real. I went to College Ville-Marie for five years, and I still have the skirt and everything – it still fits me. I felt very comfortable wearing the uniform, and now latex is my new uniform.
You seem to be someone who thinks very visually, as if everything were a movie. On your website you describe being a mermaid for one of your shoots – are those the kind of fetish scenarios that do the most for you?
BB: Yes, this is where I get my inspiration, with those stories and scenarios – it’s really like a movie as you said. The last one that really obsessed me was the Ice Queen. But now I would love to do the pirate. I already picture myself on a kind of boat, being the mad pirate but sexy, and there would be this cute innocent girl…but it’s mainly like movies, and most of the time I pick my ideas from movies for kids, like the mermaid, or the pirates, or the Ice Queen, because I think there is still a child inside of me, and I like to watch Disney movies a lot.
That’s interesting, because with these movies that are made for children, often times a lot of the characters have very sexual undertones.
BB: All the time, the heroes and the villains. I just did Snow White when I was in Germany, it was really cool.
What’s the strangest request you’ve ever had from a fan?
BB: Someone – well, a few people wanted to hire me to do brown showers.
Ew…
BB: I always refuse of course, because it’s not my thing at all. And anyways, I’m not an escort.
But I’m glad you brought that up, because it raises the issue of boundaries. Obviously you have to set boundaries somewhere, like with brown showers. Where do you draw the line?
BB: For a photo shoot or with friends?
For a photo shoot.
BB: No sex, and only girl-girl if I use someone else – it’s a no-man’s-land. My members don’t want to see me with other men; they prefer to see me with another girl. With girls the maximum is kissing and stuff like that – it’s not a problem for me if I like the girl.
What’s the biggest misconception about being a fetish model?
BB: People always think that a fetish person is someone who likes S&M. But as I always say, you can be a fetish person in the S&M scene and not be into the S&M scene at all, but you cannot be a person who is into S&M without being a fetishist. It’s crazy, I know, but I can like wearing PVC or latex without liking being spanked, or spanking someone. It’s just the love of being dressed like that. The people who like spanking and domination and being submissive, they always wear leather or latex. S&M always goes with fetish, but fetish doesn’t always go with S&M. I hate that when people say “oh, you like fetish, so you also like to spank people and make them bleed?” No, I just like to wear the clothes.
We tend to generalize about things we’re not entirely familiar with.
BB: For a lot of people, if you wear PVC, latex or leather, they are a dominatrix or a slave. That’s it. But there are people who like to wear the outfits and go out to a dance club and just be sexy, you know? It doesn’t necessarily have to go with S&M, I really hate that. That doesn’t mean that I don’t do it once in a while, but mainly when I go to a club dressed like that I don’t consider myself a dominatrix or a slave…I’m just me.
You’re very open about the plastic surgery you’ve had. Is that a pre-requisite if you want to make it as far as you have in this industry?
BB: I would be really sad and upset if I had done this just for the business, because I live with my boobs all the time; it’s not just for the business. Of course I wouldn’t be on all these magazine covers without that body I have now, I know that. I think I had a great body before, but the things I changed were thing I couldn’t change at the gym, like my nose and my boobs. And my boobs, well, people think I just increased the size, but mainly it was the lift. I have implants, but the main surgery was the lifting. They were sagging, and personally I couldn’t stand that.
When you’re doing a shoot, are there ever times when all you can think about is how much you’d like a slice of pizza?
BB: I never think about food. Maybe at the end when I’m done, when the photographer has pushed me to my limits, but you can see in some photos how my eyes aren’t the same anymore, how I’m tired; maybe they do that because they want everything from me, like Playboy.
How does it feel to have such a committed fan base?
BB: It’s always a surprise when I see it, like when people have the shakes in front of me and they lose their mind. I was born and raised in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve…people shot my window out on Christmas Day. I just feel down to earth, so when I see a line-up for me I don’t understand.
Who do you look up to within the community?
BB: Julie Strain. She’s a model who works a lot for Penthouse and Playboy. She’s an icon for me not because she’s beautiful – she’s 6’1”, amazing legs – she started modeling when she was 27, and in ten years she did 41 movies and hosted a show on the Playboy Channel called Sex Court. I met her and I did a shoot with her recently, and she talked about her experiences and her life before modeling – she ran away from a crazy husband and everything. It’s not just the beauty, the photos, and the magazine covers but what she could accomplish even if she was 27. Now she’s 41 and still very beautiful.
Can we talk about sex?
BB: You can ask about whatever you want.
Do you two have any rules or boundaries?
BB: Anything you can think of I’ve done it, except for the brown showers.
That’s the line.
BB: That’s really the line.
What would you not do again, and what do you continue to explore because you like it?
BB: I don’t think I would do needle play again, because it was not very sexual for me; it was more like pain, with a needle going into my skin, and it was like “no, this isn’t very pleasant.” Bondage kind of bores me – you lay down, you get tied up, meanwhile you lose your sexual appetite. Cute bondage like with the hands, OK, but the whole body? No thank you. It takes too long and I just want to have sex. What I do like a lot is being in a vacuum bed. Do you know about the vacuum bed?
No. Wait, maybe I do – I saw a photo of you on your site where you’re under this black rubber sheet.
BB: It’s clear, like a big envelope – you have your hole to breathe, and someone uses a vacuum to suck all the air out. It’s like when you see shrink-wrapped lettuce at the grocery store. You feel so light and helpless. I also like to have sex with my boyfriend inside the envelope without the air being sucked out; I’ve even had sex inside a giant two-metre balloon. I did a shoot with a girl inside, but then after the shoot my boyfriend came inside and we just had sex for ten minutes because there’s no air in there. I’ve done lots of stuff.
Talk to me about music – I read that you like to listen to heavy metal when you’re doing a shoot.
BB: I used to listen to Iron Maiden a lot, but now I don’t listen to that a lot anymore. But I still love those songs though…when I hear them now it’s like “woo-hoo!” And Mötley Crüe I like a lot – I’m going to go see the show. Nikki Six? Mmmm! But now I’m going through this ‘80s phase, like Mylène Farmer. Every shoot has a different scenario, and so each has their own music because I like to hear music when I shoot. Music is good to inspire feelings, so if I do Marlene Dietrich I’ll listen to old big band music.
Photos courtesy of Martin Perreault (www.biancabeauchampallaccess.com)
