Many members of the Dutch leather community joined their Belgian leather brothers in Antwerp for what became an overwhelming success and a truly historical Leather Pride weekend. Here’s a small recap of one of the most awaited events of 2010.
On Friday evening fetish club The Boots – since 1983 – opened its doors to the fetish public for a hot, cruisy and sweaty Opening Reception. And it wasn’t just sweaty in the darkroom upstairs or the cellar in the basement. With about 600 men in leather, rubber, army, skin and whathaveyou, the event couldn’t have had a hotter kick-off. One would almost forget the candidates for the 1st Mr Leather Belgium title holdership (Sven, Bennet, Luc and Serge) were presented to the public.
In case you missed the event or were busy in a cruisy corner, here’s some footage of the presentation of the candidates:
Ton of Holland takes a seat at bookstore Het Verschil.
Around 3AM many men couldn’t stand the heat anymore and went to their hotel (or took the heat somewhere else). After all, there was much on the schedule for Saturday.
Very popular were the bus tours given by local drag queen Pipi who also brought her (leather) dog Chanel. Chanel wasn’t trained well yet and therefore had to endure many whippings from Pipi. Mixing information on monuments and gay life in the city with occasional fall outs to the busdriver in the well-known Antwerp dialect, the visitors quickly learned they were in for an unforgettable ride.
Visitors longing for a quiter environment could visit the local fetish shops Toys4Boys and Plan B, the last one being new in town. Another highlight during the day was Ton of Holland‘s exposition at GLBT bookstore Het Verschil. It was there that candidates for the 1st Mr Leather Belgium title gathered for a drink before their interviews early in the evening.
The interviews where held at The Boots where candidates were thoroughly scanned by a large jury. Among the jury members were none other than Mr. Jeffrey Payne, current International Mr Leather titleholder, and Mr. Alex Lindsay, Mr American Leatherman 2010. Head of the jury, Mr Daniel Dumont, current secretary of the ECMC and noted leatherman on the European leather scene, saw to it that everything happened very IML-wise. After all, apart from vouchers for Toys4Boys and Plan B a ticket to Chicago was the head prize.
An interview with Jeffrey Payne and many others present at the Leather Pride Belgium can be found on touristico.be.
Backstage drag queen Pipi gets cosy with the American guests.
Mr Leather Europe and Mr American Leatherman posing for a twitpic in the green room.
After the interviews, jury and candidates joined up for the Leatherpride dinner at Zoro’s and later on they joined the crowd for Recon’s Mega Full Fetish party at Club Petrol. At this party it became clear that the event had drawn much more visitors than the organisation had expected. Judging from the waiting line for the coat check, not everybody was pleased to learn this. It seemed even like some had forgotten this was a first-time-event and, as usually happens, not just everything goes perfectly. Then again, it clearly didn’t kill the great atmosphere. While Clockwork Orange played on large video screens, DJ’s Jack Chang, Mike Kelly and Jericho lit up the dancefloor with their music and many visitors played in one of the two large and cruisy playrooms in the back. If Friday was hot, Saturday was even hotter. Those who couldn’t stand the heat took a cab to The Boots or Rubbz for more fetish fun until late in the morning.
Press attention, congratulations and flowers for the winner backstage.
But the moment everyone had been waiting for – and especially the candidates ofcourse – was Sunday’s ‘muscle dance party’ Mezzo Giorno where the first ever Mr Leather Belgium (see all the pics here) was chosen. After the interviews with some humorous notes by Pipi and her badly behaving dog, the candidates put on their acts on stage. The acts ranged from a backward striptease to dancing and something involving muscles and oil but it was Luc Cuypers who took the title with an erotic act promoting the safe sex message.
In summary, when it comes to leather, fetish and kink the first Leather Pride Belgium gave the new decade a BOOMING start. Currently the organisation is already brainstorming about next year and as we’ve heard our Belgian leather brothers have got even much more for us in store. Here at LTHR.NL we wish them best of luck and most of all: a proud & leathered future!
Here’s an extra for the dutch speaking among you (and the rest will surely enjoy the images from the competition), Gaylive.be’s report on the event!
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