Amarantha LaBlanche: a star glowing in the dark

Posted 4 May, 2009 - 21:37 by Truelove

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  • show,
  • rubber,
  • interview,
  • high heels,
  • gothic,
  • fetish model,
  • Amarantha LaBlanche

In addition to the many flyers on which we admire Amarantha laBlanche, we also enjoy her performances on fetish parties, where her heart really lies. A passionate performer, someone who has versatility as her middle name and the classical beauty she is, we loved to interview her. So here's the “fingerlicking” story of Amarantha la Blanche.

(This interview has been made possible through the support of Attitude Holland)

Truelove: Amarantha, you're a well-known appearance in the fetishmodel world. Of course we're very curious how it all came to this. Would you please tell us something about your life before you got to be a (fetish) model. Please don't spare us the juicy details...
Amarantha: I originally came from the gothic scene, going to all the industrial cyberparties around. The looks for those parties are quite similar to those on fetishparties, lots of people are wearing high heels, stockings, PVC and leather. My true fascination with all this started out years before, when I was a big Spice Girls fanatic. The platformheels, lots of pvc, corsets, crazy outfits, anything unusual was possible. Of course I was too young to wear it, my parents had a hard time keeping me from doing it. I took all of it with me over the past years and found out the gothicscene was thé place for youngsters to let this out. Everybody dressed like that! When I was about 15 I went to my first gothic party in Utrecht.

For my first gothic party I bought my first PVC item in a sexshop: a PVC catsuit. I can remember I was SO proud of it, and I've worn it as much as I could. Even when I couldn't, cause any opportunity to go public (for example shopping or going out to a pub) was another opportunity to wear my favourite thing. The people around me thought I was going to hell, something must have been "terribly wrong with me" they said. I didn't understand the whole commotion, I was only becoming that person that was hidden inside of me! But my family and relatives really didn't understand and thought I was in danger. That couldn't keep me from dressing up, the only difference was that now I did it in some creepy bushes aside the road.

My collection of PVC was growing instantly, and turned into a pile of clothes hidden under a bunch of blankets in my closet. I kept it as a secret and lived a second life for about 5 years, because I knew this was not acceptable for my family at all. The gothic scene has a lot of models, aspiring-models and wannabe-models, and so why not giving it a try as well. I set up some profiles on model communities on the internet, and did my first photoshoot pretty soon. It may be unexpected to you, but I really didn't like it at all and felt very shitty afterwards. I posed in PVC and also nude, which I really didn't wanna do but I was insecure and inexperienced. Because the photographer said so, I thought it was just part of the job and did it, while feeling quite miserable. The pictures turned out okay, but I saw a little frightened girl. My comfort level regarding to myself was zero, I have felt like an ugly and dumb girl almost my whole life. This had too many reasons to explain, but you cannot easily change that mindset. I decided I'd never do it to myself again, I told myself I was not made to be a model and should let it go. So I did, and I didn't model for years. I was totally against it and hated it for what it did to me.

After a couple of years I got completely bored of the gothic scene and heard about fetish parties from some new friends. Totally excited I experienced my first fetish event which was Boudoir Bizarre, and oh.. I enjoyed it! I met a lot of people, made new friends and a whole new world opened up and sucked me in. I also made another new friend, and he was an aspiring photographer following a course. Now and then he asked me to model for his assignments, and a friendly and safe environment such as having your friend as photographer made me do this. I was having fun, could improve my modelling skills and for the first time in my life I could appreciate a picture of me. Not even in the way of "this is a nice pic if only this thing was different.. blabla" It was just great the way it was!

I reanimated my old model profiles on the web and threw my new stuff online which were really appreciated by the people. I got to work with a lot of real good and professional people, that helped me to get over my fear and made me appreciate myself some more. I've found my dreamteam, and we work together weekly to satisfy your senses. In particular I'd like to name Me-Chiel and Peter Diablow for their support and care. And this really helped me, as you can see me on a lot of flyers and events these days! I think it's all about doing the right thing on the right place on the right time..  and a whole bunch of luck haha!

Besides modelling I'm also an event organiser for gothic events. I have my very own event that will return back into the living after a year of silence, named FATE01. Maybe you've noticed already: I've worked together with Fetish Sins the last edition and organised the FATE01 gothic cave. ;) Also I am a dance teacher, I teach many sorts of gymnastics, twirling and ballet. I'm doing these sports for 17 years now, and teach classes for almost 8 years. My pupils are from different ages, from about 6 years old to ... I still enjoy this job as a true passion, it keeps me flexible and I adore the kids.

About my style I can only say that I'm in love with burlesque since I was a child. I didn't know it was named burlesque back then, but icons like Bettie Page and Marilyn Monroe were my heroes. Since I was a little girl I used my moms' make-up and worn my granny's pumps. Mix all of this up with my fetishes and you get who I am.

Truelove: So, now we finally know how you became the person you are now: What are your future plans and what goals do you eventually want to reach?
Amarantha: Awww that's pretty hard. There is SO much left to do, so many dreams left to forfill! Although I cannot complain at all, I just got started 1,5 years ago by coincidence and did so many great things already. First of all I consider myself to be more a performer than a model, because I feel way better being on stage doing my thing than capturing that one little moment on a camera. I like to do photoshoots of course, otherwise I wouldn't do this but on stage I feel less nervous or stressy. So I'd love to do even more liveshows around the world and hopefully I could also add the USA to my resume soon. The USA is like a dream to me, and I hope it will come true someday. I am working on a brandnew fetish show, and I cannot tell you anything about it yet but it's gonna be fantastic! I am really looking forward to bring it outside and perform it for an audience. A big stageprop has to be handcrafted by a close friend of me, so let's give him some time. ;) Also I hope that I could ever appear on the cover of a magazine like Marquis or any other respectable fetishzine. I am a big fan of Marquis and always enjoy reading it! I hope I could read about myself in it someday.

Truelove: Your body is beautified with some great tattoo's. Do they have a special meaning and why did you choose the name Amarantha LaBlanche?
Amarantha: I currently have 6 tattoos and I'd lie if I tell they mean nothing to me. My first tattoo was a pentagram on my groin. I was about 15 years old and wanted it so badly, of course my parents would have said no so I secretly did it. The pentagram was a period of my life, call it puberty and a step into another lifestyle. It was also the beginning of a new secret: Tattoos. It was very easy to hide this one because it was small and on a spot you don't usually show off. Addiction was creeping over me and I wanted a second tattoo, on my buttock because nobody would just look here. It was a cheesy tribal, which I really liked back then. I think I liked the vibe of getting a new tattoo more haha! Two tattoos, and nobody (except a few friends) knew about their existence.

Then I went on my first independent vacation to Spain, as you can see without the parents. I think deep inside I knew it all long, I was getting a new tattoo there. On my lowerback, a black tribal made of spheres and a heart. The spheres protect my heart from breaking, and that was exactly what I felt like these days. Nobody could get close to me, I had spheres around me protecting me. Sometimes the spheres are still there, just like my tattoo. After only a few months I went back to my local tattoo studio and got myself 13 neoncoloured stars. People who saw them were shocked, neon colours?!? Yep! Pink, green, yellow, blue, orange, green, and they stand for My Little Pony. MLP was my favourite cartoon when I was a kid, and I don't have much good memories of my youth so I rather keep this great one alive.

Then my most important tattoo came, the one on my chest. A weird black tribal-ish figure, that means so much to me. I designed it myself, and put my own meaning onto it: For me it says courage, faith, confidence and it helped me through a lot. It may sound crazy but I felt stronger than ever when I got that tattoo. Some people ask for the meaning of it, but nobody ever seems to understand. "It is just a made up sign"   Yes it is, to you.

In the meantime I covered up my pentagram tattoo and turned it into another design. I couldn't look at it any more because I'm living a whole new life now and don't want to look back. The design matches to that thought, ugly bloody stitches going from the belly to the groin, turning more healed and ending up in a perfect pretty purple bow. Just like life I could say. The tattoo on my ass is also edited and extended into a bigger design, also going to the other buttock.

My name, Amarantha Lablanche definitely has a meaning to me. I wanted a name that I felt comfortable with, suited me well and somehow described me well. Not just a stupid name but something with a great meaning! I really like French names, so I grabbed a French namebook. Nothing, nothing, nothing, it was so hard! Then I found Amaranthe. Amaranthe, flower, also meaning "pigweed", in Greek mythology "The unfaded". And though I was a small little flower I didn't plan on leaving so that was correct. I changed it into Amarantha because I like names ended with -a. I needed an elegant French last name, and came up with La Blanche- The fair, the pale. I can't deny I am almost glowing in the dark, so LaBlanche it would be!

Truelove: This fetish scene, is this a way of live for you, or does this only mean parties, modelling and clothing. And do you have a fetish yourself?
Amarantha: As I already mentioned I started out walking around in typical fetishwear at very young age. Nowadays it is much easier to also live a fetish way of life. I am a fulltime fetish model/performer now, so that means that I can dress my way to work!I don't need to hide anything anymore, and the people surrounding me accept it or even are into it themselves as well. My lowest heels are 15cm pumps for daily wear, and I like the classy and sometimes more office-bitch-like look. It's properly clad and accepted but still outstanding somehow comparing to what other people that follow the trends are wearing. If you work so much in this scene daily, you're dealing a lot with it as well so you easily get involved. At a certain point it's hard to think of what is normal or freaky for vanilla people, since we are used to a lot. "It's just a gasmask and some fleshhooks, what's the deal?!" I caught myself on that one when I saw people on a vanillaparty freaking out cause of some fleshhooks. Some had never seen anything like that before, and I was only going "oh well.. I see such things every weekend.."

My own fetishes? Oh yes! My biggest love is rubber, what a surprise huh? ;) The smoothness, the smell, the feeling when it's wrapped around your skin and even better when you're lubed in and shiny. It caresses your body and beautifies the shapes, a miracle! But my second fav, Corsetry follows up closely. I think I have a fetish for body modification in general, I like to modify my body in a way that should be naturally impossible. A tiny corseted waist, balletheels, all perfect and pretty like a doll.

My ideal type of woman? Long hair, big boobs, tiny corseted waist, hourglass body, latex, towering high heels and a strong facial expression. 

Truelove: You appear on a lot of flyers, parties and fetish fashion shoots, but you are a mummy also. That's another thing altogether. How are you able to combine these two lives?
Amarantha: I think I was born to be a multitasker, and I'm always doing 10.000 things at the same time. These things are quite heavy to combine, because we're dealing with a young kid that you don't want to drag into certain things. We completely keep the kid out of our "fetish lifestyle", and always make sure he's not gonna find suspicious objects anywhere in the house. And yes that can be really tough when your whole life actually has to do with this! But we should. We think when he's older he's got his own decisions to make, until then we won't push him into our perception of a lifestyle. My job happens mostly on weekends, when the events are happening and I have to perform liveshows. Everytime it's sad again when we have to bring our happy little man to the babysitter (which is my mother).

He knows that when he goes there, I have to work and he is okay with that. "Mom has to work like every other parent in the world". We know for sure he likes to be there, but now and then feel bad about leaving him behind and go to a party. But when it comes to non-fetish assignments like decently clad photoshoots or runway jobs, we take him with us sometimes. Last year we took him to a runway assignment, I wore a long Patrice Catanzaro gown and he totally loved it. He was proud that his mommy was right there on stage looking pretty, he said. And that - of course-  put a big smile on my face.

Truelove: We regularly read about your experiences on the internet and we're always pleasantly surprised by your English. Does this point into an English background direction or did you just do your utmost at school?
Amarantha: Haha, oh dear, is it thát obvious? Well, to reveal this mystery: my mother is a typical Dutch, and my father is Irish. So you may understand I spoke fluent English at very young age. I have always been interested in the language and even prefer English when I get to choose. I speak Dutch very well, but expressing myself works the best in English for me. But I have to say when I was a kid, I always liked the English classes the most and worked hard for it. I wasn't an eager student at all, I obviously hated school but this was the only class that got me studying, next to music and actingclass.

Truelove: Who are your absolute heroes and what do you utterly dislike?
Amarantha: I can throw many names at you that inspire me daily, but mostly I am inspired by those who kick life in the butt and do their own thing. The people that don't just do what they're supposed to do, but who break out and live their own lives. Of course there are some leading (fetish)models I'm fond of, they are so called heroes for me too. For example Dita von Teese with her classic face and style, Rubberdoll cause she's such a hot latexicon, or Morrigan Hel, a powerful and strong beauty in whom I found a like-minded person. My true heroes are not only goodlooking from the outside, I expect even a lot more on the insides as well!

For things I utterly dislike I'm not gonna name people, cause it takes a whole lot for you to make me dislike you. In general I dislike dishonest people, people that talk behind my back or make up stories only to put that spotlight of negativity on me. I'm so fed up with this kind of people now, I really don't care about it anymore. When you are a person having success, no matter in what kind of business you work, there are always people trying to bring you down. Get used to it or do not aspire to do this work is what I think, it's a hard world after all. 

Truelove: If you would have to give someone a good advise, what would that be?
Amarantha: Always stay yourself and don't let anything or anybody change you. It's so sad how many stuck up models I've seen at Fetish Evolution, while they were way nicer a year ago. Success (and pretentiousness) really can change a person, and usually it's not in a positive way. Also as I already mentioned, when you're successful a lot of people want things from you. Everybody is nice and friendly, and business offers are served on a plate. This is a hard time, especially when you are enthusiastic about your work and would like to accept all of them. Please mind not everybody has good intentions with you, and I do know all about that. Some people are up for using and abusing your enthusiasm, and take advantage of your success. Keep the control, and think twice before signing a deal.

Also for aspiring models who'd like to do fetish related work: Never do any nude work if you don't feel like doing it. Any photographer who tells you that nude posing belongs to a fetish-shoot is an asshole, cause of course that's not true. I've heard this so many times, young women that were told that nude was part of a fetish shoot. Bollocks! The fetishism of the picture depends on the setting, clothing, posing, materials and scenes, not on naked buttocks. Don't let anybody force you to do this, and only (but really..ONLY) go for it when you decide it's allright.

Truelove: What, according to your own opinion, are the ingredients for a good party. Which party is your personal favourite and what will you be wearing than?
Amarantha: A good party (to me) needs only a few things: nice partypeople & industrial/EBM music (You can take a goth out of the gothic scene but never take the scene out of a goth? haha!)  Really, with nice and crazy people and some good music my party totally rocks! Alcohol or drugs don't even matter to me, I don't use any of it and hardly ever drink a glass of alcohol. Fetish Evolution and New Years eve are honestly one of the only occasions in a year that make me grab a bottle of whiskey. I prefer to deal with sober people, and like to stay sober myself as well so I can have control over myself perfectly.

My favourite party... that's hard cause I've been to so many events! For Holland I'd say Fetish Sins, simply cause it has everything I like: Not TOO big, you can breathe and walk around on high heels all rubber up without being ripped apart by pushy people, different halls for any type of music (and you'll find me in the gothic area of course), the visitors of this event are usually dressed in style, and in general the shows that are booked are always entertaining!

I cannot go anywhere without at least 25cm high heels and a sexy latex outfit. For now I have a new favourite, my newest transparent purple long evening gown made by Absolute Danny. It fits great, it's easy to step in to, doesn't crawl up or down all the time, gives me space to move and dance cause of the high split, and isn't too warm in a steamy club. Yeah, for now it's my best friend!

Truelove: What's the most tricky situation you've ever been into?
Amarantha: A few weeks ago I heard right before my show (plastik fantastik, medical act) that we couldn't use my own special music. My show totally depends on the music, that is telling the story and makes clear what is happening. A flatline when I die, lyrics about boobsurgery, and I knew it all wouldn't make any sense when doing it without the official music. Then you're just playing the fool on clubmusic, that's not the same at all. I had the choice between getting paid and going home (fair enough cause the organisers felt bad about this) or performing without my music. I turned to my performance group, as I'm not the only one on stage and discussed this. Of course the vibe dropped down instantly, but we agreed that we wanted to go for it anyway. I already pierced all the needles into my flesh, was all dressed up and waiting and didn't feel like blowing the whole thing off. It's so easy to cancel your gig and go home, but that's not how I wanted it to be. Besides, in my opinion when you are a true performer you can adapt to any situation, good or bad. We changed our show a bit and got our arses on stage, the show was different than it originally was supposed to be like, but we did it and it was great!

Truelove: Have you ever made a terrible blunder and what has been your ultimate "YES!"-moment?
Amarantha: Haha oh yeah, for those who never noticed: I am actually awfully clumsy and always get myself into embarrassing situations. I can remember my show in Copenhagen like no other. In the middle of my vacation in Leipzig I decided to confirm this gig and drive to Copenhagen to perform and drive back to continue my vacation the next day. The idea itself was already idiotic, but okay... that's me. After driving hours, we were heading to Rostock to cross the water and enter Denmark. Unfortunately I never checked how exactly, and assumed there should be a bridge or tunnel or what so ever.  So all the way we were looking for that aquaduct tunnel and couldn't find it. After a while I decided to call the organiser to ask him about it, and he first laughed and then turned very silent. Bridge.. tunnel..? And you are in..  Rostock?! THERE IS NO BRIDGE OR TUNNEL FROM ROSTOCK TO DENMARK! In the end we waited hours for a ferry and arrived with a 5h delay. The 10h trip took us about 15h, and when we arrived at the venue I had to dress up and go straight on stage.

The bad luck didn't stop here, when I pierced all the 15 needles into my skin I moved to the stage and (luckily backstage) fell down the stairs. I was all black and blue, lying in an ocean of blood cause some needles were ripped cause of the fall. I heard them announcing my name and had only 10 seconds to prepare myself, pulled the needles back into position and did my show. Some people thought it was fake blood, some other thought it was part of the show. The sore truth was that I was in awful pain and I was damaged like hell.

At the same time this was also my YES-moment, because I could have cancelled the show but I didn't. It was MY stage, MY show, and I took my time. In Switzerland I had a real YES-moment, the crowd was getting wild, screaming my name and being all fanatic. That was probably the best crowd I've ever had!

Truelove: Almost last but not least some more things to know about you: what's your favourite food, your best place to go on holiday and what would you like to possess more than anything else?
Amarantha: My favourite food is Italian for sure! Lasagna, pizza quattro formaggio... the Italians know how to cook! My best place for a holiday would be sunny but not TOO hot, with a bunch of good friends. As long as there is a beach, a sun and lots of cultural things to do I'm all satisfied! Egypt looks interesting to me, I hope I'll ever be able to tell you if my opinion was right. ;)

And something I'd like to possess more than anything else is very easy to me: a rubber vacuumbed! I'm addicted to the experience! But those beds are very expensive and you need a lot of space for it.
If I ever get myself one, I want to have enough space for it so I don't need to break it down all the time and shove it under the bed. I'd like to have my own little dungeon room...

Truelove: What's your definition of TRUELOVE?
Amarantha: Truelove means trust, care, honesty and devotion to me.
Somehow the word Truelove always immediately reminds me of Anita & Martin, haha!

Visit also Amarantha's website: http://amarantha-lablanche.com/

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