How to look good not naked ~ the challenge of clothed modelling, & our first exhibition!

An exciting week lies ahead; 2 workshops, and the first week of our exhibition up. I spent part of Friday and Saturday collecting the artwork with Thelma, and then fathoming how to hang it. I am pleased with the result and think we have decorated the Sh! shop very nicely. I am going to give you a peek here, as best I could manage, with the glare of lights in their basement where the pictures are.

Whilst sorting out where and how to hang each image, I was in the space where we will hold our women only session on Thursday (7th November). I got a feel for the possibilities there, chatted to the manageress, and thought about how best to encourage women to pose – with clothes on. We have never had this restriction before (while we have had clothing optional modelling, nudity has always been allowed with us!), but also we have never been in such a feminine space. The manageress said they have never had anything like our workshop in the shop. They offer a number of erotic classes and sessions, from ‘how best to perform fellatio’, to erotic poetry evenings; but we are adding a new dimension.

I checked out some of their underwear items which women might consider posing in, if they fancy treating themselves to something new, and tasty, as well as some of the goods on sale which could make fun props!

When we had our women’s meet and chat evening last month in this space, one of the women who dropped in had a whole lot of questions. In fact she had so much to say that hardly anyone else got a word in, and we realised we would have to manage situations like that better in future. Memorably, in the middle of the woman’s diatribe, Morimda got up and strutted over to the whips. She carefully picked an instrument and struck a dominant pose in the middle of the space, holding the whip with intent. Now she had everyone’s attention and there was quiet. Morimda explained how the model holds the space, and picks poses to engage with her audience of artists.

A lot of the scenarios we create in our workshops, a bit like in a drama class, are centred around notions of status. These props may add an amusing nuance, helping to make status relationships very clear.

Now for a virtual tour of the Spirited Bodies exhibition!

Lily is one of the artists who will be drawing the models on Thursday, and she will give a drawing to each model to keep, a lovely memento we think.

I asked the manageress of Sh! why there have not been any other women’s sex shops opening since this once in the early ’90s. She explained that it is not a commercial venture since this shop is women only for the most part – men must be accompanied by a woman or visit on Tuesday evenings. This excludes  by far the largest market for the sex industry, since men are used to spending on sex. Most women never by sex products for themselves as they have less disposable income and are used to spending more of their income on others, and thinking of their own needs less. While this shop addresses this imbalance, it is a political (feminist) choice rather than capitalising on a gap in the market. They are considering starting some classes for men in future which teach them about how to please women. I think there is a growing interest in this area if Orgasmic Meditation is anything to go on.

I am really pleased to have our first show here, and hope you can visit the shop to take a look; it is on for all of November. I will try to schedule a ‘Private View’ type evening, but it will be later in the month, as we have been a bit busy.

Looking forwards to Thursday and finding poses with all our models, however clothed they prefer to be; see here if you are interested in coming along – Women Only Life Modelling at Sh!

For some more clothed modelling inspiration;