London’s Alternative Fashion Week in April has frequently provided a showcase for new young designers of interest to the fetish scene.

This year, however, full-on fetish fashion provided what must surely have been the event’s most memorable shows and ensured masses of mainstream publicity for three of London’s rubbery endeavours.

The AFW, presented by Alternative Arts, takes place across five days, with free lunchtime catwalk shows each day giving a chance for a total of more than 60 designers to show their mettle to the assembled press and public.

The venue, Spitalfields Traders market, is a covered space that keeps the rain off, but the models still have to endure ambient temperatures that on this April week tended towards the chilly — not ideal when you’re sitting around in rubber for hours waiting to do your bit.

Monday’s opener saw both Kaori’s Latex Dreams and Pretty Pervy taking to the catwalk to the strains of a live band.

Kaori’s designs are in the main wearable enough to appeal to a non-perv market, though her showpiece hooded ‘ball and chain’ ensemble and luxurious latex kimono, modelled on this occasion by Kumi, were wise inclusions that wowed the crowd.

Pretty Pervy’s extreme creatures had a predictably jaw-dropping effect. It’s easy to forget that Robert Miller’s kooky creations may be very familiar to us kinksters but have had virtually no exposure in the mainstream. Until now, anyway.

The inflatable outfits kept photographers’ shutters extremely busy and got PP onto the centre spread of the Evening Standard, but sensibly, PP also included some more wearable styles to show the wider world that they’re not totally bug-obsessed.

AFW’s third rubbery offering this year came with Pandemonia’s show on Wednesday.

This designer is focused on creating wearable art rather than fashion — all his pieces are one-offs created for him to wear himself at various events, which means all his models have to be extremely tall and wiry. He showed six pieces, some familiar to fetish club regulars and some brand new.

The outfits, including an amazing Medusa ensemble, easily provided Wednesday’s most eye-catching show, and were received in good humour by a crowd that, Pretty Pervy’s offering earlier in the week aside, would simply have never seen anything like this before.