What does it mean to be a fetishist today? What are the fetishes of our time? Are we all a bit fetishist? These and other questions emerged when we started sketching out the issue you’re now holding. And the rst veri cations came ear- ly. Generally, fetish is still understood as something purely sexual, and fetishism is still closely linked to behaviours considered slightly extravagant, if not totally crazy, whose aesthetic is invariably associated with BDSM.
It wasn’t (only) there where we wanted to get, but to explore the world of fetish from different angles, some of them ancient, like magic, with the fan- tastic editorial by Felicity Ingram that opens the magazine, others as obvious as food (“There are quite a lot of fetishes surrounding food where the transgression element is thrilling, and it’s very similar to a sexual fetish around transgression”, writer and food geek Tim Hayward explains). And others, much more novel, like technology. Because if something is clear to us, is that technology is the great fetish of this century. We talk about this with artist Joan Morey, whose work has a lot to do with fetishism not only because of its aesthetic, but also because it is about human relationships and the relationships between power, control and submission, which also happen within fetishism. We talk about technology as well with the designer and architect Gaetano Pesce, whose iconic pieces are authentic objects of desire. Pesce af rms that, in the future, technology will allow us to design our own objects and customise them to our liking. “I think the fetish that everyone has is that of progress. Evolution is something so important for each and every one of us, because it gives relevance to our life.”

And if there’s anyone who knows about fetishism, this is Christian Louboutin; not in vain his shoes are considered to be the sexiest and are re- vered by women around the world. Be his words, then, which lead the way to what comes next: “There is a link for me between fetish and dreams. Fetish is about imagination and a form of fantasy.”
Get your copy of METAL Nº 40 at our online store.
Meta L40 1.jpg
Meta L40 2.jpg
Meta L40 6.jpg
Meta L40 8.jpg
Meta L40 9.jpg
Meta L40 10.jpg
Meta L40 12.jpg