Naughty Paris

Paris' most famous fetish club, Cris et Chuchotements, is closed from November 1-22 for renovations. There will be a grand reopening party on November 23. Do call before heading up there...we all know how building projects stay on schedule here in France!
The next Slave Auction party will be December 1.

Paris' famous echangiste club, Les Chandelles, is hosting a naughty Bal Masqué (masked ball) on Halloween night. Get your sexiest little costume -- or even a period gown costume and carnival mask to look more elegantly naughty -- and go check out the action under the cover of disguise! Doors open at 10:30pm (if you're not sure you look good enough to get past the strict door policy, come early), and by 1am it will be packed solid. Entrance is €72 per couple (includes one glass of Champagne or cocktail).

Saturday night I went to check out the Zinella fetish soirée at Le Continuum (48 rue Duhesme, 18th) with Pleasure Coach Victoria Vesta of DFT. It was billed as a "hotter" night that the Nuit Elastique, and being a journalist it's important for me to confirm these things. ;)

With Victoria, our mystery MIK, et moi, at Le Continuum.


So the club itself is on the quiet north side of Montmartre, with no signs at all indicating there's anything going on inside (we weren't sure we were at the right place until someone opened the door). It was free for women, always a bonus. We checked our coats and headed to the bar. Le Continuum is set up nicely for socializing. The main room on the ground floor is huge, with high ceilings like you're in a church (or a barn), with a bar on one end, and rows of sofas and tables in the center where everyone chats. It's a pretty small community, so a lot of people recognize each other.

At fetish parties you're expected to dress up: leather, latex, vinyl, etc. "Bizarre" is a category, and there were a few "things" out there so well-disguised that we couldn't figure out the gender (imagine the alien costume from the Schwarzenegger film "Predator", but in chains). Uniforms are also allowed; who doesn't love a good soldier or fireman outfit? Just like Halloween! Our Scottish Man in the Kilt (aka MIK) fit right in and didn't have to worry about what would happen if a draft came along and lifted his kilt (do they ever really worry about that?!).

Peeking under the kilt...want to see what I saw? Let's hear it! If at least 25 of you respond to this blog, I'll post the full monty!

There are also a lot of men dressed as women, some more successfully than others. "My purse is cuter than his," said Victoria, nodding to the man at the table next to us.

Next door is the dance floor, but aside from a few good songs at the start, the DJ seemed stuck on undanceable (IMHO) techno. MIK even managed to do a little Riverdance for us, trying to get the "thing" to join in. A couple then decided to co-opt the floor for a public show of affection.

Downstairs is the dungeon-like spaces where the traditional S/M activities take place (whipping, spanking, getting tied up). It's more like the other s/m/fetish clubs -- crowded, low ceilings, dark, not much socializing. You're not supposed to laugh down here, so we headed back upstairs to the bar area. I got my shoes shined. Twice. Then I got picky and started turning people down. There is certainly no shortage of men willing to crawl around on the ground for you ladies! In general, the submissive males seem to outnumber the dominant ones. Perfect if you're looking to practice your flogging technique. But where's the testosterone?! Even the doms are so well-behaved in these clubs that it makes it hard to go back to "regular" night clubs (where the aggressive come-on's seem to get out of hand by 1am).

We met a nice Australian man visiting Paris (he overheard us telling dirty jokes in English), and chatted a bit with the soirée organizer, Michael. By then it was 4am, and this reporter needs her beauty sleep, so it was back to the coat check room, slip into my winter clothes and flat ballerina shoes (ahhhhhh....), and out into the real world with a handfulof flyers for the upcoming parties around town. Until next time!

Saturday October 21 is another Zinella Soumissions Exquises soirée at Le Continuum (48 rue Duhesme, 18th, M° Jules Joffrin). Billed as the soirée "SM, Libertine, & Fétichistes les plus folles de Paris!" Yeah, we'll be the judge of that! See you there tomorrow night, and don't forget the STRICT dress code: leather, latex, vinyl, uniform or bizarre...you can change sur place. Entry free for ladies, drinks €5. Couples and transvestites €40; men €60. From 11pm.

Last night I went to a concert at Paris-Paris to see a Franco-American group called TRIK (opening for JAD WIO). I invited along a few friends. "Do we have to wear fetish gear?" asked one, wary of participating in my Naughty Paris "research" excursions. "Only if you want to; personally I think it's a bit too chilly." I was just joking (not about the chilly part though; firkin' freezing out there!), but once we arrived on the scene I could see that anyone wearing fetish gear would fit right in.

We were among the first to arrive, but by the time we got our drinks and secured one of the few seating areas, it was already packed. We had almost an hour to hang out before the concert started, so we had time to check out the crowd's...er...eclectic style.

Some of the more eye-catching outfits in the crowd.



The house cocktail, with fresh strawberries, mango and vodka.

TRIK is made up of Nancy, a veloptuous sex pot of an American (the kind you rarely find in America these days), and two French dudes, Mathieu and Cédric. Rumor has it they met during one of those speed dating sessions. Their style of music is self-described as "ElectroGlamBooty". Why not? You can listen to excerpts on their website, or catch them on July 12 at Le Pulp, but don't bother looking for their CD in stores, because they only ever recorded enough CDs to sell to their friends.



Last night they were in fine form, entertaining the crowd with devil horns, a glow ring, a few naughty flashes of skin, and some extremely raunchy franglais that must have had her mother blushing. "How did I get so vulgar?" asks Nancy. "Why don't we ask my mom, she's right over there." And indeed, there was a motherly looking woman standing beside me.

Who knew the flute (far left) could rock?

Nanct gets up close and personal.

After TRIK was the headlining band, JAD WIO, a French band who have a sort of goth-punk thing going. I hadn't done any pre-concert research (I know, I know; take away my press pass), so I wasn't exactly prepared for the singer Denis Bortek to come out wearing a mask and a corset.



Only two of the five members of the band performed last night (Fred the bassist, below).



Original, to say the least...I can't look either!

Heather with Charlie (from Ireland) and Rachel (from England) at Paris-Paris.

Not every bar-club in Paris provides good hunting for ladies on the prowl, but Paris-Paris is definitely one of them. I met these young expats while waiting for the doors to open for the Who Made Who concert February 7. I heard them speaking English and asked if they came for the club or the band. They'd heard there was a good band playing, but had never heard them nor ever been to the club. Brave girls! But they didn't know they'd get in faster by asking to be put on "the list" in advance, so when it came time to go in I told the bouncer they were with me, et voila!

We got ourselves some strong cocktails from the bar (€10 each for mostly liquor in you cocktail). Rachel flirted shamelessly with the barman and ended up getting a few more free ones later on. I knew I'd like these ladies! We danced up a storm during the concert, and by 3am I was getting sleepy (should've ordered an espresso martini) so I thought I'd get their take on the male "talent" in the crowd before I headed off. But lo and behold, Charlie and Rachel were already exchanging phone numbers with some fine looking Frenchmen. Bravo, Naughty Girls!