mildread

The absolutely stunning Nicotine is a glamor and fetish model based out of Washington, D.C. In addition to her extensive portfolio of alternative, fetish, retro/pin-up, glamor, and fine art photographs, she has been featured as a go-go dancer and a runway model across the east coast. We sat down with Nicotine to talk about her career, fetish work, and the irresistible allure of eight-tentacled sea creatures.

Mildread: So really, if you had to tell someone you didn't know about who you are, what would you say?

Nicotine: It really depends on the scene. If I run into someone on the street that I don't know and they ask me what I do, I usually stick to "I model" and try to change the subject. A lot of people don't really understand the fetish scene, so I try to avoid the subject around people whom I perceive as "normal".

M: When did you start getting into fetish work?

N: I first started going to play parties when I was 19. One of my old university friends introduced me to it when I was living in Austin a few years ago. As I started to get further into alternative fashion, I started to make connections between the clothes I liked as a Goth kid in high school and my growing interest in latex and fetish fashion.

M: Very cool. What was your first impression of the fetish scene from the play parties you went to? Or rather, what drew you towards it?

N: I didn't really know what to expect at the first party, to be honest. I was probably the youngest person there, except for a few other twenty-somethings but we were definitely in the minority. I've always been very interested in sexual psychology, so it was interesting to me to talk to the people who went to the parties. It's kind of an unspoken rule that people don't give out a lot of personal information but every now and then you'll hear that someone's a doctor or someone's a lawyer or someone works for the government and that's always fun from a subversive point of view.

M: It certainly gives you a different perspective on things.

N: Definitely.

M: So when did you do your first shoot, then?

N: I think my first shoot was a couple weeks before I turned 20. I got into it a lot later than most of my friends who model but I think that was partially because I had issues with body image and self esteem and I didn't really see modeling as an option before then.

M: Has your perception of beauty changed since you started modeling?

N: I think so. When one talks about modeling and standards of beauty, I think you really have to differentiate between whether you're referring to mainstream glamour, commercial, editorial modeling and whether you mean alternative fashion, glamour, fetish modeling, etc. Each category has its own niche market, so the sort of "beauty" that may be popular in Playboy or Elle or Vogue is not necessarily the look that might be popular in Marquis or Gothic Beauty or Skin Two, for example.

Beauty, in my opinion, is knowing what works well and what doesn't for your face and your complexion and your body type and being able to combine that with your own personal style

M: Well said. What has been your favorite shoot to do?

N: That's a tough one.

M: Name some of your favorites, maybe? Ones that stick out in your mind.

N: Well, I think the one that sticks out in everyone's mind is the Bride of Cthulhu set with the octopus. Aside from that, some of my favorite shoots have been with people I was dating at the time.

M: Are those photos on MySpace?

N: A few of them were on MySpace for a while but they got deleted. You can still see them on deviantART, fleshbot, io9, ModelMayhem, and my personal website.

M: OH WOW. Is that ink all over you?

N: Believe it or not, that's actually two cans of Hershey's syrup.

M: Haha! Very nice. How did the octopus taste?

N: It was pretty fresh, so it didn't really taste like anything. It was just really wet and slippery. The chocolate helped, though. Honestly, I felt pretty guilty about using the octopi.

M: Aww. Why?

N: Well, I'm a vegetarian. They're highly intelligent creatures, too. A few of my photographers and I have a bit of an octopus fetish.

M: Yay for vegetarians! So, what do you enjoy most about modeling?

N: It's a very glamorous job. You get to dress up and go to parties and travel and meet cool people. It's a wonderful creative outlet.

M: It sounds awesome. Where would you like to see your modeling career headed--both in the short and long term?

N: Short term, it's mainly scraping the money together to travel as much as I want to. I commit myself to so many events and then I have to sit back and say "Okay, smart one. You've committed yourself, now how are you going to afford it?" Long term, I would definitely like to have more print credits and more publications under my belt. I don't want to only be known as an internet model. That's one reason why I try to get involved in so many parties and fashion shows. I also definitely want to try to bridge the gap between lifestyle bdsm and the more glamorous fetish nightlife. I'd like to see a more affordable, commercial latex clothing line that looks like something you'd see at the mall (only latex). There needs to be more latex pret-a-porter clothing.

M: I have to admit, I'm a little curious about latex clothing, actually. I've never worn latex before. What's that like?

N: Latex is definitely one of my fetishes, on a tactile as well as a visual level. On the visual level, I like it because it skirts the line between being fully clothed and being completely nude. You can show everything and nothing at the same time and that appeals to my fun, subversive punk rock side. On the other hand, latex is extremely sensual. It's like a million hands stroking your body all at once. It hugs your body in a very comforting way. It's also tremendous fun wearing latex in the pool, the shower, hot tubs, etc.

M: I bet. Do you have any other fetishes? (I swear, that question isn't half as creepy as it sounds.)

N: Haha, no worries. I love corsets, very high heels, steel, leather, any article of clothing that's shiny and black with lots of metal bits. I'm a masochist, too, and I love sensations, so I'm a big fan of anything related to massage, spanking, hair pulling, biting, piercing, and things of that nature. I like anything that causes an endorphin rush.

M: A little bit of pain every now and then is wonderful...

N: There's a quote about how we can never truly understand and appreciate pleasure until we have understood pain, or something like that. In the end, it's all about sensation.

M: Oh trust me, I definitely agree. So that segues into another question: what do *you* find ultimately sexy?

N: At the risk of sounding cliche, I like confidence, I like humor, I think knowing you you are and being true to yourself is sexy. Artistic talent is sexy, nerds are sexy, strength is sexy. There are physical charactertistics that I also think are sexy but even if I think you're the hottest person alive but I meet you and think you're an asshole, you don't stand a chance. Compassion and caring about your health and what you put into your body is sexy, hence my preference for other vegetarians.

M: I think I read somewhere that vegetarians... ahem... taste better.

N: I've heard that, as well. I haven't dated enough vegetarians to really conduct a serious experiment on that but if I kiss somebody and I can taste the meat that they ate that day, that's a definite turn-off.

M: Oooh, yeah, I agree with you on that one.

N: Yeah, it's gross.

M: It's about time for my last question. I'll make it easy. What would be the biggest compliment that someone could give you about you or your work?

N: That's an easy question? Boo.

M: Um. Sorry, I tried.

N: Compliments make me really self-conscious.

M: Would it be easier if I asked you what motivates you to continue to do what you do?

N: I was talking with someone about that the other day. I think what it really boils down to is that a lot of the things that I do and that my friends do you can really only do while you're young. Personally, I'm young, I'm not tied down to any one partner, and I don't have kids or pets or dependents of any kind. In this business, just like in life in general, you only have a small window of opportunity and if you don't take advantage of your opportunity and your freedom now while you still can, one of these days you're going to be eighty, ninety years old, looking back on your life and kicking yourself for playing it safe and wondering what the hell happened. That's the way I see it.


Want to see more? Check out her website at ModelNicotine.com.

(Photo credits from top: T. Jerrod Sharpe; mmk60; WDR Photography; Richard Kadrey; Scott Church, Tsubasa, Studio-X, Vance)