Ms. Marina St. Mark may be known best in the Los Angeles area as Headmistress of Purgatory at Hollywood's Bar Sinister, the quintessential goth and fetish club in that fallen, fabled Chandlerian metropolis of decadent surrender and six-inch fuck-me-pumps. That's a tall order, overseeing the club's upstairs dungeon that, on a weekly basis, provides some of the most high-profile play in the Western hemisphere. But Ms. Marina doesn't stop there in her quest for fetish-flavored artistry and erotic illusion. She is by turns a singer, artist, and fetish model, working with many of the very best shutterbugs in the business. Having done vanilla modeling for years, Ms. Marina found that, as she puts it, "My look was always a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle too strong." That's a point that would be hard to argue with -- anyone who's looked into those piercing eyes remembers it, which has helped make her one of the most sought-after alternative models in the LA scene. Ms. Marina took a few minutes to chat with me about fetish, fashion, floggers, and nymphomania. Eros Zine: Can you tell us a little about where you were born and where you grew up? Marina St. Mark: I was born in the Midwest and spent a couple of years in Philadelphia before my parents divorced and we moved back. I grew up in small town Minnesota but once I graduated from high school, I traveled the country for a few years with Minneapolis as my home base. That's such a wonderful town! Lots of art and music and alternative culture. I would definitely consider it my hometown. Eros Zine: Yeah, Minneapolis is such an amazing city -- one of my favorite places in the world. How did where you grow up affect how you developed as an artist and model? Marina St. Mark: Growing up, I never felt it was ok to be different or to attract any kind of attention. You're not rewarded for that in the small town environment and I literally felt like an alien compared to the people around me. I'm sure we all know how that feels! It pushed me to search and explore to find myself and my true "home" in a way that I wouldn't have, had I not had to fight those limitations. Eros Zine: When did you first discover your interest in costuming, fetishwear, dressing up? Marina St. Mark: Oh, man, when wasn't I dressing up?! I started very young, as I think a lot of little girls do, with my mom's old cast offs. We had a box of them in a closet and when she saw how much my sister and I enjoyed playing with them she started picking up a piece here and there at garage sales, etc. Pretty soon we had quite the collection and that box had to be big to accommodate it all! We'd put on plays and play games with the other kids in the neighborhood that revolved around a ruling Princess and, looking back, there was a lot of D/s involved! I actually trace the first experience of my Dominant side to a game I was playing with a girlfriend, when we were around ten, and it involved this dress... aaaaaaaah, the Angel Dress. It was a gauzy pink minidress with these big sheer batwing sleeves and it was the most beautiful thing my little ten-year-old mind had ever seen. It was the ultimate honor to get to wear it, which led to this game evolving for one afternoon. The wearer of the Angel Dress actually being an Angel sent down by God and the other person was just a human, groveling and begging forgiveness for something they had done. We took turns and I remember my friend not being very good at reigning down holy condemnation. I was getting bored so I started thinking about how I'd do it better. When it was finally my turn, I felt such a rush and got so into it that I literally had her groveling to the point where she burst into tears, needing me to really forgive her. Well, at that point, I felt so horrible and immediately came back down to hug and comfort her. I became really scared of those feelings, and what that power was capable of doing, and it took me a long time to be able to go there again. And then, throughout my life, I've never stopped costuming. I was a total punk rock kid who started wearing corsets when I was 17 and doing Renaissance Faire brought in more than a bit of gypsy influence. My hair has been every color of the rainbow, striped, mohawked and shaved and my style has always been outside of the mainstream even when I'm just in jeans and a t-shirt. Eros Zine: You've worked with some great designers -- recently, for example, Fierce Couture and Exquisite Restraint. Who are some of your favorites, both for fetishwear and equipment? Marina St. Mark: It's pretty obvious, from so many of my shoots, that Fierce Couture is my absolute favorite, isn't it?! It all started when we featured the line, and Tressa, at the opening night of Purgatory last year. I just fell in love with her designs and with her as a person. She's an amazing artist and such a joy to work with. Simone of Exquisite Restraint is the same. Her corsets have such wonderful shapes and detailing. I also love Atsuko Kudo, Vesperi and Puimond among so many others… Too many wonderful designers to choose from! Eros Zine: How about for whips? You're known for having some very high-quality items -- who are your favorites? Marina St. Mark: My floggers are by local LA artist, Orpheus. He and Indigo have a line of gorgeous tools and collars. I got my first bullwhip when I was 18, so I've long been a fan of the singletail and have two great nylon whips from Coyote Whips. Other than that, I just pick up a fun piece here and there when it catches my eye. Eros Zine: You've worked with a variety of different photographers -- who are your favorites? What makes those favorites so great to work with? Marina St. Mark: I honestly don't know if I could pick favorites because they all have different methods and styles and they're all amazing! I know that's such a generic answer but it's seriously true. My motivation to shoot with someone is not to add to my body of work but because something in me responds to what they do and I'm excited about what we could create. Because of that, we usually connect as people, too and I've grown to be friends with so many of the people I've shot with. Michael Helms and Perry Gallagher are specifically two people I hang out with a lot outside of the work relationship and they're great. Eros Zine: Any photographers that you probably wouldn't work with again? I'm lucky in that I've never had a negative experience working with a photographer. There are some that I haven't felt enough of a connection with to want to work with them again, but even then, it hasn't been a bad time at all. Eros Zine: What kind of photo shoot do you prefer doing -- artistic, erotic, fetish, fashion, kinky, BDSM, commercial? Marina St. Mark: I tried to work as a vanilla model for years but my look was always too strong, in the end. I'd get called back over and over but ultimately, didn't book the jobs. I made the decision to stop because it just wasn't worth it anymore. I wanted to get more tattoo work done and wanted to be able to have funky hair again! Then, when I started meeting photographers in the fetish scene, I realized that my niche had been there all along but I had just never dreamed I could be a part of it. Years ago, I worked at an alt comic/book store where I would sit and reverently page through ‹O› Magazine, in awe of that world and all of the beautiful women/clothes in it. It never occurred to me that I could do that! From the first fetish shoot, I knew I was home. Eros Zine: [laughs] Sure looks like it! What was it about the greatest of the images in, for instance, something legendary like ‹O›, that you want to see in your own work? Marina St. Mark: There are so many ideas that flit through my head for shoots but more than any specific kind of clothing or kink, it's wanting to create a mood or emotional response. Sometimes you're more successful than others but that's always the fun of it for me. To try to go to a deeper level. Eros Zine: Well said. Any particular types of photo shoots you haven't done that you would like to? Or types of shoots that you would like to do more of? Marina St. Mark: I know I'm not the first, but I really want to do an androgynous shoot with a mix of masculine and feminine clothes. I'm so excited about making that happen! No matter how very feminine I am, I also have so much strong/Alpha energy in me and I love the idea of being able to express that through the symbolism of the greater culture. And the idea of bringing out the male without rejecting the female… to mix them… so personally liberating and fun! Eros Zine: Well said. So....on to a topic that's even more fun! When it comes to fetish dressing, what are your favorite materials? Latex, leather, PVC, lace, costumes....or is it nothing-at-all or as-little-as-possible? Marina St. Mark: I've long been a fan of leather and have a leather jacket that's like a part of my own skin, I've had it for so long. I've only recently come to discover the sheer joy that is latex and I don't know how I've lived so long without it! I'm definitely not about showing as much as possible. It's so much more erotic and interesting to show a strategic piece of skin here and there. That enticement… tease… Eros Zine: Are there any particular secret (or not-so-secret) fetishes of your own? Panties? High heels? Long hair? Seamed stockings? Marina St. Mark: I truly love the look and feel of fishnets with a great pair of fetish shoes. Just thinking about those on a great pair of legs makes my breath quicken. But if I had to pinpoint the one thing that really does it for me, it's corsets! I just love them. The way they wrap your body and hug, ultra-feminizing the silhouette, strengthening and binding/limiting at the same time? There's nothing better… I'm seriously an addict! Eros Zine: How do you get most of the clothes you pose in? Do you have relationships with fetish designers or shops, or do you buy most of the outfits yourself? Marina St. Mark: I've been very lucky in that I've met such great designers and been able to borrow a lot of pieces. I'm so in inspired by models who have slowly nurtured these huge collections! I've definitely gotten some great pieces of my own and I'm starting to invest in more. Eros Zine: As a former Catholic, I can't resist asking: Please tell me about Purgatory? Marina St. Mark: [laughs] I'm the Headmistress of Purgatory, the Fetish/BDSM space at Bar Sinister, in LA. Every Saturday night, I'm interacting with and playing for a pretty big crowd. I work with the club to book featured guests and performers and make sure they're happy and taken care of. I get to be performer, hostess and promoter all in one. I love it! Paul and Jordan are my partners in crime. Eros Zine: And you've also done a fair amount of other fetish/BDSM performance.... Marina St. Mark: I've also been a featured performer at the last three Bondage Balls. here in LA, the first ones to go on in a year! That's been such an honor and they're growing to become just amazing events. I just got back from the San Francisco Fetish Ball where I walked for HW Design. It was such a blast to work with Kumi and to wear such an amazing outfit. Looking forward to many more events! Eros Zine: OK.....back to the saucy questions: Do you consider yourself an exhibitionist? Marina St. Mark: Of course I love attention. There's no way I could ever deny that, but actually, and I know this sounds completely stupid after everything else I've talked about, no I don't. When I'm watching someone performing onstage, whether it's a ballet, a rock band or a scene, it's not the fact that they're out there in front of so many people that flips my switch and makes me want to be up there. It's the fact that they are being challenged and challenging themselves to push it to a new level… to take one step closer to fulfilling the potential that they have and are trying to express. To be a truly great presence on stage or in front of a camera, you have to open yourself up and allow whatever's inside to come out. You can't sit in the corner and glare at the girls who are getting all the attention. You can't hold back. You have to fully be! For me, it's about doing that inner work and getting that feeling. Eros Zine: You say on your website bio that you're a "potential nymphomaniac." I'm sure our readers are just dying to know what that means. Marina St. Mark: Aaaaaaaah yes, my potential Nymphomania! Ha! Good question… Well, I had been needing to write a bio so I started really looking at the different aspects of myself and my life so I could write something short but interesting. Those two words kept popping into my head to sum me up in terms of a relationship. The potential is there…. I am an extremely sexual person but at the same time, I'm pretty picky and I'm a pretty sick puppy, so finding someone who I'm able to just let go and fully explore that with is pretty difficult. I go long periods of time single so I feel like, when I do eventually find that person, I'm literally not going to be able to control myself! Eros Zine: And with that, your interviewer will now excuse himself to go take a cold shower. Talk among yourselves: Find Marina St. Mark in all her stunning beauty and tender savagery at Bar Sinister, every Saturday night in Hollywood -- and, of course, at msmarina.com. Thanks, Marina!

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Marina St. Mark - by Thomas S. Roche

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