Words: Helen Meriel Thomas | Photos: RAVE RAT
Last Sunday night, two very important events in the modelling calendar coincided. Firstly, Victoria’s Secret held their notorious fashion show in Los Angeles, with runway walks from the likes of Adriana Lima, Gigi Hadid and Kylie Jenner, the latter of whom wore the $50m “Fantasy Bra” made of diamonds. Secondly, Life On Venus, a women and non-binary only feminist lingerie party (bear with me) held its fifth party at London’s Flamingo Club. The theme? America’s Next Thot Model, a satirical take on one of the 00s most successful reality shows, coincidentally hosted by a Victoria’s Secret Angel of yore, Tyra Banks.
The two events did have a few things in common: hot women looking very cunty, a lot of sexy knickers, and trans inclusivity. But Life On Venus is better because it has no ties to Jeffrey Epstein, fashion collections with racist undertones, or harassment claims. And I know that because it was founded by me and my woke friends.
My co-founder Elisa Gauthier and I set up Life On Venus three years ago, initially running the event from her flat. We were fans of London’s sexy party scene, but often found that most of the fun was in getting ready, applying stick-on face gems, and watching female strippers during cabaret segments. And as most women who have been in a long term relationship with a man will tell you, lingerie is best understood not by straight men who are happy to shag you in your grossest bed t-shirt, but by other femmes who can appreciate the lace detailing and how long it took to put on the suspender belt. ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
We wanted to create a space that combined all of these elements to become the ultimate girly fantasy and uplift the female gaze, without any weird dudes making leers!! So we started Life On Venus, a sexy FLINTA party, but not a sex party, with performances, workshops and feminist strip-speech essay readings. There’s even a “wardrobe” for borrowing clothing and accessories, just like a real-life sapphic-coded sleepover.
We chose America’s Next Top Model as our fifth party theme because it represented everything we wanted to unpick with LOV. After school in the 00s I would rush home every day to watch ANTM and The Hills back to back. ANTM was an iconic totem of y2k pop culture, paving the way for other catwalk reality shows like Project Runway, and of course, its Queer alter-ego, RuPaul’s Drag Race. I’m also pretty certain ANTM was at least partly responsible for the scourge of scammy “model photoshoot” establishments that popped up all over British high streets in the early 2010s.
“When you’re a little girly girl, some of the best fun you can have is putting makeup on your friends, trying on your mum’s heels and doing a fashion show for your family. Making the grown up version is one of my proudest achievements.”
ANTM taught a whole generation of young women to look vaguely demonic while gazing into the camera (smizing, that’s smiling with your eyes), and “booty tooch” – giving your ass a little pert push upwards while posing. If you wanted to be a superstar model you needed to be up for anything: letting strangers cut off all 18 inches of your brown hair and aggressively bleaching what was left; serving face in a giant bowl of Greek salad; posing with a tarantula; or performing blackface in a race swap challenge. You also definitely could not have a normal relationship with food.
For ANTM’s Life On Venus makeover, we took the good bits (a y2k dress theme, a comedic posing workshop delivered by Loren Dell’arco, feeling fierce), and ditched all fatphobia, racism, homophobia, whorephobia… etc. This party was all about celebrating your inner THOT, rather than co-opting from sex work and Queer culture only to drag it through the mud when inconvenient (never forget Tyra’s immortal words: “Most modelling is acting like a hoe, but making it fashion”).
The night started with a jazz vocal performance by Mars Montana (who later returned as DJ). Elisa gave a speech about female competition and the myth of limited room at the top that the show perpetuated. Kate Kardashian performed two original songs about how to have “star power” (one about sucking up to landlords to stand out at a viewing, and another about being the weird gifted child – Amen). Dancer Nova Storm gave a “class” on how to be desirable in the form of a hot af strip show. And host Femmi Bitch put on a straight face to channel Tyra’s insane piercing stare. And as always, we hyped each other all the way up.
But the best bit is our guests, AKA the coolest girls in London. It’s a cliche, but I do believe we have the best crowd ever. (Only allowing FLINTA people to enter is a big help). They are creative, funny, hot maximalists, who never fail to blow me away with their attitude and aesthetic. Not all guests start the night in a thong and pasties – some arrive a little more covered up, a little apprehensive or solo. But once they’ve taken a waspie and, as was the case with this event, a tattoo transfer from the “tramp stamp” station, they step into the atmosphere, with no male gaze to influence how they feel. We actively brief the crowd at the start of the night to cheer for performers, pay their fellow guests compliments, and be the fully realised divas they deserve to be, a challenge they gladly accept. Maybe it’s just the feminine power, but these performers and guests have a mutual ability to build each other’s energy in a way I’ve rarely seen before.
When you’re a little girly girl, some of the best fun you can have is putting makeup on your friends, trying on your mum’s heels and doing a fashion show for your family. Making the grown up version is one of my proudest achievements. After all, everyone has a little THOT model inside of them – they just need a little body glitter to be unleashed.
To hear about upcoming Life On Venus events, follow us on Instagram @lifeonvenusparties.
Helen Meriel Thomas is a London-based journalist, producer and social content creator. You can follow her on Instagram @iamhelenthomas and subscribe to her Substack iamhelenthomas.substack.com.
