John Willie: A Bizarre Life

(Schiffer, 2024)

With his iconic art and the groundbreaking content of his Bizarre magazine, John Willie is perhaps the person most responsible for introducing fetish style to the mainstream. Illustrated with examples of John’s work, this in-depth exploration shines the spotlight on the man behind the drawings of buxom beauties and the photographs of expertly executed erotic bondage, delving into his early life; the chance encounter with a network of high-heel fetishists that incited John’s discovery of his community and his calling in the world of erotic art; his relationship with model, wife, and muse Holly Faram; the debut of his groundbreaking Bizarre magazine in 1946 and his career-long struggles against the forces of governmental oversight; and how the murders by so-called 'Glamour Girl Killer' Harvey Glatman—who posed as a bondage photographer to lure his victims—helped spur John’s eventual disillusionment with the world of fetish art he helped build. Garrett provides a close-up portrait of the artist whose ideas have fed the erotic fantasies of generations of people.

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