Office temp worker by day, magazine publisher, writer, show producer, jazz singer by night. Kara Mae, Renaissance woman, offers the newly-formed glamour fetish magazine named for a 1930s burlesque revue, Star & Garter, as the latest in a slew of burlesque-inspired projects.
“ Star & Garter is focused on all of my…obsessions -- anything glamorous and sexy, whether it involves music, fashion, the fetish scene, burlesque, or just cooking and decorating,” Kara Mae says.
Drawing from classical figures such as Mae West and Jayne Mansfield, as well as modern-day sirens such as Christina Aguilera, Kara Mae pooled the energies and talents of friends, both professional and amateur within the field, and borne a magazine full of photography featuring “real girls with unique flair” shot by professional fashion and pin-up photographers; feature articles on nylon fetish, a quest for early transgendered porn stars, the Provincetown-based drag king troupe the B-Girlz, Penthouse model Aria Giovanni, and neo-burlesque star Dirty Martini; and other fun goodies to satiate your thirst for a glamour and style that pays homage to yesteryear and at the same time exudes current-day sensibilities.
Prior to publishing her own magazine, Kara Mae was a writer for magazines Marquis, Atomic, and Tease!; a model for photographers Julie Strain, Ed Fox, and Ken Marcus; and produced a burlesque show in her hometown of Baltimore, which featured performers from New York City, including the Pontani Sisters, Dirty Martini, Bonnie Dunn, Amber Ray, and Baltimore band the Swingin' Swamis. After having worked with and for other projects, Kara Mae says she will now take it a bit easy and concentrate on the expansion of her baby, with a little help from friends.
“For the first issue of the magazine, I got a lot of help from a photographer friend, Dominic Cicala Jr. who owns O'Hair Salon in Gaithersburg , Maryland .
He is a great photographer and also has good hair and makeup artists working with him. Another photographer who I am really excited to work with is Lenny from Shard.org. He allowed me to use photos for the nylon stockings article, but I hope to work with him more. His photos are simple and striking. Mistress Persephone who does Sickchixxx.com is always really inspirational to me because she is hard working and glamorous and extremely friendly,” Kara Mae said.
Several other Renaissance folks contributed to the first issue of Star & Garter, including Bill Morton, illustrator of Lilies of the Alley, who also has a syndicated comic called The Adventures of Skully. The author of the strip, Kelly Sue, is an adult fiction writer whose work can be found at www.kellysue.com . Pin up caricaturist Big Al recently showed work at the Echo Gallery. Author of the nylons feature is Amy Lynn Budd, a stage director and burlesque dancer. The Nora Bayes reprint was penned by Joyce Eberly, who recently debuted the novel “The Tangled Web.” Stacy Amber, author of the article on shemale porn stars, daylights in an aromatherapy store and as a tarot reader, and is currently a script consultant for a transgender film comedy. Even the webmaster of the magazine's online home, Marilyn Perez, designed the Web site for animal rescue center C.E.D.A.M.P.H.
Publishing isn't an entirely alien business for Kara Mae. As a high schooler, she and a friend DIYed it with a punk rock zine called the Pressed Press, funded by after-school and summer jobs. Printed on newsprint with a run of 1,000 and a full year of quarterlies, several bands appeared on the pages: Converge, The Goons, Dillinger Four, and The Muffs, in addition to local punk and hardcore bands.
The print run of Star & Garter is currently 5,000, with distribution throughout the United States and England. It can also be gotten through the Star & Garter Web site. The next issue is slated to appear in January 2004, and will become a quarterly afterward.
kristy ridge, editor