Booted Up

Sad news.

(Lady Lily Gardner & Mike)

Known to fetishists throughout the world for his Fetish Realm magazine, the Fetish-Realm.com website, and for the prolific body of erotic fetish artwork he illustrated under his nom de plume, E.N. Cuire, both Teri and DJ regret to report the recent passing of a dear friend, Michael Frankovich Jr.

Mike died on Tuesday evening, December 11th while in hospital. He was 65 years of age. We here at Bootlovers.Com are particularly struck by this sad news. Mike and DJ were close friends for nearly two decades. As many Bootlovers.Com readers might know, Boot Lady Teri also worked with Mike to produce the monthly photo galleries and updates for his website, Fetish-Realm.com. What fetish aficionados do not know, however, is the fascinating past of this man who brought pleasure to so many through his fetish fashion conscious photos and drawings.

Argh! That ANNOYING sound!

That annoying melodic 'bell' sound - that's not something I did. Typepad, in its infinite wisdom, assumes that all of its customers want a Fr*endF*nder chatroom as a part of the service. SO much so, that they've made it HARD AS HELL to GET RID OF IT.

I'm working on this problem - stop emailing.

From DJ: Fetish Scene Loses Award Winning Shoe Designer

Fetish Scene Loses Award Winning Shoe Designer

Montreal - Known for his immaculate workmanship, attention to detail and the superior design of his fetish-styled shoes and boots, Italian-born designer Tony Iammateo, best remember for his Hot Peppers brand ballet boots, died at midnight, June 13th of a heart attack complicated by on-going kidney dialysis. He was 68 years old.

News of Iammateo's passing was circulated to friends and customers with a heart-felt poem, written by George Giaouris, owner of NorthBound Leather in Toronto. "I sought Tony out in 1989 for an over-the-knee boot he was making under his Christina Shoes label," remembered Giaouris. "I guess I'm partly responsible for having brought this wonderful man into the fetish marketplace."

In the early '70s Iammateo won major awards for women's shoe and boot design in both Italy and Canada. In the '90s he launched a variety of sophisticated high heel styles under the Qualifetish and Hot Peppers brand names from his ItalPel fabrication plant on Champ D'Eau in Montreal. Most notable of these were the ankle, knee and thigh length, stiletto heeled ballet boots originated in the '60s by Hong Kong fetish cobbler, Ablemen Trading Co., but re-designed and improved upon by Iammateo. Later, Pleaser USA copied the Hot Peppers ballet boot, though the Chinese-made quality does not match the Canadian-made product from Tony's fabrique.

"For the past year, Tony and I had been working on the 'holy grail' of stiletto footwear," recounted Giaouris. "Using vintage examples from the '50s and '60s, as well as the drawings of John Willie as our guide, Tony had created the lasts and samples of a perfectly balanced, completely wearable 6" heeled, pointed toe classic pump. The boot was to follow. It was destined to be the perfect Mistress footwear and we were eager to put them into production. Unfortunately, he died. I'm sure that like myself many high heel fetishists will mourn his passing."

Tony Iammateo is survived by his wife, a son and daughter, all of whom worked at one time or another in Tony's footwear business. Unfortunately, none of them wish to carry on the family business which had fallen and difficult financial times in the past year. Hot Peppers has been shut down since Iammateo's death. He will be missed, not only for his beautiful boots but also for his great character and kind heart.