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Torimasked spurred a train of thought in terms of asking 'why' people are interested in latex, x-dressing, etc.

Well, I don't know if asking 'why' necessarily implies a conscious and free decision.
Myself for example; the reasons why I love latex are because I love how it looks, I love how it feels, I also love the fact that it has the power to turn most hetero-sexual men into glistening women. I mean, it's pretty powerful stuff when you get down to the effect that it takes on most fetishists.

As far as origin in concerned... I highly doubt there is a rubber gene out there floating around that we are all demonstrating dominant traits of. I think that most fetishes have spawned out of the increasingly complex and open technological climate we find ourselves in. I think that when kids start having sexual urges, they begin to fixate on things as being their objects of sexual desire, pleasure, etc. In a Konrad Lorenz-esque sort of way.
So, for whatever reason, we have all (probably) from early age fixated on something that struck us as being inherently sexual. From then, we have only built up our fetishes all based on some arbitrary flip of a coin.

However, as far as an origin story, I vividly remember mine.
I remember being especially drawn to women on television dressed in shiny clothes. At the time I liked latex, vinyl, patton/non leather, and lycra indiscriminately. I also liked the idea of modifying my member (that one I really have no idea about... I could speculate, but I won't right now). So one day, I was watching some movie on television alone in my house and there was some female character in it wearing these tight shiny pants. I can't recall the film, but I do recall the image of those glisteningly encased thighs moving back and forth.
I eventually went searching around my house with my silly-putty in hand (my favorite toy at the time) and looked for something shiny. The closest thing I was able to obtain was one of my father's condoms.
I returned to the television with condom and silly putty in hand. I didn't really know what to do, so I wrapped my member in silly putty. I remember at the time having a fantasy of entirely encasing myself in the stuff and forming something entirely different out of my form (ie. animal, female, another male, etc.). Once it was wrapped, I just figured I'd take the condom out of it's wrapper and place it on my newly enlarged member (because previously it would have been fairly loose). Now with the tight latex encasing my already modified member I became increasingly aroused, however I hadn't had an orgasm before, therefore I had never masturbated.

I sat around with it for a few moments then decided to walk around. It was interesting to feel my erect member bobbing back and forth with the additional weight added by the silly putty. I then took my penis between my thumb and index/middle fingers and stroked it from the base to the head. As I did I remember a strange feeling came over me and I felt weak and dropped to my knees. It was my first orgasm.
From then on, I've been hugely interested in specifically latex and prosthetics.

I don't think it's a coincidence that my first orgasm has coincided with my later interests. In fact, I believe if right around that time I had a girlfriend and we engaged in some sexual activity resulting in an orgasm, then I would probably not have this fetish.. and even if I did, I doubt it would be as strong as it is.
So, it's not as though anyone held a gun to my head and told me to do what I did, and I did choose to do it based on my own free-will. However, I was completely unaware, so it really wasn't a conscious choice.

However, taking a behaviorist perspective, I believe that if put in the right conditions; most stimuli could be made to be sexual. It would just be a matter of timing, exposure, and context. Therefore, I believe that the reason why I love latex is because I was exposed to shiny things at an early age during my sexual development which started me down a slippery slope into full-on fetishism...

I also suspect there are some Jungian archetypes at work here, however I don't feel like getting into all that tonight.

SO! anyone want to share why they love latex? or at least in what ways they do?