Dress to Kill (or Be Killed): Come to the War of the Fashionistas!
[edited a little after the fact when I realized what I was trying to say. :) ]
I'm a little obsessed with fashion in Second Life, I admit. A lot of us are. And it's fun! The only problem I have with being a Second Life fashionista is that while in Second Life, fashion is a kind of social game and a means of personal expression, in First Life, fashion represents some of the biggest problems in our culture: consumerism, valuing appearance above substance, dangerously thin body ideals for girls and women, putting youth on a pedestal and scorning age, novelty for novelty's sake, indulging in luxuries when much of the world is having trouble indulging in not starving...well, you can see what I mean. I don't mean there's a problem in First Life with buying a nice pair of shoes if you need a nice pair of shoes, or that there's a problem in Second Life with buying 200 nice pairs of shoes when you really don't need them but are just having fun. It's when fashion in Second Life sounds like support for the fashion mindset in First Life that we run into problems!
So I'm stuck with what is really an artist's problem: how do I express how simultaneously fun and trivial fashion is? How do I communicate that I think it's wonderful that we can have such amazing wardrobes in Second Life and at the same time that I think it would be terrible to have such a wardrobe in First Life?
Some people have tackled this, cleverly, with bizarre fashion accessories like the Cthulu fetus hairdo or a dress made out of barbed wire. Others have held events where they encourage people to come in horrible freebies. Since Cthulu, barbed wire, and horrible freebies are all unspeakably frightening to me, I thought I might try something different...
What if they had a war, and everyone showed up looking fabulous?
So, you're invited to that war! Please dress as amazingly as you can (with some attention to lag-minimization if at all possible) and come to the War of the Fashionistas on Saturday, September 13th, at 7pm SLT. (Sorry to Europeans: I know this isn't good timing for you!) Put on your most gorgeous outfit, grab an automatic machine gun or spiked club or a P-51 Mustang or a pump with a really sharp heel, and come ready for bloodshed! (To minimize dry cleaning bills, however, please don't bring highly gory attachments.) When the battle begins, pick someone to attack based on not liking their shoes, or on being jealous of their shoes, or on anything you love or hate about their look. Begin by killing anyone who wore the exact same dress as you did - or you can both die of embarrassment if you prefer. Free "dead" attachments will be provided. Please choose a suitable time to die. The last one standing must put on system hair.
Photographers and machinimists, please e-mail me at wingedkate at gmail dot com so I can post links to your work the next day.
Would anyone like to volunteer a location?
Now, what to wear...!!?!?
^^^\ Kate /^^^
PS - I'm really not kidding, we're going to do this! Start looking for something killer to wear. :)
I'm a little obsessed with fashion in Second Life, I admit. A lot of us are. And it's fun! The only problem I have with being a Second Life fashionista is that while in Second Life, fashion is a kind of social game and a means of personal expression, in First Life, fashion represents some of the biggest problems in our culture: consumerism, valuing appearance above substance, dangerously thin body ideals for girls and women, putting youth on a pedestal and scorning age, novelty for novelty's sake, indulging in luxuries when much of the world is having trouble indulging in not starving...well, you can see what I mean. I don't mean there's a problem in First Life with buying a nice pair of shoes if you need a nice pair of shoes, or that there's a problem in Second Life with buying 200 nice pairs of shoes when you really don't need them but are just having fun. It's when fashion in Second Life sounds like support for the fashion mindset in First Life that we run into problems!
So I'm stuck with what is really an artist's problem: how do I express how simultaneously fun and trivial fashion is? How do I communicate that I think it's wonderful that we can have such amazing wardrobes in Second Life and at the same time that I think it would be terrible to have such a wardrobe in First Life?
Some people have tackled this, cleverly, with bizarre fashion accessories like the Cthulu fetus hairdo or a dress made out of barbed wire. Others have held events where they encourage people to come in horrible freebies. Since Cthulu, barbed wire, and horrible freebies are all unspeakably frightening to me, I thought I might try something different...
What if they had a war, and everyone showed up looking fabulous?
So, you're invited to that war! Please dress as amazingly as you can (with some attention to lag-minimization if at all possible) and come to the War of the Fashionistas on Saturday, September 13th, at 7pm SLT. (Sorry to Europeans: I know this isn't good timing for you!) Put on your most gorgeous outfit, grab an automatic machine gun or spiked club or a P-51 Mustang or a pump with a really sharp heel, and come ready for bloodshed! (To minimize dry cleaning bills, however, please don't bring highly gory attachments.) When the battle begins, pick someone to attack based on not liking their shoes, or on being jealous of their shoes, or on anything you love or hate about their look. Begin by killing anyone who wore the exact same dress as you did - or you can both die of embarrassment if you prefer. Free "dead" attachments will be provided. Please choose a suitable time to die. The last one standing must put on system hair.
Photographers and machinimists, please e-mail me at wingedkate at gmail dot com so I can post links to your work the next day.
Would anyone like to volunteer a location?
Now, what to wear...!!?!?
^^^\ Kate /^^^
PS - I'm really not kidding, we're going to do this! Start looking for something killer to wear. :)