I've been in SL© since 2009 and I got very interested in the fashion scene, especially how SL models performed.
It's in this blog's archives, everything I've observed, the many shows I've watched, some difficulties along the way at first, when I only took photos and didn't realize that some 'models' mistakes' , like prim editing were on my end. My viewer showed them looking 'weird' - I later learned people call that weirdness as 'ruthed avatars'.
Long time has passed and I'm ready to leave SL.
My main focus was always on modeling and their performance on SL runways.
To some new models, I'd like to ask? Are you familiar with the following names?
Dea Mills
Poptart Lilliehook
Kay Fairey
Mavi Beck
Dahlia Joubert
Jesika Contepomi
Kryptonia Paperdoll
Vixie Rayna
July Raymaker
Seashell Dench
Some of them you may know, others you have no idea who they are or were.
Several generations of new female avatars have started working as 'models' since I discovered SL in 2009 and they have no idea who some of the above people were and what they represented in SL's history of modeling with extreme quality, representing fashion as many of us see it in RL, portrayed in SL .
I'm about to retire from blogging, mainly because in all these years, what I have written here, my words, my photos and lately my videos, haven't produced any effect in improving new models' performance in SL.
There will always be avatars looking for 5 minutes' fame, so they join all sorts of pageant contests. This will go on forever.
There will always be 'models' posing like crazy , with no idea whatsoever of what elegance means in a SL avatar, just like they don't in RL , through their own real bodies,
Elegance is wearing a gown for them. Not true.
Fashion, ah that's a completely different thing, as is art.
One of the new generation models is sinontherocks. She was trained at Avenue Academy and now she owns Feroshsl [I hope I'm spelling it right ].
They had a runway show some time ago that was really pleasant and good to watch, because of the chosen models who actually walked.
Apparently, sinontherocks decided to give them the tag of 'supermodels'. I totally disagree with this for a specific reason.
If somebody gives somebody a 'supermodel' tag , that means they are professional models, I assume. Meaning, they are good at what they do. So, basically, they are models. They are supposed to be good. Period.
The rest, even with a model tag over their heads, that doesn't mean they are really modeling. It all comes up about how they perform on a runway. They can be in all sorts of 'model' contests, that doesn't make them professional models. They just want to be known in SL, which says a lot about their poor real lives.
I also mixed in the video you're about to see, another runway show with some avatars who obviously think that posing with a gown, without any elegance is a good job.
Eventually, it will be terrible for the client they are representing.
Nobody will want to buy those gowns, just because of a few female avatars calling themselves models, organizing some kind of 'fashion show' , walk and pose. They are not models, trust me on that!
In SL, designers and creators should really pay a lot of attention to whom they hire as models or model agencies to represent them on the runway.
Comparing the two runway events will show you why it makes no sense giving professional models the tag of 'supermodels'. There are models and there are those who aren't. That's pretty much it.
In the group of female avatars wearing gowns - I can't call them models, because they aren't - there is one that almost got to be MVW this year. Understandable, indeed.
This only speaks of the quality of MVW Organization and the panel of judges who looked at those girls, through a period of several weeks. I won't say her name, because she isn't a model at all. She is absolutely terrible at posing, walking, she has a regular pretty avatar. Nothing special about her.
How low can the modeling scene get, when a beauty pageant almost selects a regular pretty face to be the winner of a beauty pageant?
Anyway, moving on to wishing you all a New Year full of professionalism and fun, responsability in your jobs as models.
Some things will never change in SL, I can see that now.
At least, I hope new and aspiring models get proper training, new 'modeling schools', are popping up like crazy in SL, lately. Watch out for the training you chose as a model. There is only ONE model's academy these days, that can teach models the right way. Remember , I said MODELS, not pageant girls. It's totally different.
If you don't know which one it is, find it.
So, this is probably going to be my last post.
Through all these years, I've seen that whatever I post is not worth it. It improved nothing, it made no change in SL modeling scene.
The same atrocious female avatars keep thinking this is a game. It's not. Creators and designers spend hours and days of their real life time to present something, that is going to be showcased in SL.
A hint? SL models, if you think fashion is all about you. you have it the wrong way. It's about the clients you represent. It's about designers, collections, creations.
If you don't feel this, if you don't see this, then pageantry is really your thing. But don't say you are a SL model, cause you are not.
In this video, I added the names of several models that deserve their names published. Others, like I said, they are just pretty avatars in gowns, giving terrible examples of how a SL model's performance should be on the runway.
I bid you all farewell. Maybe one day, we will all meet. Or not!
I'm moving to other ventures.
Showing posts with label " Fashion CritiqueSL". Show all posts
Showing posts with label " Fashion CritiqueSL". Show all posts
SL fashion weeks declining
I've had the opportunity to watch a recent fashion week in SL. I took some footage of some shows and below you can watch the last show, before the final one.
There are several aspects to consider here: I've stated over and over again that it's my true belief that the closer to RL, the better a fashion event will be inworld - obviously considering SL limitations.
In RL, all new collections from many designers are released in fashion weeks all over the world, for the first time.
In SL, there have been fashion weeks since the time Modavia was still an active modeling agency. They used to do their fashion weeks at the same time as NYC Fashion week - around September, at least, I had the opportunity of watching them two years in a row.
Then Avenue did two fashion weeks as well, within a year period.
This latest fashion week I watched was a wreck. Total flop.
What I saw was an agency that is screaming to the entire SL modeling and fashion scene - we are here, we are alive, we never stop.
Eventually, in this urge to show themselves as a very active agency, the results could be seen, not only in this latest fashion week, but also in the previous one this same agency organized.
Both sets were terrible, in my opinion.
This latest one was some kind of cathedral. What is the problem with a cathedral as a fashion set for a fashion week? In itself, none.
However, the way the building was texturized took all the attention away from the clothes. After all, thinking from the perspective of a designer, you would want your collection to shine. It was visually impossible. All colors, details, materials were outshined by the whole building's textures. No matter what those models wore, the outfits didn't shine at all.
In the audience area, the place was packed with logos of all designers represented in this 'fashion week', piled up without any consideration of space and basic aesthethics.
Then, the performance of some models on the runway brought me back to why I decided in 2009 to create a quite opinionated blog. How is it possible that after all these years, models keep repeating the same mistakes, over and over again?
Again, I observe this craving for 'fame', instead of working models, like a regular job, just as it is in RL. What is most unfortunate is that the more ´famous´ the model is, the worst she performs on the runway. I have to say that the male models I watched did a very good job, though.
This time, there were situations that we simply cannot blame on lag or other circumstances; circumstances depending only on SL viewers.
Pose repetition - it's not lag.
Arms up and pointing - it's not lag.
Empty runway for about five minutes (!!!) - that is not lag!
As soon as you have the opportunity to watch the video of the whole show, you'll see what I mean. This show took about an hour (!!!) in a fashion week! The runway was empty several times and that's not lag. It only speaks of the poor organization of this ´fashion event´.
I did my best to edit the video in real time. You will be able to see time go by and nobody on the runway at least on two different occasions.
As usual, I write my comments on the video. It was very sad to watch this show, situations repeating themselves, after all the years I've been writing this blog.
There are no names in the video. I name no models.
Just watch, if you have the time and the patience.
I have the complete footage of the final show of this 'fashion week', too. I just wondered for some time if it was worth it to spend my time editing it. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it.
If you didn't watch the final show of this 'fashion event', in the end, they brought to the runway all the staff that was backstage, naming who did what.
I was flabbergasted! That isn't important! Only in SL this seems to be accepted as a 'regular thing to do' after a fashion show!
Every fashion week for real, by the end of the show , will bring to the runway THE DESIGNER! Not the staff that was backstage! I mean, was this for real?
Have you ever seen a real life fashion show where they actually bring out the show manager - yes, the guy who is wearing a headset and sending models out? All backstage people, in a real life fashion show - especially the stylists that are prepping models - are wearing a hearing device that will allow them to listen to what the manager is saying and how much time they have to completely set up a model, ready to go out!
Then, models go out and in the end the designer goes out too.
But not here, no! Let's bring up all the agency's staff! Sad, truly sad to have such a distorted vision of what a fashion show really is! It's not about the agency! It's about the DESIGNERS!
Here's the video, forgive some of my slippy fingers ( yes, typos) sometimes on the comments.
I've been informed there are more 'fashion weeks' coming up in SL.
One of them will have all shows at 10am SLT. All shows? Do they mean that they will have several shows, during a whole week ( that's why these are called Fashion Weeks), in several locations - meaning several shows each day, always at 10am?
Or do they mean they will do a fashion week with ONE show per day? THAT is NOT a fashion week. It won't be!
Another modeling agency in SL in desperate need to show some activity? Looks like it!
There are several aspects to consider here: I've stated over and over again that it's my true belief that the closer to RL, the better a fashion event will be inworld - obviously considering SL limitations.
In RL, all new collections from many designers are released in fashion weeks all over the world, for the first time.
In SL, there have been fashion weeks since the time Modavia was still an active modeling agency. They used to do their fashion weeks at the same time as NYC Fashion week - around September, at least, I had the opportunity of watching them two years in a row.
Then Avenue did two fashion weeks as well, within a year period.
This latest fashion week I watched was a wreck. Total flop.
What I saw was an agency that is screaming to the entire SL modeling and fashion scene - we are here, we are alive, we never stop.
Eventually, in this urge to show themselves as a very active agency, the results could be seen, not only in this latest fashion week, but also in the previous one this same agency organized.
Both sets were terrible, in my opinion.
This latest one was some kind of cathedral. What is the problem with a cathedral as a fashion set for a fashion week? In itself, none.
However, the way the building was texturized took all the attention away from the clothes. After all, thinking from the perspective of a designer, you would want your collection to shine. It was visually impossible. All colors, details, materials were outshined by the whole building's textures. No matter what those models wore, the outfits didn't shine at all.
In the audience area, the place was packed with logos of all designers represented in this 'fashion week', piled up without any consideration of space and basic aesthethics.
Then, the performance of some models on the runway brought me back to why I decided in 2009 to create a quite opinionated blog. How is it possible that after all these years, models keep repeating the same mistakes, over and over again?
Again, I observe this craving for 'fame', instead of working models, like a regular job, just as it is in RL. What is most unfortunate is that the more ´famous´ the model is, the worst she performs on the runway. I have to say that the male models I watched did a very good job, though.
This time, there were situations that we simply cannot blame on lag or other circumstances; circumstances depending only on SL viewers.
Pose repetition - it's not lag.
Arms up and pointing - it's not lag.
Empty runway for about five minutes (!!!) - that is not lag!
As soon as you have the opportunity to watch the video of the whole show, you'll see what I mean. This show took about an hour (!!!) in a fashion week! The runway was empty several times and that's not lag. It only speaks of the poor organization of this ´fashion event´.
I did my best to edit the video in real time. You will be able to see time go by and nobody on the runway at least on two different occasions.
As usual, I write my comments on the video. It was very sad to watch this show, situations repeating themselves, after all the years I've been writing this blog.
There are no names in the video. I name no models.
Just watch, if you have the time and the patience.
I have the complete footage of the final show of this 'fashion week', too. I just wondered for some time if it was worth it to spend my time editing it. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it.
If you didn't watch the final show of this 'fashion event', in the end, they brought to the runway all the staff that was backstage, naming who did what.
I was flabbergasted! That isn't important! Only in SL this seems to be accepted as a 'regular thing to do' after a fashion show!
Every fashion week for real, by the end of the show , will bring to the runway THE DESIGNER! Not the staff that was backstage! I mean, was this for real?
Have you ever seen a real life fashion show where they actually bring out the show manager - yes, the guy who is wearing a headset and sending models out? All backstage people, in a real life fashion show - especially the stylists that are prepping models - are wearing a hearing device that will allow them to listen to what the manager is saying and how much time they have to completely set up a model, ready to go out!
Then, models go out and in the end the designer goes out too.
But not here, no! Let's bring up all the agency's staff! Sad, truly sad to have such a distorted vision of what a fashion show really is! It's not about the agency! It's about the DESIGNERS!
Here's the video, forgive some of my slippy fingers ( yes, typos) sometimes on the comments.
I've been informed there are more 'fashion weeks' coming up in SL.
One of them will have all shows at 10am SLT. All shows? Do they mean that they will have several shows, during a whole week ( that's why these are called Fashion Weeks), in several locations - meaning several shows each day, always at 10am?
Or do they mean they will do a fashion week with ONE show per day? THAT is NOT a fashion week. It won't be!
Another modeling agency in SL in desperate need to show some activity? Looks like it!
How NOT to be a 'supermodel' in SL©
I was appalled by a 'fashion show' I watched last month.
That was a huge big thing, excuse my repetition. It was a show with 'supermodels'(!!!)
Guess what?
Full of mistakes an avatar that is a model in SL© CANNOT do, even less if these avatars wear a 'supermodel' tag over their (many of them) regular heads.
A 'supermodel' cannot be regular.
A 'supermodel' cannot make ANY mistake that depends on her/him. NONE.
I found an environment that was 'famous people' friendly. The place was packed to watch a bunch of names. Yes, names. All those people couldn't be there for the quality of the models, you'll see what I mean in the video I recorded. Besides some editting I did, you can watch it close to the real time of the whole thing [it took more than an hour].
The question remains: why was the place so packed? The 'new generation' of 'supermodels' was going to walk in this show. Simple, anytime you want, create your group, create the supermodel, ubermodel, crackamodel, whatevermodel tag and that's it.
From severe posing mistakes that I simply cannot accept a 'supermodel' would do, they did.
From the disorganization of the whole set, which allowed several new avatars
(noobs, yes) to actually get closer to the models.
From the length of the show - it was too long and boring.
From the regular avatars that nobody knows who they are, without seeing their names - I mean regular 'beauty avatars'.
Everything screamed 'popular people' not 'quality models'. Is this the new generation of supermodels?
This exact same thing keeps repeating itself, I've seen this happen since I started blogging. It was exactly for this reason that I started this blog, years ago.
There were so many mistakes on the runways all over SL©, that the so called 'supermodels' even back in 2009, 2010, needed a wake up call.
Life repeats itself. Even the Second.
Avatars with regular faces, posing insanely with formal gowns, pose repetition, old walks that are really so old, that they shouldn't be used currently, posing with hands inside prims (!!!); their hands moving through their body structure [as if this were even possible for real, our hands don't go through the flesh and bones!].
I insist, these were 'supermodels'. The only 'male' model in the show, walked three times with the exact same walk; the irony of all this? His hands were always inside prims with this walk and this male 'supermodel' repeated the walk, every single time he went out to the stage! Why did he do this? Lazyness? Why do people even cheered all this? Because they are all popular names out there.
I really wanted to show all new models out there what NOT to do. These aren't 'supermodels'. This was just a bunch of people that got together, put up what they think a fashion show is and that's it!
If you don't fall asleep before the end of the video, try to watch it. My comments are there.
It was just insane to watch this. Insane and extremely sad to think that someone - new models perhaps? -may actually look at these avatars and consider them 'supermodels' and applaud them. Sad, sad, sad!
There were exceptions, though. At least three female models did well - under the category of the 'supermodel' thing.
But the rest? They were lazy in finding good poses, the male model was lazy to find [at least] one walk that would have his hand off the jacket or the shirt.
Mistakes a regular model shouldn't do were done , repeatedly. Here's is the answer, right here, these were regular models. Don't look at the tag, look at their behavior, their posing, their walking.
Years of watching 'fashion shows' in SL© and the same thing keeps happening, year after year; people cheer the names that are in the show, and among them all, maybe two or three models stood out in terms of quality [they too made some minor mistakes, but stood out]: Carley Benazzi, Meimei Shiu and Taylor Wassep.
In general, all of this was terrible! Terrible!
Only three female models were quite good, the rest were simply 'names'.
Tags don't matter. They never did! Just watch for yourselves.
[Oh and you're welcome, you have a full video of your 'show']
That was a huge big thing, excuse my repetition. It was a show with 'supermodels'(!!!)
Guess what?
Full of mistakes an avatar that is a model in SL© CANNOT do, even less if these avatars wear a 'supermodel' tag over their (many of them) regular heads.
A 'supermodel' cannot be regular.
A 'supermodel' cannot make ANY mistake that depends on her/him. NONE.
I found an environment that was 'famous people' friendly. The place was packed to watch a bunch of names. Yes, names. All those people couldn't be there for the quality of the models, you'll see what I mean in the video I recorded. Besides some editting I did, you can watch it close to the real time of the whole thing [it took more than an hour].
The question remains: why was the place so packed? The 'new generation' of 'supermodels' was going to walk in this show. Simple, anytime you want, create your group, create the supermodel, ubermodel, crackamodel, whatevermodel tag and that's it.
From severe posing mistakes that I simply cannot accept a 'supermodel' would do, they did.
From the disorganization of the whole set, which allowed several new avatars
(noobs, yes) to actually get closer to the models.
From the length of the show - it was too long and boring.
From the regular avatars that nobody knows who they are, without seeing their names - I mean regular 'beauty avatars'.
Everything screamed 'popular people' not 'quality models'. Is this the new generation of supermodels?
This exact same thing keeps repeating itself, I've seen this happen since I started blogging. It was exactly for this reason that I started this blog, years ago.
There were so many mistakes on the runways all over SL©, that the so called 'supermodels' even back in 2009, 2010, needed a wake up call.
Life repeats itself. Even the Second.
Avatars with regular faces, posing insanely with formal gowns, pose repetition, old walks that are really so old, that they shouldn't be used currently, posing with hands inside prims (!!!); their hands moving through their body structure [as if this were even possible for real, our hands don't go through the flesh and bones!].
I insist, these were 'supermodels'. The only 'male' model in the show, walked three times with the exact same walk; the irony of all this? His hands were always inside prims with this walk and this male 'supermodel' repeated the walk, every single time he went out to the stage! Why did he do this? Lazyness? Why do people even cheered all this? Because they are all popular names out there.
I really wanted to show all new models out there what NOT to do. These aren't 'supermodels'. This was just a bunch of people that got together, put up what they think a fashion show is and that's it!
If you don't fall asleep before the end of the video, try to watch it. My comments are there.
It was just insane to watch this. Insane and extremely sad to think that someone - new models perhaps? -may actually look at these avatars and consider them 'supermodels' and applaud them. Sad, sad, sad!
There were exceptions, though. At least three female models did well - under the category of the 'supermodel' thing.
But the rest? They were lazy in finding good poses, the male model was lazy to find [at least] one walk that would have his hand off the jacket or the shirt.
Mistakes a regular model shouldn't do were done , repeatedly. Here's is the answer, right here, these were regular models. Don't look at the tag, look at their behavior, their posing, their walking.
Years of watching 'fashion shows' in SL© and the same thing keeps happening, year after year; people cheer the names that are in the show, and among them all, maybe two or three models stood out in terms of quality [they too made some minor mistakes, but stood out]: Carley Benazzi, Meimei Shiu and Taylor Wassep.
In general, all of this was terrible! Terrible!
Only three female models were quite good, the rest were simply 'names'.
Tags don't matter. They never did! Just watch for yourselves.
[Oh and you're welcome, you have a full video of your 'show']
Another Fashion Show - new 'models', same mistakes
I've been following fashion shows for years; some of them , I managed to record in real time. They were too long and boring; recording the shows in real time showed exactly that.
I managed to record another fashion show recently. It wasn't as long as they used to be, but still you'll see how models take a long time to pose.
That is needed, you may say. There are other models trying to put their outfits on, there is lag, the model that is on the runway needs to wait, for the next model to be ready to come out. So far, so good.
What I noticed in this particular fashion show, was that the model that was on the runway, posing for quite a substantial period of time, would just stand there, using the same pose. You'll see what I mean.
Since I remember, it's painful to watch the way so many models walk and pose in SL©. Showing the movements live may help new models to understand that the way the audience sees the show.
Long time posing can be necessary. Why keep the same pose and just stand there?
I noticed these were inexperienced models in this show, as opposed to more experienced and trained ones, who know how many poses they need, to keep the audience pleased and nor bored.
The video is self explanatory and I wrote my comments in it.
The quality of the video edition isn't very good, although enough for everybody to see what I mean.
I won't tell who the models are, nor which 'agency' this is. If you haven't been in the audience that day, it'll be interesting to see if there are any 'recognizable' faces.
If not, right there, these models failed to do their jobs. Any avatar in SL© can look pretty. It's just a matter of spending some bucks in a nice shape and good skin, good hair, etc. Anybody can do that! However, I expect so much more from a model in SL©.
Some shapes were quite bad; poses, well, some were nice, others were really bad and seeing some of those models on the runway clearly wearing their AOs, only shows what I have been saying for years. These 'model' avatars need training, training, training. I researched a little about this group of people, including some 'models' in this show and it seems they TEACH models themselves (!!!).
Moving on.
A fashion show is exactly that- it's about fashion.
Some may agree, some may not about what I'm going to say next; I'm not writing about designers, however to keep the 'fashion' always present, I expect to see a show that blows me away, in terms of great SL© Models, the outfits they wear [it's about fashion, therefore, something new that we haven't seen before] and not a presentation of dresses and gowns made of flexiprims. That's completely outdated, even in SL©. I do, however, understand that if a designer pays, his/her items need to be presented. The best way possible, obviously.
Anyway, here is the 'fashion' show. Besides some editing, it keeps the duration of the event, once it started on the runway. Excuse my terrible machinima skills.
Some of my comments are written along the movie.
I managed to record another fashion show recently. It wasn't as long as they used to be, but still you'll see how models take a long time to pose.
That is needed, you may say. There are other models trying to put their outfits on, there is lag, the model that is on the runway needs to wait, for the next model to be ready to come out. So far, so good.
What I noticed in this particular fashion show, was that the model that was on the runway, posing for quite a substantial period of time, would just stand there, using the same pose. You'll see what I mean.
Since I remember, it's painful to watch the way so many models walk and pose in SL©. Showing the movements live may help new models to understand that the way the audience sees the show.
Long time posing can be necessary. Why keep the same pose and just stand there?
I noticed these were inexperienced models in this show, as opposed to more experienced and trained ones, who know how many poses they need, to keep the audience pleased and nor bored.
The video is self explanatory and I wrote my comments in it.
The quality of the video edition isn't very good, although enough for everybody to see what I mean.
I won't tell who the models are, nor which 'agency' this is. If you haven't been in the audience that day, it'll be interesting to see if there are any 'recognizable' faces.
If not, right there, these models failed to do their jobs. Any avatar in SL© can look pretty. It's just a matter of spending some bucks in a nice shape and good skin, good hair, etc. Anybody can do that! However, I expect so much more from a model in SL©.
Some shapes were quite bad; poses, well, some were nice, others were really bad and seeing some of those models on the runway clearly wearing their AOs, only shows what I have been saying for years. These 'model' avatars need training, training, training. I researched a little about this group of people, including some 'models' in this show and it seems they TEACH models themselves (!!!).
Moving on.
A fashion show is exactly that- it's about fashion.
Some may agree, some may not about what I'm going to say next; I'm not writing about designers, however to keep the 'fashion' always present, I expect to see a show that blows me away, in terms of great SL© Models, the outfits they wear [it's about fashion, therefore, something new that we haven't seen before] and not a presentation of dresses and gowns made of flexiprims. That's completely outdated, even in SL©. I do, however, understand that if a designer pays, his/her items need to be presented. The best way possible, obviously.
Anyway, here is the 'fashion' show. Besides some editing, it keeps the duration of the event, once it started on the runway. Excuse my terrible machinima skills.
Some of my comments are written along the movie.
The new beautiful
Long time without writing a word about fashion, magazines or models.
However, I'm not dead and burried yet.
Some things I noticed have been happening to some SL® Models.
A need, a kind of crave to look unique. I've said this often before: it should be the ultimate goal for a SL® model - to have a recognizable avatar in a simple snapshot, with no name on it.
And a new generation of unique models has arisen.
Some time ago, it came to my knowledge that a blogger who isn't very active inworld modeling or someone connected to her, claimed that a very active and known SL® model 'stole' her image, meaning copied her look.
Let's go back a little in time and see what happened, regading the type of look that we are talking about.
I'm also going to post some images taken from some Flickr accounts to explain my point of view and I obviously state that the photos you are about to see aren't mine, the link to the rightful owners' Flickr accounts will be included.
I, therefore, do not own the rights to the images you're about to see, but I use portions of them, according to DCMA Fair Use (the explanatory legal aspect can be read at the end of this post).
To have a 'different' avatar in SL isn't easy or better said, a recognizable avatar, without the name tag over it's head. In photos that is even more evident and clear.
The first SL® model I remember being very different and unique was Jesika Contepomi.
In the beginning of 2010, Jesika's face was already extremely recognizable; original image can be seen in the owner's Flickr.
A very square jaw and full lips, ears more to the the outer part of the skull ,
that she developped as her image until 2012.
Full original image on Jesika's Flickr photostream.
Another SL® model, emerged with a very similar facial structure as Jesika: Anna Saphire. Let's go back to 2011, this is how Anna Saphire looked like. This photo belongs to her and is used here for explanatory purposes only - original image on Anna's Flickr photostream.
It's only natural that, with time, SL® models work on their avatars; after all, it's their jobs if they don't want to be 'look-a-likes'.
Anna's face remain unique, one of a kind; a work in progress since that first photo we see from 2011.
Here is a photo cropped by me, taken by Falballa Fairey, published in Anna's Flickr, this year, last May. Please, check the original photo.
All credits to the owners of these images.
Going back to the beginning of this post, I've heard that someone related to a blogger that takes photos and publishes her work on Flickr, claims that Anna Saphire 'stole' her look, or better, copied her look.
It's extremely important to see the original photos and see the dates when the images were published.
This photo you are about to see, from that blogger I mentioned above, was published in March this year. Does Anna's avatar even look remotely like this? To see the original image, please click here.
From March until July this year, as you can see, some facial aspects of this avatar were modified - original work here - and some photos of this blogger suggest that she may look like another very distinctive SL models's avatar, not Anna's , nor Jesika's.
It obvisouly depends on the skins that are used with certain shapes and with the growing illegal activities in SL®, such as copybotting, anybody can have a distinctive look in less than six months. All that is needed is to work with a shape for some time and there we have it: a distinctive look a unique avatar's shape, however strangely similar to some very known SL® models.
Just by following the timeline, it's really easy to see who actually copied who.
It was brought to my attention later that the person who had accused Anna Saphire of copying this look eventually apologized.
A good thing to do, surely. But the attitude of accusing in the first place is nothing more than a call for dramatic situations. These situations should be ignored.
These accusations, the copybotting, illegal activities in SL®, all these point not only to harrassment, but also trolling. Either way, they should be ignored and all models that have worked years to come up with a different look should just ignore any type of accusations.
The reason to ignore and move on is simple: most trolls* and content thieves in SL® are after some kind of recognition and if possible, extreme attention. To stop it, every illegal copy of a shape, skin or outfit, should not be revealed and should be dealt legally. So far, LL® have failed to protect creators who pay to be in Second Life®, which means so far they have failed to protect their own customers. Nothing that a good group of lawyers can't fix. All this should be dealt in silence, in a legal manner and it has to be done in the USA.
In SL®'s fashion scene, it's important that most successful models know they will be eventually harrassed; they just need to be very aware of this: let all accusations fall into silence. No answer, no reply. If necessary, in terms of Flickr, users can report or flag content published by others that belongs to them. In SL®, however, it's not that effective. Stealing creator's authorship has been regular for years and so far LL® hasn't dealt with it in any way, shape or manner.
*Trolls : online slang to define people who - very fond of large audiences - stir up drama abusing their online anonimity. To stop them, the first step is to publicly ignore them, not making one simple comment or answering to any provocation. Trolls reveal sociapathic tendencies because they show no remorse, therefore they are imune to any common reasoning or logic argument, which means there is no point in even answering to them once. Trolls usually thrive in online forums or public chat places, or websites where people can add comments. They have adapted to SL, in this case it's called 'harrassment'; we can stop this harrassment just by ignoring any contact made by any of them, wether it's on open chat or in a private message. Next step is to mute them. Each and every one of them. They are relentless and gain energy every time they get an answer to one of their comments. The only way to stop them is to completely ignore them. Not one single word.
** The images I used here belong to their rightful owners, with links provided to the original body of work. This is not a copyright enfringementent according to DCMA Fair Use - Title 17 › Chapter 1 › § 107.
However, I'm not dead and burried yet.
Some things I noticed have been happening to some SL® Models.
A need, a kind of crave to look unique. I've said this often before: it should be the ultimate goal for a SL® model - to have a recognizable avatar in a simple snapshot, with no name on it.
And a new generation of unique models has arisen.
Some time ago, it came to my knowledge that a blogger who isn't very active inworld modeling or someone connected to her, claimed that a very active and known SL® model 'stole' her image, meaning copied her look.
Let's go back a little in time and see what happened, regading the type of look that we are talking about.
I'm also going to post some images taken from some Flickr accounts to explain my point of view and I obviously state that the photos you are about to see aren't mine, the link to the rightful owners' Flickr accounts will be included.
I, therefore, do not own the rights to the images you're about to see, but I use portions of them, according to DCMA Fair Use (the explanatory legal aspect can be read at the end of this post).
To have a 'different' avatar in SL isn't easy or better said, a recognizable avatar, without the name tag over it's head. In photos that is even more evident and clear.
The first SL® model I remember being very different and unique was Jesika Contepomi.
In the beginning of 2010, Jesika's face was already extremely recognizable; original image can be seen in the owner's Flickr.
Another SL® model, emerged with a very similar facial structure as Jesika: Anna Saphire. Let's go back to 2011, this is how Anna Saphire looked like. This photo belongs to her and is used here for explanatory purposes only - original image on Anna's Flickr photostream.
In 2012, Anna Saphire won MVW with a face shape similar to Jesika's. The photo next is published in Anna's Flickr and the photographer was Daniele Eberhardt.
Anna's face remain unique, one of a kind; a work in progress since that first photo we see from 2011.
Here is a photo cropped by me, taken by Falballa Fairey, published in Anna's Flickr, this year, last May. Please, check the original photo.
All credits to the owners of these images.
Going back to the beginning of this post, I've heard that someone related to a blogger that takes photos and publishes her work on Flickr, claims that Anna Saphire 'stole' her look, or better, copied her look.
It's extremely important to see the original photos and see the dates when the images were published.
This photo you are about to see, from that blogger I mentioned above, was published in March this year. Does Anna's avatar even look remotely like this? To see the original image, please click here.
From March until July this year, as you can see, some facial aspects of this avatar were modified - original work here - and some photos of this blogger suggest that she may look like another very distinctive SL models's avatar, not Anna's , nor Jesika's.
Just by following the timeline, it's really easy to see who actually copied who.
It was brought to my attention later that the person who had accused Anna Saphire of copying this look eventually apologized.
A good thing to do, surely. But the attitude of accusing in the first place is nothing more than a call for dramatic situations. These situations should be ignored.
These accusations, the copybotting, illegal activities in SL®, all these point not only to harrassment, but also trolling. Either way, they should be ignored and all models that have worked years to come up with a different look should just ignore any type of accusations.
The reason to ignore and move on is simple: most trolls* and content thieves in SL® are after some kind of recognition and if possible, extreme attention. To stop it, every illegal copy of a shape, skin or outfit, should not be revealed and should be dealt legally. So far, LL® have failed to protect creators who pay to be in Second Life®, which means so far they have failed to protect their own customers. Nothing that a good group of lawyers can't fix. All this should be dealt in silence, in a legal manner and it has to be done in the USA.
In SL®'s fashion scene, it's important that most successful models know they will be eventually harrassed; they just need to be very aware of this: let all accusations fall into silence. No answer, no reply. If necessary, in terms of Flickr, users can report or flag content published by others that belongs to them. In SL®, however, it's not that effective. Stealing creator's authorship has been regular for years and so far LL® hasn't dealt with it in any way, shape or manner.
*Trolls : online slang to define people who - very fond of large audiences - stir up drama abusing their online anonimity. To stop them, the first step is to publicly ignore them, not making one simple comment or answering to any provocation. Trolls reveal sociapathic tendencies because they show no remorse, therefore they are imune to any common reasoning or logic argument, which means there is no point in even answering to them once. Trolls usually thrive in online forums or public chat places, or websites where people can add comments. They have adapted to SL, in this case it's called 'harrassment'; we can stop this harrassment just by ignoring any contact made by any of them, wether it's on open chat or in a private message. Next step is to mute them. Each and every one of them. They are relentless and gain energy every time they get an answer to one of their comments. The only way to stop them is to completely ignore them. Not one single word.
** The images I used here belong to their rightful owners, with links provided to the original body of work. This is not a copyright enfringementent according to DCMA Fair Use - Title 17 › Chapter 1 › § 107.
Graduating from a Model Academy
It's very rare that I comment on the way a SL Model Agency or Academy is run. It's their own prerrogative how the Agencies manage and represent their SL Models or teach future SL Models.
One of these days, by mere chance, I actually came across a Graduation Diploma from a very recent SL Model Academy, that left me uncomfortable, I must say.
Here it is, I found it in a Flickr account and removed the name of the SL Model. For this exact same reason, I don't link the image to the Flickr account. I want to focus on the Diploma itself, not the SL Model that graduated.
It's highly conceited from this SL Model Academy to highly recommend ANY graduate to represent ANY Agency in SL. It's presumptuous and self-centered.
From what I've seen, every SL Model Academy has its own way of teaching and traning a SL Model. Every Agency is different from the next one.
How can a simple Model Academy highly recommend a graduated Model to represent ANY Agency in SL , or, for that matter, ANY designer?
It's highly irregular, I must say.
If necessary, a Model Academy can rate a graduate Model; it can state that she or he graduated with honours or with an outstanding ability. But to recommend a graduate to ANY other Model Agency in SL? That's absolutely condescending.
Meaning, how can a Model Academy state that this or that particular Model is recommended to work in another Agency, that may be run with different specifications?
SL Model Academies have their names out in SL. Some are already very well known and this particular Academy in NOT one of them.
To create a Group in SL called the Best of Second Life, only means that we need to pay L$100 and, there it is!! A Group that condescends other people's work, by 'highly recommending' their trainees to ANY SL Model Agency or Designer?
It's outraging!!
So, SL Models, watch out for this kind of attitude when you look for an Academy for you! Just by looking at this diploma, we all can tell that this Academy enhances the egotistic part of a SL Model, not necessarily meaning quality, but for sure showing an attitude of 'we are the best' - which may not be true.
As always, my advice is to run away from this kind of Academy or Agency. Their actions speak for themselves. I've had access to other SL Model Academies graduation diplomas, but I don't have the images. So, if you do have your diplomas and feel good about sharing them, do so. I'll remove the SL Graduate Model's name from it and show diplomas from other SL Model Academies here.
Then, you can see for yourselves and make you own opinion about this. I'm stunned!
PS - Let's think real for a second? Imagine, RL, a College Graduate in, let's say, Physics. Does the Graduation Diploma state that the Graduate in question is 'highly recommended' to work in any Laboratory in the world? No way!! The name of the College itself is recommendation enough! Its status among its peers!! That's what counts!
I read something in a SL profile a while ago that said something like this: to be in SL is like having lots of money in RL - brings out the real personality in you. Ain't this so right?
One of these days, by mere chance, I actually came across a Graduation Diploma from a very recent SL Model Academy, that left me uncomfortable, I must say.
Here it is, I found it in a Flickr account and removed the name of the SL Model. For this exact same reason, I don't link the image to the Flickr account. I want to focus on the Diploma itself, not the SL Model that graduated.
It's highly conceited from this SL Model Academy to highly recommend ANY graduate to represent ANY Agency in SL. It's presumptuous and self-centered.
From what I've seen, every SL Model Academy has its own way of teaching and traning a SL Model. Every Agency is different from the next one.
How can a simple Model Academy highly recommend a graduated Model to represent ANY Agency in SL , or, for that matter, ANY designer?
It's highly irregular, I must say.
If necessary, a Model Academy can rate a graduate Model; it can state that she or he graduated with honours or with an outstanding ability. But to recommend a graduate to ANY other Model Agency in SL? That's absolutely condescending.
Meaning, how can a Model Academy state that this or that particular Model is recommended to work in another Agency, that may be run with different specifications?
SL Model Academies have their names out in SL. Some are already very well known and this particular Academy in NOT one of them.
To create a Group in SL called the Best of Second Life, only means that we need to pay L$100 and, there it is!! A Group that condescends other people's work, by 'highly recommending' their trainees to ANY SL Model Agency or Designer?
It's outraging!!
So, SL Models, watch out for this kind of attitude when you look for an Academy for you! Just by looking at this diploma, we all can tell that this Academy enhances the egotistic part of a SL Model, not necessarily meaning quality, but for sure showing an attitude of 'we are the best' - which may not be true.
As always, my advice is to run away from this kind of Academy or Agency. Their actions speak for themselves. I've had access to other SL Model Academies graduation diplomas, but I don't have the images. So, if you do have your diplomas and feel good about sharing them, do so. I'll remove the SL Graduate Model's name from it and show diplomas from other SL Model Academies here.
Then, you can see for yourselves and make you own opinion about this. I'm stunned!
PS - Let's think real for a second? Imagine, RL, a College Graduate in, let's say, Physics. Does the Graduation Diploma state that the Graduate in question is 'highly recommended' to work in any Laboratory in the world? No way!! The name of the College itself is recommendation enough! Its status among its peers!! That's what counts!
I read something in a SL profile a while ago that said something like this: to be in SL is like having lots of money in RL - brings out the real personality in you. Ain't this so right?
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