
I hear a lot of people in the fashion socitey are talking about your latest show in second life, tell me why it is so different in your opinion?
well it is different because we made an art performance, a fashion experience, an emotional an emotional voyage, more than a traditional sl fashion show.
So, since not everyone reads my blog is a fashion expert, let me learn about your own definition of the “traditional SL fashion show”?
Well usually you have models walking on the catwalk…posing…and that’s all.
While we decided to have part of the public audience as part of the scene it self, they were dressed with our costumes…a friend performing a Dark King on top of this army…and our models acting, being demons, visions, very expressive. Even the set was thought to be something to let the mind play, the music was involved, so did art thanks to Rusch Raymaker artworks
So did you design the show, or Avenu agency did that for you?
I already had a quite clear concept in mind and the stage design. The mood of the show too, of course. They were wonderful in understanding me and collaborate to make this just perfect; the modeling side of the show was just stunning, with a dramatic choreography, the music, the work of PR.
What is the relation between your fashion designs in second life and your real life?
I think what I put in my SL designs is whatever captured my eye & soul in RL, sooner or later it goes to one of my sl fashion designs; like a painting or something that made me say *wow! It’s an interaction.
Also, often I draw them rl before building them in sl.
What inspired you this year the most?
This year i was very influenced by Goth, I’d say. I am a goth lover since forever, but until now I didn’t dare to put much of it inside my traditional designs. This year with BlackLabel I unleashed my goth, wild, visionary side.
Do you prefer if you were a real life fashion designer?
ah! no, I am happy like that; I am happy to be a clothes maker in Secondlife, and to have my dream for real life.
In real life, I would love to be a concept artist. Or an illustrator. Or both.
In your opinion, why big real life names like Giorgio Armani, Lacost, and others didn’t stay for long in Second Life?
Probably they did not live in the community; it’s not just about putting some clothes out. It’s to be aware of this community moods, trends, behaviors.
Second thing is…to me, to make clothes in sl is not so similar to make them in rl. Here, you need to know about photoshop, 3D; and not about how a fabric wraps in real life.
So the quality of second life clothes is more ( please consider I said more ) about how good the rendering is, not about how creative the idea is?
No, but i think it’s very different from real life fashion, and I will tell you the reasons.. when you make something for real life, I guess you consider: the amount of fabric you can sew, the body that has to stay inside it, the craft a dress requires, basically. You need the knowledge of what is possible to make
Same goes for SL. For an example, how I realize this ruffle I wear now? Didn’t I make it as sculpted prim? then i must be aware that it will not be a flex. I had another option though, which is to paint it as a texture and put it in a flex prim. As you see, you have here to resonate in 2 different ways, when You do it.
About the rendering point: I think that a good idea, rendered in a bad way, is not a good idea.
But also, a cool render of an awful idea doesn’t make it cool.
It’s a question of balance i guess.
Are you using templates, purchased textures, or sclupties for your designs?
No, I make everything from scratch.
You know there are shops which sell nothing but modified open source templates, in the same market your stuff are sold in? What do you think about them?
Yes I know. Handmade textures vs templates? It’s like a oil painting against a kid’s lineout…those kid books that you color.
I believe that at the end, the love and care shows. I don’t sell just a texture or a prim. I sell a concept with a dress. I sell a feeling, a mood.
A woman can wear my gown and think * yes this is how i want to feel*
Does it bother you when you see a blogger who blogged your hand made clothes, is blogging another brand which has done nothing but downloading a PSD file from xstreetsl ( or the secondlife marketplace ) and changed the colors then uploaded it, both of you are in same blog beside each others?
No I am not bothered by it. I have a big respect of the customers and I think they are perfectly able to *feel the difference*
So what did second life fashion design add to your real life?
It adds the learning voyage; it brings practice with line, values, sense of design. It allowed me to see & admire the real life fashion design, and to see the art behind it.
Since you were a deviant in past: Did you try to collab with other designers, like how deviantart photo manipulators are collaborating?
I think i never did, sometimes I can be influenced by friends.
For an example, the ankh necklace which you made, and you were selling in your old store, is what inspired me to make this dress I wear now. but I never have a real official collaboration.
So which is better, deviantART or secondlife?
secondlife is not an art community
It’s a virtual community. A little enviro.
with its own great freedom and its own limits.
It is not a game too. A game doesn’t involve your personality so much; or well it should not.
I think it’s the future; I wait for when we will have gloves and eyeglasses at our home…sitting comfy…and experiencing taste and smell and all from home
I am a geek yeah lol
You ever thought to post screenshots of your designs in deviantART.com>fashion category?
no. I left deviantart years ago and I a not planning to post in the near future; at least for the moment. I love to be just a pixel doll. Not mixing rl and sl.
And no, not because of an *I dont share my rl* mission.
It’s more because I am interested to see how this pixel doll is evolving, and how she’s developing a personality that is not the usual me. Maybe, in the future, I will experience more also in the virtual art field. Or maybe I just go ahead as Monica Outlander.
I like the fact of…of how i am kinda sublimated in this creature. It’s interesting.
My only problem is time, it is never enough for the ideas in my head.
October 23, 2010 at 11:49 am
I finally took the time to read this fascinating interview…you provide some very interesting insight into the person behind monica, as well as her wonderful creations and artwork. Thank you for this great article:)