My First Second Life Fashion Show (and Maybe My Last!)

If you are not in fashion, you are nobody.

Lord Chesterfield

 

          GraciAnn Harte, my friend and Traveling Companion, recently invited me to join her at the Labor Day Fashion Show being held at A Tribute to Venice in Tribute City.  Graci was one of the models and thought it would broaden my horizons.  (Graci appears to have made it her mission to save me from myself in Second Life (SL) and to bring me to civilization.)

          Never having been to a fashion show in either SL or Real Life (RL) and always willing to support a friend, I decided to attend. 

          I arrive near the Grand Canal in Venice and see people arriving for the show.  I’m greeted immediately by my friend Jessii Warrhol who’s running the event with Ava Jhamin of L’Amour Management. 

Others are assembling in the cathedral and I walk over.  I enter and find myself face to face with my old friend, World Undercroft, who has moved on from being a vampire when I knew him with Nulli Secundus and had just arrived in SL.  Since then he’s moved onto modeling and recently won the title of Mr. Virtual World 2012. 

This event is starting to become like Old Home Week for me. (I’m probably spending too much time inworld.) 

          After World and I exchange greetings, he promptly tells me that I’m in the wrong place. (Story of my virtual and, come to think of it, real lives as well.)  Only the models are allowed inside.  Here begin my misadventures.   

          Returning outside I walk over near the Grand Canal where I’m told to go and wait for the show to start with other spectators.  A nice sized crowd forms. 

          The show is intended to celebrate workers in honor of the American Labor Day holiday which is being observed on this day.  Twelve models will be showing clothes worn by working people.  At the conclusion of the show, judges will select male and female best models from the models. 

          The models appearing in today’s show are World Undercroft, Raezelle Aphrodite, Vivy Coppola, GraciAnne Harte, Sidney Hax, Brendan Macarthur, Aradia Mistwood, Kitty Picadilly, Thayna, Steele Sirnah Undercroft, dee Shepherd, and Zivaaj Achyleus.  (Please click on the models’ names to see them in their outfits.  Rex Requiem took the pictures.) 

          The show starts and World leads the models out of the cathedral dressed in an outfit celebrating those serving in the Armed Forces.  Then as the others come out, I can’t see them.  So, I decide to switch places.  Using the mini-map I think I see where the models are.  I move across the bridge which looks empty when suddenly I receive an IM requesting me to move off the runway!  As Graci would later explain to me, I’ve made the classic faux pas of walking across the runway during the middle of a show!  (I suspect Graci’s rethinking the wisdom of inviting me in the first place.)

          I now find myself stranded on the other side of the Canal not being able to see the show at all.  I follow what’s going on as the models continue coming out as Nani Xue (who is dressed in an interesting and somewhat revealing nun’s outfit herself) shouts out who’s modeling and what they’re wearing.  (BTW, most of these work clothes would probably be frowned upon by most RL Human Resources departments.) 

          Unfortunately, I miss Graci when she appears in her French maid’s costume.  (Life, even SL, can be so cruel.)  After her walk, she checks in on me and tells me that after the models walk there will be a fanfare where they will all appear.  I sense a chance to get back into the mainstream of things. 

          Nani continues shouting about what’s going on and then announces that the judges are considering their decisions.  I ask the person who called me out for wandering across the runway if I can recross the bridge and she says I can.  I make my break.

          I arrive in the plaza before the cathedral and run into Graci who is merrily dancing away to the song YMCA.  Actually, I first thought she was having a seizure but she told me what she was doing.  Watching a French maid dance to YMCA without losing her feather duster is a sight to behold.  Trust me.  (Another reason why Graci will probably never invite me to her next fashion show.) 

          By this time, I manage to get into more trouble.  I walk in front of the photographer, Rex Requiem, while he’s taking his shots.  He’s really very nice about it.  (Yep, you got it.  Another good reason for Graci not to invite me back again especially since it’s her photos I’m ruining.) 

          There are winners.  For the female models, Graci and her French maid costume takes the trophy.  Brendan Macarthur takes the gold for the male models.  Both are exceptional models and I congratulate both of them!  (I also wonder why Graci lets me hang around.  Probably curiosity about what I’ll mess up next.) 

          Models and spectators mill about offering congratulations and chatting.  I notice that many start to leave soon after the winners are announced.  The after show socializing is not quite Paris Fashion Week.  (Maybe they should serve drinks?) 

          At this point I take my leave myself and return home.  I have enjoyed myself.  The show stayed true to its theme of celebrating workers and their outfits on Labor Day.  Despite the models and spectators, I experienced no lag.  (I crashed once but that’s a regular event inworld it seems these days.)  I haven’t blogged about the SL fashion world in a world and it was good to be back.  (The SL fashion world may have another opinion about that.) 

          Ava and L’Amour Management runs these fashion shows regularly.  The theme depends on the time of the year.  Recent ones have been Vintage Fashion Week and Sports Show. I recommend that you attend these when you’re inworld.  The fashions are stylish, creative, and fun.  The shows are enjoyable events in themselves.  (Please try not to be as disruptive as I was and if you are, you don’t know me!) 

          In closing, I’d like to thank Graci for inviting me and I congratulate her and Brendan for their wins.  They’re both exceptional models and I expect to see more of them in SL’s fashion circles in the future.  I thank Jessii and Ava for putting on a great event (and not ejecting me for my gaffes).  I also want to thank Ava for permitting me to use the show’s pictures for this story.  Rex Requiem did an outstanding job taking them.  More pictures can be found at the Tribute City News website.  And, I apologize to Rex for ruining some of his shots.  If I have done anything else to anyone else while I was at the show, please accept my most sincere apologies.  I promise to improve.

As always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.

I’ve included a few pictures below from my visit.  They’re nowhere near the quality of Rex’s but they give a sense of the venue. 

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

     If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

Photo No. 1 Church Plaza – Site of Show

Photo No. 2 GraciAnne Harte (on right) – Winner for Best Female Model

Photo No. 3 The Grand Canal

Photo No. 4 Church Exterior

Photo No. 5 Church Interior

Photo No. 6 Grand Canal Pathway  

Photo No. 7 Venice – Interior of Shops