Into the Wilderness: Among the Second Life Fashionistas (Part II)

The difference between style and fashion is quality.

 Giorgio Armani

(To my faithful readers who are still following my blog during my hiatus from Second Life (SL), thank you for staying with me while I have my technical difficulties!  A quick update, a replacement machine is on order and is expected any day now.  So, I hope to be back inworld shortly.  As I blogged last week, I’ll be among the SL community out in the Metaverse and keep posting until I’m back to normal – please, don’t go there!  Thanks again for everyone’s understanding and support, and I look forward to being back inworld with my friends very soon!)

When I first started out in SL, I very quickly became aware of the role of fashion inworld.  Most SL retail establishments offer clothes, shoes, accessories, and hair.  In addition, given the nature of this virtual world, skins, eyes, and just about everything else can be “fashioned”. 

Some of my earlier readers may recall my first forays into SL where I worked on my appearance.  That’s when I attempted to create my “look” by acquiring eyes, hair, skin, tattoos, and clothes for nothing.  (Some of my friends have commented that it shows, I rather like to think that it merely confirms my struggling writer status.) 

The world of SL fashion is not just limited to the grid.  There is an entire community of “fashionistas” out there on the Internet In fact one blog is called The SL Fashionista and is dedicated to the best of “freebies and cheapies” in SL.  (Where were these guys when I was starting out?)  This is another interesting aspect of SL, so much is for free and it’s good stuff.  Add a blog dedicated to this type of material and one has to wonder how anyone can make a buck in SL. 

            Iris Ophelia blogs on Wagner James Au’s New World Notes blog about SL fashion.   She covers technical subjects in addition to clothes and current issues like content theft. 

Another blog dedicated to SL fashion is Avenue covering style trends and the latest tools like mesh.  Pictures and advertisements supplement the posts. 

Finally, in my whirlwind tour of SL fashion blogs, I’d like to call out the blog at Second Nights dedicated to fashion and lifestyle in SL.  Links to other SL fashion resources are here. 

As I reviewed these blogs, I was struck by the broad variety of fashion and opinions offered, not to mention, the many different designers. Besides the artistic aspects of fashion, the technical aspects are well covered.  These blogs are current, at least as of this writing, and reflect only a small portion of what’s available about SL fashion on the Internet. 

Besides the many blogs available on SL fashion, there are also magazines devoted to this subject.  These are o high quality both in terms of content and production values and rival those dedicated to Real Life (RL) subjects. 

The first magazine I’ll mention is The Best of Second Life  (BOSL) which has just published its February 2012 issue.  BOSL is dedicated to covering the best of what is in SL.  The articles, pictures, and even the advertisements give a very good perspective of fashion and lifestyle in SL. 

Another online magazine which covers SL fashion off the grid is Retropolitan.  (I wrote about it in a recent blog.)  This publication’s focus is everything retro. 

The last magazine I’ll mention in this blog is Glance giving yet another perspective on inworld fashion. 

All these magazines are current as of this writing.  Sadly, while researching this story, I came across others, such as Second Style, which no longer publish and many blogs that haven’t been updated for years.  (As I’ve written elsewhere, the onset of the Great Recession of 2008 seems to have been the watershed event here.) 

I’ve attempted here to give a brief overview of some of the activities undertaken away from the grid by SL residents involved in the fashion scene.  What I’ve found is a thriving community who have taken advantage of tools like Blogger, Flickr, and Facebook to do in the Internet what they cannot do in SL.  I wonder if Linden Lab (LL) sees this too?

I have a request of those reading this blog, if they run into any of my other readers inworld if they would please tell them about my current technical problems and inform them that I can be reached either at my blog or at webseplunker@gmail.com.  I’d love to hear from them! 

Finally, I want to apologize to those whom I may have appeared to have simply fallen off the grid.  I hope I haven’t caused any inconvenience and I look forward to seeing everyone again very soon!  As always, I’m open to any and all ideas for places to visit and people to meet. 

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 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.

Into the Wilderness: Among the Second Life Diaspora (Part I)

Sometimes we feel we straddle two cultures; at other times, that we fall between two stools.

 Salman Rushdie

Recently, I encountered some difficulties with the laptop I use when visiting Second Life (SL).  (Someday, Linden Lab (LL) has to do something about that awkward viewer.)  A polite way of saying my hard drive died.  They certainly don’t make ‘em like they used to. 

Last week I managed to post to a blog despite my machine’s vagaries.  This week I wasn’t so lucky.  I have been unable to go inworld for almost a week now.  I’m not going through withdrawal, DT’s, or anything like that. But, I do miss my friends on the grid. 

This little technical problem is also playing havoc with my planned writing schedule.  (I was so pleased with myself with having three months of stories laid out.  I guess it’s true what they say about if you ever want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.)  With the help of inworld friends, I’ve reached out to those with whom I was a no show on our appointments.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have Real Life (RL) email addresses for all my SL friends so I’m playing catch up right about now. 

My plan right now is to acquire a new machine.  (BTW, if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, don’t bother with Geek Squad.  Check out my rant on their Facebook page, which was replied to nine hours later, for the gory details.)  This will take a little more time but I should be back inworld in February. 

In the interim, I plan to visit with the SL community across the Metaverse until I can go back inworld.  I want to see what they’re going and how they’re using the tools available, especially the social media ones. 

I’ve learned during my travels across SL over the last eight months that SL residents are doing a lot across the Metaverse. 

There are ezines, Inner World , The Best of Second Life , and Retropolitan  focusing on various aspects of life in SL.  Then there are blogs like New World Notes , Janey Bracken’s Janey’s place in Second Life, and Chey Palisades’ Chey’s Second Life Blog where their owners write about their experiences in SL and related worlds.  Other places on the Web where SL residents congregate are the SL Forums, Flickr, Facebook, and Google+. 

What all of these locations have in common besides SL is they don’t require a SL viewer.  (I have access to another laptop, I’m just not permitted to load additional software onto it.)  So, I can stay in contact with the SL community.  (Assuming they want to stay in contact with me!) 

So, for the time being, I’ll still be out there with the SL community.  I just won’t be inworld for a bit. 

I have a request of those reading this blog, if they run into any of my other readers inworld if they would please tell them about my current technical problems and inform them that I can be reached either at my blog or at webseplunker@gmail.com.  I’d love to hear from them! 

Finally, I want to apologize to those whom I may have appeared to have simply fallen off the grid.  I hope I haven’t caused any inconvenience and I look forward to seeing everyone again very soon!  As always, I’m open to any and all ideas for places to visit and people to meet. 

I would like to thank Perryn Peterson and Janey Bracken for helping me reach out to other SL friends.    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 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.