Unique? Different? Special? Outstanding? – Human!

Not too long ago I had an interesting discussion with a good friend of mine about modeling and how it changed over the past years. It was interesting and a few things she mentioned really had me think about a lot.

I went back to the basic idea of a model… what is a model? The model usually is a blank vessel, where a designer can project his vision on (quote of Wolfgang Joop). That means it is not about the model at all, it is about the designs. Certainly a designer might have special preferences about certain shapes and faces, but in general they are just a mannequin wearing the designers creations, styled after the designers imagination of how he wants to see the outfits.

So why some models throw a tantrum, when they get told certain styling requirements? Like short hair, a certain makeup and strict regulations about jewelry and accessories?

I was thinking a lot about that and where in Second Life that could have come from…

Maybe it is because people got mixed up by pageants and modeling? Both of them have nothing to do with each other. A pageant is about the person doing it, modeling is about showcasing designers creations!

In the beginning, there were not so many models in all those pageants that were held in the past. All of a sudden everyone had to be the face of whatever and to win the “Miss Whatever” title – I never understood why to be honest, I never had that desire. I was talked into doing this kind of things 2 or 3 times and I regret each time, as it only did cost money and time for nothing. It was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a model, to showcase designers creations and their hard work – not being a beauty pageant participant, being all pretty and smooth and kiss my way up to where ever it was necessary. We all know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and with a good relationship to an event owner, designer or judge, your chances get higher by nature – we are all humans. In the end no one wants to work with a winner, that he/she can’t stand for a certain period of time, again we are all humans after all 😉

But what did that do to SL modeling?

All of a sudden people wanted to be recognized for their avatars when they were walking a runway. One started to pose “fierce”, the next one tried as hard as possible to ‘accessorize’ the shit out of every outfit – anyways if it did fit or not – to be noticed on the runway.

By all means, I do love expressive posing myself on pictures and at themed shows or productions, that request those kind of poses. But for a general casual, formal or regular runway show, to me it makes no sense to spread all limbs out as far as you can, even if for quite some time it was called “fiiiierce” posing.To me fierce or dramatic posing doe snot have to be all spread out and hands up in the air like I would be ready to take off or acting like a GoGo dance animator in a discotheque.

If you ever watched a RL runway show for general fashion – not talking about special shows like Alexander McQueen had – the posing is very clean and simple. Again models showcase a designer, not being actresses on a red carpet – and even those keep it quite simple usually as they represent a designer with their clothing most of the time as well 😉 I am not saying there is no room for anything else, but for ‘usual’ runway shows I can see, why people prefer the more simple way of posing and styling. Simplicity can be the key and it can be so much more modern if you keep your poses updated and re-invent your posing each time and not just use the same 20 poses over and over again.

There is as well 2 kind of shows in Second Life, that require two completely different ways to approach them with posing and stying. We have the ‘usual’ runway shows like fashion weeks or special designer showcases and then we have the theater, show or event like shows which are mostly themed. For example a special Halloween show, where the main focus is on the event itself and in opposite to a fashion week those kind of shows are more to entertain people. Last summer Trouble Dethly and his group did an amazing example how fashion, event and as well a theater fashion show can be combined with their Thereafter event. Designers provided outfits, but as well did know it is not just a runway show but more of a ‘happening’ to entertain the main grid users. There we can go all crazy with posing as long as it follows the story, you even can use little animations to underline your character while on a runway I am all for static poses.

For accessories it was quite the same and all of a sudden avant garde was the way to go on the runway. I love avant garde BUT in Second Life avant garde seemed to mean you put a bunch of metal scraps on your head, go half naked and try to fill as many attachment points that you can and certainly do not forget your wings… If you look for the general idea of avant garde fashion that is so way off… it could not be more away from the subject, but thats a completely different story 😉

But I can understand why modeling is kinda dead in Second Life at the moment, because of all this things besides an economic/business aspect as well which made fashion shows not anymore profitable for most of the designers.

I get that models were taught to be unique and to stand out, but there is so many ways how you can do that without taking all attention off the clothing and onto your avatar… It is so much more important to make a brand out of yourself on your flickr and blog instead of runway shows. When you are making pictures or go out window shopping all prim-perfect styled, it can do a lot. Especially on blogs and pictures you can express your styling abilities, your way of posing and you kinda have no limits if you are not blogging a certain piece for a designer. That is why I love posts and pictures so much where you do not have to showcase any specific item and just can go with the flow of your imagination.

Like the pictures for today’s post. I tried to put the idea of standing out off a crowd with not too much accessories and to underline my statement about being unique. I already posted all the items before when I wanted to showcase them and so I had room and freedom to play with them now and try to create my imagination in Second Life. It was not an easy way though and probably took the longest time I ever needed for a picture to be done. I wa struggling with the idea and the inspiration since March 2018. Now we have July and I am still not 100 % satisfied but this time it felt that was the best I can do with my actual skills – I am learning everyday something new 😉

The face is something that makes every human unique anyways – if they do not have a twin and even those have their unique trademarks if you take a really close look. So if you ever were at a Second Life modeling agency you were told your face is the most important and unique trademark you have. Anyways what it looks like as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, if you push the limits of human face proportions slightly and well thought you really could create a very unique look in the past with system heads. Then for quite some time many models were struggling wit the first wave of mesh heads. The static mesh heads in the beginning were not really as ‘character’ friendly as the system heads were. Only a very few sliders reacted to customizing and the skin more or less was the only way to create a unique look somehow. I hesitated a long time myself until I gave it a try and I felt so relieved, when bento came to live and we were able to customize your faces and heads again more even with a few limits to bento bones. Nowadays I am very happy with the head and the skin and even if we are told constantly to update I am stuck with the head and the skin since I got it.

With the pictures I wanted to try to express a feeling or an emotion that follows me for quite some time in both worlds. I am not yet ready to really tell the whole story behind it, as it is a very vulnerable spot in my soul, but maybe with the ongoing process of playing with that picture idea, it will come out eventually and I am brave enough to tell. But for now it shows how you can have a face, how you can be unique with not much on yourself than just your face. I really hope i did make sense in what I was talking about, even if I tried t not go too deep into it and not let my emotions take over too much.

Big thanks goes out to Hill.S (Hillany Scofield) and her amazing exhibition that let me find those mannequins, which I needed so desperately for my pictures. She is an incredible artist and picture queen and has such an amazing installation going on – I have to go back and take a picture there, as I promised her 😉

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: .:EC:. (Enelya’s Creations) – “Norena” (Maitreya)

Face Art: Slackgirl – “Circles”

Nails: Slackgirl – “RingQueen Nai” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Makeup & Lipstick: Zibska – “Piper” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Props: Snowpaws – “Static Store Mannequins”

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: YS&YS – “Ginny Vamp” (Maitreya & LeLutka Applier)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

The Undefeated Creature

We all heard the stories about Yeti´s, unicorn, chupacabra or even Nessie. Many people claimed to have seen them, but nobody actually caught them. Rumors and stories about this fantasy beings have been told since generations.

But now in the year 2012 something strange is going on deep in the spooky forest.deep down in Ireland. People found foot prints, first they though it might be a hoofed animal but now it changed all. People claimed to have seen a mysterious wild creature, yet female looking , she got a dark skin, horns, wild hair and hooves. This creature must have been hiding good because nobody ever was able to catch her, rumours are spread that the one that tames this beast will have all the wishes fulfilled that he or she might have.

Many people failed at trying to find her, a lot of people even didn´t return from their adventure. But one day a brave young man decided to try his luck to find this being, he got laughed at and people took bets on him – whether he would come back and no.

One day this mysterious creature roamed around the forest to try to find something to eat, after all she was really gentle and friends with the nature, she wouldn´t harm animals or humans. Her food was nuts and plants. She was a peaceful being, and over the time she got sad, because people tried to chase her and the family and now she was the onliest one left from her species.

The friendly beast took a small break at a small lake, she didn´t feel any danger so she wasn´t aware that a man was sitting in the bush right next to her, she hummed a little song and thought about her joyful peaceful life in the forest when suddenly a man jumped out of the darkness with a drawn sword.

She stopped breathing for a moment and thought she would end up like all of her other ancestors before her. After she got some clear thoughts she jumped off and tried defending herself but couldn´t find a way to fight back. She started running, and she ran and ran. Her heart was beating heavily, she just wanted to carry on her species, even though she would be the last one alive.

The man was still chasing her, she looked back and saw him following her with the big sword in his hands. She ran faster, but then, she stumbled over a tree root and fell. Her ankle started hurting and she couldn´t find a way to stand up again. With the last power she got back on her feet, but the male was too close now and as she turned, she ran directly in the big sword he had in his hands right behind her. A huge pain run through her body and silver tears were running down her cheeks as the man stopped in front of her to finish his prey.

She felt her power vanish and broke down to the ground, feeling the smooth and damp grass of the morning underneath her. Her last view was the male, standing above her his hands raised, lucky about his victory. In the moment of her death he would loudly call his wishes out in the forest, like the rumors said and like it always had been when one of her species was murdered.

She closed her eyes, a last silver tear ran down her cheeks, her breathing went quieter and quieter until she finally died on the forrest ground, kissed by a few last sunbeams that guided her over to where all her ancestors waited for her.

Details

Wicca:

Outfit: Stygian

Socks: .:EC:. Enelya’s Creations

Skin: Nuuna’s

Horns: Wasabi Pills

Hair: Baiastice

Mask: Illusions

Hooves: VS – Kali

Collar: GizzA

Corset: Trilobite

Ears: Rebel – X

Piercings: [ni.ju]

Tattoo: Wicket Tattoos

Kenshin:

Hair: EMO-tions

Facetattoo: White Widow

Jewelry: Firestorm Creations & Mandala

Pants: Egoisme

Boots: Egoisme

Gloves: 1st Act

This story and idea was in my head for a long time, thank you so much Daron , Sazzy, Kenshin and Oralee to let it come true!!!

Models: Kenshin Xevion & Wicca Merlin

Story: Wicca Merlin

Set: Sazzy Nirpaw

Photographer: Daron Brandeis