Metaverse Style And Culture Clashes

So if a tattooed woman walks down a Second Life street wearing nothing but dead fish, is that a fashion faux pas, or something else?  How about if another one is spotted in spangly cowboy boots and a lead pipe in her holster?  Those are questions being debated at SL Fashion Police, a fun blog that keeps a watchful eye on style disasters in Second Life.  The question is, where's the demarcation point between good taste and cultural preference?  In "The Fish Lady and The Plumber", the anonymous SLFP author observes the two avatars in question are Japanese and adds, "so the outfits may be massively fashionable cultural trends [in Japan]".  I kind of doubt that, but the remark does point to a larger issue for a metaverse that's truly international.  Avatar styles already tend toward the fantastic, and despite our global media, different cultures will still have different conceptions of what qualifies as fantastic and cool-- or fantastically weird.  But as Second Life's demographic breakdown grows even more international, I suspect that fashion trends which are first rejected by most as silly will occasionally cross the language and culture barrier.  In the future, we may all walk the world draped in dead fish.