Ophelia's Gaze: Three Things I Hate Hate HATE About the Virtual Fashion World

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of virtual world and MMO fashion

As much as I love the artistry and aesthetics of Second Life avatar fashion, some things just make me want to tear my hair out and give up altogether. These are the social problems that plague face of fashion in every world... And I'm just as guilty of them as anyone else. I was reminded of all these things recently when Hamlet approached me about trying to do a Hottest Female Avatar contest. Even the idea of doing the Hottest Male Avatar contest, a three year tradition until this year, turns my stomach, and here's why:

We're Bad at Making Objective Judgements

In the beginning, the Hottest Male Avatar contest had been an attempt to show that men in SL could be attractive at a time when their options were limited. As men's fashion expanded, the contest refocused to highlight male avatars that stood apart from the crowd with highly personalized looks. There had been drama from the start, but it intensified each year as the winners deviated more from the norm.

Our knee-jerk reaction is often to decide that someone or something is altogether unattractive, rather than realizing that they're only unattractive to us. We say "OMG that dress is hideous" when we should say "OMG I don't like that dress". This confusion of subjectivity with objectivity only serves to divide us, and intensifies a lot of unnecessary negativity between subcultures and style groups.

Keep reading for more bad fashionista habits worth breaking!

We Treat Fashion Like an Arms Race

RL fashion site Coco and Creme recently posted a fabulous piece called Fashion and Friendship: When Dressing Becomes a Competitive Sport which should be required reading for a lot of SL fashionistas, and which also has a lot to do with my second and third points.

Sometimes it feels like we're desperate to be the first one to wear a new release, or to discover some amazing shop no one else knows about and keep it to ourselves. The more extreme among us will even outright refuse to tell people where we purchased an item, and wear invisible inspect shields to keep people from examining its origins. What battle are we fighting here that we're so desperate to win? What's the worst that will happen if we wear something that's over a year old? What exactly do we get out of stepping on other people's expression for the sake of elevating our own look? Fashion itself doesn't need to be a competition, and it's the act of competition that really seems to bring the worst out of it and us.

We Don't Always Dress for Ourselves

Coco and Creme also ask three excellent questions in their article that are worth repeating to every fashionista in Second Life (and elsewhere):

• Do you genuinely love what you have on or do you just love the attention you receive when you wear it?

• What would you wear if no one (your best friend, boyfriend, etc.) was there to judge your outfit?

• Would it matter to you if no one complimented or even liked your look? If so, why?

I'd add one more: Could you explain to someone else why you're wearing what you're wearing? And no, "because I like it" isn't quite good enough. The ability to approach fashion from a critical and self-aware perspective is vital for a good fashionista, and it's what takes an avatar from being a wireframe hanger to being living art. Since the edgy high fashion look has become more popular in Second Life, I worry that more and more fashionistas are slipping into the trap of dressing for everyone but themselves, either for attention or because they just don't know what else to wear.

My father used to tell me that because I'm relatively tall I wouldn't always be able to find things that I liked and that fit me properly, so I should just deal with whatever was in my size. With the internet this isn't quite true anymore, and it's the same in Second Life. If you look hard enough, almost everything is out there somewhere, so there's really no need to settle on the status quo if it's not what you want in your heart.

Fashion should be an expression. Express yourself, and help your fellow fashionistas do the same.

Iris Ophelia (Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.

Comments

[Sasy Scarborough]

I am tall too, and that reminded me of how many girls I knew that would wear flats because they would be 'too tall' in heels.

So they would rather look crazy in flats with a cocktail frock than finish up the look with a great pair of pumps or strappy heels.

We do often dress for others, but we should always try and wear what we enjoy wearing for others, it shouldn't be all give.

Great post.

xoxSasyxox

[Iris Ophelia]

@Sasy Damn right! I have some favourite flats, but I love my heels in RL even more. My grandmother always thought that was novel because women didn't used to want to be taller than men, but I wouldn't trade my tallness for anything!

[Mandy]

Wonderful post and I agree entirely. While I'm like anybody else and appreciate a compliment on whatever look or outfit I'm wearing, I wear it for myself (or maybe my SL partner since it brings me pleasure to look nice for her). Some of my choices are definitely not for others and I hear that. So what, it fits me and makes me happy. Thanks for helping to make this point to others, well done :)

['Kota Buck]

I absolutely agree that sl fashion needs to be approached from a more critical and self-aware perspective than it currently is. Second Life is such a fabulous medium for artistic expression but I feel a lot of the potential is muffled by the things you've mentioned in your post.

Also, Sasy, I'm guilty of that. I have a large collection of high heels that are basically for display only because I got sick of the volatile reactions of people around me that I should dare to make myself even taller. (My favourite pair of shoes put me at about 6'6"). That said, flats can be totally dressy and appropriate with a party frock. You just have to have the right pair (And trust me, I have several).

[Imnotgoing Sideways]

Frigg'n spot on. =^-^=

I've always been a shortie little scrub in SL, though I kinda meh at the height issue... Unless someone refers to 8' tall as "Realistic"... (=_=)

Beyond that, I do tend to see a lot of the juvenile divas who claim their look on bought items here'n there. They're all totally laughable and often mired in some current fad or trend. =^-^=

As for me... I been doing butt-cleavage jeans for nearly 4 years. I continue to be on my mission to find the lowest jeans in SL. So far, whenever I find something, it's always bloody un-buttoned! DX ~ No un-buttons... That's cheating. Just maek'em low! =^-^=

[Ann Otoole InSL]

There is more to it. Somehow the competition griefing aspect was not covered. It is so sickening I don't even want to go there.

Make your own is always the most fun. Then you can simply not sell it. Nobody else will have it unless they want to become a documented criminal.

[Vecky Burdam]

I am just always stunned by the delusion of so many fashionistas in SL. They carry their RL desires formed by RL media (or better: formed by our society) into SL and suddenly start to identify with their AV to an almost unhealthy extent. They really believe they are now part of the glamorous RL celebrity world from 'couture creators' to 'models' to 'fashion bloggers'. Without any sense of irony they carry their "Miss Virtual Universe", "xy-Agency Top-Model", "Best Couture Designer in SL" titles above their pixel-heads and trash to pieces everything that questions their delusion.
(Which also includes all these who deliberately try to be 'unique' and different from above group and only live through their opposition against them).
The Hottest Female Avatar contest will be a HUGE drama-fest of epic dimensions. Having said that ... because we are even more delusional in SL than we are in RL, these drama-fests are the most entertaining things that happen in SL and therefor should be even sponsored by LL.
So ... bring it on !!!

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

Please continue back the Hottest Male Avatar Contest, Iris. Pappy Enoch is ready to launch his gridwide quest to bribe sweep his way into first place. I'm Pappy's road-manager, and he sent me this press release (edited for decency):

"Tell Miss Ofeelya, who am hotter'n a twenty-dollar pistol, that I are ready to win them gal's hearts again wif my manly looks and dumb as dirt devil-may-care wit. I reckons if'n a clown won last year, a bigger bozo kin do even better."

[Connie Sec]

To Thine own self be true

[supra shoes for boy]

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[Derrick Rose 2011]

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