Ophelia's Gaze: Losing Ginny

Exclusive to NWN, Iris Ophelia's ongoing showcase of all things stylish in SL...

Wearing Ginny's Isabelle dress in remembrance of a truly Dazzling person

On November 10th, fans of Last Call, a leading SL fashion studio, learned shocking news about one of the company's co-owners on the official website: in late October, the avatar we’d all known as Ginny Talamasca had died. This explained an earlier five day closure of “The Quad”, the name of the four adjoining sims where Last Call's boutique is located. In spite of requests to respect these sim owners’ privacy, there was a flurry of gossip and speculation over the closing. I don’t think anyone really expected a real life death to be the reason, and certainly no one wanted it to be.

As one of SL's top fashion designers, Ginny Talamasca provoked a wide range of emotions, both admiration and jealously, love and resentment, all a reflection of the fiercely competitive industry.  But through it all, she (or rather, he) remained Ginny, one of the most passionate, charming, and dynamic residents that Second Life has ever seen.

The post on Last Call’s website also revealed that the Last Call line wasn’t the work of on individual, but of a team.  The Ginny avatar is shared by his best friend and business partner, the one who made the death announcement post to the blog. They both designed and did artistic elements, but the one we identify as Ginny was the one who dealt most with Second Life and with customers, the outward facing part of Last Call. Everyone who befriended Ginny Talamasca was befriending him. I refer to Ginny as "he" because in real life, he was a man, a revelation he blogged about over a year ago in answer to some rumors that were circling the community. That's not the be all and end all of his story, but there was a lot that he preferred to keep private in SL, and I intend to respect those wishes.

Nadirra, a Last Call creation covered in the Fashion Top Ten Picks for March.

Hamlet interviewed Ginny in 2005, before Dazzle truly hit it big and it became a real job, when he described himself as a graduate student of biochemistry and biomechanics who created fashion as a pastime, and donated her earnings to charity. Much of that interview is dated, but the personality shining through there is 100% pure Ginny. He used a lot of webslang, but he was unbelievably intelligent. Clever, very well educated, a good example that you can't judge someone by how many letters it takes them to spell "you".

The drama mill was always particularly active around Ginny, and he was well known for opting out of honors, awards, and interviews if he could, to avoid fueling it even more.  On their blog, his partner correctly points out now that it’s inevitable people are going to call the death notice a publicity stunt, a trick, a scam to get more money.

People always wanted to bring Ginny down. It's the nature of fashion success in SL. People want conflict. People were mad last year when Ginny reopened Dazzle for Christmas (with many holiday special editions available) after closing it in October, alleging that the closure had been a way to scam money out of panicky fashionistas. People were mad when Ginny donated a one of a kind gown to the Relay for Life auction in 2006, to benefit the American Cancer Society; many were in fact mad whenever he did any limited edition releases, just because it meant the majority wouldn't be able to own it themselves. There was a flurry of blog posts when The Quad closed two weeks ago, and many of them were not very nice. Some very bitter and very sad individuals seem to exist in our community only to tear down others. Saying it's a hoax is just another way for people to go after his reputation when he can't defend it.

Last Call creations featured in the costuming of characters in retelling Shakespeare's Hamlet

I met Ginny through Katt Kongo when I was writing one of my very first fashion articles in SL, about a year and a half ago. I was green enough that designers still intimidated me, and I was a ball of nerves when I teleported into the sweet little villa tucked behind what was then Dazzle Haute Couture. Ginny treated me like I was an old friend right from the start, and answered all my questions with a cheerful disposition I’d never really encountered in SL before then. He understood my tastes and my personal style better than I did at that point. He talked me through the first time I was attacked by critics and couldn’t get over it on my own. He told me then to listen to what my heart and my gut told me, and no one else-- a message you can hear a hundred times and never absorb until the right person says it.

In fact, it's safe to say that without Ginny, I probably would have left SL over a year ago. He was beyond supportive, and never showed me any face but that of ineffable kindness. I was never as close with him as I know The Quad designers and his partner were, but I regret every second that we were both online and I took his presence for granted. He was in love with life and Second Life, and that love was infectious. His legacy isn't in his virtual clothing, but in the way he affected others. I have nearly 200 outfits branded Dazzle or Last Call, and as pretty as they are, the ones I love most are the ones that have stories. Like Cendrillon, which he sent on my birthday, along with the sweetest and most ridiculous little Roses Are Red notecard.

It’s unclear what will become of the Last Call line, and it would be cold comfort at this stage even if it were clear.  But ultimately, it's not the designer we're mourning, but the person who could make anyone feel like the most treasured individual in the world.

Iris Ophelia covers and creates metaverse style for New World Notes.  Visit her blog for a view at the source.

Comments

[Extropia DaSilva]

What is James Bond's relation to Ian Flemming? The correct answer is 'Ian Flemming created James Bond'. An INCORRECT answer would be 'James bond IS Ian Flemming'. Flemming did play an important part in bringing this character to life, as did Sean Connery and everyone evolved in any creative process that embodied Bond. But, really, the individual person was irrelevant. What mattered was that information was presented in such a way as to map the 'person' of Bond onto our minds. The fact that Flemming has died says nothing about Bond's mortality. So long as the information that personifies him is deemed valuable, Bond lives on.

But, now consider how most people view the author/avatar relationship. The author does not merely create the avatar, the author IS the avatar. Philip Linden IS Philip Rosedale. Unfortunately, this makes an avatar every bit as mortal as their author.

But, why should that be? Why can't avatars be patterns of information, brought to life by appropriate scripting and performance?

We hear much talk about the 'Personalized web'. We upload our ideas, our thoughts; we capture memories with snapshots and audio files. R+D is underway to develop sensors that will automatically upload data about how we respond, emotionally, to daily situations. We are compiling comprehensive mindmaps, storing our ideas, our history, our personality, our emotive states.

What if, when the 'RL' Ginny died, an automatic online search was triggered. It looks for two things: One, a person willing to adopt an avatar. Two: A person whose 'mindmaps' are the closest match to Ginny's.

Once found, that person embodies Ginny. To her friends, she is the same person. After all, her personality, her memories, her skills, all continue as before (this might require top-class search engines presenting information about Ginny to her new 'RL' author).

Looking further into the future, perhaps one day software itself will process the information that embodies and personalizes our avatars. I quote- no, not a transhumanist like Kurzweil, but a professor of neurobiology, Joe T. Tsein, who is currently engaged in translating the brain's information processing into formats that can be read by computers:

'We and other computer engineers are beginning to apply what we have learned about the organization of the brain's memory system to the design of an entirely new generation of computers and network-centric systems...If all our memories, emotions, knowledge and imagination can be translated into zeros and ones, could it be that...we will be able to download our minds...and live forever on the network?'

I suggest that, if only we stop associating an avatar with one particular human, our avatars stand a good chance of making it to this future, regardless of how many generations away it is.

[Torrid]

This was really lovely Iris and I'm so glad you wrote it. I got to know Ginny over the last 6 months and I'm grateful I did. He reached out to me from the blue, to encourage me in his playful way to "get my ass back to designing". Since that moment he never stopped encouraging me and offering help.

He was kind, he was funny, he was inspiring, and I'm glad that I got the chance to call him a friend. As Jewel said in the song "Hands", "in the end only kindness matters."

Thank you Ginny, thank you for your time, your words, your talent, and your heart. I will miss you my friend <3.

[Simple Sally]

Dazzle/Last Call always seemed like a strange place to me, surrounded by drama and gossip. The kind of place I prefer to avoid. But say what you want about Ginny, he was a whiz with lightwave. Starley Therian blogged about how he drew all those clothes with his finger on a laptop. That is really impressive. SL has lost a great content creator.

[iota ultsch]

Iris that was a beautiful tribute to an outstanding creator and person.

May Ginny's soul rest in peace.

With profound sympathy,

Iota Ultsch.