Watch the "What Not to Wear" Team in Second Life Here

Second Life style makes its debut in the cable TV show What Not to Wear, today at 9pm (8pm Central), the reality show where two dubiously well-dressed hosts tell their less photogenic inferiors how to dress, with their latest target for gentle cruelty and rehabilitation being Victoria, who's obsessed with Second Life (which the hosts just keep calling "the virtual world".) The SL side of the production was done by longtime SL designer Damien Fate, along with Paul Jannicola and Kerria Seabrooke of Dimension 11, who did a lot of SL machinima for CSI and other major media productions which incorporated SL during its hype years. Damien can't say much about the show right now, but he can say this: "For the most part I am limited to saying yes I and others worked on it... and Stacy London is wearing coldLogic clothing. Which she picked out herself." So at least the hostess of What Not to Wear knows what to wear in SL.

I embedded the show clip below -- click here to view.

One wonders how a dude in a checkered shirt and what seems to be a Members Only jacket from the 80s gets to be philosopher fashion king, but then maybe that's just me. As noted, the SL fashion featured in the show is from Cold Logic -- here's the Destination Guide, to get some of the same fashion yourself:

What Not to Wear

Ready to make over your look? As seen on the TV show "What Not to Wear" (shown as "Planet Stiletto"), Second Life features cutting edge designs and fashions that let you show off your personal style.

Visit in Second Life

 

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Comments

[callie cline]

i think it's great that anything that gets SL out to be seen by more potential members is great.

the sound effects were a little annoying on the vocals (i.e. a large reverb in an open space) however perhaps that was done to make it seem more "dream like"

thanks for sharing this post! wtg damien and others!

[Iggy]

Well, Hamlet knows his fashion cues:

Nothing quite screams "hick!" like "a Members Only jacket from the 80s."

I remember seeing piles of them at deep discount in Costco in the early 90s. I almost did a little dance right then and there, knowing that an abomination had passed from the Earth.

[Seven Overdrive]

Second Life was only used as a comical prop for their gamer fashion victim. There was no mention of Second Life at all.

The moral of the episode was to get your frumpy self out of the video game and back into the real world.

Probably best that they didn't mention Second Life by name.

[Sandy Sandalwood]

The clip doesn't play here and it doesn't play on the TLC site either.

[Iggy]

@Sandy, it played for me here @NWN. And, sadly, it plays into the worn-out meme of gamers losing track of their lives, then getting pimply and bloated.

When will "mainstream" media sources see gaming as a new (and competing) form of entertainment?

You don't see too many specials on television about how much TV folks watch. Here's my suggestion for "What Not to Wear":

A family of out-of-shape American suburbanites are depicted, watching TV. Mom is clad in XXXL sweat pants that have "Foxy" written in glitter across the huge butt, while pater familias appears in a wife-beater shirt to show his tattooed "sleeves" and clown-shorts that hang to his knees. The kids, also in bad tattoos, sideways hats, and gangsta bling, loll on giant recliners replete with cup-holders. Everyone is eating pork-rinds or Cheetos and drinking lite beer. Cheeto dust covers every visible surface. Everyone wears flip-flops.

They bask in the reflected glamor of know-nothings like the Kardashians or Paris Hilton while hoping the 40 lottery tickets they buy each week will let them be like their televised idols, plus buy a Range Rover and a bigger TV set.

Gee, I wonder why we don't see that image of TV watchers?

[Nefertiti Kimagawa]

I have to agree with Seven. While it is cool they had it on the show. They were also in a sense saying that look what happens when you play this game. you turn into this poor pitiful soul. It is probably best they called in Planet Stiletto and not Second Life because We all don't look like that chick. I have do have a life outside fo second life and I do dress quite fashionable in rl and sl

[Damien Fate]

If you're in the states, you can view the full episode here: http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/what-not-to-wear/videos/victoria-video.htm

[Nimil]

a correction should be made here, she was not obsessed with second life, and in fact, did not even use second life at all. she was a world of warcraft player.

[novella]

Actually, Members Only jackets were back in vogue for a bit of 80's retro thing, starting about a year ago. Sorry Iggy and Hamlet, you are the ones not following the curve on this one.

[Hamlet Au]

"were back in vogue"

Emphasis on "were" -- from what I see in the Mission SF and New York, the Members Only retro had just a very brief vogue, and just among very young hipsters (which this guy on the show is not).

[Iggy]

@Novella, Hamlet should start covering RL fashion while Iris hits the virtual beat. It is more entertaining that most of what goes on in SL these days. Who'd have thought, "Members Only means retro"? What's next? The return of the Mullet?

But what does an East Coast freak like me know about fashion? It ain't NYC here in sweltering Richmond. Fashion ended here with skinny jeans, Chuck Taylors, ironic T-shirts, and pork-pie hats.

Then the action moved to body art. Now we all look like painted and pierced cannibals from a Werner Herzog film, or from SL.

[Pussycat Catnap]

There's been a what not to wear blog for a long time in SL:
http://whatnottowearsl.blogspot.com/

Of no relation to the TV show (never heard of the TV show before this actually, but then again I don't use my TV).

[Tracy Redangel]

Just like that Life 2.0 movie, everybody got excited to see it and when they did...not such a good depiction of SL residents.
Nobody mentions the fact that SL comprises many talented artists,writers, builders, scripters, etc.
What SL really could use is an SL-BASED version of What Not to Wear that is actually ABOUT SL, because there are FAR too many women running around wearing nipple tape and a piece of string over their crotch and calling it an outfit. And there are too many fellas out there who buy one pair of jeans and wear nothing else. Now that would be worth watching. In Second Life.

[Pussycat Catnap]

We should all be glad this this one is -NOT- another 'OMG look at the sexxors, fursuits (*), BDSM, and Dwight players' reactive-drama piece.

Unless, after that preview, it is...

But judging by the preview it seems to be better than that.

(*) The furry shown in the preview is actually a rare complimentary '3 second blink' at furries - and more like how the scene really is in SL: "Oh look at this fun avatar" reacted to with "Ooo that's cute."

[Seven Overdrive]

@Pussycat, It really wasn't a negative depiction of SL. It wasn't about SL at all. SL was only used to create their fictional Planet Stiletto virtual world to ambush the featured fashion tragedy with. They didn't even tell people it was SL so I wouldn't be expecting many new sign-ups from it. LL was listed in the end credits, but if you blinked you missed it.

It was all about a poor little gamer girl that was living her life wrong because she enjoyed gaming and didn't feel like she was hurting anybody wearing sweats while enjoying her hobby. The hosts, especially the male host, kept making little comments that made it sound like she needed rescuing from the hobby she loves.

Basically it was - "Here's $5000 dollars worth of clothes we approve of so now you don't need to spend all those hours playing games and can get out there in the real world! Yay!"

I was disappointed because,unless people were really impressed by the 4 minutes of "Planet Stiletto" footage at the beginning, no one is going to bother to find out it was really Second Life and try it out.

The people that did the SL footage did a great job, but too bad the show didn't give SL any obvious credit. Maybe LL didn't allow it or something.

[Pussycat Catnap]

I never expect new signups from these things. But branding awareness, impression of concept.

Even without directly telling people what VR it is... it is good to see an impression of a VR that isn't negative.

The more that occurs, the less resistance to VRs as a whole.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Watching the full length video.

The constant anime references were very -special- in a weird sort of way.

This woman wears her geekdom way too much-quoting pre-teen characters from Sailor Moon from what it sounded like, feels creepy from someone that age.

Had a friend like that back in the 90s who was about the same age, and had every episode of Sailor Moon... in the original uncensored Japanese with all the nude scenes and transgendered characters... O.o

So um... Its one thing to be a gamer, but the anime references get a little alarming after say... age 15...

[Damien Fate]

They didn't call it Second Life because they were luring her in to play a 'new game', and as a gamer, she had already heard of SL but not "Planet Stiletto"

LL has been smart about this move though and plastered that phrase everywhere, including a google add for searches containing Planet Stiletto.

[Pussycat Catnap]

I should add to the above that I think the guest on the show was a pretty friendly and likeable sort. Just needs to tone down the anime talking. :)

I'd bet that at this point she's joined or tried SL.

If so, welcome aboard. We're crazier than you. :D

[Deoridhe Quandry]

You can pry my anime from my cold, dead hands.

[Ella baxton]

Oh-Oh.
Could Planet Stiletto be the "dolly dressers'" new name for Second Life?

[Iggy]

Okay, B.S. call on the "What Not to Wear" episode.

The young woman depicted has *just* entered "Planet Stiletto" and already has mastered the UI enough to do a bunch of Kung-Fu moves?

Even if she's an experienced gamer, I don't buy that. I stopped watching.

Might as well watch a WFF match, since it's just as staged.

[Ener Hax]

a very cute video and completely in keeping with the spirit of Stacy and Clinton =)

[Damien Fate]

Iggy, if you look closely you'll see she also looks 2D for that - it was some post production animation.

However, this wasn't a staged thing, it was shot live for the most part with some pickup shots later. It was a logistical nightmare but largely went down as seen on the show.

[Damien Fate]

Iggy, if you look closely you'll see she also looks 2D for that - it was some post production animation.

However, this wasn't a staged thing, it was shot live for the most part with some pickup shots later. It was a logistical nightmare but largely went down as seen on the show.

[Carter Davidov]

Missed the episode. Can't stream TLC programming into Canada so actually made myself watch some rerun episodes hoping I could catch it. From what I gather, though, I didn't miss much. Truly there's enough fashion in SL to comprise an entire series and a couple spinoffs. Too bad that's not the direction it was taken.