New World Notes

Making Sense of Proenza Schouler & Seapunk in Second Life

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Recently RL fashion label Proenza Schouler released a short machinima called "Desert Tide", featuring some of their designs implemented in Second Life alongside pink dolphins, particle waterfalls, and textures stretched beyond recognition. RL brands and designers have dabbled in SL before, and it rarely if ever is on par with what designers native to SL are producing at the time. Unsurprisingly, "Desert Tide" is no exception to that, nor does it want to be. Take a look, and I'll explain what I mean:

The BBC Features Raglan Shire's SL-to-RL Tinies Kickstarter!

Click here to hear Wynx Whiplash and Zayn Till on BBC's Outriders program, talking with my friend the dulcet-voiced, prone-to-squee Jamillah Knowles about their Kickstarter crowdfunder to bring their Raglan Shire tinies avatars to a real life, mass market audience. (March 12 episode: "A tiny, intelligent set up." Direct MP3 link here, interview starts at around 9:40. Lots of interesting tidbits in the conversation, including: Wynx on how the idea for the tinies first came to her in a dream (a freaking precious, precious dream), and Zayn on how SL's graphics capabilities have limited the pull potential of their characters. Click to here to hear, and click here to visit Raglan Shire's official LLC company site, Jazz Paws.

Ophelia's Gaze: Advertising That Works, Made In Japan

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

Every now and then I'm amazed by some of the clever marketing techniques that are employed in Second Life, either by residents or by RL companies that are dipping their toes in the pool. I was absolutely blown away over the weekend by a joint effort between Mod's Hair Paris, BALS TOKYO, and NTT DoCoMo. These three real world groups (specializing in hair care and styling, chic furniture and home accessories, and mobile phone services. respectively) have found a way to make us look at all of their products, while rewarding us with something we actually want in SL-- fabulous hair.

Fashion Prototype: IBM Showcases SL As Design Platform

Of course, Residents have amply demonstrated SL's power as a fashion design prototyping platform for years, but the real world garment industry has been slow to notice.  So it's significant that a team of IBM staffers recently gave such a demo not at a tech show, but the National Retail Federation.  Here's a video report from the floor.  Hopefully they showed off some of the existing ecology of Resident-made fashion.  Hat tip: IBM's Eightbar.

Fun with Fiat in Second Life

Vint Falken recently came across the Fiat car company's official presence in Second Life, and though she's not one to be easily impressed, she was in this case.  So much so that she created a fun machinima featuring their working assembly line, which builds a car from start to finish with cartoon whimsy.  (Direct SLURL teleport at this link.)

If you haven't read about Fiat's arrival in SL (it certainly slipped my radar), that's probably because it seems to be Fiat's Brazilian presence.  (At least judging by all the Portuguese signage I caught on a brief visit, after reading Vint's post.)  Which suggests yet another instance of US/EU myopia; we know quite a lot about the few successes and abundant failures of corporate promotion in SL aimed at Western Residents.  But what do we know about campaigns targeted at, say, Japanese and Brazilian Residents, who comprise some of SL's very most active users?