The Fashion For Life (FFL) event got off to a great start over the weekend and by Midnight SLT on Sunday the monies raised had passed the 2,500,000 L$ mark. By midnight last night (Monday) the total was fast approaching 3 million L$, a milestone that was subsequentally passed by midday. All donations go to SL Relay for Life, benefiting the American Cancer Society.
Running March 12-22 across 9 sims, this year’s theme of “Beyond Black and White,” has created some inspirational regions from a number of talented builders, reviewed by Rowan for Prim Perfect a few days ago.
As Rowan observed the sims do not follow the style or inspiration of the photographer after which they are named. In some cases the builder has captured some aspect of that style but in fact the guiding influence behind the sims was never intended to be that of the eponymous photographer but of the sponsor. For Raven Haalen’s creation in Helmut Newton, he produced his mod-deco inspired build from the request of sim sponsor KMADD. Prim Perfect spoke to Syngen Sohmers who had co-led the design and build teams and was responsible for two of the sims, Bourke-White and Irving Penn.
“Every sim of Fashion for Life was designed to reflect the style of the Sim Sponsor. And Every Sim Sponsor has seen their influence on the shape of each sim.” She said, kindly taking a few moments from her dedicated last minute tweaks and assistance to the store owners setting up across the sims. “I was absolutely honored to be able to do both
builds. For Elikatira’s Bourke-White sim, I based the build off of a resort in Egypt called Porto Marina, one of my very favorite personal vacation places in the world (And I’ve been to a few). It’s a brand new beautiful resort on the coast of the Mediterranean, and I think it reflects Eliktira’s rebirth into the SL economy as much as it does the style and class of her work.”
One of my favourite builds was Syngen’s recreation of Bourbon Street in New Orleans and it turns this was a happy coincidence of designer’s choice and sponsor’s expectations as the New Orleans streets hold many happy memories for Paul and BastChild.
“LaPointe & Bastchild’s Irving Penn sim is based off of Bourbon
Street in New Orleans. I found out when they saw the sim for the first
time that New Orleans has a great deal of signifigance for them, so,
that was just Kismet.” The character of the build is a wonderful example of Second Life design, capturing the essence of a place that is renowned for its colour and vibrance in an essentially monochrome pallette is quite a feat. How closely did Syngen get to her muse in this recreation? “In Irving Penn I can name the buildings I mirrored in the build. The Royal Sonesta, The Cafe du Monde and the Roosevelt Hotel.” she smiles.
Some of the designers were more hands off than others. I spoke briefly to Amutey De Cuir about her involvement in the creation of the the beautifully textured abbey ruins of the Avedon sim; Created by Cierra Anatine, Avedon is the entertainment sim and includes the stage, catwalk and info centres.
Had Amutey guided Cierra in the creation of this sim, which spoke to me of the enigmatic ruins of English abbeys such as Bayham, Tintern and Glastonbury?
“Sorry my dear, ” she giggled “but to be honest, I am not a builder so I did not have much input.” With this she had to depart hastily, her presence at the event constrained somewhat by poor internet connectivity following the disasterous earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan.
With many of Second Life’s creators based in Asia, the effects of the disaster have been felt and the Fashion For Life team published their own tribute to the victims and also to the dogged determination of the shows contributors form that region to carry on regardless.
On Monday a new hunt was added to the many features that the event has publicised. Many of the show participants have placed special FFL hunt prizes in or around their stores, adding this staple of Second Life fashion to the many other attractions for visitors, including special offers and the innovative Gacha vendors.
So now as you walk around the carefully designed path that will loop you through all nine sims you can look for the many prizes hidden away and available for a small (10-100L$) contribution to the cause.
Prim Perfect 