Open Letter to the folks from StyleHive.com

To whom it may concern:

I've this morning been made aware of stylehive's presence in SecondLife.

Friends of mine were invited to display their creations there, and were told nothing of it being a contest, nor that they would be critiqued by people unfamiliar with SecondLife, or the process of creation in SecondLife.
What a rude surprise to be ripped apart by utter strangers, people utterly incapable of even getting close to the quality of creativity required for creation in this venue.

Let me turn on a light for you horses 'patoots. SecondLife is not a replication of 'real life'. It is a place where people are allowed to explore that which is not possible in reality, and if YOU didn't see clothing YOU liked, then might I suggest you're singularly OUT OF TOUCH with what women REALLY fantasize about wearing and looking like.
The humble pie you were so rudely dishing out to the designers of this venue should be your dinner for the next week: You may THINK you speak for the height of fashion and beauty, but you don't. You speak of what's AVAILABLE in reality, and believe me, if people could FIND what's available in SecondLife in reality to WEAR, they would. Feeling a little myopic yet?

Something else you seem to have forgotten, and perhaps you'd better quickly remember this lest your own readers begin to see you for the shallow arrogant people you are: you forgot that the designers you were so quick to trash in this little 'world' are REAL people. Like your READERS are real people. Let's not forget they are accomplishing things here that professional graphics artists can't log in and accomplish, because they have not the TALENT. Let's not forget that the clothing and shoes being made and displayed are what people REALLY want rather than the flood of crap available in today's real market. Let's also not forget these folks are pulling REAL incomes of six figures. You are out of touch, each of you who was present at this little virtual show. And you really should log back in and apologize personally to each one of those creative human beings you were so quick to insult last night. They are your betters.

Not to mention they have the manners not to rip you a new one for your lack of creativity as well.

Have a great day.

With sincerity,


Simone Stern

Simone

I am a bit confused. I was there in the audience at the event of which you speak. I for one do not recall anyone being ripped apart. In fact I clearly remember everyone being complmented in some way or other. Also I clearly remember Aimee explaining to all involved several times throughout the night the event WAS a competition of sorts and was based on American Idol and how she got to be Simon. Much of it was very toune in cheek

Perhaps your friends misunderstood or perhaps they were upset because the didnt win. I dont know. I do however suggest you speak to the people who ran the event before you blast them. Getting your facts straight from all concerned including those you are mad at might just be a good idea.

That's not the version I am getting from several of the designers and people in the audience. I said what I had to say, it still stands.

Thick skin is mandatory. Opinions only matter if you assign importance to them.

far be it from me to tell you how to think or where to stand. I am however amazed I who am not in any way accociated with stylehive have given you an alternate view of what happened and yet you choose to stand pat without investigating further seems the sign of a small and closed mind to me.

However as I said I was simply someone in the audience with an alternative opinion. I am NOT associated with Stylehive , therefore I am now out of this.

HI!

Gina Pell, Sabrina, and I were largely doing our worst Simon Cowell impersonations from American Idol but in the end we are all starstruck by the talent we saw last night! In the end we feel our treatment of these designers was a positive for their careers!

The entire event was captured on video and in post production will be made into a video that will be great for the promotion of Stylehive AND for the furtherance of these designers' careers! If any designer actually felt, in retrospect, that their treatment at this event was a negative, we will be crestfallen but will accomodate any requests to be omitted from the final video.

However after reviewing the logs, my impression was that the designers got some some obligatory roasting followed by a whole lot of gushing, oohing and awing. Honestly, nobody would have been on that stage if we didn't think they were the best of the best!

-Aimee

Hugs to you Simone, and warm feelings to all designers in SL.

You are right, Simone, the whole procedure of this is unprofessional if the designers were not informed with whom they dealt.

Designers in second life are artists. They create copyrighted content and sell their products. They operate in a world of 100.000 that criticizes their designs... by desiring and bying them. This vote in the end has much more weight and makes more sense than the ignorance of self proclaimed critics that just drive by to destroy others dreams.

Carry on, friends!

Prop

What the heck is "stylehive"?

coco

Were we at the same show? Because I saw a lot of gushing, some booty oggling, and a butterfly who didn't -have- to, but decided to hand out a few large prizes for the most outstanding artists. Gosh! How -dare- she give people rewards for being spectacular.

There was constructive criticism given occasionaly, and we're talking one line out of 20, if that... and most of it was along the lines of liking shoes, like the dress, but not together... or loving the shoes more than the pants or vice versa... sometimes about shadows being great... but one weird bit on the hem, or a accessory not having been moded to fit the body of the model... there was no bashing.

Yes, Gina and, to a lesser extent, Sabrina are new to SL and don't entirely know the limitations of it. I do recall them getting told in the middle of the show, when they asked why a certain thing was done a certain way, about the limitation that made the alterations necessary on some items. However we should all be honoured to have real life fashion gurus in SL, bringing attention to the work done here and giving us publicity, I'm sorry that you can't see that.

I talked to one person after the show who was a bit upset by some of the comments but personally I took it in the spirit it was intended... tongue in cheek. Overall I thought the commentary was pretty funny and entertaining if a bit over the top at times.

From some of the comments of Gina and Sabrina it was obvious that they were giving opinions that didn't take into account some of SL's technical limitations and were also more going for laughs than being constructive, but that was okay. For example the last skin I showed was quite thoroughly trashed but I didn't take it personally! Everyone has different tastes and I'm sure other designers who got some negative comments also have had customers and fans gush about the same items at other times (as I have with that item). As with everything I make, some people love it and some people hate it, and everything inbetween.

It was part fashion show love fest and part celebrity roast and I thought that made it more fun and interesting. I think some of the people who were offended probably wouldn't have been if they'd known what to expect beforehand but I can also understand how it might have been difficult for people who are very sensitive to criticism. I thought it was all in good fun and I had a great time both as a participant and audience member.

I was really blown away by the talent that was on display! Everyone's work was really top notch, especially when I think back to what was considered top quality fashion in SL a couple of years ago. The evolution has been incredibly inspiring to watch. All in all I thought it was a really fun event and I hope that anyone who was offended will take a step back and look at it as a bit of good natured satire rather than real considered criticism. I wasn't keeping score but it seemed like every designer got a lot of gushing praise.

I don't know about stylehive, but it is true that all my favourite outfits are in SL. One of those vv this poster vv made for me.

*resists urge to openly and unabashedly beg Chip for a redhead skin* *waits for another impulse to interfere*

Chip, please make a redhead skin. Pleeeeeeeeeze? pale and a little freckled with appropriate hair colouring. Please please?

Well, having never seen this "StyleHucksters" site in question before, I now know where to go to find a "placenta chair."

Chin up, Simone; who gives a flying fart what a site like this thinks of SL fashion, anyway? SL clothing and accessories are made for a very targetted audience, not for the uber-catty RL (often self-proclaimed) fashion and design "experts."

I think the problem here, is that none of the designers knew it was going to be a "good natured roast" or what have you. I know I can at least speak for most of us when I say we were under the impression it was going to be a fashion show to celebrate/showcase our fashions. It was a way of promoting Stylehive and the designers featured. I was first on stage and suddenly I was hearing about being judged and something about American Idol, I thought it was a joke lol.

I had no idea it was going to be a competition. In all honesty I wouldn't ever think of competing with the other designers in that way, especially when you have people representing items other than clothing. Aimee obviously did her best to gush over each designer and I'm sure that was appreciated between the less flattering criticism lol.

I think if people had just been prepared for what happened, there wouldn't be hurt feelings, or at least less so. I really don't think any of the designers cared or care about winning or placing, this isn't a case of sour grapes. I think everyone will just have to step back and let it slide off, not take it too seriously. As Chip said though, some people are also just more sensitive than others and you can't condemn them for that, they were caught offguard.

All in all, it was a learning experience to say the least lol. I know that Aimee worked very hard on it and she did make sure that each designer had positive comments, at least from her. In the end I just jigged my way down the stage and told them to KISS IT! . All of the designers that were in that show are amazing artists and I am proud to even know them.

Also, thanks to Iumi who was very sweet and helpful through the entire show .

I agree with Torrid's statements. I for one wouldn't have entered knowing it was a competition. And warned Aimee when she spoke of it before hand that it wasn't really the best idea ever. But in the interest of "entertainment" (can you call it that? I've never been inclined to watch American Idol for the fact of the heartless bashing.) Aimee decided to go on with the show and just not let us KNOW that she was doing it anyway.

As a former actress in rl I stuck with it and was as professional as possible to let "the show go on". But that doesnt mean I enjoyed the comments.

On a side note, the show itself was beautiful. The snapzilla coverage was awesome. Everyones work was amazing, as much as it hurt me to see my friends and peers being told what was supposedly "wrong" about them I think the show was a success.

Agreed! Huge thanks to everyone who took pics since as usual I was too lazy to take any for myself. I was so happy to see so many fantastic pics so I could have some for posterity.

heh Im having trouble being upset about it anymore.
Im upset about not being told, more than I am what was said. They have opinions, so what, its not going to stop me from making things! And its not going to stop me from supporting my friends and loving every little thing they do.
I think Aimee tried her hardest to fight off the snide comments with positive ones. She did everything under her power to steer a runaway runway show. I forgive her for any hurt I felt from the show and I hope the others can too.

I think all the designers and models involved took this seriously to represent Aimee. I know i took it that way because i was there representing HoseQueen. I was very surprised to learn that it was a bit of a competition versus a showcase and celebration of various artists. Torrid and Launa are right on target in that respect.

Looking back i think everyone could have taken it all with a grain of salt and enjoyed the ribbing more had they been aware ahead of time. Had i known this was gonna be a roast or American Idol type thing I'd have prepared for it as such. Compliments were certainly abundant the set was beautiful and overall i enjoyed myself. I do think that the StyleHive VIP's are not aware as of yet what goes into creating fashion or anything else within SL. i think some of their expectations and insight on our trends were a little off base.

*****The one additional pressing thought is that the designers & models deserve more credit for being "thick skinned". I personally felt more for the rest of the ladies on the runway then i did for myself. Hearing certain things about other designers i admire very much was not at all pleasant and i was concerned for their feelings. After speaking with some others they too agreed that it was difficult to see others knocked down for expressing their art when they didn't expect it. If they didn't have thick skins they would not be where they are today. Nobody is sitting there feeling sorry for themselves. If anything it brought us all together versus conquer and divide.

Kudos to all that strutted their stuff up there. To everyone involved on any level who worked very hard. May we all learn from this entire experience.

My personal fave of the show was Nylon Pinkney who made no apologies for her art and style. I look forward to reliving this event in film form..

Zyrra<3

gay

Mature.

Its very brave of you to come out of the closet on a forum. We wish you all the best as you embrace your newfound life with open arms.

Hey. I don't particularly want him on my team.

Yeah, I say he's his own side.

My apoligies for my post that I had here..I said it as a joke and did not mean offend anyone with that comment. So the post has been deleted and I'm sorry for what I said. I ment no harm to anyone.

I've been thinking long and hard about this event. It had it's ups and downs.

Among the ups: wow, that was a room full of some really amazing talent. What was represented there was an array of design possibility that could *only* exist in a place like SL. The designers and thier models backstage were all very friendly, and the spirit in the room was fun, lively and one of mutual respect and admiration.

The downs...the whole "celebrity roast + competition" aspect of the show.
While thats a fun idea, please keep in mind that it was (at least according to the very large sampling of opinions I heard on the subject) completely unexpected. Personally, I dont enjoy that sort of entertainment, I'm not much on making an entertainment commodity out of cruelty, no matter how gently or lovingly it's intended.

While there was a lot of praise being bantered about, there was also some comments made by the panel that were *really* hard to hear. I'm sure this was probably great fun for the audience, but being on the stage side of that is a different story, especially when you dont see it coming.
In spite of the misgivings I felt throughout it, I was so increidlby touched and impressed by "the show must go on" spirit of the participants, and thier grace when under fire.

It was unique, and fun. I just wish in retrospect that we had had some warning to prepare ourselves for what was about to happen- perhaps the whole thing could have gone off without quite so many unpleasant suprises and bruised feelings.
We're all adults here, and we can take some criticism. It was just really, really dissapointing to hear some of the comments made...I left with the impression that some of the panelists just didnt "get" why what they were being shown was interesting and innovative.
My understanding is that the guest panelists are new to the world, which explains thier confusion, I suppose.
I hope that for those presenting, that aspect of the event doesnt turn them off from doing events of this type in the future.

Congrats to all involved in it, even with the negativity that was present at times, it was one hell of a great event. I also have to thank Iumi, who was on the ball behind the scenes, and so supportive and encouraging. It was the most smoothly-run show I've been involved in, in no small part thanks to her guidance and good cheer backstage.

Everyone there worked together to make one fabulous show! The set was amazing, the talent exhibited a very impressive sampling.
I've been looking through the snapzilla galleries from it...wow, what a show. There was a spectacular range of talent, and what was represented on the stage was Pure SL. We can do things here that arent even remotely acceptable or even *possible* in the real world...and thats one of the best things about the place.
In the end, thats what I am doing my best to take away from the whole experience.

I think when trying to come off as Simon Cowell it pays to notice that although he certainly doesn't mix words and has very strong opinions.... He's usually on the money too - he can be harsh, but he's usually telling it like it is straight up and down.

He doesn't want to waste his time or others - and although he can be bitingly honest with the subtlety of a baseball bat to the nuts - he is more or less more honest than hurtful.

From the pics I've seen of the designers and their models - they did a bang up job with nice stuff and some great people to show off their wares.

Maybe el commentato should try a lil harder being like them - a lil more original and try and express themselves than come off as a cheap knockoff of someone else.