Advice on Sales!!

Ditto- like i said above to someone who advised do something unique and do it better than anyone else- clothes are clothes-

I will take you up on just plain Create - that I can do

Well, since we are talking Sales.....Unique enough to bring a new sale. Wide Open.

To you clothing designers.....no....not everything has been done. I search and search for the evening gowns and casual outfits that I want to wear. Rarely find what I have in mind. 80% in general (not yours)....is hooker chic or fairy princess fluff.

Styles that I talked to a friend about recently, that we don't find.....are similar to Donna Karan for casual, and Vera Wang....Yves Saint Laurent styles for formal.....classic, simple....yet the right cut or drape makes them stunning.....clinging, draping fabric (not fluffy skirts)....I'm looking at a gown on one of their web sites, right now....that I would love to have in SL. I'm not saying "copy" their designs.....just trying to explain the style and niche that is missing.

Amaranthim has a grasp on this....I'm seeing it in her designs.....but Am....I want to see the gown cut down to my navel....with folds of luscious fabric teasing and draping and clinging....the skirt sweeping across the floor, behind me. It could be solid black....but the cut would make it stunning.

I used to design formalwear in RL.....I don't have the skills to do it here. There are a zillion ideas in my head....and I don't see them here. There is plenty of room to be Unique. No way has everything been done....not even close.

Second Life Clothing Previewer It is a great tool for checking seams etc., I do use AVPainter but not for creating, it has basically taken the place of SLCP for me. When I have completed a PSD file for an outfit, I take a merged copy and upload it to AVP. I look there at my seams, wrinkles at the sides, etc. I will go back a few times and tweak, then upload to AVP again, getting everything just so. Finally when I am ready, I take the final render to AVP, and in there I will use a little smudge here, a little paint there, a little erase over there, to really fine tune my item (quite often I am working in 1 pixel but hey, I'm fussy ) It is the best tool ever for nice necklines and crisp edges. When I'm done, I save it from AVP, and go back to PS to resize and convert it for upload to SL.

Another thing I use it for is if I am going to do something that requires front/back horizontal or curved seams to match up. That is pretty much the only time I actually 'draw' on it. I upload a grid, and make little marks where I need things to be, then I use that grid as the background for my product.

All in all, what AVP has saved me in time, frustration (OMG THOSE NECKLINES) and trial uploads has more than paid for it! But for me, it is not a tool for creation but rather a tool for tweaking, and perfecting, the final product before upload.

You are so right about the hooker chic lol...

yeah that one also has me wondering, how many are "real" people and still active
I just upped mine to the 250 and I know eventually I will have to up it again
I justify it due to the fact I do not spend lindens anywhere else for ads or such

I do not use classifieds and sometimes I put stuff on the SLEX front page option thing, although it never seems to help

that's the name ty!!
I do basically the same thing using the slcp
I tried it with the painter just was not comfortable for me, and I too work in extreme zoom 1 pixel at a time, in photoshop hehe

Got that right! I enjoy the sleek evening gowns you described, especially for certain types of dancing, and had to look long and hard for the two that fit that description.

well I for one do not look at the fashion sites or magazines or anything like that
I am totally uneducated in the fashion world
heck I just had to do a search to find out the actual name of the style of shoe I just finished LOL
which happens to be a slingback sandal (high heel)

so, heh using names of different designers in the Real World is lost on me
I tend to do what comes from within, I have no plan when I start to make something, it just happens

I do not consider myself hooker chic, although some of it might be a little risque heh

mine is no real style I guess

Well, why the heck not?

I dunno... never really interested me (I know that is a bit of an oxymoron LOL)

I create because I enjoy the creation process, I sell to help cover the costs of owning my own land and having my store there

I do not create to try to follow this years fashion, or even slightly claim to know what is the in colors for fall etc

and hell if I created to match my RL likes I would be creating shorts and Tshirts all day LOL
HATE HATE HATE dresses in RL, don't much like skirts either
way to large of a woman to wear the short shorts or mini skirts, or cute little tops

so I am a jeans/shorts tshirt kinda woman
and barefoot a lot LOL

wait... what was the question? I lost my train of thought LOL

oh why don't I look though fashion mags and site... because I find them boring...

IMO, the biggest improvement has to come from the fabric. You can't do much about the cut (for skirts, anyway), but the real difference between clothes and couture clothes is the fabric. Couture is not flat, has appropriate shading and for lack of a better word, it just has texture. Bake it or fake it.

Wow.....I don't know what to say to that.....except....don't you have to have a love and passion for what you are designing......to truly create?

I truly love creating, I love drawing I love learning new things in photoshop and that all translates into the clothing designs I create

one doesn't have to follow the fashion world to love creating clothing, for me I am not trying to follow the latest RL fashions, I am creating something from within, something unique to me, something I have not seen and trying to recreate in SL

I work with eggs in RL, creating works of art from them, that doesn't mean I read about everything to do with eggs, or birds

I have a idea what you mean but i agree with Rhaorth i don't really read fashion mags, never been my thing. I'll have a go at something unique and different aswell i'll try and come up with something. I have a sort of idea in my head just too get it too all fit together now lol.

Oh god did you say baking, *groans deeply* I hate Maya and all those other type of programs just the interface makes me wanna pull out my hair, my can't people make things so much easier lol.

Good point.

Mickey, not sure if this is the type of gown you were thinking of, but decided to post a few photos and it is a good example of Cristalle's point.

This was the first gown I purchased in SL. One of the first people I met (a man who has a passion for couture) took me on a tour of his recommendations for clothing stores. He kept saying, "Don't buy now, just look!" but this dress just called out my name. I particularly liked the matching clutch that came with it and thought that was the coolest thing.

The designer is Nonna Hedges. I haven't been back there in ages and took a quick swing through just a bit ago. I had to leave quickly as I would have been tempted to spend LOTS of lindens, but as soon as I get some extra, definitely heading back.



Full length to get an idea of entire gown



Top half for a better idea of the cut/fabric



Closer look at texture with matching clutch.

OMG!!!

That's one of the first gowns I got!

My bf at the time, took me to the store, which is absolutely beautiful....(he has wonderful tastes).....and told me to pick out anything I like......and I loved it all.......but that's the one I chose. That was almost 2 years ago. Amazing.

That's exactly what I'm talking about!

For those who are designing clothes.....and do not have a Passion for fashion, for fabrics, for textures, for fit.....I just don't know what to say. I'm speechless.

Nonnah Hedges is a great example of the point. And that is a great dress. It has texture, and doesn't look like a simple photoshopped pattern stuck onto the upper template. Although not perfect, this is something that Ginny Talamasca and Katterina Dagostino did very well. And Simone does well. And Armidi does well. The fabric is superior. It gives shape, definition and is worth paying a little extra L for, because dammit, it looks good. It looks like it fits. Sometimes shading may be a bit overdone, but I love to see leather look like leather and not latex or flat black. And silk that subtly shimmers...

The exact gown!!! WOW!!!

Great minds...and all that

Simone was the next shop my friend took me to

Were we shopping with the same guy?

in my opinion regarding SL clothing
one doesn't have to have a RL passion for RL fashion, to create SL fashion

now if I were doing it in RL then yes, I would have to know about the cut of cloth, and the bias and the way it falls etc, however in SL none of that comes into play, as we are not working with cloth, we are working with pixels, and Trompe-l'œil

when I paint in RL I do not have a passion for the paint I use, I have a passion for being creative

creating clothing in SL is just another way for me to be creative
instead of paint I use pixels to create the art, and the canvas is the avatar

I choose to arrange the pixels in such a way that they resemble clothing
they are by no stretch of the imagination real clothing (sure I need to have some knowledge of the way fabric falls, as in the way it gathers, layers, shadows, etc, and that to me is all part of my learning experience, but it doesn't mean I am a fan of RL fashion)

I don't how how else to explain to you that I do not have to be a aficionado of fashion, or read magazines and pour over the latest greatest whatever that is happening in Paris or new york

IF I were trying to mimic the fashions and what's hot in RL, then yes I would be checking out those thing

I am not trying to do that, I am only trying to create things from my imagination.


do you think all builders in SL have a passion for engineering or architecture?

Everything I make in SL is something that I would (or would love) to wear in RL. From gowns to jeans, I make stuff that I love. I started out finding beautiful fabrics and textures online, and have since graduated to creating my own fabrics and loving every minute of it! Often I find (and now create) a texture I absolutely love, and it tells me what it wants to be

Thanks Mickey- but i must agree with several others- no- i have no regard for day to day rl fashion- I know what i like- it is not a "style" it is me... No i dont wear long gowns in RL but if i were Ginger Rogers I would- do that is where my design comes from- old Hollywood movies and what looked good to me then... Ginger gliding across the floor..Myrna Llodys floor sweeping satins... what could be better? Look at the dresses in the in the old 40's movies- that is what drives my stuff. Not planned mind u- just happens. Mickey -m look at Cotton Candy and Purple Haze- will try and add even flashier