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Interview with Torrid Midnight
By Celebrity Trollop | March 23, 2006
I recently had the opportunity to hang out and chat with Torrid Midnight at her house in Chartreuse. We covered a lot of ground including blog drama, collaborating with Nephalaine Protagonist on a clothing line, machanima and more.
CT: I listened to Secondcast #5 and 6 today. Haha. Why is everyone so mean to you?
TM: pfft I have no idea, I think I ask for it :P We recorded last night for next week and we got into a bit of an argument :P I think it shocked them
CT: Good for you! I keep sending emails to Johnny which end something like, “Stop being mean to Torrid!”
TM: It’s worse when I try to talk about fashion
CT: Why’s that?
TM: They all let out a groan like “oh no”
Celebrity Trollop rolls her eyes.
TM: It’s just hard to talk with them about it because it doesn’t interest them at ALL lol
CT: Yeah, that’s fairly clear. :D Actually, that’s something that was touched on before [on Secondcast episode #3.] Why isn’t there more of a men’s fashion scene on SL?
TM: I don’t know honestly, I mean it’s much better than it used to be for sure. I’ve tried making men’s clothing but I end up drawing blanks. I keep telling myself I can come up with something haha
Celebrity Trollop nodnods.
TM: A lot of men tend to wear one outfit for a month though. I think that’s one reason some designers don’t make much in the male department.
CT: Yeah. Economics definitely plays a role.
CT: So, let me ask how you got to Second Life in the first place. (By the way, I really enjoyed your posts about your early history here.) The snapshots were way cool.
TM: Ah yes, haha I felt the need to have that written somewhere. :) It’s nice to look back sometimes and remember.
CT: Someone has to convey the culture to us n00bs somehow.
TM: Well, I actually first heard about Second Life when I was in The Sims Online Beta. I was really bored there and overheard this guy talking about how SL was in beta as well. So I checked it out :)
CT: When SL was in beta was it free? Or how did you get involved with it?
TM: It was free yes and at that time it wasn’t open 24 hours yet
CT: Hard to believe. :D
TM: I know! haha
CT: So when exactly did you start making clothes?
TM: About 6 months after I started SL, I began to grow tired of not having a lot of options (at least my style). I also had friends that were making clothing and it really inspired me to try.
CT: OK, can I press you to describe your style in three words or less?
TM: I can do it with one really, eclectic. It’s true!
CT: This corset top is yours. (GNUbie, though.)
TM: Yes, that was one of the first tops I did but I revamped it for the GNUbie store :) I wanted to have quality items there.
CT: It’s kind of a nice change from the normal pile of free clothes. :D How did you get involved with that project?
TM: Well, Ingrid Ingersoll messaged me and asked if I had some items I’d be interested in placing there. I like helping folks out so I was glad to :).
CT: Excellent. It’s something that probably isn’t as promoted as it ought to be on Help Island.
TM: It’s a nice shop and well thought out, not chaotic like some places I see.
CT: Yes definitely. I wanted to ask you more about a post on your blog about avie proportions. I guess last year there was some kind of big drama about a modelling contest you were having.
TM: Ah yes, there was indeed.
CT: Could you give a little background on that?
TM: Well, I had a sort of contest, though more just a job opportunity. I asked for pictures, information, etc and I gave a deadline. It was to be the model for my store and I was just picking one with perhaps an alternate. Well, I got loads of entries.
CT: Yes.
TM: It was overwhelming going through them all.
CT: I can’t even imagine. :D
TM: I was really hoping for someone to just jump out at me I guess you could say.
CT: Right.
TM: In the end there were I believe 7 finalists that I chose from. At that point, after naming them, the drama began.
CT: Nodnod. How many entries were there? Over a 100 or something, I think, yes?
TM: Yes, it was well over 100.
CT: Oh boy.
TM: Everyone had really nice entires, and I enjoyed reading the little bios that they wrote. So I wasn’t really expecting the drama.
CT: Right. How did you select the winner from the finalists?
TM: Well, it was just going over them again and again basically, it was tough. Apparently from what I began to hear, I chose “on the edge” type females lol
CT: Really?!
TM: Yes, which was not true. I chose people I thought had unique looks and decent proportions, etc.
CT: Yes. And then there was a winner, but the drama wasn’t even over yet.
TM: Haha, not at all unfortunately. I chose Pip Puff and Ingrid Ingersoll as an alternate.
CT: nod
TM: It was like a week later when I found out someone was writing about the contest in their blog and it wasn’t pleasant.
CT: *cringe*
TM: They basically said that Pip was my clone and if I’d wanted someone just like myself why did I bother having a contest, etc. It was pretty harsh.
CT: Sounds like it. Did things stay there, or was there some kind of “better ending?”
TM: Well, I talked with the person and they ended up apologizing to myself and Pip, she said that she was just bitter and didn’t handle it well. I’m not one to hold a grudge and it took a lot for her to apologize.
CT: That was fairly adult (and sort of refreshing, compared to normal forum/blog drama.)
TM: Definitely.
CT: Yes. So let me ask you now a little more about your experimental videos. :D How did you decide to start doing those?
TM: That started with me having designer’s block hehe :)
CT: Nodnod.
TM: I sometimes get into a rut and I have to start doing other projects to keep the wheels turning. So I had been taking BuhBuhCuh’s [Fairchild] classes with the alt-zoom group to learn about movie making in SL.
CT: Oh cool.
TM: I thought to myself, well..I’m not “great” at this so I’m just going to do it from the home movie angle. It was a lot of fun!
CT: I really wanted to go to the film premieres a while back. Is machanima something you’re going to continue playing with?
TM: Oh definitely, I doubt it will ever be something I fine tune, but I enjoy it and it’s a great way to bring information about SL to others.
Celebrity Trollop nods.
TM: I’ve started doing video tutorials like the one streaming at my shop now:)
CT: Yes, and it rocks, by the way. Thanks for making it.
TM: You’re welcome! I’m really glad to hear when it helps someone.
CT: I’m still trying to fumble my way around prims, scripting and so forth. So it definitely helped me.
TM: I’ve been here this long and scripting is just something I “mess around” with when I need to :P. I leave that up to the smart people. :)
CT: Heh. I’m going through the LSL tutorial. Just I’d rather shop and write about fashion than apply myself. :D
TM: I applaud you then. I just can’t wrap my brain around it haha.
CT: Thanks. Anyway, I appreciate your take on the modelling saga, but I was trying to segue into a discussion about avatar proportions. You seem to have some pretty strong preferences in that respect. Would you care to elaborate?
TM: Sure, it’s not really something I feel *that* strongly about. It may have come across that way after the modeling contest lol.
CT: Haha. Perhaps. That was my impression from your blog.
TM: I love the diversity in Second Life and I think we should all look how we WANT to look. I do however like to see proportioned avatars, whether they be thin, overweight, tall, short, etc
CT: Right.
TM: I think I just see a lot of females with over the top chests and teeny tiny torsos :P.
CT: Nodnod.
TM: I just wonder if that comes from real life, society’s ideal beauty.
CT: Now that’s an interesting thought train.
TM: Well, I think in the world we live in, it’s almost burned into your brain by the media what is beautiful. “You can never be too thin” etc
CT: Also, I wonder how much of the phenominon you talk about is driven by the sort of economic reality of the sex trade in SL.
TM: I’m sure that is definitely involved as well. I wonder if it’s the thought process of “This is what appeals to men”.
CT: Well. I think that *does* drive a lot of decisions about beauty and fashion, doesn’t it?
TM: I guess it’s easy to think that men like big breasts and tiny bodies lol
CT: Hehehe.
TM: Of course it does, a lot of the times you want to look good for the person you’re trying to attract, but you’ve got to feel good about yourself too.
CT: True. It’s sort of interesting too, that in SL there’s kind of the freedom to experiment with fashions and clothes you might NEVER wear in RL, just because a) you can, and b) you look amazing in them.
TM: Yes, one thing about SL, you never have to worry if it’s going to fit lol
CT: Hee! Yes.
CT: Circling way back to your first clothing, were you good with photoshop then or did you have to learn how to make quality clothing with a lot of experimentation?
TM: Before I started SL, I didn’t even know what Photoshop was :)
CT: I’m always so impressed by self-taught learners.
TM: I’ve always loved fashion and I’ve always been the one to experiment in real life with it. I’ve just taught myself over time and of course also had advice from really talented friends. The amount of talent in SL is amazing.
CT: That is very true. I’m constantly amazed by builds, sims, houses, clothes, avies. But I’m also kind of shiny newbie. Maybe it fades.
TM: Hmm, I don’t feel it fades, there’s always something new and different that will make you go wow here. The thing that happens with me is, not getting out enough to explore :).
CT: Which segues into a question I really like asking successful people in SL. It is: what do you do in non-work time?
TM: When I’m not working on something here I usually just go and hang out with friends. It’s nice sometimes just to chat and be silly :).
CT: Definitely.
TM: I also have a part time job in real life so that keeps me busy too.
CT: I did actually wonder about how SL impacts your RL financially. Some designers like Simone Stern use SL as their entire RL job. So.
TM: I think that’s wonderful honestly. I don’t think I have enough inventory to really use SL as my full time job. I make a decent amount but it’s not something I could live on completely.
CT: Nodnod.
TM: I just don’t think I could ever make THAT much clothing in a week or month hehe :)
CT: I remember you saying on Secondcast #3 (I think that’s it) that you never felt like you could make 5 outfits in a day.
TM: Oh dear, there is no way lol.
CT: Like Nyte Calligari or Janie Marlowe.
TM: I sometimes take 2 or 3 days to make an outfit. I’m a perfectionist for one thing and I tend to drive myself nuts with little details on clothing.
CT: Details matter. That’s what separates good from great, in my opinion.
TM: I try to do better each time I make something new, I like for the clothing to have detail and not just be something I throw together.
TM: Not that Janie or Nyte do that lol
CT: I think I have more of Janie’s clothes in my inventory than any other designer in SL.
TM: I always have ideas in my head, I sometimes just can’t get them to Photoshop.
TM: Well, Janie makes a lot of clothing, I can imagine that’d be easy to do hehe :)
CT: Nodnod. That reminds me of a comment I remember you making from Secondcast too, which is that “Jeans are really tough to make well.” Why is that?
TM: They’re tough to draw is what I meant. Photosourcing jeans is a lot easier, though sometimes you can have problems with lighting etc. Painting them and making them look realistic is a whole other ballgame lol
CT: OK.
TM: If you’ve ever seen clothing that’s just been painted, it has a flat texture meaning it just basically looks like what you could do yourself with the sliders in SL and a texture.
CT: Nodnod. Aside from making transparent undershirts for tattoos, I’ve never really tried it.
TM: So if you just say, filled in an outline of pants with blue paint and did nothing else..they wouldn’t look very much like jeans.
CT: Yes.
TM: It was a learning experience lol
CT: How long did it take for you to develop a confident sense of your clothing design. I mean, when did you decide that “this is good enough to sell.”
TM: Hmm. Well, it was at least a month or so before I got up the nerve to sell something.
CT: OK.
TM: My friends kept telling me to sell what I was making but I wasn’t so sure :P.
CT: Could you talk a little about the selling environment “back in those days?” I imagine it was quite a bit different.
TM: It was very different, for one making money in real life wasn’t an issue. Back then you tried to make money to pay taxes in SL hehe
CT: I heard something about that in Hamlet’s blog.
TM: Mostly I made clothing for fun then.
CT: Right.
TM: Everyone was very helpful to each other as well, you rarely came across the “dog eat dog” mentality.
CT: Did that attitude change because of the Lindex or just because there was a huge explosion of designers all trying to compete against each other?
TM: I’d have to say the idea of making a true buck brought that about.
Celebrity Trollop nods.
TM: I think you’ve had people come in and just want to make money somehow, clothing is one of the easier ways to do that. I hate to say it but a lot of folks in SL don’t care too much about quality, so they’ll buy just about anything.
CT: Interesting.
TM: I guess I sound somewhat jaded saying that.
CT: I have definitely bought clothes that I’ve been disappointed with already.
TM: It’s just something I’ve run into time and time again in the last year. I don’t mean to sound harsh for sure, everyone gets better as they practice, but some just don’t bother trying to get better.
CT: I can see what you’re saying. Trust me. I look at the new stuff in the forum every day. :D
TM: lol yes you do! I check your site out pretty regularly :)
CT: Thanks! It’s fun, but LOTS of work.
CT: So, earlier you said you felt like you were in designer’s block. Do you still feel that way?
TM: I do but I’ve got ideas flowing again, so that’s a good sign. I’m hoping to release a new line of clothing at the start of April.
CT: Any teasers that I can entice readers with?
TM: Hmm, I can say that it will have a retro touch to it.
TM: I find myself looking to past decades.
CT: Mysterious. I like it. Like Hollywood glamour era, or Victorian? Prohibition?
TM: haha, more like 50s-70s :) but with a modern edge
CT: Also, in your last blog entry you said you were interested in focusing on some new designers. How is that coming along?
TM: Well, I’ve not been able to focus much time on that so far. I’m hoping to get a break soon where I can really explore the talent out there. I’m hoping to maybe turn the lack of wanting to talk about fashion in secondcast to a kind of “fashion minute” where I maybe talk about a new designer for a few mins, etc
CT: That would rock, Torrid. :D I wanted to ask you about your collaboration on “I Mean Business” with Nephaline.
CT: First, I love that outfit.
TM: Oh great!
CT: But, how did you get together and who’s idea was it? What was the genesis?
TM: Well, actually our first outfit together was Gingerbread Coffin, we started a line of clothing called The New Zero
CT: Nodnod. So there’s more to it than just I Mean Business? :D
TM: I messaged her one day and threw an idea out to her about a style I’d really like to see her do
TM: oh yes!
CT: OK. That’s on my list of stuff to go find. :D
TM: after I mentioned it to her, she said, how would you like to do that together? Of course I jumped on the opportunity. I was a bit intimidated, of course by Neph’s amazing knowledge, but I loved the challenge. We also brought in Delairen Baysklef for hair etc. She hasn’t been around much lately though unfortunately. If you look at my ad in the classifieds, the picture is of some items in The New Zero line
CT: Cool. So does she just sort of randomly IM you and say, “Torrid, we have to make X!”
TM: haha Sometimes! Sometimes I message her :P Although it’s more like a soft knock to see if she’s busy first lol
CT: It’s the polite thing to do. :D
TM: Yes:)
CT: (Not that most customers want to believe that…)
TM: Haha, right.
CT: So I’m just about out of time. Is there anything else you’d like to share with readers about Torrid Midnight or Torridwear?
TM: I’d just like to say that I appreciate everyone that shops at my store, I have a lot of loyal customers who offer a lot of kind words of support. I promise I’ll have new stuff soon! lol
CT: Great. Thanks for the opportunity to talk with you, Torrid. It’s been a pleasure.
TM: Thank you, it’s been a pleasure for me as well!
Thanks again, Torrid for your time. Please also take a look at the spotlight on Torrid’s designs.
Topics: Bottoms, External Resources, For Newbies, Interviews, Tops |
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