OK, before I start, let me say that I usually avoid ranting on the blog. If I find something I don’t like, I will either not blog it, or talk to the creator of the item and offer feed back one on one. But what to do if the creator is a mere contractor and the company is a RL organisation that came to SL?
Recently Armani has come to SL and although the build looks nice enough, the content in the vendors is absolutely way below the quality that you might expect from one of the RL top couturiers. The marketing staff at Armani obviously is clueless about the fashion standards in SL and has trusted blindly the company that brought them to SL. Armani in SL states that RL Armani has approved all content in the shop and when asked, a couple of weeks before opening, Armani’s RL press office stated they were working with top class content creators. But if you don’t know what really is possible apparelwise, then how are you going to judge the quality of content? When I met mr Armani in world and asked him his opinion on the content, he hesitated for a while and then said that unfortunately the creative process in SL is limited by the possibilities that applications like Photoshop and Lightwave have to offer. Hmm… he has a point… but judge for yourself whether those limits have met in this blue dress (300 L$!!…. at least the price is Armani worthy). Just for the record, the hair in this photo is Armidi’s Ibiza in pearl, and the skin is Nylon Outfitters Poppy black.
Yesterday I got this mixed feeling of excitement and angst when a folder was dropped on me by No 7 cosmetics. No 7 is a well known UK cosmetics brand from Boots and the notecard that came with the folder talked about a preview of make up that would later this season be introduced in RL. So I thought… wow… this is a nice way of marketing your procducts. You whet the appetite of the fashionable people in SL and then introduce it in RL. Cute idea. Until I actually tried on the skin, hair, shape and dress that were in the folder. And again I got struck with desillusion. I am not going to bother to enter into a detailed description. Let me suffice to say that the shape is err… not quite anatomically correct, the skin has weird shadings and the clothes… I do like the shiny hems actually. Too bad they bleed. Question remains, if you want to make people curious about your RL product… is this really the way to do it? Reading the name of the creator of some of the items in the folder I conclude that, again, an in world web development company has been involved. One that I thought actually knows what they’re talking about. But guys…. how can you advise your clients to jump into this world full of eager and critical people with products like this?
The title of this post refers to something a friend was saying on this topic. I was reluctant to post about this, but she encouraged me to do it. Because it is about RL companies coming in world, taking advantage of their RL brand names. They really should be setting the standards on content creating… not taking the standards down. Yes, I agree I am measuring with different standards. Would this have been te work of just another resident trying content creating, I really would not have bothered to post about it. But this content coming from well known RL companies… honestly? I think it’s a bad development. SL as a marketing platform is not being taken seriously by those companies when they dare to come to SL and offer content from this quality. I can only hope that other organisations that consider coming to SL take the effort to get themselves aquainted with the possibilities before they put themselves to the mercy of an in world company to translate them to Second Life.
Another example of badly researched projects from BIG RL companies. I don’t know why they don’t contact fashion bloggers in SL for opinions on the quality of their clothing before they release it in the public domain and make a fool of themselves.
Yeah, I visited the Armani store in sheer excitement that they entered Second Life. I was not super impressed. I could give some feedback and thoughts, but that would be along the lines of consulting…
which it seems, some RL companies need to do to enter SL in a successful manner… but alas they fail to do it.
hmm. Hope they dont end up like Coke, I do love Armani,
Wow, you actually were able to speak to the Armani rep? And here I thought they were just going to build and drop. Oh well, I’m still not interested in purchasing from there any more with how crummy they came off.
If you talk to the Armani rep again, will you tell him or her that their company performed a pretty good slap in the SL fashion community’s face?
Also, Grazia, did you happen to see when the RL company Bershka came into SL? Iris reviewed it for us at Shopping Cart Disco… it was all cut and paste photosourcing. Their build was pretty cute though… Bershka did a better job than Armani, but not as good as they should have done. It basically states a lack of research of what works best in Second Life.
I heard that the in-world company that did the content creation for Armani recommended better but was constrained by the Armani company itself, who insisted on the type of content that you see.
Thank you Sachi for sending me this link of No. 7 machinima: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4qdKOU-_sDM.
I was just saying to someone (before I’d read the comments
), it’s not so much that it’s that the standards are different for RL companies in SL, if it were, I’d be spending as much money at Armani just for the same of it being Armani as I do at…all sorts of places. >.>
It’s a complete lack of research as to what’s appropriate in SL. The Armani dress featured in the article is clearly a case of someone being employed to do something in SL, opening it and seeing ‘Oh, that’s how dresses are made here’, and never bothering to step out of the virtual warehouse they sit in to work, to see what the rest of the world they’re trying to tap LOOKS LIKE
For example, my mother doesn’t play SL, and when I showed her the Boots No.7 thing and she saw nothing wrong with it (commented that it looked a little like a young Joan Collins actually), because…she just doesn’t know how things are ‘done’ in SL. And it’s RL companies thinking like that that kills their SL presence and credibility, anyone who makes allowances for this tosh they turn out is just blindly showing brand loyalty…
“Let me suffice to say that the shape is err… not quite anatomically correct”
This is pretty much norm in SL though, so not sure if we should be complaining when a RL company doesn’t do something the regular SL audience clearly doesn’t want to begin with…
That’s a true statement Joannah, however, I would at least expect a RL designer to at least tour SL, look at what we have here and be inspired to create their dreams here. Offer a dress with the Armani name attached, and not even bother to finish the hem.
As a RL Marketing Director, my analysis is that these companies are not understanding that this is a truly different marketing medium and taking advantage of the synergies that exist for brand enhancement – without cluttering the SL world with traditional commercial advertising. SL is a place where companies should be EXTENDING their brands – not just advertising. SL has to be a means for more than just brand exposure – what I think misguided Armani limited himself to. SL is a place where I can afford the very best clothing – Mr. Armani should have viewed SL as a place to extend and enhance his brand – in RL Armanai has a cosmetics line that I have not tried. Why didn’t he enlist the very best skin designers and put out a line of skins using his RL makeup palette? One example of a company that is doing just what Armanai should have is Aveda. In it’s partnership with the highly talented Elika Tiramisu (ETD) keep Aveda top of mind with fashion minded consumers. The hair ETD makes for Aveda are some of the best you can buy in SL and reflect very well on the company. It is why last time I needed a haircut in RL, I chose an Aveda salon. SL made me think more highly of Aveda and realize that its aesthetic matched my own. How could a perfume company use SL? Ok. Fine. I am going to start a Second Life marketing consulting firm and help some of these companies out.
Real Life companies need this feedback. They want to know if their advertising dollars are being well spent, and how their products are being received.
My best advice to them is to find the best designers already in-world and work with them.
One example of someone who has done this with great success is PPC of Silverscreen. All of the movies they have brought to SL so far have been very successful projects and the fre items are still being enjoyed by many many people now that they are a museum on the Silverscreen sim. I know from personal experience, having worked for them, that they have very high standards about the end result of anything representing them and their clients.
PPC aren’t a SL development company but to really utilise the wonderful opportunity that SL offers, many companies could take a leaf out their book.
@Joannah: I was trying to be polite… naked in this shape (or wearing anything else than a poofy system skirt…) you look like a midget. Torso is way to long, no hips no butt, and the legs are the ones of a toddler. That’s what I meant with anatomically incorrect. This statement though is probably more accurate as to describe the nature of the shape.
I didn’t even notice all that from the pic, I was just struck by how incredibly broad and manly her shoulders seemed…o.o
{Sorry. Long.}
Well, what we are really talking about here is the power of brand. The clothing, skin, and hair designers that have made a name for themselves in SL have done so by paying fierce attention to their product details and/or smart marketing. These brands have grown organically, within the virtual world, and many have evolved, reinvented themselves, and adapted to the changing software and evolving SL consumer. Once upon a time a photosourced pair of Levis was awesome; sculpted-legged jeans that cover your shoe were figments of our active imaginations.
There are thousands of SL fashion content-creators that produce embarrassing work, with poor seams, ugly color-choices, horrible or absent texturing. Most (though certainly not all) of such creators are ignored by the fashion taste-makers (i.e. bloggers and fashionistas). If we’re using the same stick, we’d ignore any RL brand that comes to SL and doesn’t meet the established standard for quality. The reason we do not, has to do with brand. Their brand has weight here, but it’s not organic to SL. We know their name from RL and that is their only advantage. If the are seling substandard SL products, that lack of quality is damaging to their brand.
Perhaps what we should take a critical look at, then, is not the RL companies themselves, but the consultants that seem to repeatedly do them a disservice. There is a clearly established aesthetic here. Styles may vary, but the essentials of line, proportion, cut, color, texturing, and prim work are the same whether we are talking formal gowns, neko tees, or a retro trench coat.
When the consultants who work with RL brands fail deliver the quality we’ve come to expect, they are not just damaging the RL brand, they are hurting all of us. Because each failed RL-SL experiment weakens the real world perception that SL is a legitimate place to do business, marketing, or creatively express one’s product. It makes every pain staking hour that the brilliant content creators of this world spend toiling in Photoshop, burning in Lightwave, and twisting prims in their sky boxes into one big joke.
It’s the consultant’s job to correctly translate their clients’ vision into a successful product that *also* resonates with the customer. When this doesn’t happen, it’s not the client’s fault and we shouldn’t blame them. But we certainly shouldn’t let their consultants off the hook for failing to deliver the quality we expect.
I run the SL version of UNIONBAY and I’d LOVE if someone would tell me if something i was doing sucked. I spend hours on the clothes I build and I know my shoe building abilities suck so I look for someone else in SL who is fantasic and contract them. I’ve got so many copies of textures that I noticed things once in SL and couldn’t sell to the public. I don’t want Virtual Unionbay to be just another RL company plopping a store and some crappy textures on a hunk of property. So if anyone wants to check it out i’d appreciate any feedback!
Magenta
http://slurl.com/secondlife/fondo/175/132/66
Anyone who has ever worked in a real world environment with clients knows that they are not always easy to work with. Oftentimes they want elements that work contrary to their own products and initiatives – invariably wanting something that is impractical or will alienate their desired audience.
A real world creative education provided me with a philosophy I always use when working for clients: always be true to the audience. Really, commissioned professionals are working to reach their client’s audience. If you haven’t done so, you’ve failed. In the case of RL companies looking to establish a presence in SL, what they’re really looking for consultants/creators to do is provide insight based on your knowledge and experience into the standards/culture/retail markets of this brave new world and translate it into an effective experience. The result of not doing so? Read this post on Lordfly Digeridoo’s blog.
SL is great for empowering people to be creative, but one of the drawbacks is that it comes with none of the core principles that support creative profession. So, it boils down to pleasing the client – especially when faced with thousands of dollars in payment. The Professional doesn’t take a stand with The Client because of the almighty dollar. There’s a fear there.
I can especially connect with Tymmerie and Choice’s comments. Perhaps, ladies, this is an opportunity to start something successful based on the failed benchmarks that have been mentioned.
“I was trying to be polite… naked in this shape (or wearing anything else than a poofy system skirt…) you look like a midget. Torso is way to long, no hips no butt, and the legs are the ones of a toddler. That’s what I meant with anatomically incorrect. This statement though is probably more accurate as to describe the nature of the shape.”
You got me curious now (would be great to see the body shot of that shape) though i believe the point still stands, in a way — SL norm seems also anatomically incorrect, but quite opposite to what you describe… short torso with long legs, exaggerated hip curve, bubble butt etc. So i wonder if part of negative reaction could be just due to difference of aesthetics.
Anyway, just additional thought from reading the comments… it is rather easy to expect/demand RL brands to match/exceed quality provided by the best of the best of SL makers (and apparently anything less would be immediately deemed a fail) but isn’t it somewhat downplaying the effort and skill these makers actually put in their creations? I mean, put yourself in the shoes of ‘metaverse consultant’ for a minute, and try to imagine you are now supposed to find out of blue a person who not only can make things in SL as well as Elika, Ginny, Starley etc, but on top of it is interested in working for you and your client. And then repeat it for next client. And the next one, and another.
If such people were dime a dozen and easy to find, there would be lot of them in SL already to begin with… and hiring existing SL content creators isn’t much of solution either, precisely due to limited numbers of such highly talented *and* skilled makers. There’s only one Kin Keiko, one Lost Thereian and so on, and they have their hands full already with their own SL business. Try to have them do work for RL companies and it all starts stretching and spreading very thin very quick.
Finally, a short and hopefully funny mental exercise re: different expectations and standards. Imagine Armani actually took the given advice, and hired the best SL has to offer, the Lu sisters to make their clothes. 10 L$ says as long as their names weren’t attached to the items, the general reaction from fashion blogs would be to take great looks of the creations entirely for granted and focus on “omg Armani couldn’t even get the seams right” … perception and different measuring standards indeed can be funny like that -.^
Choice has nailed it… we’ve already seen the first wave of badly-done RL company beachheads in SL, and people are all too ready to blame SL for them. Not sure what we can do save to patronize the good establishments; examples thereof are crucial to give the lie to the naysayers.
My company is currently trying to assess the best approach to build our brand within SL & these comments seem to vindicate what I’ve been feeling — that the brand WITHIN SL needs to grow organically according to the needs/ desires/ interests of residents, not a simple slam-dunk of existing brand identities onto quickly-sculpted versions of their existing lines (the dreaded “empty brand shrine” seems to inevitably follow such a approach). Just as TV is not print, SL is not same-old same-old.
(BTW, we are not a fashion company per se, but feel that fashion — VALUED, forward-looking fashion — is a good mechanism to introduce ourselves more broadly as participants in the SL ecosphere)
@Joannah
Your comments are well-taken, but here’s the thing…Yes, there is only one Kin Keiko and one Lost Thereian, but there is also only on Barnesworth Anubis and one Francis Chung. So far, the consulting firms have done wonderful jobs pairing the best builders and scripters with their RL clients, why should the content creation be any different? It’s one thing is a designer objects on principle (I don’t design, and I don’t have those kinds of principles); but it seems highly unlikely that there isn’t a contract rate available that would satisfy at least one of SL’s best fashion designers. My sense is that the need to spend money in this area simply isn’t being emphasized with the client. I love a pretty build (read: Armidi), but what earns me compliments when I leave that build and what makes people ask, “Where did you get that?” are the clothes I wear.
This blog entry was certainly interesting. It prompted me to hightail it over to the Armani store. What a dismal experience! I wouldn’t pay $1L for anything I saw there much less what they are asking for substandard clothing design and execution. It gives me a lot of pride in our designer community in SL. The little guys and gals triumph over the huge corporations because of their hard work and attention to detail, not to mention enormous creative genius. I proudly wear my Armidi, my Pixel Dolls and my Last Call . . .
Personally I would like to see more RL brands in SL, because then SL will become more mainstream. When I look at both of those pictures, a piece of me dies. The fact that Armani’s 300L$ outfit, looks like something that would be in a freebie box.
I think that designers, the Lu sisters, Last Call, Starley and the rest of the top SL designers should be called in. They could do some nice pieces for the brands that needed their help and then sell them in their own stores, kind of like what Starley did for the Canimal skins. This way we can support the designers that we all love in SL with the brands we love in RL. Also the RL designers if they wanted to could send the designers the designs that they would like to see in SL, so that way there is a way to keep the quality high of the RL designers.
I really think that RL designers and SL designers could compete fairly well in SL because of the fact that the SL designers have great reps and often produce stuff that, I personally prefer to a well done knock-off of something in RL.
I think what Boots did, with their product was a good idea, but appternetly didn’t fall all the way through.
BTW: What hair is on the Boots av? I have to have that hair!
Adia!
@ Adia… that actually came with the folder and is indeed not bad at all.
WOW so many reactions overnight. I’m sitting here with the first coffee of the day scrolling though all your comments and it is all so true.
I am happy to see that it has not evolved in a discussion about the looks of the outfits, because as stated in my original post, these content creators are mere contractors. I am not blaming them for creating something that does not live up to the expectations that we have when we think of RL brands. That is also why I chose NOT to put their names on the blog, or for example post a photo of the shape.
I can only recomnend to read Lordfly Digeridoo’s blogpost that Catero mentioned in his comment about the position content creators for MDCs find themselves in.
You can actually BUY stuff at Armani? Wow! When I went there, I couldn’t even figure out how to buy anything. Not that I wanted to ‘cos the whole place is so sterile and bleugh! I mean they have toilets!!! And a work’s canteen!!! LOL, what is that all about? It is sad that they did not do their research first.
“How could a perfume company use SL?” Tymmerie, Galleries Lafayette have produced a nice sim around their perfumes. Perfumes are named after exotic locations like the Maldives, and have their own sim quarter. You can do a quiz to find the different ‘notes’ in the perfume and win vouchers and free sets redeemable at their store (if only I lived in Paris!!). The quiz is a little easy but still a good example of Sl marketing done right, and they now have a beautiful sim to host events in. The Playboy sim and products are also quite nice IMHO. Just goes to show that if a brand really gets to KNOW Sl before coming in here, and takes a different approach to marketing then it can really work. Personally though, I’m not interested in wearing RL brands in SL. Why would I be when I can wear Nicky, Sherona, PC and other great SL brands?
Grins @ Georgette.. glad you commented this… I happen to travel to Paris in November. Would be nice to get some vouchers to redeem while drooling all over Lafayette. I love that shop. Every department that I visit makes me more greedy. They have gorgeous displays.
Please bear with a comment from someone who is not in a creative field in RL but who appreciates the creativity and hard work that goes into the fashion scene in SL… I am thrilled that you decided to discuss your disappointment with Armani in SL! While I agree that it’s often best to focus on the positive, it’s disheartening to spend one’s ‘hard earned’ Lindens on something that turns out to be a bust, particularly when a seller is using high-end branding techniques like this to hawk inferior products. As in RL, I find myself returning again and again to those designers whose products look good and work well consistently, and I simply stay away from those who disappoint me more than once. This should be a lesson RL creative consultants have already learned…regardless of venue. Concepts like brand loyalty and competition for audience/buyers just aren’t that different in SL.
I too visited the store and got lost. It took me 5 minutes to actually find a vendor and when i did i was like “thats it?” The store is cool but there is NOTHING in it!
LOL! I didn’t finish my thought before I posted my first comment – a perfume manufacturer should produce the fantasy behind the perfume. Since they can’t reproduce the smell, they have to reproduce the brand experience the consumer hopes to have. For a very simplistic example, a perfume that was positioned in the real world as being a romantic fragrance should build a fantasy romance sim that would replicate the perceived romance of the perfume. It would need to be a destination for Avatars and have romantic places for Avs to use (complete with romantic pose balls), maybe sell lovers’ gifts like flowers or jewelry and sell special hug and kiss animations. The sim could feature fantasy date settings. Maybe even let Avs in SLove “carve” their initials in a heart on a virtual tree for a small charge. They could sell specially designed kiss and hug animations. See? It wouldn’t be that hard for these companies if they just put a little thought behind it. (Or hired my soon-to-be-formed new firm GridKewl™ Consulting to help…LOL)
I am going to write more about this in my blog…eventually…but Ben & Jerry’s got it wrong, too, with their sim. I couldn’t find an ice cream shop there!!! WTF? I wanted to sit and eat ice cream with friends…not get a factory tour.
OOPS! Wanted to add that single, non-dating Avs should be considered, too, in the example I described above! I didn’t mean to leave them out! Romance applies to everyone! I did love Georgette’s ideas above!
Tymmerie they were not my ideas! It is a RL company that has made a sim around perfumes. Search for Galleries Lafayette. Sim is def worth a visit.
[...] reviews with photos and more details given at New World Notes and Second Style Fashionista. [...]
Seems to me that Armani didn’t even buy or try any of the top tier clothing available in SL to contrast and compare to their output – otherwise they would have noticed the blurred edges and the midget like appearance of the avatar. I agree with you Grazia – Armani probably paid an arm and a leg to create these items but the people they paid and the research involved was sub-par. Too bad. Hopefully they have read your blog and taken notes. Maybe a sub-group of Fashion-con or something of the like would be to do evals? I mean not everyone is good at critiquing and it would be a valuable service for incoming RL companies as well as established SL fashion designers. Something to think about anyway. I have an eval group now – I really got tired of missing little details and I believe that this should be something everyone who designs stuff (and is somewhat serious about it) should do.
Anyway – great article. Keep em coming.
Thanx Sioxi, however.. the avatar shape is not Armani’s but Boot’s No. 7 Cosmetics. The blue Armani dress as the work of a beginner is not even bad… it is just not what one would expect from a top RL designer to represent his firm in SL. As far as the evaluation group… I think you made a great decision there. To have a group of trusted people around you who will tell you unbiased their opinion about your products and the quality thereof can only help you to achieve the best possible quality of your clothes.
While I don’t think that the texture quality of SL Armani clothing is the best, I think the designs are something you don’t see too often in SL. Amongst regular SL clothing creators, they may have the graphic design skill to make pretty textures, but nobody has any real fashion design experience. Even the top clothing stores in Second Life have ugly, oddball designs that have no direction or particular fashion sense. I’m sorry, but SL “clothing designers” really need to step up their game and really make good DESIGNS, not just good texture work. Or else don’t call yourself a fashion designer! This is something that has bothered me a lot in Second Life, even if it is just a virtual game. Even the so called top virtual fashion bloggers have a quirky taste of style that I just don’t understand. There isn’t a single Second life fashion blog I have come across that makes any sense. You all look at the best texture work, but completely ignore and have no taste for the element known as design. I hope you people don’t dress yourselves in RL like you do your avatars!
@ Miss B… I have to agree with you that these are designs you don’t see too often in SL. The designs are so basic, that any beginner that sweats a weekend on the photoshop basics can squeeze this out. So most designers will not even bother to put things like this in their shops or dare asking L$ 300. Oh well… recently some people actually dare doing that….
As far as the proclaimed lack of design talent among the SL content creators, may I kindly draw your attention to the fact that at least the designers of House of Nyla, Prim & Proper and Digit Darkes are succesful RL fashion designers as well as probably a bunch of other people that I don’t know their RL background of.
Texturing is not everything… but it is surely a big deal in SL. There are only so many possibilities to make a neckline or other clothing details in SL (and make it look good), so what really makes your clothes stand out as a designer is the quality of your textures, the detail and the shading.
De gustibus non disputandum est, if you feel you have a (more) useful addition to the blogosphere, be invited to create your own style blog and inspire the other SL residents with your taste and fashion ideas. That makes more sense than a random complaint to the bloggers out here that they don’t. Oh and please don’t delude yourself with the assumption that we dress like our avatars in RL
… for Pete’s sake…this is a game… and Fashionably Dead clothes look aweful on my photoreal RL skin.
Coming soon though is a posting on the originality of quite a famous RL designer. Stay put.. It wil be fun
[...] and it became an… i’ll do it later project. But when a reader posted a comment in the “Measuring With Different Standards” entry about SL clothes makers lacking designs skills, I made it a priority again. Because even if [...]
[...] Check out all the comments on Second Style Fashionista Blog entry by Grazia Horwitz titled,” Measuring With Different Standards?” posted October 17, [...]