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You’re beautiful. Now what?
By Celebrity Trollop | July 1, 2008
This past weekend I spent some time touring around the gorgeous new Aspire Isle. If you didn’t already know, the original Aspire team, Trina Noland and Bianca Darling turned over the business to Kristianne Matfield, Bender Hamer, and Babyhoney Bailey. This trio of Second Life entrepreneurs took the controversial step of asking their models to be exclusive just to their agency. For a Second Life model that can be a difficult request to honor, since, to be honest, the minimum level of appearance for most avatars in Second Life is like some kind of Fellini-esque dystopia where the stunningly beautiful is mundane and routine.
Everyone in Second Life can be a model, if they want to put the effort (and Lindens) into it.
At the risk of sounding too Carrie Bradshaw, in a world where everyone is a model, how do you stand out? Beauty is always a touch subjective at its core. I wrote about my own personal standards in a mega-review of professional shape makers’ products. If you’re an aspiring model or just looking for some guidance on making your own shape from scratch, I highly recommend this excellent shape tutorial by Alaska Metropolitan of Metro Models.
Generally, I find symmetry and proportion the be the hallmarks of a really good shape. Since every model in Second Life has roughly symmetrical and proportional body the best opportunity to separate yourself from the pixel perfect masses is in the creation of a memorable face.
The memorable to me starts with something that’s out of the ordinary. Some observers might label such a distinction a “flaw,” but its really a strength in disguise because it gives your avatar’s appearance a hook that the conventional (and less memorable) can’t compete with. When you’re tweaking your shape, I’d recommend a proportional body shape, a skin which flatters your entire shape, and a very memorable face.
For Second Life avatars conventional, hum-drum and bland does not a model make. Second Life is a unique environment where the standard of beauty is raised to new heights simply because with only a little effort any avatar can be “conventionally beautiful.”
Kristianne and her business partners have rounded up quite a roster of memorably beautiful models. So far they’ve been especially adept at finding models with unique styles and shapes. I think that’s why the exclusive-to-Aspire agency is going to succeed for them.
Special thanks to Aspire models Aealla Illyar and Masumi Desade for letting me shoot them on short notice.
Topics: Models & Modeling, Opinion |
The finest models ^_^ Number 1 in my book
Posted by: Panda Fhang on July 1st, 2008 at 8:26 pmCeleb, thank you for noticing. Bho, Ben and I are more than thrilled with all of our models because we think they all have a bit of something different to bring to the table… be it in their face, their skin or their body shape. I think you nailed it exactly…
Posted by: kristianne matfield on July 1st, 2008 at 9:11 pmI agree with everything that’s being said here. However, I think this applies to First Life models as well: A “flaw” can make them stand out from the crowd. I remember I once saw a data processed picture of a face that was supposed to be “perfect” in all proportions. Yes, it was beautiful, but also very boring.
Posted by: Therese Carfagno on July 2nd, 2008 at 1:42 amThank you Celeb, this was so well put. The individual look - also much in demand among RL’s contemporary models - is what makes a good looking person rise from beautiful to simply stunning. And yes - what’s commonly regarded as flaws be it a gap between your teeth, a mole or a birthmark - is what will make people remember you. Ask Kate Moss (short) Madonna & Cindy Crawford (birthmarks) or fashion pioneers Lauren Hutton (gap tooth) and Twiggy (freckles).
Posted by: Honey Bender on July 2nd, 2008 at 5:27 am