I want you to think of something. Think of a goth girl. Do it quickly, don't think of someone specific you know, just in your head invent a girl, who is a goth. I'm guessing she'll look something like this: very thin, alabaster white skin, black (probably dyed) hair, lots of eyeliner, maybe some black lipstick. Am I right? This trick works for a lot of subcultures, for example, hip-hop girl, I'm guessing skin the darker side of tan, be it asian, mediterranean or black, but probably not an fair English Rose sort of complexion, a heart-shaped face and a large behind. Of course, it's not fair to suggest that everyone will see these things, but I'll bet a fair amount of people have visualized the types I described. It's interesting how stereotypes based on a person's interests influence what we expect them to look like, with no regard to what they may have put on, just their shape and colouring, the very things their choices of clothing have no influence over.
Eclectic as I am with my fashion choices in Second Life, there's something I'm a real stickler for, and that's dressing for the season. Never mind the fact that by default the sun always shines in our happy virtual land (charming but laggy snowflake emitters aside), if it's a blazing sunny day outside, I'm not going to put my avatar in a sweater and big boots. In autumn, I'm all about tights, long sleeve tees and cozy hoodies. And by the same logic, throughout winter, my jammed inventory is host to scarves, gloves, and above all, coats. My poor long suffering friends get the worst of it. It's easy to incur my wrath, just wear a cute little summer dress or shorts and sandals in October. “But I live in Florida, it's 90 degrees here!” they say. “That's not the point, you're veering dangerously far from seasonal stereotypes!” I say, and then frown and tap my virtual foot until they don something I deem more appropriate or teleport away in shame.
Something that always astounds me about the talent of creators, clothing designers in particular, in Second Life is how they have the power to make you believe. A commonly uttered phrase about SL (admittedly normally about whatever drama is happening on the Grid that day) is “It's just pixels”. True enough, but when the pixels we are treated to daily in SL have been treated with as much love and care as these, who are we to complain? I have no graphical, or mechanical skill whatsoever (when I once tried to play with flexi in Second Life, all I could do was make a scary tentacle, which now proudly terrorizes visitors to my friend's garden), it's really quite shameful, but I really am quite excellent at suspending disbelief when I see something beautiful. A good amount of my friends are technically minded, and when they see something cool in SL, they'll say “I wonder how they did that?”.
