Avatars and Virtual Fashion

Fashion takes you only so far. Sometimes to express our own tastes in fashion, real-life fashion has some limits. One who really wants his/her fashion creativity to shine can do so within the virtual realm. Depending on the service or the program, it is possible to share style with any number of programs or even games.

This blog post is about fashion in virtual realms as well as fashion with avatars. Here is just another off-beat topic I've introduced that is still relevant in some capacity to fashion. I hope you enjoy this one.

--- Avatars and Virtual Fashion at a Glance ---

When I'm on social media, I always feel that we should be able to connect with others online as we do away from cyberspace. Some people, however, have a certain agenda or something as to why we can't connect with others online through social media as we almost easily do offline. Anyhow... expressing yourself through fashion is always special. Virtual environments help express our style and our personality in ways real life may not allow. Really creative types can find many ways to express themselves through fashion- even in virtual spaces.

Another thing possible about virtual fashion is the ability to basically be whomever you want or make your own dream person. For some people, this even includes making dream people apart from your gender. Or in other words... males creating feminine characters, and females creating masculine characters. Some people do take on this sort of thing. Some others are even irked about or disgusted of a guy who represents himself as a girl or a girl who represents herself as a guy in a virtual realm. You know I'm no stranger to this, having created a few Polyvore images of feminine outfits. No matter what, the appeal of creating virtual characters is undeniable.

These avatars are all about personality and expression. How one chooses to express himself/herself totally depends on the certain environment and what kind of appeal the person wants to express within a certain virtual realm. Fashion is all about expression- even in virtual spaces. Now that you have a little insight on avatar fashion, it is time to delve further in dressing up avatars. Please advance to the next section.

--- Avatars and Virtual Fashion: Examples ---

To better understand virtual fashion, I want to offer you some examples. If you are unfamiliar with certain virtual realms, I will introduce you to some of the many different programs and realms popular for dressing up avatar characters.

Click on any hypertext headings to visit any official sites of each represented program or site.

Second Life.

By far the most popular virtual realm is Second Life. Second Life has become an extremely popular medium for a variety of applications and services. It is essentially its own reality and its own society. 3D models created through Second Life (or "SL") can be dressed up with any number of outfits ranging from realistic fashion pieces to more surreal and fantasy outfits. For example, you could dress up in something you'd expect to see on a fashion runway; or, you may dress up with a fantasy-type outfit complete with fairy wings or some sort of devil wings. It is all possible and all made possible through Second Life. Items can be purchased either with SL credits or with your own money.

If you just have absolutely no idea about what Second Life looks like or what it's about, I've found this video to introduce you to Second Life, not to mention showcase a little fashion-relevant insight on Second Life. So... get to know Second Life:


^ "Fashion in Second Life"

imvu.

imvu is a chatting service where you can really dress up male and female avatars. Feminine avatars can be dressed up in some of the most chic and sexy outfits. Masculine avatars surely can be dressed up to be handsome or evil or whatever. Chatting occurs in unique environments with living avatars.

Meez.

Any avatars made through Meez can be generated into unique animated avatars. Avatars dressed up in Meez can be used for pictures on websites, or they can even be shared for you to take part in various contests or promos.


Now, here are some games that have avatar dressing features...

The Sims Series.

If Second Life is the premier outlet for avatar fashion, then The Sims Series is the premier gaming outlet for avatar fashion. The Sims first saw life in 2000 aside from the vastly successful SimCity franchise. The Sims is all about living within the realm of SimCity. This is where you take part in things like finding love, raising a family, finding jobs, and a lot more. It is a franchise that has been wildly successful. Among the many aspects of The Sims games is fashion, and you can dress up adult Sims and child Sims in a variety of clothes. Some people even have created models and skins featuring various fashions that can be downloaded and placed on Sims. Sims games can feature a vast variety of different add-on packs to make the already addictive game even more so. In fact, there was even an add-on pack of The Sims 2 that featured H&M and its fashions. Check out this trailer:


^ "The Sims™ 2 H&M Fashion Stuff Official Trailer"

Fashion Icon.

Mobile gaming giant Gameloft made the game Fashion Icon. You play as a girl who recently moved to Paris, France. Your goal? Simple- be a fashion icon! Becoming that fashion icon means you're going to have to contend with other girls who think they're hotter than you. You can take them on in unique challenges to prove your worth. Shop at the hottest stores. Wear the finest clothes Go to the hottest parties. Share your experiences in your virtual fashion blog. And... you may even find love by scoring a handsome boyfriend! This is SURELY a girly game you girl gamers may want to check out if you have a suitable mobile device.


^ "Fashion Icon - Mobile Game Trailer"

Campus Life.

Campus Life is a mobile game from developer Pocket Gems where you play as a college girl trying to establish the finest sorority on campus. To do so, you'll need to deck yourself out with hot fashions, recruit some cool girls to join your sorority, and do all kinds of other stuff (besides studying for classes, making good grades, and living an otherwise decent life, of course) to form the best sorority on campus. All the while, you can customize your college girl from various beauty touches to various clothing options.

High School Story.

Build a high school and dress up your girl in High School Story. You can live the life of a happy and free High Schooler- go on dates, go to parties, remember to study and make good grades, and a lot more. Of course, you can customize characters to your liking with various fashion and beauty touches. Interesting aspect of the game is that you can play as one of three different girls based on personality. Here is a trailer for this game:


^ "High School Story 30 iOS"

Minecraft.

The extremely popular independent (or "indie") game Minecraft allows you to create a world or explore and survive in a wild world. The fashion-relevant aspect of Minecraft is that player models can be dressed up with unique skins. Your model can be Minecraft Steve. Or, you can dress up your main character with any number of different skins. If you are adept in making 3D models, you can make your own 3D models and equip them with unique skins. You can also make your own skin for the main character. Or if you REALLY want to customize things, you can make skins for various characters and texture packs. It's all up to you.

Roblox.

Just like Minecraft, you can equip character models with unique skins. Unlike Minecraft, however, you can do your modeling in-game rather than through third-party software. Roblox is a gaming realm where players can participate in all sorts of games within this realm.

PlayStation Home (USA Link).

With PlayStation Home, you are able to dress up your avatar with all sorts of items. You can also participate in a number of games and environments. Purchase items to dress up your home or yourself.

For me personally, I gave up on PlayStation Home because I can't manage to really enjoy myself on there. Plus, I get tired of trying to load up stuff without the connection to PS Home crashing on me. So I gave up on it.

Retail Therapy (Honorable Mention!).

Retail Therapy from POPSUGAR is a game on Facebook that allows players to create and maintain their own fashion store. It features many different real brands such as 7 For All Mankind, Juicy Couture, Barneys New York, Diane Von Furstenberg, Tory Burch, and more.

I feature this as Honorable Mention because this title is no longer around. This video below is a trailer of this old game:


^ "PopSugar's Retail Therapy Sizzle Reel "

R.I.P., Retail Therapy...

--- Avatars and Virtual Fashion: Final Thoughts ---

If you want to take your love of fashion and expression virtually, you have a number of options to do so. One who is indulged in fashion often wants to find many ways to express his/her love of fashion in a number of different realms. Virtual realms are no different. The constant in regards to avatars and virtual fashion is a love of fashion and a love of expression. What one has to admire is the creativity of various creators who allow for virtual realms to offer so many items for customization of avatars. As for these avatars, people feel the need and the desire to be able to express and represent themselves in whatever virtual realm they take part in. Avatars are more than just avatars in virtual realms. For a lot of us, they are extensions of our personality and style. So if you take part in certain games or virtual media, never be afraid to express yourself with any number of fashions and beauty touches allowed for customization. You may or may not be expressive and fashionable in real life; why not extend your personality and style to virtual realms as well?

Cross-Promotion/Other Reading.

Let me share my original post from "John's Blog Space" on this topic. If you want to read my original post, you are free to check out the link below:

"Avatars and Virtual Reality" (John's Blog Space)
^ my original blog post on this topic. This post is more focused on avatars and virtual reality rather than just the fashion/beauty aspects of avatars.


I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Rock your style- even with your avatar(s)!

--- Avatars and Virtual Fashion: Bonus Material! ---

Because I love my readers/visitors, allow me to present some off-topic material. As I was researching this topic, I heard one song from one of the games I featured in this blog post. If you want to hear the proper song from the artist who composed the piece for that game, click on the link below and enjoy this beautiful song:

Laura Shigihara - First Day (High School Story)

The song is called "First Day" from Laura Shigihara.





This post is over. So...

What intrigues you the most about fashion and beauty with avatars?

This "StyleSpace by JBM" post was completely different in that I discussed fashion from a perspective besides actual people and actual fashions. Remember- "StyleSpace by JBM" is a non-traditional fashion blog that while fashion is discussed, everything somehow links to fashion. So if you want to keep up with SS by JBM and haven't yet found at least one method of doing so, then please look at the table below to connect with my work. Your participation in my blog(s) is very appreciated. Thank you for reading!

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