An Open Casting Call For Mesh-Prim Fusion- Silky Soulstar Reporting…

A girlfriend of mine once proclaimed, "I have seen the future and it is mesh!"  We all upgraded our viewers and raced to acquire as many alphas as we could. 

 Some of us … <shudder> … went so far as to trash all of our prims as fast as a Torley Linden tutorial.  But now we know, the future of SL Fashion is instead an eclectic mix of flexi, mesh AND prims. 

"Prims can be your best friend... love me some prims," says Kiana Lexenstar.  I’m paraphrasing her words slightly.  Kiana's modeling resume is an impressive one, having graduated from MVW Academy, and being represented by at least thirteen agencies over the past four years.  These days Kiana is helping to organize open casting calls for Dougie Boxen's Style Kingdom Magazine.  I had the pleasure of taking a couple of runway lessons from Kiana, who was also working with Payton Haron to teach runway novices a thing or two about live fashion modeling. Payton herself was SL's fashion model of the year in 2008.

If you haven't had the chance to join one of the various fashion open castings in SL, you definitely should. These competitions are for those who love fashion, shopping, and a stiff creative challenge. SL Fashion veterans like Kiana and Payton form a close-knit group, and it's also fun to listen to their brutally nostalgic bonding sessions.

Open casting call challenges can be a lot like a virtual SL version of "Project Runway". Once the challenges are announced, participants scour their inventories and the Market Place for parts that will uniquely present the fashion fusion judges are looking for. Hopefully the items are at least "Mod" to facilitate creative adjustments (like sailboat hair for instance).

Last week's theme at Style Kingdom was "Pirate Couture".   Lira Saviro got props and kudos for her steampunk pirate combo. For me, a Google image search of "pirate couture" gave me the inspiration to find a cropped military jacket that was nautical in style. Ruffles a la "couture" from three different outfits got me the Victorian pirate element I was looking for. Finding a dramatic black skirt short enough to show off my red over-the-knee boots from Bax was a challenge, but A&E's "Parisian skirt" had enough flair, and only needed to be raised and resized slightly.

I had to ponder the accessories carefully as they can make or break an outfit. I put on heavy eye makeup that would make Jack Sparrow proud.  But hats are a pain to fit, so I opted for A&E'S Cele hair instead because it is an updo reminiscent of an old seaman’s bicorne.  Eyepatch, skull, and sword? Too much, and over the top I thought fatefully.  So I selected a prim of ruffled flowers, in pirate red and black, that was dutifully waiting for action from deep inside my virtual closet.  I attached them to my hip to serve as a "sword couture" at just the right spot so that they wouldn’t swagger unnaturally.  And finally, I selected a fierce Victoria Secret, stomping style of a walk to go with my poses.  I received comments from the judges not unlike those received by others;

"Not piratey at all," said one judge. "Bad walk."  

But truthfully I had a blast and can't wait to do this again and again. I love the company Dougie's people provide, and the crazier their feedback to me, the better.  You won't find thick skin from Redgrave or anywhere in the MP.  But that's okay, just stock up on your prims, and attach to your alphas and mesh in style.  The future is here, and it's primtastic!

For more on the Style Kingdom Open Casting call, visit www.stylekingdommagazine.com