5 Reasons I Love Fashion Events

It’s the first of the month and one of my favorite monthly events has started, FaMESHed. There are so many reasons why I love fameshed, but I figured those same reasons apply to the majority of other events I frequently cover on my blog. Therefore, I thought a short list of reasons of why I love all of these creative events that have started popping up so much on the grid would be a great idea to share.

But before I do that, I just wanted you guys to know that FaMESHed has moved to a brand new and bigger location and it’s beautiful! The second picture in this post was taken there after I derendered about 30 people behind me. LOL Yeah I know, I was really bad going there on the first day it opened with lots of scripts and shadows blasting but I promise I was only there for ten minutes to take the picture and then I ran back home. Anyhow, I digress, take the new slurl to FaMESHed and check it out.

Now here are my top 5 reasons for loving fashion events and how these events have personally affected me and the way I blog:

1. Quality Designs: My #1 reason for loving Fameshed and events like it is that I have discovered new and more quality designers that are creating their own original mesh. Please understand that I have absolutely nothing against those designers that use templates, especially if they do something really creative with them. I think quality templates are an important part of the learning process for many designers because they function as a stepping stone. However, there is nothing like the feeling of wearing an original mesh design, especially if it’s fabulous quality. A great example of this would be Maxi Gossamer and Cyclic Gearz, whose jewels I am wearing in this post and whom I never would have discovered if it wasn’t for events such as FaMESHed.
2. New Challenges: If you go through my posts just from this past year so far, you will notice that in almost every post I am wearing at least one item that was released at an event. Because of these events I’ve been shopping and blogging more and discovering new designers. I picked up some great pieces from The Arcade Gacha event from new-to-me quality creators as well. These events have given me a lot of creative photography ideas and have challenged me to improve my blog writing skills. I ended up doing more research about Astrology and sharing a little something about each sign whenever I blogged the Zodiac event.
3. Creativity: I’ve noticed some of these events such as Collabor88 and Zodiac are themed so the designers focus on one subject and create around that. I have been seeing some amazing creativity coming out from many creators and in turn it has also got my creative juices flowing. I loved the painting easel with poses that was created for Zodiac Libra last month and how it inspired me to create an image for this blog post here and also look up a special photoshop tutorial for it. We are feeding off of each other’s creativity and the results of that is amazing. I’m learning so much and trying new techniques and styling that I never thought I would.
4. Socializing: I am the first one to admit that I am a total hermit and usually glued to my skybox. The only time I really venture out these days is when I’m shopping or exploring a sim for photoshoots. So going to these events gives me a terrific opportunity to socialize with people. I usually wait and go to events in the last week they are happening so I don’t get the crazy lag. I remember when I went to Hair Fair this year there was a gentleman there who messaged me out of the blue. He stated that he saw me walking by and stalked my profile. He found the link to my blog in my profile, clicked over and liked my pictures and blog posts. He read my Photography page and then hired me to do a profile photo for him. After I did that, he referred me to his sister and a couple of his other friends and I also did photos for them. So I picked up a great client that day just by going to the event. I also chatted with someone else at FaMESHed today while I was there taking this picture. They messaged me and said they had never seen me inworld before but enjoyed reading my blog and had to say hello. I love it when people do that because I’m way too shy to do it myself.
5. Blog Traffic, Networking & Community: I’m not going to lie and say that I only blog for myself and I don’t really care if no one else reads it. That’s only half true, I do blog for myself. My blog is a great creative outlet for me, but I won’t deny that I love it when you guys come visit me and leave me comments. I’m sure y’all know that I am a big Social Media whore addict. Because I am all over the place on different networks, I’m reaching a lot more people than those that are just the regular fashion blog readers. Every social network has a community of people that use it more often. The fashion blogging community is more focused around plurk. The tech and information bloggers are mainly active on Twitter. Facebook has the biggest SL community that is a mix of roleplayers, fashionistas and other SLers that only login occasionally. Photographers and Models are usually on Flickr and Koinup. Finally there are a whole bunch of non-SLers that found me through Empire Avenue, Twitter and Google+ that knew nothing about SL but saw my posts and started reading my blog. The majority of these people email to tell me how they never knew that there was such a huge fashion community and so many events happening all the time and they discovered so and so event through my posts and are having so much fun, etc… Over time all of this networking has really increased my readership and I’m appreciative about that. You can see what my blog hits are like and how much they have increased on my advertising page. I love the way these events are bringing all of these different communities together.

Now these are just some reasons why I love going to and blogging about these events. They keep me busy doing what I love doing and that’s shopping, taking pictures, blogging and interacting with you guys. But don’t get me wrong, I absolutely do get overwhelmed with events at times and that’s when I take a step back and just take a break. There are some events that I no longer shop or blog such as Fifty Linden Fridays and other daily sales events. I just felt I would prefer to pay more than just L$50 and get more for my lindens. However, I know these events are still wildly popular and also have a lot of great designers that participate in them. One blog I always read to catch up on the latest events and stay updated is Seraphim. The folks at Seraphim do a fabulous job of covering ALL events in a timely and detailed manner.

If you’re a designer that doesn’t usually participate in events, I encourage you to visit some of the events I’ve linked above and see if you can get in as a guest designer once in a while. It’s a great way to get more exposure for your brand and pick up new tips and techniques from other designers you interact and work with in these events. If you’re a consumer and haven’t gone to any events yet because you’re afraid of lag or just don’t know when they are all happening, here are a few tips:

• Visit Seraphim to keep up to date with all the events going on.
• Check out Blogging Second Life’s Events Page for links to the events calendar, event organizers and a list of all the current events going on.
• Try not to go within the first week the event opens. I usually go the last week and shop around easily and lag free.
• If you do want to be there as soon as they open their doors, read Sasy Scarborough’s guide to a low-lag event before you go.

My apologies for making this a long post, I just wanted to share how these events have changed so much about my SL and all they’ve done for me as a consumer and blogger.

Before I end this, I wanted to share a link to Zaara’s blog post here because she asked me to do the ad pictures in the post for this gorgeous new mesh top I’m wearing. It’s available in 12 luxurious colors at Fameshed right now. Happy Shopping! <3 Credits: *Skin: Glam Affair – Roza Basic – America02 D HB by Aida Ewing
*Eyeliner: –Glam Affair– Couture Eyeliner no.03 (MESH) by Aida Ewing
*Mesh Ears: [MANDALA] Steking EARS UNISEX by Kikunosuke Eel
*Hair: ::Exile:: Collide:Brownie by Kavar Cleanslate (@ FaMESHed November)
*Mesh Hands: Slink Mesh Hand Casual by Siddean Munro
*Top: Zaara : [Mesh] Sanya draped top (S) *peacock* by Zaara Kohime (@ FaMESHed November)
*Jeans: coldLogic jeans – peck.04 (S) cuff2 by coldLogic
*Shoes: Maitreya Gold * Suave Chocolate XS by Onyx LeShelle
*Bag: Maitreya Leather Satchel * Cerulean (shoulder) by Onyx LeShelle
*Necklace: MG – Necklace – Santa Fe – Group – ALL by Maxi Gossamer (@ FaMESHed November)
*Right Bracelet: Lavallie – Eun Bracelet – Teal by Cyclic Gearz (@ FaMESHed November)
*Left Bracelet: MG – Bracelet – Santa Fe – Large – L by Maxi Gossamer (@ FaMESHed November)
*Poses: Diesel Works by Rogan Diesel
Location: FaMESHed