Niche fashion / Niche bodies

[dudamark]

On 1/8/2023 at 1:23 AM, Ayashe Ninetails said:

 

I wear Maitreya, which is one of the more commonly used bodies, yet I'd love more avant-garde clothing and have been wanting it for years. Very niche bodies are niche mostly because very few clothing items exist at all and some require a lot of fiddling with alphas and sizes just to put together even a very basic wardrobe. 

If your goal is to make avant-garde fashion, you probably do want to include bodies that already have the basics already covered to where people aren't struggling to find a pair of jeans and t-shirt. Not everyone wants to skip around looking like a Björk album cover 24/7 (I mean, I do, but don't go by me - I do a lot of photography). That's just my advice, though!

CZ Slim is a great choice for men because of the included high feet. That makes shoes that currently just don't exist for men in large numbers (heels, platform boots, wedges, high boots with cutouts, etc.) very, very possible. Belleza Jake could also be included, with the Maze Boys' Tiptoes mod. Legacy Male & Athletic (both very similar and I think they can wear the same stuff) are also popular choices with good wardrobes that need mooooore! It has no foot mod yet, but Maze did say they hope to do a Legacy tiptoes version soon.

For female bodies, look for bodies that have chest mods (which helps if you want to do gender-neutral clothing) - Maitreya, Kalhene Erika (the flat option is in the body HUD itself), Legacy/eBody Reborn/Belleza Freya (those have V-Tech sizes - V-Tech absolutely needs more love), Kupra Kups, etc. Belleza Freya might be losing support overall now that Gen X is here and Belleza has said no more older body updates, but Gen X does not have a flat mod yet (that I know of?). Still, Gen X is brand new and still getting the basics made, so it's worth a look as well.

 

I'm going to work with the more commonly bodies with the chest mods! It makes more sense to do that once the niche ones probably don't have the basics as you say. That's why is so important to ask you guys and study more about the market here. 
CZ Slim is amazing! I went to the store to get e better look of it and BUUUM I'm very excited to start working with it 🥳

Also I'm going to start with a mini collection, experiment a little and create a flickr so I can share the news with you all!

Can't thank u guys enoughhhhh! Ur all amazing! Thank u 💜

 

[Maitimo]

38 minutes ago, dudamark said:

I'm going to work with the more commonly bodies with the chest mods!

The most popular ones of these would be Maitreya Petite, Legacy Perky and Reborn Juicy (though I think Legacy Perky is a whole separate body, not a mod? Not entirely sure on that). Erika also comes with a couple of mods included; Petit Seins (flat chest) and Bubble, which is a push-up thing like Reborn Juicy.

There are some less widely used third party mods too, like V-tech flat chest mod,  (most popular for Maitreya but available for Belleza Freya and Reborn as well) 

[Marianne Little]

I bought this plastic jacket from Shi in 2012  Well, I don't add the sleeves here, so it is a vest.

 

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Marianne Little

[Marianne Little]

I like clothes for grownups... all the small dresses, bare stomaches and tight leg straps make me go bleeeeeeeeh. It is everywhere!

I buy some Rowne on sale. And Ison. It's been a while since I was in Rowne. It became too much of the same there too.

 

 

[Tazzie Tuque]

10 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

I like clothes for grownups... all the small dresses, bare stomaches and tight leg straps make me go bleeeeeeeeh. It is everywhere!

OMG! I so so agree!  It is a trend I really wish would go away!  Maybe it is so popular to show it all  off and let it all hang out in SL because folks can't do it in RL for one reason or another.  I dunno.  It just is NOT for me.  

[Fauve Aeon]

I like the ‘improbable in real life’ stuff & I’m not a fan of the ‘straps and belly shirts and tiny dresses’ aesthetic either, but it continues to sell strongly and be popular.  Rather I love the more strange & prohibitively expensive - think Guo Pei, Iris Van Herpen. Also I collect the more unique but impractical-to-wear SL shoes (Azoury is a good example), elaborate kimono, enough gowns for the regular formal events at Angel Manor (without too much repeating), and then some of the glowing, lit, animated, shimmery and sparkling things. I follow a niche fashion in first life for some years so I collect some of that style in SL and wear it there too. Ditto for doll avatars, I’m a collector of ball jointed dolls so I like them in SL too. But you’ll probably never catch me searching ‘the perfect SL jeans, leggings, flannel shirt, sport clothes’, etc. even though there are a lot of nice examples. Flexi going ‘out of fashion’ killed a lot of both good and bad motion-dependent clothing styles in SL fashion. I can’t imaging something akin to Issey Miyake or Iris Van Herpen without movement. Even otherwise well-rigged all-mesh gowns don’t ‘dance’ as well in my eyes. 
 

I’m glad for all of the wide style variety and freedom and for so many things at every price point in SL though because it collectively helps drive the commerce aspect of Second Life. I know some creators have 2 stores and design for 2 different styles, hiring mesh makers and riggers to create and I do feel like we might have some more OOAK things or limited editions but I’m not really sure if there’s much demand for it. I wish creating and preparing meshes for all of the different body types wasn’t as difficult as it seems to currently be. I think it’s more difficult to do market research in a ‘niche of a niche’ environment like SL with the $ scale roughly L$250/USD$1, L$50-75 sales weekly, freebie/gift & discount expectations at most events and the US economy as it is. 

 

[dudamark]

On 1/10/2023 at 1:00 AM, Marianne Little said:

I like clothes for grownups... all the small dresses, bare stomaches and tight leg straps make me go bleeeeeeeeh. It is everywhere!

I buy some Rowne on sale. And Ison. It's been a while since I was in Rowne. It became too much of the same there too.

 

 

On 1/10/2023 at 1:15 AM, Tazzie Tuque said:

OMG! I so so agree!  It is a trend I really wish would go away!  Maybe it is so popular to show it all  off and let it all hang out in SL because folks can't do it in RL for one reason or another.  I dunno.  It just is NOT for me.  

I'm glad you bring this up! I played SL years ago and I still have some friends that are creators here so I kinda followed their work and the market demand... the popular fashion is nothing I relate to and honestly I'm not interested in creating more of that style. That's exactly why I posted this here so I could have your insight of how 'unconventional' fashion would play here!  BTW I'm loving the references here 💜💙💚💛🧡❤️ 

It will take me weeks to figure all out, specially to get the devkits and learning the riggings part, but step by step I'll get there! Also it is almost mandatory to have a Flickr right?

[dudamark]

22 hours ago, Fauve Aeon said:

I like the ‘improbable in real life’ stuff & I’m not a fan of the ‘straps and belly shirts and tiny dresses’ aesthetic either, but it continues to sell strongly and be popular.  Rather I love the more strange & prohibitively expensive - think Guo Pei, Iris Van Herpen. Also I collect the more unique but impractical-to-wear SL shoes (Azoury is a good example), elaborate kimono, enough gowns for the regular formal events at Angel Manor (without too much repeating), and then some of the glowing, lit, animated, shimmery and sparkling things. I follow a niche fashion in first life for some years so I collect some of that style in SL and wear it there too. Ditto for doll avatars, I’m a collector of ball jointed dolls so I like them in SL too. But you’ll probably never catch me searching ‘the perfect SL jeans, leggings, flannel shirt, sport clothes’, etc. even though there are a lot of nice examples. Flexi going ‘out of fashion’ killed a lot of both good and bad motion-dependent clothing styles in SL fashion. I can’t imaging something akin to Issey Miyake or Iris Van Herpen without movement. Even otherwise well-rigged all-mesh gowns don’t ‘dance’ as well in my eyes. 
 

I’m glad for all of the wide style variety and freedom and for so many things at every price point in SL though because it collectively helps drive the commerce aspect of Second Life. I know some creators have 2 stores and design for 2 different styles, hiring mesh makers and riggers to create and I do feel like we might have some more OOAK things or limited editions but I’m not really sure if there’s much demand for it. I wish creating and preparing meshes for all of the different body types wasn’t as difficult as it seems to currently be. I think it’s more difficult to do market research in a ‘niche of a niche’ environment like SL with the $ scale roughly L$250/USD$1, L$50-75 sales weekly, freebie/gift & discount expectations at most events and the US economy as it is. 

 

Digital allow us to own and wear everything we can't in RL and that's the beauty of it in my opinion. Iris Van Herpen is ART! Love Issey as well. 

From everything I read here I'm sure that the best research of the niche market in SL is to put things out, experiment and learn through the process. My fingers are crossed cuz I have a LOT of learning to do ahaha but also very happy to have found you all here 💜

[Ezbeharra]

I'm gonna throw you a curve ball and suggest that a great niche body that deserves some attention, and actually has some following, is the dev Nana Fitness female body. Not a skinny fashion model body at all, but also not the current trend of "curvy" female bodies in SL either, and you did say "niche." Outside of female wrestling places, you see a fair number of them in LGBTQ+ sex clubs, and I suspect they'd be interested in something eye catching and aren't afraid to look a little different.

[Lewis Luminos]

One of my alts wears Indian clothing (saris, lehengas etc) and although she primarily uses the reborn body now, I have to switch her back to Slink Hourglass to wear them, because there's no such clothing available for Reborn yet.

That would be #1 on my wish-list.

[TalentBoy]

Belleza you can get for 1500, yes. But then you need a new AO to it. I regret i bought it and not for example Gianni. 

I have been around SL trying to find a AO that works with hands, but at the end it will cost me additional 1000-2000L$ just to get ridd of

the noob hands (facepalm).

I had Slink, but the lack of clothes support on grid made me buy a new body. Slink was nice in the way that hands worked fine with  many AO,s.

It is a shame Belleza haven't fix hands on version 3 they call Bento! It is not full Bento at all.

On 1/8/2023 at 9:44 PM, Marianne Little said:

I have several avatars including some males. It is so few bodies for men.

I am really wanting to change one of them to CZ Slim. The bulky SL bodies look the same. As you look at male fashion, it is Belleza Jake, Gianni Signature and Legacy... over and over. And some Kario and some Legacy muscular.

So CZ Slim fills a niche that is very needed. It is also sensible priced to 2000 L, the investment in a body is not as large as Legacy. Only Belleza Jake is cheaper at 1500 L. You have the freebie from Legacy that's named Classic. It is very pretty. The problem would be that those who take a freebie body would not be interested in shopping other than freebies for it.

So CZ Male please

I use Maitreya Lara since it came out. I have tens of thousands items for her. It is not just one style of clothes, but fantasy, formal, body jewelry... So changing female avatar would be hard. 2 of my other alts have Maitreya, it is so easy to shop for. If you make for Belleza gen X, not the curvy one but the slim one, that would be great. It is so much curvy and skimpy. Personally I like the new Gen X slim body and think it looks better than Maitreya. But not much better, and wasting my huge inventory... It is hard to build up a new one.

If I might suggest a price, I am much more inclined to spend 1000-2000 on many things in weekend sales than one purchase to 2000 L. I stop and think when it is expensive, and more often or not, I decide to not buy it. I am an impulse buyer and can buy things I already bought, because I am not so organized. It is so easy to treat myself to a little something. Especially since I take out an alt to use for pictures, they are not main avatars. It is easier to go all futuristic or avantgarde with small purchases. An affordable fatpack can 'trick' me into buying. Some fatpacks cost almost the same as buying all items individually. I like a good deal, and if I think I get a lot for my money, I love it.

So it is up to you if you will decide on the business model: 1: sell few, expensive and exlusive, or 2: many, affordable items for a lot of us.

 

[SabrinaCooke]

On 1/19/2023 at 6:58 PM, TalentBoy said:

Belleza you can get for 1500, yes. But then you need a new AO to it. I regret i bought it and not for example Gianni. 

I have been around SL trying to find a AO that works with hands, but at the end it will cost me additional 1000-2000L$ just to get ridd of

the noob hands (facepalm).

I had Slink, but the lack of clothes support on grid made me buy a new body. Slink was nice in the way that hands worked fine with  many AO,s.

It is a shame Belleza haven't fix hands on version 3 they call Bento! It is not full Bento at all.

 

I got this for a friend who was annoyed with the splayed hands on the Jake. It works in conjunction with your existing AO, and it's only 55L. But of course, always try the inworld demos before you buy.
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/AnimAlive-BENTO-HANDS-animator-for-AO-dance-or-furniture-just-wear-UNISEX-ANIMATIONS-not-poses/13378769