New: Guywear @ Random Fashions
Now, I don’t mean “guywear” in the sense that it’s clothing Lloyd Dobler would wear. (“The world is full of guys. Don’t be a guy. Be a man.”) It’s just that “menswear” seemed somehow not quite right here. Yes, I’m making it up as I go along. Anyway, Lloyd might well wear some of this stuff. I’m thinking by the end of the movie.
I seem to recall that Garbage Prototype had dropped one or two vague hints during the two months or so it took him to redesign and rebuild his shop and completely revamp his clothing and body lines for men and women. I think he just likes to tease like that. This is the kind of thing that just nags away at me from the back of my brain, kind of like my mother, or my conscience if I had one, or the approach of Christmas when I was a kid. I had also visited his website and seen his teaser video, so I knew that interesting things were afoot at the Circle-K. When he finally said, “Okay, I’m not ready to open yet, but come and take a look if you want to!”–I most definitely wanted to.
I honestly don’t know what my expectations were. I didn’t expect the shop’s casually elegant atmosphere to so slyly reflect Garbage’s creative approach. I know that I was surprised by some of the designs–wow, Garbage did a suit?–and impressed by the range of items and choice of colors. As a collection it felt focused, consistent, and very much an expression of a designer’s vision. I couldn’t wait to pick his brain.
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Left: Big Shot suit (L$200) in Purple (available in nine colors), with green dress shirt and yellow tie. All clothing items are on separate layers. Each suit includes nine shirts and ten ties! Center: Party Blazer (L$75)–”because regular blazers are for losers.” Shown in Green; choose from five colors. Can be worn with shirt as shown, or without so you can add your own. Right: Male Vest (L$75) in Green (five colors are available). Wear with tee, as shown, or without.
Ryan: I’m a whore for “contemporary casual” clothing for my “daily wear” (whatever that means in SL), so in some ways your new line could have been made just for me. But I see some interesting twists and touches beyond the norm. What’s your direction/thrust/intent for your new designs? Or am I over-thinking yet again?
Garbage: Well, there were multiple influences for my new “line” (I feel funny calling it that). One of my influences would have to be Nylon magazine and their Nylon TV videos on Youtube. I came across one of their videos labeled “Mods and the Rockers,†and it basically broke down how the Mods and Rockers dressed, as well as the history behind both styles. I was really intrigued with the Mod style, just the idea of wearing fancy articles of clothing like suits, blazers, and vests in dirty urban areas, so that explains why a decent portion of the new clothes consists of Suits, Blazers, and Vests. As for the rest in the male clothing [line], it was simply inspired by what my friends and I wear in real life: simple and casual clothing. Lately I’ve been digging colored denim, flannel shirts/jackets, cardigans, and T-shirts that are too big for me, because it is ever so comfy. But that’s about it as far as the men’s fashion [goes]. There were plenty more inspirations for my girls’ clothing, but this isn’t quite the right place to talk about that, right? [laughs]
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Left: V Polo (L$50) in Red (choose from five colors). “Joseph” hair. Center: Male Long T (L$50) in Pink (ten colors await your indecision). Tropical Shorts (L$75) in Green (ten color choices are available). “Kevin” hair. Right: Stripes Tee (L$50) in Orange/Blue (available in ten different color combinations).
Ryan: It seems like you’re taking a different approach with your textures than you did previously–to me they seem softer but somehow more tactile. I’m guessing [you used] some photo-sourcing with significant hand-painting…am I close? Care to discuss your technique? No trade secrets, please!
Garbage: You’re pretty much dead on–it’s a hybrid of photo-sourcing and hand painting. If I had to label my clothing…it would be 80% photo-sourcing and 20% hand drawn.
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Left: Blazer (“loser” version, L$75) in Royal Blue (five colors are available). Worn with optional shirt, which is actually more of a “bib” than a complete shirt and cannot be worn on its own. Random Brand Jeans 101 (L$150) in Black; take your choice of ten different colors, plus five faded colors as Random Brand Jeans 202. “Daniel” hair. Center: Big Shot suit texture detail. Right: Nylon Jacket (L$100) in Brown (available in ten colors) with optional full grey tee, prim rolled sleeves, hood and shoulder buckles. With Board Shorts in Brown (eight colors). “Bren” hair (not available).
Ryan: Which of the new items is your personal favorite? Which was most fun to create? Which one kicked your ass?
Garbage: My personal favorite would have to be the colored denim jeans! I love wearing the red ones a lot.
The one most fun to create would have to be the suits! It was something I had never done in my life before and I liked how they came out in the end.
And the ones that kicked my ass would have to be the recent nylon jackets that I made, just because it was a really bad photo reference, so I had to draw a lot of it. Also, I had to create sculpty prims for it and I’m kind of clueless when it comes to making sculpted prims. I’m still learning, [and] I hope to incorporate them more in the future.
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Left: Flannel Shirt (L$75) in Pink (because real men wear pink, but four other colors are available), shown with optional “bib”-style shirt. Center: Cardigan sweater (L$75) in Green (choose from five colors); can also be worn with optional shirt underneath. “Aaron” hair. Right: Flannel Hoodie (L$125) with sculptie hood in Green/Grey (available in four color combinations). Shorts (L75) in White (five different colors).
Ryan: Your prices are I think very reasonable. I hope you’re mondo successful, but it seems like you’re not out to get rich. What’s your philosophy?
Garbage: Ah well, when I joined this game I had no idea I was going to pick up Photoshop and learn how to create clothes and open a store in Second Life at all. I had joined just to have fun with my friends from there.com and that’s exactly what I’m doing! This isn’t a part time job for me, it’s simply a hobby and that’s all. Other people definitely have different goals with their businesses in Second Life, but I’m just going wherever mine takes me, and so far it’s been taking me somewhere very good!
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Left: Flannel Shirt Deux (L$75) in Orange with optional partial shirt (five different colors). Also in Dark Green without shirt. “Kevin” hair. Center: Party Vest (L$75) in Brown with optional striped tee. “Jason” hair. The Party Vest can also be worn solo, as seen at Right, or add your own shirt-layer shirt.
Ryan: Whose design work do YOU really admire? If you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit next to me and it’ll be off the record. 
Garbage: I love all of Tableau’s work; they have all done beautiful stuff for years! Khai and Aja Sinister’s work I admire as well–The Abyss is amazing. Aden Breyer’s hair is great too, it’s all aligned so perfectly and his styles are awesome–I want him to make guy hair! I also respect Heart Attack & Vine, Kenzie & Co., It’s All Good, Maitreya, and Karamia.
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I feel compelled to take a quick moment here to mention that the necklace I’m wearing just above is Yukirei Greene’s new “Holy Plate Necklace” (L$380). The bas-relief plate ornament depicts a stylized angel in exquisitely detailed profile. The chain is constructed from smaller, elliptical links in silver and larger, round ones in gold–the effect is quite striking. Pick it up for yourself at Yukirei Accessories (Yukirei Accessories 126, 155, 30).Â
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I mentioned earlier that Garbage’s new fabric textures seem softer and more tactile to me than his previous work. Of course SL designers take a wide variety of different approaches in their design work, and different people like, admire, and respond to different things, so it’s all good. Garbage’s blend of photorealistic fabric textures and hand drawn embellishments, enhancements, and blends is an approach that I really like–perhaps more than anhything else, it feels comfortable to me.
All hairstyles by Garbage Prototype, unless otherwise noted. Individual hairstyles are L$250; demos are available for L$1. All styles are touch scripted for color change–choose from 100 different colors, conveniently organized by color family.
I am also wearing Garbage’s new male skin (L$750) and eyes (L$50). The skin comes in Light, Fair, Medium and Tan tones and a variety of makeup options. Skin demos are available for L$1 in the shop.
All designs currently available at Random Fashions (Woolybear 204, 200, 651). However, in the near future Garbage is acquiring an Openspace region and will be moving this main shop there, possibly as early as this Friday. (I’ll update the SLURL here when that happens.) You can join his Subscribe-O-Matic to receive updates on this development as well as new releases.
Now, I don’t mean “guywear†in the sense that it’s clothing Lloyd Dobler would wear. (â€The world is full of guys. Don’t be a guy. Be a man.â€)
possibly the greatest opening line to a blog entry ever.
Oooh the purple suit is shagadelic, I must have… now to find the perfect socks to match.
This shop looks like a bad “Armidi” rip. The clothes are very badly textured. Why would some want to blog about this wannabe fashionista store anyway? No matter how much this so called “Designer” trys to be “Armidi” they will never succeed.
Er, Garbage was designing in SL long before the Armidi brand was established, and from what I can tell his new clothes aren’t exactly a departure from his earlier work.
So Anonymous, perhaps before ”posting” next time you could work at getting your ”facts” straight. No?
Haha… Anonymous person guy lady whatever you are.. Garbage has been designing for YEARS before Armidi came onto the scene.. The fact that people are STILL trying to point fingers really amuses me to be quite honest.
I don’t know if you’re talking about the clothing or the look of his store but if it is the clothing then everyone is copying Armidi and in turn Armidi is copying everyone else..I guess in your eyes Gap is copying American Eagle.. Payless is copying Aldo.. It’s called a TREND. Content creators in second life, along with designers in real life design things based on what sells, what people want, and what trends are in at the moment, that’s how we all make our money. Why create something that’s not in demand?
If you’re talking about his store, then you need to get your eyes checked because in my opinion they look nothing alike. Also if you knew Garbage then you would have noticed he has had this same style for years and just tweaked it as he got better at building and texturing etc..
So please find something better to do than bash the most amazing guy you will ever meet. He is a creative guy that wouldn’t waste his time trying to copy someone.. I am sick of people thinking Armidi is so worth copying.. They’re nothing special, they sell casual wear, formal wear, shoes, glasses, hand bags, undies.. AND SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE! So please bash someone worth bashing.. I go out every day and see people selling Lost’s and Starley’s skins, and making profit from it… I have had someone shamelessly and admittingly steal my entire build and when confronted not care..
It’s people like them that deserve a bad rap. Not Garbage.. guh.
I am only so upset because I have known him for over 4 years and I know he is the least of anyones problems!
Bye
I’m not sure how far you can take the comparison to Armidi. Garbage is an individual designer, one person who does all the design work himself–clothing, hair, skins, everything. Especially from that perspective, I greatly admire his new collection. My understanding is that Armidi takes a different approach, with different designers working in different areas on different designs. That aside, like Oleg I see enough of a kinship between Garbage’s earlier designs and his new ones to see the new collection as a representation of natural growth and progression. I really can’t see it as an attempt to emulate the Armidi line.
As for the “why blog this?” question–that answer for me is the same as it ever was. I feature items here that I like, admire and want to share with you. I try to tell why I like and admire them, so you’ll know where I’m coming from, but of course everyone has his own response and makes his own decision. As always, if I’ve featured something you don’t like, my advice is: don’t buy it. If I never feature anything you like, remember that I’m one guy, my time is limited, my tastes are my own, and I invite you to get in touch with me so we can talk about adding your voice to the blog.
And as always, thanks for reading.
I’m going to jump on my friend’s bandwagon, simply because flaming a blog to bring down the reputation of a designer (hey, a reputable one at that!) is pathetic.
I’m not going to involve the personal side of my opinion (or the fact that I have a friendship with Garbage) – simply because I want to remain unbias. I would like to point out a few things, though.
First of all, Garbage Prototype has been designing in SL for a very long time. Though his stores have become a lot more aesthetically pleasing (the textures are richer, the atmosphere is carried throughout his property, his ads are made with care) his personal style hasn’t changed. Occasionally he’ll switch out textures, or instead of boxes with ads on them he’ll cut out the clothes, but for the most part Garbage’s store remains consistent in presentation.
Second, Garbage’s clothes are always made with care. Half photosourced, half painted (the percentage to each piece more than likely varies) Garbage’s clothes are truthfully some of the greatest staple items I’ve seen in Second Life made by one person.
Then there’s the obvious part of Appearance Mode: it is owned solely by Garbage Prototype. Garbage is one man working on one line. He doesn’t have a team of designers, he doesn’t use any programs – other than PhotoShop – to create his clothing. I realize that as humans we’re automatically programmed to believe that the best items out there should set the bar as to how other items should be judged. Unfortunately, whenever other players have advantages over others (please note I said advantages, not unfair advantages) their creations shouldn’t be compared to those other items.
What I take personal offense to is the way you’ve put “designer” in quotations. Garbage Prototype has been in Second Life for a very long time, pumping out a very large amount of content. It is completely unfair to take someone’s status from them just because you dislike their creations. I, for one, am usually not a fan of Garbage’s hair. Does that take away the credit that is due for his creation? Absolutely not. It just means that I do not find his designs as aesthetically pleasing as he may.
In the future, I hope you find a way to keep your negative opinions to yourself on another person’s blog “Anonymous” – or at least have enough pride in your opinions to give a name.
Really, though. We’re all eighteen or over. Leave the drama with your momma.
P.S
I bought about a million things from Armidi yesterday.. I am in no way shape or form saying I don’t like them.
Just in case anyone reads too much into what I said.
K
P.S.S
I love you Indie.
RING THE ALARMS! RANDOM IS USING HANGERS OH NO! Ahem Mr/Ms. Anonymous as stated by Oleg I have been creating stuff since back in 2004 the store was in NO way a rip off of Armidi in fact I’ll post a picture of my store reference, “inspiration”, whatever you’d call it:
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4818/1109dengx1.jpg
And how in any way am I a “Armidi-Rip Off” because I made a “classy” looking store? Because I put my stuff on hangers? Now I’m pretty certain before Armidi, Paper Couture had a elegant building with clothing on hangers does that make Armidi a rip off of Paper Couture? No, in fact back in the day I used to have my clothing on hangers and I’ve been making the same style of clothing for a long time.
Badly textured huh? Ha you’re funny but your entitled to your opinion but hey I have hundreds of people in my update group and thousands of people buying stuff from me but whatever you’re pathetic to compare me to Armidi I’ve never aspired to become like them in my life like Oleg said, yes my style has changed over the years. It would be way too repetitive and boring if I made the same stuff yearly so I change it up a little bit was my inspiration from Armidi? Hell no, and what makes Armidi so special?
I mean they (Armidi) offer the same stuff they would at Artilleri, Maitreya, GLAM, Canimal, ETD, Celestial Studios, and thousands of other stores in SL Apparel, Hair, and other custom content. Am I bashing Armidi? No, simply stating why compare me to them? There’s no reason for that seeing how you could apply the same statement with any two stores. From what I get from your statement it sounds like you would say that Armidi copied Tres Blah because they sell their stuff on hangers, or that you would say Lost Thereian copied Chip Midnight for using the same photosource, Or saying Shiny Things copied Armidi by doing Sculpty shoes but that is in no way these statements are true
There are millions of users in Second Life and thousands creating stuff so nothing can be 100% original
anyways do us all a favor and think before you speak next time hm?
and by the way im usually not this agressive im just upset at you Anonymous
have a great day.
p.s. thanks to Ryan, Iindie, Camie, Oleg for puting things into perspective
I love how people flame anonymously. It frees them to demonstrate the depth of just how stupid and ignorant they can be.
First off, I am not trying to start drama because I don’t know anything about the owners…I stop in SL about once every few months, but everytime I have bumped into [Random] I notice that the prints are stolen from UrbanOutfitters.com … I think that is very shady and I have emailed UO to inform them someone on a virtual game is stealing their designs and selling them for profit…. maybe this is allowed and if so then more power to “garbage” as so I just found out his name was…but if not, then what a shame!! content theft is a no-no and you CANNOT start a reputable business by mooching off of other people’s designs. other than the designs which i know are stolen i think he has a great shop, the other original (hopefully?) content looks great…more power to ya!
Ive been a fan of Random clothing and hair since I first joined second life a few years ago. It was the first shop I saw using “hangers” and thought the look was cool.
This “copy” stuff really needs to stop. Hangers are used in RL, armidi did not invent some new thing, they are simply a big store who chose to go with the hanger method over boxes. Both have pros and cons. So anyone who uses hangers to display their products is going to be called an “Armidi rip off”? Give me a break. Armidi is NOT the be all end all, id rather shop at Random anyday, and I do.
Im sad that i just came back to this blog after a few months of not checking it and had to see fingers being pointed. Get over yourselves.
This is a good method of exactly what, for many, can be a debatable subject. Well though out publish. Im not scared to be able to pass away. I simply dont want to be there whenever it occurs. Woody Allen Delivered 1935