During a recent conversation with a good Model friend of mine, I picked up on her increasing sorrowful take on the Fashion Industry in SL.  She started off pursuring her Modeling career with such vivacity, optimism, and gumption.  But as the weeks have progressed, I have observed her vivacity transform to drudgery, her optimism turn into cynicism, and her gumption spiral into timidity. 

According to her take on things, it seems the Fashion Industry is a "claw your way through the mud" business, and that it doesn't matter how much personality or heart you have, but rather whose ass you kiss and how well you stroke the egos of the Designers, Photographers, and Builders that create the Fashion Industry in SL.  At least that is the picture she is painting for me.

I admit, I dabble lightly in the Modelling Industry of SL.  Not so much because I am seeking "Super Fame" or hoping to be a "Top Model", but rather because I enjoy the social exchanges - making new friends, sharing in my love for fashion, celebrating the triumphs of Designers as they showcase their work.  That is why I loosely scamper around the Modelling Industry social circles, because I enjoy the fashion shows, the comraderie, the parties, and getting the 'first gllimpses' of designs that are going to burn up the future runways.

Now my friend says that although she used to enjoy Modelling, she is finding more and more that she can not stomach the insincerity, the materialism, and the egocentrics that seem to plague the industry.  Of course, I offered to her, there are people like that everywhere you go, not just in the Modeling Industry.  But sure, there does seem to be an abundance of vanity running around in the Modelling/Fashion social circles, but then that is the nature of the beast I suppose.

So my friend is on the verge of giving up, throwing in the towel, walking off the runway for good.  Because she doesn't feel she is garnering the notoriety she needs to continue in the Industry.  This makes me question why people get into the Modelling industry in the first place?

If your only reason for engaging yourself in the SL Modelling Industry is because you wish to be "famous" and thrown mega million Lindens into your bank account, let me just stop you right there. First of all, with over a million residents in SL, the chances of you ever being "famous" are virtually nill.  Sure, a few hundred people may know your name, but in a world of over a million residents, that is small potatoes, hardly classifies as famous. 

Secondly, if you really want to make serious money in SL, Modelling is definitely NOT the way to go, especially considering 99% of all Designers will NOT pay your for your time, rather they will give you the clothes you are Modelling for them in exchange for your time.  This is a fair exchange, in my opinion, but for people hoping to make money as a Model, I can see where it may be somewhat of a 'let down.'

 I would think that motives for getting into Modelling would be to make new friends, share in the love of Fashion, and to just enjoy being with other like-minded individuals in a community where art, imagination, and creativity are honored and celebrated. But for most people this is not enough.  There are people who need the notoriety, who need the ego stroking, the reassurance that they are someone important.

So I tell my friend not to give up on herself or on the industry.  If you truly believe that getting to the 'top' of the Modelling Industry will fill that emptiness inside your heart, then go for it.  But don't give up on yourself or your goals just because the going gets rough. I seriously doubt there are any Models in SL who didn't work really hard to get to where they are.  It is long nights networking at parties, long hours behind the camera, long hours shopping for the new fashions, browsing the fashion blogs and magazines. Always searching for the 'right look'.  Modeling is tough!  If it were easy, everyone would succeed at it.  But most don't.  And that is what makes it so special when you see someone who is succeeding in the Industry, because you know they worked hard to get there and that dreams are possible to achieve.

 The lesson to be learned here is "Perserverance."  Never give up on yourself or your dreams. Regardless of how many times they tell you "No, you are not what we are looking for."  Despite the many failed attempts to win the contests, the constant badgering from Modeling Schools who will be happy to take your 8000 Lindens but not hire you on as a Model, and the lack of replies to your Modeling Agency applications. Despite the insincerity, the ego-stroking, the ass kissing, the vanity, and the materialism.

Though all this, I tell my friend that there are good people in the Fashion Industry, people who are sincere, genuine, compassionate, warm-hearted, and friendly.  Perhaps you need to wade through a 10 foot mud pie in order to get to those people, but once you make it through, the rewards of all your hard work can not be measured in Lindens or prims.  The rewards are measured in how proud you will feel that you did not give up on yourself in an Industry that is so willing to give up on you before you even begin.  Perserverance, it is the key.  The belief that no matter how long it takes, one day you will reach the Top.

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