Fashioning Identities in Virtual Environments Chana

Fashioning Identities in Virtual Environments Chana Etengoff Abstract The value of physical place has become easily transmittable via digital means, creating virtual space and place. A primary example of this is the popularization of massively-multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) such as Second Life—a parallel and persistent, online universe comprised of real time interactions occurring within a three dimensional space that is designed by its users and navigated by avatars, the virtual alter ego personalized and created by MMORPG users. The real world anonymity of the virtual representation of the self, combined with the virtual dimensions of fantasy, position the avatar as an obvious medium of identity exploration via fashion choices and personas. The avatar’s capability to engage in an extreme exploration of identity at a cost below real world prices has provided important market research data to physical world fashion designers as they attempt to answer the emerging needs of the millennial masses within the physical world. To date, Second Life users have spent millions of first life dollars on digital makeovers and clothing for their avatars. This chapter analyses the relation and interaction between Second Life’s virtual space and the power of virtual world fashion construction based on the discourses of psychology, geography, economics, history, and philosophy. Key Words: Virtual, fashion, Second Life, identity, anonymity, self-expression, cultural tools, MMORPG, humanistic technologies. ***** 1. The Time and Space of Fashion Fashion has been tied to the concepts of time and space,1 both in terms of its origin and its enactment since its inception.2 Various states of dress and undress have become fashionable in their respective countries of origin due to culture, climate, economics, and politics.3 For example, the simple, utilitarian dress of the Russian communist in the 1950s speaks of the cultural value of honest labour and a simple life.4 Similarly, the Italian fascist regime’s emphasis upon the value of rural and indigenous female dress during the 1930s and 1940s tells the tale of a government attempting to establish cultural and financial independence.5 Furthermore, cultural fashion norms and ideals live on even without the domineering directives of governmental campaigns. At first glance, the collage of competing styles, colours, and fabrics greeting pedestrians on Fifth Avenue in New York seems to contradict the claim of a regional collective fashion consciousness without government regulation. However, this diversity of fashion speaks of the sacred American value of preserving and protecting the freedom of difference in

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__________________________________________________________________ every realm of life. In this way, fashion has become the world’s symbolic narrative of culture and history. While the cultural-historical psychologist Vygotsky did not explicitly explore fashion within his cultural tool theory,6 it is clear that fashion transmits and constructs culturally relevant forms of knowledge in a meaningful way. Thus, fashion is a cultural tool just as other Vygotskyian sign-systems are. Fashion’s cultural voice has been additionally developed with the age of global communication and the multiplication of the image. Humanistic technologies have given birth to the global village, a place in which the cross-cultural exchange of ideas and information is instantaneous.7 Fashion illustrates this cultural exchange in Dacca, Bangladesh as the male Muslim population simultaneously sports baseball caps and the customary knee-length shirvani coats.8 This dual loyalty to modernity and tradition is communicated via fashion and in this way the duality of identity is expressed in a public forum. The digital representation and transmission of fashion therefore contributes to the collective and yet individual public construction9 of the global self.10 Another demonstration of this global exchange is the rapid translation of runway fashion into affordable interpretations, otherwise known as knockoffs. A couture item appears on a runway in Milan, within moments the digital image is emailed to a factory in China, in days it is being produced, and soon thereafter the item appears in Western stores prior to the market introduction of the couture original.11 In the world of fashion, just as in other aspects of contemporary life, the concept of space has been altered. Physical distance is no longer the primary separation between cultures and the cause of communication delays or lack thereof. Although the globalization of fashion and trade has been present for centuries, global trade was clearly marked by the time delays that resulted from geographic distance. However, while this phenomenon persists in the second-hand clothing markets of Zambia and other developing countries, it is becoming a rarity in most of the Western world due to factors such as the Internet, digital photography, highspeed travel and transport options, and mechanical and technological advances in production.12 Digitalization has altered our perceptions of space and the boundaries of place. For example, as the geographer and anthropologist David Harvey discusses in The Art of Rent,13 the contemporary process of economic globalization has resulted in the abstract and symbolic value of place, as monopolistic rent now centres on the commoditization of culture and its place of origin. Despite the fact that electronic media inherently projects the sense of distance between viewer and event,14 the perception of place proximity and value has altered and with it our experience of place has changed as well. 2. The Virtual Fashion Market It is this change in the globalized perception of physical place which has enabled the value of virtual place to develop in the world of fashion. Indeed, this is

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__________________________________________________________________ what has happened with the popularization of massively-multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs), such as Second Life. Second Life, established in 2003, is described as a parallel universe comprised of real time interactions occurring within a ‘3D online persistent space totally created and evolved by its users.’15 Similar to first life physical space, Second Life space, referred to as ‘land’, must be purchased with real world dollars that have been exchanged for the global currency of virtual Linden dollars. Developers and fashion designers may purchase this virtual land at about $200 American dollars per square meter,16 with the average exchange rate being $400 Linden dollars per square meter. 17 In addition, first life fashion designers usually pay technology companies $100,000 - $5 million American dollars to develop their virtual land retail and runway space.18 The collective global construction of Second Life is navigated by an avatar, the virtual alter ego created, personalized, and clothed by MMORPG users. As per Second Life’s user statistics, a high of 88,200 avatars simultaneously visited Second Life in the 2009 first quarter with the total number of ‘in world’ (in Second Life) hours reaching 124 million.19 3. Identity Exploration in Virtual Fashion Terms Second Life avatars therefore represent a substantial niche market of virtual fashion. The real world anonymity of the virtual representation of the self positions the avatar as the most obvious ‘online manifestation of people’s desire to try out alternative identities’20 via clothing and fashion choices.21 In addition, the physical intangibility of clothing within virtual space allows for the eradication of gender restricted movement as mediated by clothing constructs. Perhaps this locomotive freedom within virtual environments regardless of one’s attire allows for the release of gendered sexual repression which can result from restrictive clothing, as noted by the psychoanalyst Fluegel in his benchmark work entitled The Psychology of Clothes.22 However, despite the differences between virtual and physical worlds, the symbolism of virtual identity exploration and disclosure by means of clothing choice is largely similar to physical world identity exploration. As a result, the clothing of an avatar becomes a visual projection of the Second Life user’s constructed identity just as it does in the physical world.23 4. Virtual and Physical World Fashion Relations In fact, the avatar’s capability to engage in an extreme exploration of its creator’s identity provides important market research data to physical world fashion designers as they attempt to answer the emerging needs of the ‘technosexual’ and millennial masses within the physical world.24 To date, Second Life users have spent millions of first life dollars on digital makeovers and clothing for their avatars.25 Physical world brands across the range of the fashion spectrum, such as Reebok, Adidas, American Apparel, Armani, Herman Miller, Calvin Klein, Levis, Lacoste, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Nike, have responded to this new niche

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__________________________________________________________________ market by selling and launching products in Second Life.26 In addition, hundreds of Second Life fashion designers have introduced clothing lines which are exclusively available for purchase in Second Life alone. Some of the more famous Second Life fashion designers are Renegade, Paper Couture, FNKY! By Funk, Cake by Stumbelina, Sidewalk Clothing, Tesla, and BareRose Tokyo. Similar to the range of physical world clothing brands, Second Life clothing lines range in price, style, and the quality of the detail and texture programming. However, Second Life fashion prices are usually only a fraction of what their physical world costs would be, as production via computer programming syntax is far less expensive than the production cycle of first life fashion designs. As a result of this relatively reduced cost of virtual clothes and the current difficulty in the real world financial markets, there has been a small but growing community of avatars who purchase luxury fashion items in Second Life that they could never purchase in their first life equivalence.27 This perhaps hints of a parallel positioning of Second Life to the film industry during the Great Depression. The difficult financial climate of the 1930’s impacted fashion in a number of ways, from taller shoe heels for women28 to an increased number of cottage industry efforts to tailor old clothing to match Hollywood’s new fashion scripts. Scholars agree that these fashion trends of the Great Depression were inspired by the need to escape the harsh realities of financial depressions and recessions.29 Just as film was used as medium of escape and fashion resurrection during the Great Depression, Second Life seems to have become the 21st century’s affordable avenue of glamour and fantasy. Indeed, despite the increasingly difficult financial crisis, Second Life’s economy has consistently displayed market growth, with first quarter 2009 user-to-user transactions reaching $120 million USD, a significant increase since 2006 when spending capped in the fourth quarter at $39 million USD.30 Although there is a significant price differential between Second Life and first life fashion, the physical world’s fashion show schemas are present on the virtual runways of Second Life. For the most part, these virtual fashion shows are modelled after the runways of London, Paris, Milan, and New York. Paid virtual models seductively walk the runway as the lighting, music, and mixed media screens set the tone for the clothing and its theatrical display. Furthermore, some Second Life fashion houses have begun to host their fashion shows in the virtual version of a real world fashion metropolis or by coordinating their events with Fashion Weeks in New York and London. In a bold move, OnOff, the unique London fashion show which attempts to bridge the gap between on and off schedule designers, coordinated a simultaneous display in both Second Life’s London and real world London in 2008.31 A similar effort was made by the Amsterdam real-world based talent management company, Artist Advice, with their live feeds of their 2008 synchronized fashion shows in both Amsterdam and Second Life.32 Such joint fashion endeavours represent the symbiotic and

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__________________________________________________________________ interactive relationship between virtual and physical space, once again placing fashion as the symbolic spokesperson for the evolution of culture and community. The deliberately constructed relation between virtual and real world fashion capitals can be understood as an effort by the virtual fashion world to be associated with the value of physical world artistic and cultural centres. For example, a large segment of New York’s fashion capital status is a result of New York’s monopolistic rent value. Landmark cultural institutions, such as the Guggenheim Museum, Carnegie Hall, and the Lincoln Center for the performing arts have positioned New York as a valuable cultural matrix.33 The theatrical performance element of a fashion show communicates the association between the arts and fashion, and the location of this event offers the stamp of legitimacy to this association. Thereby, the virtual fashion show associated with the monopolistic rent value of the real world fashion capital is at a distinct advantage. For this reason amongst others, Second Life is often considered to be the parallel universe to one’s first life. In addition to the transference of physical monopolistic rent value via strategically coordinated fashion shows, some virtual designers have begun to enter the market of affordable interpretations of real world couture items. For example, the actress Anne Hathaway popularized the Marchesa off-the-shoulder ‘goddess’ dress at the 2008 Academy Awards, and the dress soon began to grace upscale events in Second Life. The virtual interpretation was designed by Second Life’s fashion house ICING’s owner Miko Omegamu and could be purchased for a fraction of the real world price. A similar effort took place with the replication of the actress Halle Berry’s Elie Saab dress, which she wore when she accepted her Oscar in 2002. Such practices have inspired debate amongst Second Life users concerning the fear of copyright infringement and the associated decay of artistic integrity. These are interesting concerns as they are built upon the controversy regarding the similarities and differences between real and virtual space and design, as well as the issue of physical world fashions and icons serving as muses for the virtual world. However, despite the similarities of Second Life fashion shows to physical world fashion shows, the virtual experience and anonymity associated with Second Life clearly differentiates it from the real world experience. For example, Second Life fashion shows display a large number of physically impossible styles for avatars, such as elaborate medieval armour or dragon scales. In addition to allowing for the virtual creation of practically impossible fashions, Second Life offers the opportunity for people to explore and display fashions which would normally be prohibited by social conventions. Most social conventions would forbid a public display of S & M fashion or lingerie during daylight hours and yet, it is socially acceptable in Second Life. A Muslim and Arab fashion show displaying women wearing any form of clothes would be widely regarded as taboo in the physical world of religious Muslims and yet is proudly featured in Second Life. IslamOnline.net hosted the first Arab and Muslim fashion

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__________________________________________________________________ show in the virtual world on September 21, 2008. 34 The Second Life display of fashion which would be socially taboo in the real world is representative of a virtual world which despite its physical similarities to the original world of its creators, operates on the collective understanding that avatars are not required to conform to the social and cultural norms of their creators’ worlds both in terms of dress and activity. In fact, Yee, one of the foremost researchers exploring social interactions and self-representation in virtual environments, has identified the ‘Proteus Effect’, the process by which avatars alter their users’ virtual behaviour from their users’ physical behavioural norms via virtual fashion choices. For example, Yee reports a positive correlation between avatars’ revealing virtual clothing and avatars’ risqué behaviour.35 Just as fashion becomes the illustrator of collective community beliefs in the physical world, it becomes the representative of the virtual world’s community culture regarding virtual behavioural and social norms. Second Life’s unique popularity in the virtual fashion market can also be attributed to the fact that designer-users are given full copyright benefits for their MMORPG fashion creations. In addition, virtual fashion is exceptional in that users can often modify the colour and texture of the virtual garment even after the original purchase. Personalization after appropriation is possible as virtual clothing is manufactured by Second Life users via a series of free Second Life templates as well as programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, or the open-source GIMP. Second Life designers replace fibres with pixels and create virtual versions of physical garments as well as original virtual couture. In summary, the creative freedom which is available to both the virtual fashion-designer and consumer is unparalleled in the physical world. 5. Virtual Fashion Markets and Communities Furthermore, Second Life is a unique virtual medium in the sense that users are able to create virtual spaces which represent their constructed identities and fashion communities. Unlike other online forums, users are not limited to the posting of fashion photographs (virtual or physical) and verbal commentary alone. Second Life users can create a cohesive community schema and fashion narrative just as in their physical world. Similar to Carriger’s chapter in this volume in which she describes the subcultural group called Gothic Lolita (GL), a community which originated in Japan, Second Life Gothic and GL communities have developed an elaborate fashion hierarchy in which both formal designers and bricoleurs take part. Avatars can choose to purchase their Gothic and GL fashion at venues such as Demonic Mall and Lost City of Gothica, and can additionally pursue the bricolage option of self-creation. Moreover, the Gothic and GL communities have created virtual spaces and venues in which Gothic and GL avatars can meet, socialize, and engage in casual sexual encounters and more lasting relationships, as

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__________________________________________________________________ well as Gothic marriage ceremonies. Avatars who self-identify with the community via their fashion choices may receive invitations to the Vampire Museum, a Dark Shadows Home, Spook House rides, mourning sites such as Memorial Island, the elaborate castle in Transylvania Town, as well as Gothic themed parties and places of deliberate desolation.36 In addition to these various locations which serve as places of community gathering and belonging, these virtual representations of Gothic architecture and museums create a sense of authenticity and value for a widely misunderstood subculture. Interestingly, some of these community structures are positioned in open access areas of Second Life, whereas others have been transferred to or restructured in Zindra, Second Life’s newly created red light district.37This dual presence allows for the complex and often contradictory GL messages of sexuality and naivety to be simultaneously explored and authenticated. The virtual world allows the Gothic and GL communities to engage in the creation of transnational monopolistic rent value via meaningful virtual spaces, which in turn offers them a sense of validation and substantiation, which can be elusive in the physical world. The Second Life Gothic and GL communities can therefore be viewed as a part of a comprehensive culture that is defined by the dynamic fashioning of clothing, as well as of space. Thus, Second Life fashion serves an equally complex role as in the physical world of fashion. Although avatars could opt to retain their newbie standard issue clothes, most instead elect to project their identity, individuation, and group identity via fashion choices.38 Furthermore, Second Life fashion serves a performance and exhibitionist function as well. For example, if avatars become known for their unique style sense they may become the central focus of any number of tabloid Second Life fashion blogs, such as ‘Second Life Fashion Addict’ or ‘Second Style Magazine.’ In addition, many Second Life night clubs and dancehalls host award ceremonies for the best dressed avatar of the evening and Second Life dance hall patrons may be recognized for their unique and distinctive eveningwear. Similarly, as McFarlane describes in her chapter in this book about the Reggae dancehall fashions, although one could attend a first life Jamaican dancehall in functional clothes that allow for free movement, many patrons instead choose a distinctive fashion alternative to fulfil their desire for pageantry and ephemeral fame. In first life, Jamaican dancehall patrons hope for a glimpse of themselves on the dancehall’s live video screen; in Second Life, visitors know that the very relationship of user and avatar results in a publicly shared creation of space which could potentially reach thousands of Second Life users. Moreover , many Second Life discos and night clubs, such as the ‘6th Element’ and the ‘Vortex Dance Club’ will spontaneously film promotional YouTube.com videos which are then shared with a wider audience that may or may not be present in Second Life. In a sense, the public accessibility of Second Life represents the

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__________________________________________________________________ digitization of Shakespeare’s timeless analyses of humanity and persona, in As You Like It. All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.39 One might go so far as to suggest that the often subconscious and/or unspoken script of first life becomes the conscious and collective construction of Second Life, as avatars have an opportunity to play an infinite number of roles upon this virtual and global stage. 6. The Therapeutic Value of the Virtual Self Recent research has explored the therapeutic value of role play within Second Life, with some psychologists equating avatar role play with the Freudian systems of transference and counter transference. In this schema, Second Life users transfer wish fulfillment fantasies upon their avatars and their avatars complete these fantasies via actual interactions with other avatars. The avatar is a unique method of role play, as the avatar is an extension of the self and yet, engaging in interactions that exist outside of the self.40 The therapeutic value of Second Life interactions and identity construction process via fashion is illustrated by recent findings41 that lesbian and gay Second Life users reported an increased sense of belongingness, connectedness, improved well-being, higher self-esteem, and optimism after their avatars had engaged in online virtual-world activities. It has been hypothesized that these positive outcomes result from an increased sense of authenticity related to the users’ lived virtual experiences. Indeed, due to the anonymous nature of the virtual world, avatars’ actions and fashion choices can accurately and authentically represent their user’s interests and identity with limited real world consequences. 7. Conclusion In conclusion, the fashion industry has tirelessly transformed the mediums in which garments are designed, manufactured, and presented to reflect the changing global context and virtual world culture. For centuries, fashion has reflected technological advancement. The industrial revolution and the mass production of garments gave birth to the phenomenon of department stores; the creation of new fabrics such as nylon and rayon opened up the door to affordable fashion; the advent of image multiplication introduced the concept of inexpensive interpretations and the crafting of a multi-cultural identities; and the age of shared and valued virtual space has given birth to a fashion culture which is related to and

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__________________________________________________________________ yet different from its real world legacy. Although Second Life’s virtual land space has inherited the physical world’s monopolistic rent values, it has also differentiated itself from the physical world via the joint promise of anonymity and the creation and discovery of the physically impossible. Similarly, Second Life’s fashion culture is represented by the simultaneous free-spirited deviation and mimicry of real world fashion. Perhaps, one could say that clothing and fashion have always been, and will continue to be, the true narrators of the complex tale we call culture.

Notes 1

E Paulicelli and H Clark, ‘Introduction’, in The Fabric of Cultures: Fashion, Identity, Globalization, E Paulicelli and H Clark (eds), Routledge Publishers, 2009, pp.1-12.

2

N Rantisi, ‘How New York Stole Modern Fashion’, in Fashion’s World Cities. C Breward & D Gilbert (eds.), Berg Press, Oxford, 2006, pp. 109-122. 3 J B Eicher, Dress and Ethnicity: Change Across Space and Time, Berg Press, Oxford, 1995, pp. 1-7, 227-255.

3

J B Eicher, Dress and Ethnicity: Change Across Space and Time, Berg Press, Oxford, 1995, pp. 1-7, 227-255.

4

O Gurova, ‘The Art of Dressing. Body, Gender and Discourse on Fashion in Soviet Russia in the 1950s and 60s’, in The Fabric of Cultures, Fashion, Identity, Globalization, E Paulicelli & C Hazel (eds.), Berg Press, Oxford, 2008, pp. 73-92.

5

E Paulicelli, Fashion under Fascism: Beyond the Black Shirt, Berg Press, Oxford, 2004.

6

L S Vygotsky and A R Luria, Studies on the History of Behavior: Ape, Primitive Man, and Child, V Golod and J Knox (eds.), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., New Jersey, 1993.

7

E Paulicelli and H Clark, ‘Introduction’, Routledge Publishers, 2009.

8

M Maynard, Dress and Globalization, Manchester University Press. Manchester, 2004.

9

E Paulicelli and H Clark, ‘Introduction’, Routledge Publishers, 2009.

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__________________________________________________________________ 10

A Appaduarai, ‘Introduction: Commodities and the Politics of Value’, in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, A Appaduarai (ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986, pp. 3-63.

11

E Wilson, ‘Before Models Can Turn Around, Knockoffs Fly’, in The New York Times September 4, 2007, viewed on 1 December 2008,: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/us/04fashion.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=befor e%20models%20can%20turn,%20knockoffs%20fly&st=cse

12

T Hansen, Salaula: The World of Secondhand Clothing and Zambia, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2000.

13

D Harvey, ‘The Art of Rent: Globalization and the Commodification of Culture’, in Spaces of Capital: Towards a Critical Geography. D Harvey (ed.), Routledge Press, New York, 2001, pp. 394-411.

14

A Appaduarai, ‘Introduction: Commodities and the Politics of Value,’ in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Appaduarai, A. (ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986, pp. 3-63.

15

N Yee, J N Bailenson, M Urbanek, F Chang, and D Merget, ‘The unbearable likeness of being digital: The persistence of nonverbal social norms in online virtual environments.’ CyberPsychology & Behavior, (10) 115-121, 2007, pp.1.

16

B Tedeschi, ‘Awaiting Real Sales from Virtual Shoppers’, in The New York Times, June 11, 2007, viewed on 5 December 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/business/11ecom.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=a waiting%20real%20sales%20from%20virtual%20shoppers&st=cse

17

R Siklos, ‘A Virtual World but Real Money,’ in The New York Times, October 19, 2006. viewed on 28 November 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/technology/19virtual.html?scp=1&sq=a+vi rtual+world+but+real+money&st=nyt

18

B Tedeschi, ‘Awaiting Real Sales from Virtual Shoppers’, in The New York Times, June 11, 2007, viewed on 5 December 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/business/11ecom.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=a waiting%20real%20sales%20from%20virtual%20shoppers&st=cse

19

M Linden, ‘The Second Life Economy—First Quarter 2009 in Detail.’ Official Second Life Blog. April 16, 2009, viewed on 5 August, 2009.

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https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog/2009/04/16/the-secondlife-economy--first-quarter-2009-in-detail 20

P Hemp, ‘Avatar-based Marketing.’ Harvard Business Review, vol. June, 2006, pp. 50.

21

A Britt, ‘On Language; Avatar,’ in The New York Times, August 10, 2008, viewed on 1 December 2008: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res= 990CE4DC143BF933A2575BC0A96E9C8B63&scp=15&sq=%22second+life% 22&st=nyt

22

J C Fluegel, The Psychology of Clothes, Hogarth Press, Ltd., London, 1930.

23

E Erikson, Identity: Youth and crisis, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1968, pp.88.

24

E Wilson, ‘How to Bottle a Generation’, in The New York Times, March 8, 2007, viewed on 15 November 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/us/ 04fashion.html?scp=1&sq=wilson%20knockoffs&st=cse

25

B Tedeschi, ‘Awaiting Real Sales from Virtual Shoppers’, in The New York Times, June 11, 2007.

26

B Tedeschi, ‘Awaiting Real Sales from Virtual Shoppers’, in The New York Times, June 11, 2007. E Wilson, ‘How to Bottle a Generation’, in The New York Times, March 8, 2007. P Hemp, ‘Avatar-based Marketing.’ Harvard Business Review, 2006.

27

S Clifford, ‘Celebrating Fashion in the Time of Melancholia,’ in The New York Times, November 30, 2008, viewed on 1 December 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/business/media/01luxury.html?scp=1&sq= %22second+life%22&st=nyt

28

E Semmelhack, ‘Heights of fashion: The history of the elevated shoe’, Periscope Publishers, UK, 2008, pp. 1-119.

29

W H Young & N K Young, ‘The Great Depression in America: A cultural encyclopaedia’, Greenwood Publishers, California, USA, pp. 136-507.

30

M Linden, ‘The Second Life Economy—First Quarter 2009 in Detail.’ Official Second Life Blog. April 16, 2009.

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__________________________________________________________________ 31

H Onishi, ‘Onoff brings London Fashion Week to Second Life,’ WordPress, 2008, viewed on 26 November 2008: http://no7onsecondlife.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/onoff-brings-london-fashionweek-to-second-life/

32

WordPress, ‘The Ewing Fashion Agency and the Amsterdam real-world based Artist Advice fashion promotions agency pool their creative vision to release a unique real-world, Second Life fashion event,’ 2008, viewed on 26 November 2008: http://ewingfashionagency.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/press-releasesimultaneous-second-life-real-life-show/

33

N Rantisi, ‘How New York Stole Modern Fashion’, in Fashion’s World Cities,2006.

34

M Yahia, ‘IOL fashion show in Second Life,’ IslamOnline. Net, September 22, 2008, viewed on 26 November 2008: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1221720231736 &pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout

35

N Yee, J N Bailenson, M Urbanek, F Chang, and D Merget, ‘The unbearable likeness of being digital.’ CyberPsychology & Behavior, 2007.

36

B Alexander, ‘Gothic Second Life: materials for a gazeteer’, Infocult Blog: Information, Culture, Policy, Education, May 8th, 2007, viewed on 28 January 2010: http://infocult.typepad.com/infocult/2007/05/uncanny_second_.html

37

B Collins, ‘Whatever happened to Second Life?,’ PC Pro, January 4th, 2010, viewed on 28 January 2010: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/354457/whatever-happened-to-second-life/5

38

T Boellstorff, ‘Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human.’ Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2008.

39

W Shakespeare, ‘As You Like It,’ Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-142, Shakespeare Folio, UK, 1623.

40

D J Velleman, ‘Bodies, selves.’ American Imago, 65(3), 2008, pp. 405-426.

41

J Cabiria, ‘A Second Life: Online virtual worlds as therapeutic tools for gay and lesbian people’, Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B, The Sciences and Engineering, 69 (4B), 2008.

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Bibliography Alexander, B., ‘Gothic Second Life: Materials for a Gazeteer’. Infocult Blog: Information, Culture, Policy, Education, May 8th, 2007, viewed on 28 January 2010, . Appaduarai, A., ‘Introduction: Commodities and the Politics of Value’. In The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Appaduarai, A. (ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986. Boellstorff, T., Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2008. Britt, A., ‘On Language; Avatar’. In The New York Times, viewed on 10 August 2008, viewed on 1 December 2010, . Cabiria, J., ‘A Second Life: Online Virtual Worlds as Therapeutic Tools for Gay and Lesbian People’. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B, The Sciences and Engineering, 69 (4B), 2008. Clifford, S., ‘Celebrating Fashion in the Time of Melancholia’. In The New York Times. November 30, 2008, viewed on 1 December 2008, . Collins, B., ‘Whatever happened to Second Life?’. PC Pro, January 4th, 2010, viewed on 28 January 2010, . Erikson, E., Identity: Youth and Crisis. W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1968, pp.88. Eicher, J. B., Dress and Ethnicity: Change Across Space and Time. Berg Press, Oxford, 1995, pp. 1-7, 227-255. Fluegel, J.C., The Psychology of Clothes. Hogarth Press, Ltd., London, 1930.

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__________________________________________________________________ Gurova, O., ‘The Art of Dressing. Body, Gender and Discourse on Fashion in Soviet Russia in the 1950s and 60s’. In The Fabric of Cultures. Fashion, Identity, Globalization. Paulicelli E. & Hazel C. (eds.), Berg Press, Oxford, 2008, pp. 73-91. Harvey, D., ‘The Art of Rent: Globalization and the Commodification of Culture’. In Spaces of Capital: Towards a Critical Geography. Harvey, D. (ed.), Routledge Press, New York, 2001. Hansen, T., Salaula: The World of Secondhand Clothing and Zambia. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2000. Hemp, P., ‘Avatar-based Marketing.’ Harvard Business Review, vol. June, 2006, pp. 48-57. Linden, M..‘The Second Life Economy—First Quarter 2009 in Detail.’ Official Second Life Blog. April 16, 2009, viewed on 5 August 2009, . Maynard, M., Dress and Globalization. Manchester University Press. Manchester, 2004. Onishi, H., ‘Onoff brings London Fashion Week to Second Life.’ WordPress. 2008, viewed on 26 November 2008, . Paulicelli, E., and H. Clark, ‘Introduction’. In The Fabric of Cultures: Fashion, Identity, Globalization. Paulicelli, E., and Clark H. (eds.), Routledge Publishers, 2009, pp. 1-12. Paulicelli, E., Fashion under Fascism: Beyond the Black Shirt. Berg Press, Oxford, 2004. Rantisi, N., ‘How New York Stole Modern Fashion’. In Fashion’s World Cities. Breward, C. & Gilbert, D. (eds.), Berg Press, Oxford, 2006. Semmelhack, E., Heights of Fashion: The History of the Elevated Shoe. Periscope Publishers, UK, 2008, p. 1-119. Siklos, R., ‘A Virtual World but Real Money’. In The New York Times. October 19, 2006, viewed on 28 November 2008, . Shakespeare, W. ‘As You Like It,’ Shakespeare Folio, UK, 1623.

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Acknowledgments: The author would like to thank Professor Joseph Glick and Professor Eugenia Paulicelli, co-directors of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York’s Fashion Studies Concentration, for their support and insights. In addition, this publication would not have been possible without the generous assistance of the Minority Access Graduate Networking in the Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Award of the National Science Foundation and the help of the CUNY AGEP Alliance.