Purple Moon Meryl Gown in Red

I am wearing a gorgeous, sleek and sinuous gown from Purple Moon that I picked up a FAIR – the newest event from the Grande Dame of event-planning, Keira Seerose. After the massive and highly successful Vintage Fair, I swear I heard Keira say something about taking it easy and semi-retiring from event planning. However, the better you are at something, the harder it is to give it up. It must have been impossible for her since Vintage Fair ended in late August and here begins FAIR in late September. Backslider!!

L’Aph Leather Heels in Red • Purple Moon Meryl Gown includes Gloves

I am, however, thrilled to encourage her addiction and love the concept behind FAIR, this new monthly showcase. It’s not a shoe fair, a hair fair, a jewelry fair, it’s simply FAIR. FAIR as in fair pricing for the creators who participate. Fashion events are popular and people throng to them to shop for many reasons. The popularity of discount days and sale rooms has fostered the idea that the primary reason people come to events is for bargains. This has created an Ouroboros-like cycle of creating discounted item after discounted item with little time left for creating items for sale at full cost. This self-cannibalism burns designers out as they rush to create for one event after another and see their regular sales displaced by discount sales and their incomes dwindle. This should concern us as fashion consumers since these are the people who color our world with their gorgeous fabrics and create the fashions that we love.

William Weaver’s Paperwork Build 002

Much of this discount frenzy is based a false assumption. Discounts are only a part of the reason people flock to discount event and sales rooms. After all, if it were the discounts that drove the traffic, then Hair Fair and Vintage Fair would be ghost towns and they are not. People like events for several reasons. Here are just a few:

1. Laziness. What do I mean by that? Well, if you want to go shopping and buy a few new things, what’s more appealing? Would you rather teleport to a dozen shops with a failed teleport or three along the way, wait for the stores to rez and then figure out where the new items are hung or go to one place and find new items from a dozen stores at once? It’s not just laziness, of course, it’s also the sensible preference for fewer teleports and less lagalicious waiting for things to rez.
2. Bona fides. With the proliferation of copybotted items and pop-up stores selling stolen goods, there’s security in shopping events where there is a presumption that organizers screen out the dishonest and the unoriginal.
3. Discovery. Most events attract new brands trying to get noticed, so there’s an expectation of finding new designers and that pleasant glow of being in on the next new thing.
4. Sociability. While it’s possible to shop together, teleporting from one store to another to another, it’s more sociable and more like real life to go to an event and wander from item to item together, trying things one, talking about them and events keep it all in one place, no interruptions for teleports, especially for teleports that fail.
5. Bandwagon. Let’s face it, we are much more conformist that we like to pretend we are. We’re not sheep, but we do move in herds. If other people are doing something, we like to join in. It’s because we are social creatures and see ourselves as part of a community. It’s a good thing – so long as we aren’t jumping off cliffs.

• Glow Studio Bubble Pearls Ring at FAIR•
•A M E L I A R A E B E A U P A R L A N T St John Earrings for L’accessoires •
•-Glam Affair- Rea Necklace Dark Bronze for L’accessoires•

So, that’s my argument for fair pricing at events. I love the creativity and hard work of the many Second Life creators whose work inspires me and makes me happy. I want them to succeed and to feel that they are justly rewarded for their work. I hate when we lose designers to burn out and discouragement. I think that we consumers are willing to pay a fair price – we do at many events. So let’s see if this experiment in a monthly showcase with fair prices works. I think it will. I hope it slows the self-cannibalizing dependence on discounts and restores a more natural order of regular prices with occasional discounts and sales, instead of all discounts all the time.

EMO-tions Stormy Updo
PXL Creations Faith skin

Photography by Cajsa Lilliehook
for It’s Only Fashion
Store info at Blogging Second Life
****SHOPPING LIST******

• Poses: EverGlow
• Skin: [PXL] FAITH NAT NE MEB C1
• Makeup Tattoos: [PXL] FAITH NAT Pale Lips
• [PXL] FAITH NAT Arrow Eyes
• Eyes: Poetic Colors
• Lashes: Lelutka/Maitreya
• Hair: .:EMO-tions:. * STORMY * /red
• Clothing: Purple Mood :: PM :: Meryl Gown in Red for FAIR
• Shoes: -L’APH- Leather Heels Red
• Jewelry: [ glow ] studio – Bubble Pearls Ring (silver) for FAIR
• A M E L I A R A E B E A U P A R L A N T St John Earrings in Diamond/Gold for L’accessoires
• -Glam Affair- Rea Necklace Dark Bronze w/Silver Studs for L’accessoires
• Set: William Weaver’s PaperWork Build 002