Fashion for Life

Many bloggers are writing about Fashion for Life (or FFL), which opens tomorrow, Saturday, June 7, in support of Second Life's Relay for Life campaign, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, running through June 20. Ten sims have been designed and constructed to host dozens of shops that offer a portion of their proceeds toward the campaign, and while most blog posts will understandably focus on the items for sale (and, with some advance access, I've been doing my fair share of shopping!), I thought I'd highlight some of the remarkable builds, constructed in some cases relatively quickly.

I'll provide some landmarks here, but they might not be available until the 7th. These images start at FFL Trek, in the top northwest, located next to the American Cancer Society sim, and then circle clockwise around through all ten FFL sims. "Each builder created a sim-inspired item for a region-wide passport game," says Cajsa Lilliehook, one of the FFL organizers. "Their task was to take a single concept and create a world around it. This year’s theme is Wanderlust — a reflection of the Relay For Life them Journey to a Promise. Builders were given vague ideas about modes of transportation and asked to run with it."

The top image, with the jumbo jet, is from FFL Trek (sponsored by Essenz and Azul), a mechanized flight sim with a central runway and airport terminals (in addition to a few other fun things), designed by Troy Vogel. The second, with its focus on steampunk ground transportation, is FFL Journey (sponsored by EMO-tions and Heydra), a Victorian-era sim created by TotalLunar Eclipse. The third, the image immediately above, is FFL Voyage (sponsored by Vintage Jewels and Mon Cheri), with quaint provincial architecture by Jara Lowell, featuring 2 and 3 wheeled vehicles.

FFL Excursion (sponsored by Tres Beau and Lapointe & Bastchild), immediately above, focuses on water transportation on rivers, and bears the unmistakable hand of Barnesworth Anubis. The water gardens shown below at FFL Perambulate (sponsored by BSD Design Studio and Legal Insanity) aren't the only thing to see in the sim, but I thought designer Eclair Martinek did an elegant job with them. (This sim focuses on foot-driven transportation, including skateboards or skates.)

FFL Meander (sponsored by Pure Poison and Body Canvas), below, focusing on water transportation on the ocean, is a charming beach town, with a seaside lighthouse and boardwalk-style shops, designed by Grace Loudon.

The landscape of FFL Amble (sponsored by MoonDance and PurpleMoon), below, invokes the American Southwest, and was designed by Bianca Bender, featuring automobiles as transportation.

FFL Promenade (sponsored by FBD Fashion and ZOZ), below, takes on a decidedly futuristic aesthetic. Designed by Rathmeous Dagger, it focuses on space as its mode of transportation. (In this build, you'll need to enter to tubes to gain access to most of the shops, most easily done from the points attaching to the neighboring sims.)

The sim of FFL Wander (sponsored by Zanze and Miamai), below, is a delightfully playful creation by Grace Loudon and Rathmeous Dagger, who took on the project quickly as the initial designer fell ill. Giant and brightly colored balloons, representing non-mechanized flight, hover over and support the build below.

And the tenth sim, FFL Parade (sponsored by KL Couture and LeeZu), designed by Pluto Fairey, focuses on pedal power and suggests an ancient Mayan town — although not without a dirigible drifting overhead. So do go enjoy the great work of these builders, who have put in extraordinary effort to develop environments not only enjoyable to visit, but also designed to give you the best possible shopping experience. The more you shop, the more funds are raised for Relay for Life, so get out there and make it a win-win for everyone.