From Paper to Pixel

You're invited!
There's a great Fashion show/party happening tomorrow Saturday 17 May, at 1pm SLT, on Kitely, and specifically the sim Gino's Butterfly, owned by Karima Hoisan -  check the end of the post for the HG Address. 

Animated by Kimm Starr of Virtual Vignette, and inspired by real world art, this original and captivating event will include a dance party with the lovely Rosa Alekseev - lots of fun for all!

Karima Hoisan outside Ottobre

Chances are, you'll remember our HG Safari trip to Gino's Butterfly about a year ago, to see the art installation where Karima - with lots of scripting assistance from her partner Dale Innis - celebrates a fashion designer and family friend, Gino. 

War veteran, artist, and designer, Gino spent the final years of his long and creative life living near Karima, in Costa Rica. On Saturday, that creativity is further celebrated with a Fashion Show called "A Designer's Legacy: From Paper to Pixels" with animesh made by Kimm Starr.

Karima Hoisan: It was the name where he worked with another designer who started him off, James Ottobre, and they became creative partners. Although all these fashions shown here are Ginos. They worked together for years then sold the store and came down to drop out in Costa Rica.

It was another sim by Karima, AI Dreams in Art, a showcase of  Dale Innes' Ai pictures, that was the creative catalyst. MidJourney pictures were new to Kimm, and she was blown away by the setup there. That led to an early collaboration, of animesh Goth girl and guy, still to be found on that sim, and from there....

Kimm Starr:   That's how it started, then Karima gave me a tour of Gino's Butterfly where I first saw Gino's drawings.  I was so inspired to do something with them.  They were absolute eye candy! I was really inspired by the late 1950's & 60's vibe.  I created vintage looking animesh models and then recreated 14 of his original designs

Karima Hoisan: She fell in love with the sketches parading all over the sim..

Thirza Ember: was it a challenge to work with a real design? rather than just making up your own art...

Kimm Starr: yes , considering I'm not a fashion designer but I really wanted to do the designs justice. They were designers in the late 50's early 60s in Beverly Hills.

Karima Hoisan: By the way, I'm wearing a 'Gino' - from one of his sketches.  This is my RL look when I was 18 years old.

Thirza Ember: Karima, what was your reaction when you saw the first one made into 3D inworld?

Karima Hoisan: I cried and cried. It was like a miracle. How I wished Gino was still here to see this come to life,  but I feel that here is he is Very Close

Kimm Starr: and that was all I needed to keep going and the project has grown and will keep growing, his art keeps on inspiring years after his passing.

Karima and Kimm sitting outside the Chanel store, on Gino's Butterly, Kitely

Animesh figures can be worn as complete avatars, of course, or used as a handy alternative to NPCs to liven a sim or provide entertainment. Kimm's plan is to make the most of these figures, in a practical way. She highlights the importance of giving people who are new to Opensim a classy and comfortable avatar that, right from the get-go, allows them to go exploring without worrying about losing bits, or rezzing slowly. These avatars are about a 5 or 6k complexity, comparable to a legacy avatar wearing baked clothes, so they're light and newbie proof in every way.

Kimm Starr: I'm in the process of creating starter avatars, the starter packages will be free, I want people to be able to look good in 5 minutes without 3 dozen HUDs and stuff, classy and a little vintage.  So many people come to opensim and look awful and they worry about that before they ever get a chance to explore.

Karima Hoisan: A new promotion line... only in the virtual!!

Gino was a ladies' fashion designer, but Kimm won't limit herself just to the girls.

Kimm Starr:  I will have fashions for the men too, and trans

The fashion show is a sort or art installation in its own right, of course - just as they are in the real world. The venue is perfectly pastel, and finely feminine, with all the sounds provided inworld, not on Media or Stream, which makes it feel completely immersive. They're all very close to the drawings, which is no mean feat, this one here 'Denim and Ruffles' really stood out. Of course, you need to go to the show to see everything close up and personal and to get the full effect of the commentary, music and the lovely ladies parading. Kudos to Kimm for also writing the very nice words that set the tone for the entire event.

Kimm Starr: I wanted to really capture his vision

Karima Hoisan: You did:)

There's good news too for those of us who don't want to do the all-in-one avie, but would love to have these outfits.

Kimm Starr: It's connected to the body now, but I plan on releasing a Gino line for avatars

Thirza Ember: Was any one of these designs a challenge you thought you would never be able to do?

Kimm Starr: all of them!  I first told Karima about 2 years ago I wanted to do something like this, it took a year and a half after that to learn how. I'm using the animesh program Animaster to make them move and create the actual show.

The incredibly moving finale to the show, when the hero of the hour comes out onstage, is perfectly pitched. There's more that happens - no need to spoil the surprise in this blog post, just make sure you visit in person to get the full effect of what Kimm has achieved here, together with Karima.

Finally, you will be able to TP up to the Beverley Hills Changing Platform - it's a skybox above the sim - where Kimm's starter avatars can be found, as well as all sorts of cute vintage bits and pieces, like the hair salon from 60 years ago - adorable! The idea here though is to think about wearing a nice light and elegant avie...

Kimm Starr: Easy peasy starter avs so people can look pretty in 3 minutes and get out there to explore OS not be stuck for hours in the the freebie shops first. This group will all look vintage, I'm going to do more modern looking ones after.

 Kimm showcased the first outfit that has been set out here, a little black dress and high heels, and matching 50's hairdo, perfect for cocktail parties and so much more. Simply click Buy, find the folder, and swap outfits, all necessary elements are included. It kind of has that Fest'Avi feel from a decade ago, but with far more realism and less complexity of course.

If you do miss the event, the gals plan to set things up so you'll be able to start the show with a button, and this region, like all Karima's places on Kitely, are always open to the public. But Saturday's the day if you want to be able to say you were at the premiere of this fabulous new experience in Kitely.

HG Address: grid.kitely.com:8002:Gino's Butterfly