Spotlight: The Burn2 Fashionistas

Strutting Their Stuff: The Burn2 Fashionistas

Here is a brief history about the Fashionistas and how they became a popular feature at Burn2 events in the virtual world known as Second Life®.

Prior to 2017, there was no formally organised group of fashionistas in Burn2 - only a label that could be given to anyone interested in joining others of like mind. They were encouraged to get together and so they put on impromptu and dustily delightful fashion events during the annual “big burn” events - very haphazard, very immediate, very disorganised and yet, very fun.

Enter Vickie Maidstone.

Vickie brings her experience in fashion modeling to her role as the Fashionista Lead for the Burn2 Fashionistas in Second Life. She trained as a model starting in 2017 and in 2018 became a certified producer and director of fashion modeling. She heard about this “Burning Man in SL” while attending another event as a greeter. She eventually found her way to Burn2 and attended one of the community meetings.

Coincidentally, on that evening in 2017, the topic of the fashionistas doing a show during that year’s Octoburn event came up during that meeting. We needed someone to lead that effort at the time, and Vickie spoke up. She said that she was in modeling school, and when someone asked if she could put together a fashion show, she said yes without thinking. The rest, as they say, is history.

Under Vickie’s guidance and leadership and with the help of Co-Leads Katy (Khatluv) and Suzie (savannahsuzie) the Fashionistas have become a highly popular ensemble within the virtual Burner community, driving huge crowds to their shows. The shows are adaptive, creative and innovative in trying new things.