Well this was supposed to be published on someone else’s blog on the 12th as part of the blogger Mix-n-Match 2008 but they published a picture of facelights that look like an ass instead.
Oh well. My blog. I can publish it here.
My guest blogger Joan Kremer’s excellent article is below this one since it was posted on the 12th.
Why is Fashionista Drama Both a Good Thing and a Bad Thing?
By Ann Otoole
http://annotoole.wordpress.com/
Article suggested by Ari Blackthorne (http://sociallymundane.com)
Well it is both simple and complicated at the same time.
Why do people express interest in train wrecks?
Why is Paris Hilton a celeb after all the jail stuff and the night vision episode that made us want to wash our eyes with bleach?
Well because we like the drama plain and simple.
Secondlife is the largest stage constructed in the history of the human species and we are all actors playing roles.
Therefore Secondlife *is* drama pure and simple.
But sometimes it can hurt. And in some cases get into serious legal territory.
We find out about new delicious goodies to grab because of the Fashionista drama.
We hear about purported ripoffs because of the Fashionista drama.
Sometimes the allegations are accurate.
Sometimes the allegations are false.
And sometimes the allegations are an error and someone winds up eating their words with a dirty pump on top for a retraction and thus lose some degree of credibility.
People get hurt. Businesses get hurt. This hurt is wielded as a competitive weapon.
This is the brutal essence of why Fashionista Drama can be a bad thing. Those that think these tactics are a good thing have issues.
Another aspect of why Fashionista Drama can be bad is the effort to silence and occlude new and existing superior talent. There are no shortage of conspiracy theories around this but they are just that. Conspiracy theories.
Some fashionistas have this RL Only attitude and are very vocal about fashion not counting unless it is based on real life (and thus possibly ripped off ideas?)
But this is Secondlife and this is Avatar Fashion.
That brings us to the good side. Sometimes we have a chance to bring attention to talent.
There is no better case of Avatar Fashion than Acedia Albion (who has been in Secondlife doing the very top end of fashion for 3 years now).
Babydoll in Silver by Acedia Albion
Acedia really pushes the envelope and is truly Avatar Avant Garde Fashion at it’s best.
She even explores the introduction of Avatar Fashion into the real world.
I have a copy of a real world magazine on my coffee table called Avatar Fashion published by Acedia. And my picture is in it. Not many can say that eh? Drama. There it is. I let some slip. 
Nonna Hedges made this Drama outfit I felt was perfect for this article!
Leopard Drama by Nonna Hedges
Yes nothing like a style that just reeks of Fashionista Drama and superiority. This outfit is cool. I have not figured out where I might wear it but hey I had to have it lol.
What would we do without Fashionista Drama indeed. We love it. We don’t like the bad side and sometimes the mob mentality gets going and things can get ugly. But the good far outweighs the bad.
Lately we have a new variant of Fashionista Drama going.
It is in the words used by the people claiming to be leaving Secondlife to go places where “there are no damn fashionistas charging for content and all content is free”. Uh huh.
Well to answer that attitude that I leave this last picture featuring the work of one of the best known fashionistas in Secondlife Stiletto Moody…
Pinup shoes and Lucky Lingerie by Stiletto Moody
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Great post, and glad it got out there… somehow.
In fact, I think it’s a great idea to post the assignments on your own blog, simply because your ‘target’ blog might be one – however great it is – that has a target group interested in that particular subject. So I’m off to post my own ramblings on my own blog. Heh.
Not getting into drama – fashionista-type or otherwise – but it’s a shame some bloggers didn’t respect the commitment. But hey – working with volunteers has always been a case of herding cats, eh?
Name and Shame time…
Who was too petty to post your article?
I don’t know if it is something deserving of a shame comment. Maybe they got in a car wreck or had some other thing going on that made this fall in a unimportant crack somewhere. It is one of those websites with multiple bloggers so who knows?
All I know is what appeared on that blog was quite the irony considering the topic of this article rofl. I’ll view it with a positive outlook. I kept laughing every time I checked on the 12th expecting to see this article and instead seeing the “butt lights” lol.
No harm done. Article still published somewhere.
Secondlife is the largest stage constructed in the history of the human species and we are all actors playing roles.
Wasn’t there a big philosopher that said the same about RL?
I guess most play just different roles here. And feel less repercussions for being a Drama Queen. 
I just love the ‘positive drama’ you found. As for the negative, This hurt is wielded as a competitive weapon. is very true. And it’s a sad thing, but maybe this goes on in RL fashion scene too? But because we’re ‘further’ away from that, because the designers don’t have blogs, etc, we get to hear from it less?
[...] Why fashionista drama is both a good thing and a bad thing by Ann O’toole [...]
I’m always saying: “Where there are people, there is drama” the thing is, this idea never occurred to me before I started playing around in Second Life.. Oh well
Soon to get back into SL fully, I had to check up on ya, Ann. Great article, and well put as usual.