Grace Winnfield is currently seeking models to represent her brand, but I kind of laughed at the long list of requirements; one of them being a very specific body size/shape, so I got a few friends together and we turned ourselves into "Gracie models" using the specific guidelines posted on Grace's blog:
SIZE PREFERENCES FOR GRACIE MODEL:
Go into edit appearance and click body
follow the measures down.. I will highlight and give a range for the important ones:
Height: At least 75 but preferrable is 80-85 or so.
Body thickness: less than 7
Body fat 0 preferred but no more than 7
Torso Muscles should be less than 40
Shoulders should be proportionate but usually less than 50.
Breast size: LESS THAN 40 PLEASE (mine are around 33)
Arms
length… you are taller so your arms should be longer… probably
between 60 and 69 and finger tips reach just around or above your mid
thigh. Mine are at 67
torso length… we dont need long torsos so less than 55 but not too short so shorter than 44
Love handles…. between 15 and 20
not too muscular please … less than 47 but we need some tone so more than 40
leg length.. LONG!! somewhere between 80 and 95 is usually good… mine are 89.
HIP WIDTH: NO more than 48!!!!!!!!!!! ( remember i use a lot of system skirts)
Hip length shouldnt be very long.. keep it less than 37 please.
Butt size less than 30 (ALOT OF SYSTEM SKIRTS SO SMALL IS GOOD)
Saddle bags less than 25
foot size 0 so that all shoes will work.
Save this as Grace shape.
Here is a snapshot of us with our new "Gracie" body upgrades:
Here's a picture of my regular body shape next to Gracified Kavar & Brandy:
Gogo is not a BIG avatar, but I felt thick (and short) standing next to Grace's body shape.
Kavar (girl version), me, Brandy in our regular sizes.
I guess we're not qualified to be Gracie models, but I will keep my boobs and ass, thank you very much.
If you have made your own Gracified shape and want to share, let me know! I'll post it all below:
Ryker Beck vs. Gracified Ryker
Cyclic Gearz vs. Gracified Cyclic
Ravyn Hynes vs. Gracified Ravyn
Kitty Lalonde vs. Gracified Kitty
Marianne Little vs. Gracified Marianne
Disclaimer: This entry is NOT to poke fun at thin avatars.
About Post Author
It is interesting that i get negative feedback even with the ranges in the size card. I would be curious to see what spectrum of range you chose. I’m really suprised that people find it necessary to poke fun at my want for models that look like rl models. This is simply my choice, my preference, and you do not need to change to fit it if you arent comfortable with it. I do feel i am not alone in sl… take a look at other vendor ad models….. you will find them tall and very thin as well. The issue of t & a is irrelevant… if you like it then by all means have it. I would never dream of teasing or taunting someone publicly simply because i was offended by what they had to say or how they preferred to live their slife. To assume that we need to project our distaste for models in reality into a game when most things are far from reality in our virtual world is strange to me. Frankly I think your avatar has a beautiful shape, but it is shorter than i prefer, and might not look the same in a system skirt. I’m saddened that you felt it necessary to publicly embarrass me and sincerely apologize that i have somehow offended you.
Ohhh… I die here! I already made my Gracie shape before I read your post. The worst is zero body fat and the very long legs. Yes, long legs are good but hmmm…up to 95?
Grace, it’s not personal. I just thought it might be a fun comparison since you did provide exact measurements. When I wear a system skirt, I make sure to use a “skirt shape” so my ass is not a mile wide.
I know my proportions are not perfect and would make some people cringe, so it is to each their own. I never did say anything about being tall/thin as ‘wrong’, just a comparison.
Good luck with your model search, I’m sure you will find many that are the ideal size for your brand/brand image.
I’m a very tall chick RL, and I can safely say unless you are suffering from a severe eating disorder, tall women don’t tend to be so lean. If you wanta realistic model shape, I would suggest taking a gander at some of the current popular models like Heidi Klum rather than Kate Moss. My own shape is personally, how I see myself if I were not so tall, I wanted to keep some realism and chose to reflect that with musculature and curves, which most women do have RL, even the thin ones.
The comparison was not mean in cruelty – It is interesting to myself to see the differences in shapes and how people see themselves.
Ha, we’ve been doing this on SLU too. I haven’t had a chance to participate myself yet, being at work and all, but there are several images on this thread:
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/fashion-shopping/29768-want-model-just-change-everything.html
Grace, the people who buy your items are not all “Gracie models.” They come in a variety of sizes and heights. It seems to me that a savvy clothier would be trying to make clothes that fit a wide variety of shapes, rather than trying to get a wide variety of shapes to change to fit the clothes. You’re pretty much saying that your items wouldn’t look optimal on the most avatars, but it’s those same avatars who are your customers.
Grace said: “I’m really suprised that people find it necessary to poke fun at my want for models that look like rl models. ”
I think the issue here – for me and a number of other people – is what we view as the unhealthy emphasis on being too skinny. Most of that sick body image culture comes from the very model industry you mention, which tells normal girls they are too fat even when they’re already rail thin.
Anorexia Nervosa can cause permanent heart damage and even kill the victim. Why anyone would fail to understand the seriousness of perpetuating that sickness is beyond me.
My clothes look fine on really most sizes.. i’d be happy to pass some.. and i do have demos for all my bridals. That being said, I personally prefer to show them on tall thin models. I make the clothing on my avatar, and the prims lay exactly how i want them if i use a body type like mine… doesnt mean that look off on a larger avi. Quite to the contrary… my very curvy short friend Mynx is by nature very tiny due to her short stature and most clothes prims in sl are too big for her body, mine fit her perfectly. Freedom of expression. Guys this is SL, not RL…. it is why we are free to express ourselves in ways that we wish. I am certainly not condoning anyone become anorexic in RL… come on. I simply dont feel that in a virtual world it matters all that much. Hopefully we are adults and know the difference.
what i dont understand if you giving specific body shapes to find a model why use an alt or change ur skin/face to use another look for ur adds as the model coming to you wont be there own sl look they would be ur look, so i really dont see the point i would of personally done a casting.
>>”Guys this is SL, not RL…. it is why we are free to express ourselves in ways that we wish. I am certainly not condoning anyone become anorexic in RL… come on. I simply dont feel that in a virtual world it matters all that much. Hopefully we are adults and know the difference.”
That sounds too much like the old “it’s just a game” excuse.
It DOES matter in a virtual world. Anorexia is a psychological disorder. We may leave our bodies behind in the real world when we log in, but our tastes, views, attitudes and perceptions stay with us and are reflected in our behavior. Adult or not, not everyone is capable of compartmentalizing virtual from real – we see news articles about that all the time.
Thin is one thing. But the shape guidelines you’ve published are over the top into unhealthily skinny – nobody’s going to die because their avatar was too thin, but how can you guarantee that body image message isn’t conveyed and reinforced in the person’s real mind?
You can’t.
I think it should be renamed – “faces wanted”
I spend a great deal of time and money making my character look great and making it looking like a walking skeleton with clothing hanging off it. I looked at your clothes and perhaps with a little more practice and experiance you’ll realize that the whole “not everyone is “Gracie size”” is true. It kind of sickens me that anyone in SL would search out models and tell them how to look. Maybe it’s beautiful to you but honestly, your products don’t even look good on models shaped like that. I visit Gogo’s blog daily and her character I feel is normal sized and I don’t think I ever see her looking poorly, in fact a lot of times I’ll go shoping places because I know that it will look good on me because it looks good on her. If Gogo looked like a “Gracie” I sure as hell wouldn’t do that.
Thank you, Gogo for this post. Just because it’s SL and we can mess with the sliders we don’t have to go to the extreme. There are many models that look similar in SL, witch is sad in my opinion and by all means this “Gracie” shape is NOT based on a RL model shape.
Anyway it is good to see there are big names out there who admire a womens body and like to say and show that. It’s everybody’s own choice in the end how they want to look. I promote a healthy look, tall, slender yes but not thin and I’m glad I’m not alone. 🙂
I made one too just because I thought it would be interesting to see what it looked like lol: http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6527/hmmmo.jpg
Feel free to delete this post I just wanted to show you the image xD
Also – RL models still have the pelvis width of a woman, not a man, as these show. I think I will make some model shapes based on real RL models and sell them in my store.
While I may or may not agree with the stats Gracie has laid out for her models I do support her right as a designer to decide what the avatar on her vendor boxes should look like. When a person agrees to ‘model’ for a designer then the image represented should be about the clothes or designs NOT about what the model thinks their avatar should look like. Unless I am mistaken, the objective of shooting designs for vendor images is to display THE DESIGNERS work to the best of it’s advantage, not so that someone can see how cute the model’s avi is. If Gracie, or any other designer, wants a specific LOOK for their displays, then more power to them. No one is forcing people to change to suit the clothing. Those who wish to model need to be willing to adapt to the designers vision. If they are not.. then don’t seek to model for that designer. Maybe people need to realise modelling for a designer is not about YOU but about the work of the designer.
“Freedom of expression. Guys this is SL, not RL…. it is why we are free to express ourselves in ways that we wish.”
Just as Gracie is allowed to have the size model she wishes, Gogo (and others) are also allowed to have their opinion, just as Gracies quote says here.
We can all agree that alot of SL skirts look good/best on tall skinny avs. No offence intended to anyone – they are made to fit the majority of avatars, or to fit their models. I commend the designers that give two versions of skirt, cause editing all the time is a pain in the hooha. I always have to reduce them and others have to increase.
But I agree with anyone that says the extremely tall, extrememly skinny and extremely narrow-shouldered avatar looks lanky and underfed.
Isn’t it fair to say that if Gracie is going to pay the models she has the right to specify a certain body type? RL Fashion designers certainly do.
I watch Fashion TV (the cable TV station) a fair bit and the models there are universally tall and thin but there are so many of them that you cannot say they are unrealistic – just uncommon. I have a RL friend with this body shape and she doesn’t starve herself either she’s just lucky that way.
I did this too just out of curiosity (http://www.flickr.com/photos/laleetaxue/3555523918/) I never considered my avatar to be fat far from it but that’s how I felt next to that other shape :O
*hugs her normal body close*
i felt compelled to share my experiences as a “Gracie Girl”…
I *used* to be a Gracie girl. A couple of years ago she held the same type of contest and I was accepted as one of five models that were supposed to be exclusive Gracie designs models.
I bent over backwards for Grace. I change my shape for her specifications (to an extent, but fought hard to keep myself proportional, which is not possible with her “required” measurements) I spent countless hours at photoshoots with inept photographers, and ended up giving Gracie photog tips for her vendor photos just to ease my own pain.
I know as a model that is is expected that you become the “clay” of a designer, but I felt, at the time, that I’d established myself as a person (not just a model) in SL with tasteful style. The last straw for me with being a “Gracie Girl” was her fashion show about 6 to 8 months ago to premier her newest line of clothing.
The experience was a nightmare. One model was favored with the quality designs while the rest of us were delegated to wearing the clothes with faulty seams and older designs.
I was subjected to being critiqued by her “fashion show director” on my sculpted shoes and classic pearls, to be sent the most god awful blinging prim glass slippers from SLX and asked to wear whatever gaudy diamond jewelry I had in my inventory.
This “fashion show director’s” idea of style was Gurl 6 hair, bling jewelry, and typing up the show script in all caps. Speaking of, when I happened to discretely mention to Grace in an IM that screaming at the audience in all caps was probably not a great idea…I was accosted with messages from the “fashion show director” not to bother Grace and direct all my “opinions” to her instead.
The rehearsals were insane. The announcer of the show was the “fashion show director’s” boyfriend who had no experience announcing shows. So we were all expected to take hours of our time practicing so he could figure out his timing to copy/paste his ALL CAPS chat.
In the end, I said “fuck this”. There may be models in SL who are completely desperate to put up with such unprofessional situations, but I’m not one of them.
This comment has nothing to do with the “type” of model Grace is looking for and everything to do with the insanity a model has to deal with to be “chosen”.
Here’s my try:
http://img37.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rinkavsgraciemodel.jpg
I really love my shape…. LOL
glad you posted this.
grace – i really didn’t see it as ridiculing your decisions at all.
we don’t expect rl models to look too much like the rest of us, so why shouldn’t sl models look different too? Gracie has every right to choose girls with the shape that gives her the best look for her clothes
i enjoyed trying out the new shape for fun and quite like it … though i would feel miserable with such a small bust so that was one slider i couldn’t bring myself to move.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amirafootman/3559424318/sizes/o/
Had to give it a go! Don’t get me started on the jutting out bones, or the stupid length legs, or the fact my arms belong on a disfigured ape.
le sigh!
the funny thing … even the most skinny rl model looks somehow beautiful in her proportions … so skinny-ness and model skinny-ness are (often) two different things … and this gracie shape (judging from the pics above) is just ugly, unproportional skinny (and there are some VERY beautiful proportional skinny model shapes out there … it is possible with the av-mesh) … which makes me doubt the taste-level of this designer (without knowing her or her designs, i have to add).
Just did it with my shape, too … and I’m, uhm … I now feel chubby o__o
-> http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilianabarrs/3561642141/
I tried it too and what makes her shape so odd are two simple mistakes: Lovehandles 40 (instead of 20) and Torso Muscles 25 (instead of 40). But still the proportion between legs and torso is quite unusual as not ‘long legs’ cause long legs but an ideal ratio between torso and legs. With less Torso Muscles this ‘illusion’ is much easier to get.
So i have to agree with Anita: a good designer should see/know/feel such stuff.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anaryaelderslie/3570465971/
Here is my entry into all of this.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cronocloudcreeggan/3570480253/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cronocloudcreeggan/3570480617/
And a blog post:
http://ccslfashionista.blogspot.com/2009/05/shape-comparison-gracie-ified-cc-post.html
zomg! i just saw her own model shapes on flickr and they look TERRIBLE. Jutting vertices, spindly spider legs and… wait, FACE SHEARING?!?!?!
just… retarded :X