Stiletto feels the mood for heels while Dancer reels the business reals by Music Hyun
August 25, 2008
Stiletto Moody imagining new exquisit designs
STILETTO MOODY - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Stiletto%20Moody/43/43/35 Imagine a warm bath, all relaxed, thoughts fading away, a glass of wine and candles….and there suddenly emerges an idea: Python snake striped heels, in bright shining colours! Stiletto Moody, creator of the probably best high heels and boots in Second Life, mostly starts her inspirational process in a warm, deliciously scented bath tub, her favourite place for her daily retreat and thinking.
Since November 2007 an ever growing community of SL girls and women of all ages swear that Stiletto Moody shoes are the best a stylish fashionista can wear.
And now the virtual female Christian Louboutin has added a whole new range to her products: Generation 2 (SMG2) sexy heels, elegant boots, tower high sandals, sheer stockings with an amazing subtle shine, and the first pieces of jewellery, a delicate golden or silver bracelet.
The details on her high class creations are evolving with each model. Colour change metal accessories to take on or off, and more totally new and exciting features were added to Gen2, new shapes and designs were explored.
Besides the standards like heel click and fabric choices, sexy walk and shinyness level, there comes a stunning new feature: invisible prims shaping the SL woman´s usually ugly fat ankle to a gazelle-like sexy slim one. Finally!
Boots in Second Life usually come with bread-thick calves. Moody boots are delicately wrapping the lower leg, without using clothing layers, but thin sculpted prims.
Who is this woman that customers hardly see in her own shop, because her passion is developing new designs, bending and torturing sculpted prims with her team, and designing fabulous textures? She is a 30 year old woman sharing life and business with her husband on two continents, the USA and Australia. She is focussing on designs and accessory details, as much as her husband dives deep into technical development. The resident could meet her on breakfast or late night, depending on where she currently is on this globe, working hard on improving every day.
It us truely exciting to meet with busy Stiletto Moody and get a little insight into her goals and wishes, into her fears and visions.
On her arrival she explains: “I can´t remember the last time I actually went out. I am usually in a studio, zoomed into a prim this size of my screen” she chuckles about herself, and adds “that has become my world.” The resident does not really wonder about hearing this, looking at the speed at which Stiletto Moody releases new product lines.
Her biggest wish and drive is to meet her customers fantasies and wishes:
While the Moody shoes are undoubtedly among the better ones, she gets rather a bad reception due to the pricing policy lately.
As a marketing professional, I admire the way the brand got build as an exclusive brand. Among fashion aware SL residents, owning Moody shoes is a status symbol. The prices were steep, but the shopping and social experience that came along with them paid off. If you want to be someone, you had to wear Moody shoes.
However with the last release, this tipped. The shoes were not perceived as that advanced compared to the previous ones, and to competitors like Storm Schmooz for example. However the price tag was very advanced. And while the hooray-crowd rushed and spent top L$ to be cutting edge, quite a lot of people started to actually think the new generation is not a deal anymore. And the more critical fashion blogs (yes, they exist) started to voice criticism.
This goes along with Moody not being an insider tip anymore. Moody starts to get recognized by the masses, and the masses are not prepared to pay the price that gets asked for the shoes. With exclusivity and being "in" taken away however, Moody shoes are just overpriced shoes. Good quality, but overpriced.
Again, from a marketing point of view, this tipping of public perception is a serious threat to the brand. The people who rushed for the new shoes and thought they'd enter the in-circle now must feel like they made a bad bargain, or even feel like they are ridiculed for being shallow victims of marketing. But Moody can't lower the prices since the existing customers would be furious. From a marketing point of view the loyalty of the current customers needs to be preserved, while getting away from the negative image of the public response to the new shoes.
What Moody experienced is a real threat for exclusive RL businesses. She missed the point where exclusiveness tipped over to ridiculousness. It's a fine line to walk, and RL businesses often fail at it as well.
Should I give an advice, it would be that we should see yet another new generation soon, with some real benefit and a decent (still high but decent) price tag, and a reduction of the prices of the current generation.
Posted By:
Peter Stindberg | Wednesday, August 27, 2008 04:24 AM
That was a very good article, Music. Thank you.
Peter, interesting viewpoints, some I share to an extent. I am not sure if even though recognised by more She is aiming at the 'masses' as you put it.
I'm equally sure that given their marketing, PR, shoe design and service acumen, if she does, she will do it in a different, but compelling way. There is no doubt in my mind that what she has done, and done very successfully is make everyone try harder and raised the bar.
It would be nice to see this happen in all aspects of design in Second life...
Posted By:
zimon | Wednesday, August 27, 2008 01:37 PM
I did not suggest she is aiming on the masses on purpose. However her recognition and visibility is raised compared to a while ago. I hear less "Stiletto WHO?" when asked for good shoes than a few months ago.
In general, getting more public profile is a good thing for every shop. Take Nyt'n'Day for example: very good visibility, very well known - and no-brainer prices for good quality.
But with the undoubted benefit of better visibility comes the danger of greater scrutiny from your potential customers. If the price-quality ratio would tip for Nyt'n'Day, word would spread fast. And that is what happened for Moody.
Posted By:
Peter Stindberg | Wednesday, August 27, 2008 01:43 PM
What about that scandal a while back where it was revealed that Moody doesn't actually make the shoes? She hired texture and sculpty artists to make them and she just sells them. So what exactly is she doing in her studio?
Regardless, her prices are an insult. I can get equally good (if not better) shoes for a third of the price from top-end content creators. Ones who actually make the shoes themselves.
Posted By:
Mandy Tupper | Thursday, August 28, 2008 09:06 AM
Well, I still think it was a very well written article.. Nicely done Music.
As to the 'scandal' my hat is off to Stiletto for finding and executing so well into a 'space' in Second Life. Who cares if she drew the designs in the real world and hired 3D technical people to build them.. I'm amazed no-one took advantage of this 'real world' business model before.
By the by.. When you look back in two years' time, you will probably think $3 for a virtual shoe is a steal.. or do we all naively think that Second life and the up-coming Avatar Reality project and those like them will be free of inflation.
Posted By:
zimon | Thursday, August 28, 2008 06:24 PM
"Who cares if she drew the designs in the real world and hired 3D technical people to build them.. "
Errm zimon, Its more like "...took pictuers of sasawe capalini's and other RL designers shoes and hired 3D technical people to build them.. "
Posted By:
Anna Demida | Friday, August 29, 2008 02:35 AM
No, Sasawe Capelini was one of her designers. The designs themselves were copies of RL shoes (down to the red soles in one case).
Posted By:
Mandy Tupper | Friday, August 29, 2008 08:33 AM
Yes right , sorry. Meant to say Christian Louboutin, the RL designer not her SL worker Sasawe Capelini
Posted By:
Anna Demida | Friday, August 29, 2008 09:32 AM
So we have it, she hires people to do the actual work of copying RL shoes and most likely makes enough money selling them to pay for good press that makes you beleive she's actually the virtual female Christian Louboutin
Posted By:
Anna Demida | Friday, August 29, 2008 09:44 AM
I feel that copying people's work is very bad and the fact that she profited from it. Get your own design and make your work pay for it rather then copying peoplework and lived in people's shadow.
Posted By:
Super Mario | Monday, October 27, 2008 04:13 PM
;)
