SUNSET BEACH -- When is pink not pink? When it is the color of the new Yves Saint Laurent sim. The color is called "fuschia," according to Thomas Lalague (Thomas2007 Fizzle in Second Life), Marketing Director of YSL Fragrances. The iconic fashion house unveiled their fuschia sim promoting the new YSL fragrance "Elle" on Oct. 1. The sim, opened to journalists at 9 a.m. SLT and to the public later that evening, will only be accessible to residents through the end of October.

"Elle is geared toward "an active woman who is urban and contemporary, daring and elegant, attractive and bohemian, smart and sexy," said Lalague in the press conference. "A woman who is open to the world and who wants to express her personality."

The Elle fragrance launched worldwide on Oct. 1 except in the United States and Asia. The fragrance will be available in the United States exclusively online in November and then in stores in Feb. 2008. There is no way to purchase the perfume via the sim.

The sim tells the "story of Elle" through audio and video including the worldwide debut of the television commercial that will air a week after playing in-world. Several rooms contain details and background about the fragrance. A seating area in the middle of the promotional building serves as an elevator, whisking visitors up to three floors. one of which features large prim Elle perfume bottles that mist copious amounts of virtual fragrance into the air.

"Elle uses art as a means of expression," Lalague said. "We will publicize the news that residents can express themselves in an artistic way in this island."

Laurent Heckmann, general director of Andrea Media in France said that the YSL sim is "dedicated to art," and noted that an in-world art competition and exhibit titled "Express Yourself" will be held on the sim to correspond with FIAC, the international design conference. YSL staff will judge the competition.

An exhibition by artists Minah Pessoa and Michaelangelo Montague will open in the sim on Oct. 9. Results of the "Express Yourself" art competition featuring SL residents' art will be announced Oct. 23 along with the opening of the residents' exhibition.

YSL is a major sponsor of FIAC and will display a number of computers on site at FIAC in Paris to allow attendees to visit the YSL sim and to link the in-world and real world exhibitions.

Heckmann said that the YSL island is not a promotional effort to sell product but merely a reproduction of the story behind Elle. To attract residents to the sim, YSL engaged in a combination of traditional advertising in magazines and in-world advertising in several sims including Paris 1900. A link to the sim's SLurl is prominently integrated into the navigation for the YSL Elle web