A few days ago, I met Kiddo Oh from Dead Dollz. She has an
amazing talent for Mesh gown creations. I am following each of her blog posts
to find out what newness she has to offer. Then I saw that she is in the current
Enchantment event which made me looking forward to her next release already. But when I also
read that she has moved her store to a new sim and saw the pictures of the
stunning new location, I had to beg her for an interview! Lucky me, she agreed.
I was not even really installed on the comfortable seat yet
when she already shouted: „What a beautiful headpiece!“ I was wearing the
Ursula headdress from The Plastik. Kiddo has been so busy
within the last days and weeks with various event deadlines that she was not
even able to sneak a peek on all the awesome releases of her fellow creators at
Enchantment. Besides Enchantment, Dead Dollz is participating in various
well-known and ambitious events, like The Epiphany, Shiny Shabby, Fantasy Gacha
Carnival, Tres Chic, Vintage & Cool Fair, Festival Of Sin, The Fantasy Collective and
others. It means a lot of work to meet the event requirements such as deadlines
and themes. It’s even more work regarding the fact that all of her creations
are original Mesh content.
Around April this year, Kiddo decided to take off all
non-original Mesh products. These are gone forever. „It was necessarily evil“,
she explains. „I said ‚evil‘ because most of those designs are part of myself;
I loved creating them and I know people loved them. But I really wanted to get
the SLOCCA certificate.“ SLOCCA stands for Original Content Creators
Association. In order to apply for this certificate, all Mesh creations need to
be 100% original. „So I had to let go the older creations. It was sad but in
the end, I’m happy because people know me now for what I am truly capable of.“
For a short moment, we are distracted from our actual topic
and discuss the use of templates. We both agree that templates are great, for
various reasons, but also see the problem of the oversaturation of the market,
and that the templates do put a certain limit to a vision. I go even further
and say, that for me as a customer, it sometimes looks like pabulum of offers.
Which is, in my opinion, a bummer. I would love to see designers to be more
courageous and to create their own original content.
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| All clothes can now be found in these houses. It's like shopping in a huge walk-in-cupboard! |
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| The store is up on a hill. It invites to shop but also to hang around. Visit the beach, too! |
„You made a change regarding your content, and you also
changed your store location. It looks totally different now. I know that you’re
from Italy. The first thing I thought when I visited was: she brought her real
life home to us.“ -- „Oh, yes. You know, I’m easily amused but I get easily
bored, too. I do love sunken lands, and for a while it was the only environment
I could see my store in. But recently I have felt the need to change. And since
I love my country, I went for an italian style. The small town where I was born
and raised, looks a lot like the little village on the hills here on the sim.“
She smirks and adds: „Minus the luxury pool. But all credits go to Ibi at 8f8;
he’s extremly talented! I only wish it wasn’t from a gacha machine, though. It
was tricky to get all the pieces.“
She laughs. Me too. We immediately know what we are talking
about, and out of a sudden, we discuss enthusiastically, and with hands and
feet one of our biggest weaknesses: the notorious gacha addiction! „One time, I
spent way too much on a Zenith gacha machine“, I cry. „Do you know, how many
copies of this Genesis Lab head I won prior to get the Emotions HUD?“, she tops
it. „We obviously know both the evil side of playing gacha machines“, I
whisper.
But Kiddo herself made it hard for me to resist a gacha
machine: her current gacha offer is available at The Fantasy Gacha. „This is my
first round at The Fantasy Gacha“, she tells me. „I was at the same time incredibly
excited and truly terrified. I used to shop there and saw the level of quality
of all the items. I was afraid, I could never reach that level!“ Another gacha
machine was available at the recent Epiphany round. The Epiphany is a gacha
event which uses a reward system where doubles can be turned into points. The
points can then be redeemed for an exclusive offer. „I played often enough at
The Epiphany to get your exclusive“, I admit. „I am glad to hear someone
actually got it!“, Kiddo smiles. „I kept being asked: ‚How do I get the dress
with the hanging-out-ass?‘“
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| The original inspiration for the Ursula dress at Enchantment |
I wonder if this hanging-out-ass-exclusive was the pre-stage
for the
Ursula offer at Enchantment since I saw that hilarious inspiration picture
for the dress (see picture above). „No! No!“, she laughs. „I had no idea what to do for Epiphany,
so I ended up with a design I was considering for a while. The
Ursula dress is
actually Duchess‘ fault.“ Of course, I want to know why! „She was the one who
told me: ‚Hey, what about Ursula? Everyone will be making mermaids.‘ I did want
to add tentacles to the skirt, to be honest. But then I was afraid that you
could not actually wear the dress. It would have been good for a picture. But
not much more…“ I wonder what her face will look like when she sees what mix & match I have prepared for a picture with her dress.
Good news for those who are not so much into black is, that
they will be able to purchase this simple, yet elegant classic tube dress in
more colors soon. And also with more options for Mesh bodies. „I still use
mostly standard sizes just because most can be combined easier for me so far“,
I admit. „I am in an awkward situation“, Kiddo replies. „I know, not everyone has
the Maitreya Lara body, for example. But mesh body lovers want mesh body
compatible items while standard sizes lovers want me to keep doing sizes. So
the process of making a mesh item became longer.“ I am not a builder myself but
I heard very often about this struggle from various designers around the grid.
Kiddo adds with a big grin: „It’s time consuming and we all want to offer the
widest range of options. But I truly wish they will stop releasing new bodies.
I guess, shoe creators think the same.“
Again, I want to come back to her various participations in
events: „With your style, you are participating in casual and formal events as
well as in fantasy events. Do you have any personal preference?“ -- „As already
mentioned, I get easily bored. So I prefer fantasy and roleplay events, or events
with a theme. Because it forces me out of my safe zone. With gowns, I have a
certain expertise which can be not necessarily a good thing. You become too
confident, and you tend to create less innovative items. But with a theme that
is far from what I usually make I can challenge myself and see what i am truly
capable of. This is a process that involves bumping the head against the wall a
lot. But in the end is rewarding.“ I decide that this great explanation has to mark
the end of my article.
And while I was preparing this article, I noticed what it
means: we had a great and funny conversation. We were discussing more than her
brand, and it was one very interesting talk. It was not easy for me to bring
all that into a nice text. It was ‚a process that involves bumping the head
against the wall a lot. But in the end is rewarding.‘ Very true. Thank you,
Kiddo, for taking your time, and for letting us know more about you! Now let’s play
some gacha… !
HEAD: LeLutka Mesh Head Stella
