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Dramas and Divas and the Whole Damn Thing

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I was one of the RUNWAY Magazine staff who got involved in this whole drama that is hitting the SL News about RUNWAY Magazine closing and I had been quiet feeling sick of all the assumptions and gossip.

Here is a statement from Thalia, the Fashion Editor of RUNWAY and one of the staff who had been with the magazine the longest, who decided to post this as all the “facts” surrounding what happened that day. She has asked me to post this on my blog as a personal favour.

Written by Kay Fairey, former staff writer of RUNWAY Magazine.

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Drama and Divas and the Whole Damn Thing

By Thalia Jie – former Fashion Editor of RUNWAY Magazine

In respect of the demise of RUNWAY magazine, I have no obligation to make any comments, however, I will state that various blog postings made about Frolic Mills and the RUNWAY/BOSL merger are not factual.

The facts are:

  • On the 8 April 2009, RUNWAY annouced the departure of both CEO’s from Second Life in a blog posting. No prior notice was given to staff. [RUNWAY blog]
  • RUNWAY did not pay its employees or contracted writers for their work last month of work, while reassuring everyone that they would be paid in a matter of days.
  • RUNWAY owners, Maggie Mahoney and Ocean Bates created the impression, right up to the day that the demolition started on the RUNWAY build, that it was business as usual.
  • A public statement was issued on their blog that RUNWAY magazine “has been left to the staff if they desire to continue its legacy” however no mention was made of outstanding revenue from existing advertising contracts.
  • Neither of the RUNWAY CEO’s replied to emails or telephone calls.

I personally would like to thank Frolic Mills for agreeing to an invitation to join myself, EmmZ Tzara and Vera Canning in a meeting to discuss these events. Frolic Mills gave his commitment that all RUNWAY staff would be paid and all advertising contracts honored. The result of that meeting was that the transition to BOSL was agreed to and work proceeded on the May issue of RUNWAY magazine. Designers and advertisers were reassured that everything was returning to normal.

One April 9 2009 a further statement was issued on the RUNWAY blog by the departing CEO’s of RUNWAY announcing that “RUNWAY will not merge with BOSL” and citing coercion on the part of Frolic Mills.

My decision regarding the BOSL?RUNWAY merger was not made through coercion or manupulation nor was I forced into any actions in a state of “shock.” I find that implication personally insulting.

My decision to merge with BOSL was made on the following basis:

  • Paying RUNWAY employees monies owed.
  • Paying feelance writers/photographers for RUNWAY projects
  • Honoring existing RUNWAY contracts with advertisers up to and including the July issue of RUNWAY
  • Acting decisively and promptly as the news of the CEO’s departure had been announced in the public forum
  • With full knowledge that despite the RUNWAY blog statement that RUNWAY magazine “has been left to the staff if they desire to continue its legacy”, a blog statement is not a contract, and it is not a legal transfer of ownership.
  • Misgivings regarding exactly what “the legacy” of RUNWAY magazine entailed.

On April 9 2009, the the same blog post, CEO Maggie Mahoney stated that she has “decided to retain the branding rights and trademarks [to RUNWAY magazine] and let the magazine officially close”.

Please direct all inquiries regarding monies owned by RUNWAY to Maggie Mahoney and Ocean Bates.

I have listed the facts as I understand them, and there will be no further comments.

Thalia Jie

11 April 2009


Phoenix Resurrection by Phoenix Rising

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When I first wore Phoenix Resurrection, I immediately knew why the designer named it so. It depicts a phoenix rising from the ashes.

It comes with a feathered crown, which, of course you don’t have to wear if you cannot find a hair that matches, and also luxurious feathers that cover the back of the gown skirt. If you don’t like the feathers, you are given a choice of a more plain skirt without the ornament.

What is so impressive with this gown is the top part. The upper area is full of glitter but in very elegant colours and as you go down, the top becomes very sheer as if it was using the finest of threads for the material. As you know exposing your skin, even with avatars, can sacrifice elegance in outfits making it look less classy. But this is a great way to show that little bit of skin without losing this. I have, of course, seen other outfits that use see through material but I have never seen one so sheer as if it blends into the skin.

The gown looks very slim when viewed from the front but once you see the side or back view, you notice how the gown flows away from your body and looking as if it was trailing behind.

I used a Gabrielle Gem Set in Antique White Pearls from Virtual Impressions. This is a jewelry store that makes such realistic pearls! In fact, when edo Tone wanted antique pearls to sell in his store, Chrissy Ambrose, the creator and designer for Virtual Impressions was who he turned to. So the design may be different but the pearl pieces are the same pearls that edo has in the Style of edo pearl jewelry, which I still think are the best on the grid.

The design that Chrissy came up with, however, is a little more decorative and she has a collection of antique pearls, white pearls, pink pearls and black pearls with the same design. As her prices are always very reasonable and affordable, it would be a great addition to have all four variations, as they look so good with gowns.

Phoenix Rising – Phoenix Resurrection


Outfit: Phoenix Rising, Phoenix Resurrection
Necklace & Earrings: Virtual Impressions, Gabrielle Gem Set in Antique White Pearls
Shoes: enkythings, Ekota-T Pink
Hair: Miss B, Pamela Hair (Black)
Skin: Lion Skins, SU Fair 19

Written and modeled by Kay Fairey, model and writer for the Best of SL Magazine and Runway Magazine.

Eshi Otawara’s Art Of Clothing

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Eshi Otawara has become well known for her ‘art’ which is probably a more appropriate term to call her creations than ‘outfits.’ Her most recent release is one call ‘POPI’ which takes its theme from poppy flowers.

The garment is basically white with poppy flowers forming a design as well as a pattern on the bodice area of the outfit and also a very big hat that comes with the outfit. The hat is a huge poppy flower itself with over-sized hat pins added as accents.

The outfit also comes with a choker that is shown here and also a ring that is a bumble bee which I thought was so cute. So when the avatar moves the hand, it looks like a bumble bee is flying around a field of poppy flowers.

There is really very little you can add to this without distorting its balance. Here I wore a relatively plain pair of white shoes and also a hair that was a tight updo so as not to take away from this lovely hat.

Eshi Otawara – POPI by Eshi Otawara


This was an outfit that I had a lot of fun taking pictures as the outfit itself was almost like a sculpture. So I added a few fun shots I took also.


Outfit: Eshi Otawara, POPI by Eshi Otawara
Shoes: S. Olbers, Kroko “Wedding”
Hair: LeLutka Beaute, Ballerina Bun (Charcoal Black)
Skin: LeLutka Beaute, MMS New York – Fair makeup 7b

Written and modeled by Kay Fairey, model and writer for the Best of SL Magazine and Runway Magazine.

Glitter, Glitter, Glitter For A Mini Dress

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If you like glitter, this is a dress for you. Zalyn Bailey of “VoguE” has seven drooling colours for a glitter mini dress that is sexy, fun and charming.

This glitter mini dress comes in red, purple, blue, yellow, pink and orange aside from the green that I am showing here today. They all have a silky black ribbon running from the left shoulder with a big black ribbon at the bottom, adding an accent to an otherwise very simple design. But as I always say, the simpler the more fun in styling. You can style this in so many ways and that is exactly what I love doing.

Today, I styled it by adding a cool turquoise colour to the green by using this colour for jewelry and shoes that I wore. For my hair, since the dress is simple, tight and tiny, I am wearing a very voluminous hair that spreads out wide. It would be a terrible mistake to use this kind of hair with an outfit that has volume also as that will only make you look BIG. Here, however, you maintain a balance and that’s what you want to achieve.

With the green and blue as key colours and a big hair + tight dress, I think I have achieved a fun and cool look.

VoguE – Rosa Sequin Green (Heaven)

Outfit: VoguE, Rosa Sequin Green (Heaven)
Necklace, bracelet and earrings: R.A. Crystal, rama’s Tanya turquois set
Shoes: Haysuriza, Eiris Cross Strap Pointed Pumps (Turquoise)
Nails: Celestial Studio, Lulu Fingernails (Dark Red)
Hair: Tsukinowaguma, Doll (black)

Written and modeled by Kay Fairey, model and writer for the Best of SL Magazine and Runway Magazine.

Gorgeous Gowns by Sascha’s Designs

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Sascha’s Designs is one store you don’t want to miss if you are looking for gorgeous gowns. Sascha’s Designs has so many gorgeous gowns, it’s almost hard to make a decision which one you want. But the good news is that the gowns here are very reasonally priced. For the quality of gowns you get, I must say, the prices are very good and fair.

Afterall, in RL, there are rare materials you can use, silk, gems, gold, all the things that can justify expensive prices. But in SL, they are just textures. You can have a diamond texture and say it’s diamond. So what is a high priced gown priced after?

Sascha Frangilli is one designer who is very aware of this and she maintains that her customers must be charged fair prices for outfits. And for this reason, she continues to offer fabulous gowns at fair prices.

There are so many that I want to show but today, I am showing a gown called “Cou Cou Gold” which is a gorgeous gown with a gold glitter and black velvet like material. It comes in a full ballroom gown skirt as well as a knee length cocktail dress and also a mini skirt, allowing you to wear this for any occasion where you need to dress up. You also get two pairs of gloves in this set. One gold and one black. So you will be able to have a lot of fun styling.

Sascha’s Designs – Cou Cou Gold (ballroom gown with gold gloves)

This is the knee length skirt that is also in the set worn together with black gloves.

Outfit: Sascha’s Designs, Cou Cou Gold

Necklace & Earrings: JCNY, Cassandra, Vintage Shoulder Drape, Necklace Set (gems set to Topaz)

Shoes: Digit Darkes Shoes, Jen Heel-Golden Age (Gold pumps)

Hair: Hair Styles by Tami McCoy, Posh II (midnight with bangs)

Skin: Minnu, MMS PaleNF – Sid (Minnu is now re-opened as LeLutka Beaute)

A Sweet Coat From Bliss Couture

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Bliss Couture is a store that many people know as a gown store. That was my image too. But the other day, I found this sweet short coat that had a nostalgic feel to it. It looked like a couture coat of the past and I liked it very much!

So I tried to imitate a look with a retro feel and decided to add pink as the second colour. Unless you are going for that crazy and fun psychedelic look that is a burst of colours, it is usually good if you decide on the primary colour and secondary colour. Here it’s green and pink.

So I wore this hair style that had a colour changing hair band from Adored Clothing & Hair and matched it with pink boots from Gbberish. These leggings came with the coat in the same set, but you can also wear jeans or other leggings. Another look I would like to try with this coat would be to wear red leggings and make a green & red look. Maybe I’ll try that next time.

I changed the skin too to one that gives me that pink lip. Not the nude pink that current makeups have but one with that mat pink colour in older fashion shots.

Bliss Couture – Juicy Doll Coat (Olive)


Short coat & leggings: Bliss Couture, Juicy Doll Coat (Olive)
Earrings: Swallowtail, Natural Stone earring (turquoise)
Nails: J’s, Nail Pink 07
Short boots: Gbberish, Candy Shop Boots (Bubblegum)
Hair: Adored Clothing & Hair, Joyce Hair
Skin: LeLutka Beaute, London Fair makeup 1b

Written and modeled by Kay Fairey, model and writer for the Best of SL Magazine and Runway Magazine.

A Charming Spring Dress From Hal*Hina

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Hal*Hina is a Japanese store that is very famous in Japan for it’s skins, both for female and male avatars but from some time ago, they have also started to sell clothes.

Hal*Hina outfits are, in general, very pretty in colours but never uses strong bold colours. Typically, the colours are soft and outfits very girly. Here I found this most charming dress called Tunic Dress – Doll which can be worn like I am showing in my pics, or as a shorter baby doll dress. What a perfect dress for this time of the year! It’s still a bit chilly but it’s definitely getting warmer. Yay!! Spring is here!!

I have matched it with a similarly dainty jewelry set called Placido by Twinkleberry, a pair of charming and girly shoes, also in pink, by G Field and a newly released hair called Thalia by Tsukinowaguma. The ribbon you see in my hair is a matching ribbon that was included in the
dress set for Hal*Hina.

Hal*Hina – Tunic Dress – Doll (cream)


Outfit: Hal*Hina, Tunic Dress – Doll (cream)
Necklace and earrings: Twinkleberry, Placido
Shoes: G Field, Lady Rose Shoes (pink)
Hair: Tsukinowaguma, Thalia (ebony)
Skin: MMS Light – Gray (Minnu has re-opened as LeLutka)

Written and modeled by Kay Fairey, model and writer for the Best of SL Magazine and Runway Magazine.

A Lovely Butterfly Dress From House of Beningborough

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A relatively new designer, Bliss Beningborough for “the House of Beningborough”, has lovely gowns as well as day dresses that will catch the eye of many in SL. She already has several stores and her stores are all full of vibrant colours.

This gown called “Flutterby” comes in several colours such as bright blue, yellow, white. It is a lovely gown with a big butterfly that forms the front of the bodice with a very big ruffled skirt and a hair accessory included in the set with matching colours.

I matched it with a flower accessory called “Sakura (cherry blossom in Japanese)” from “si*na Jewelry” which is a relatively small Japanese jewelry store that has some really nice items. This one caught my eye because of it’s unique design using only dainty sakura flowers and leaves to create a charming necklace and earrings set.

Butterfly and flowers. What can be a better match in March when spring is just around the corner!

The hair I am using is “Kay ver2” from R’s Hair Style where my good friend Rise Matova made hair based on my image (blush, blush). It’s a lovely hair to be worn with formal gowns that is a clean updo and yet have some movement without looking messy.

the House of Beningborough – Flutterby (red)

Outfit: House of Beningborough, Flutterby (red)
Necklace & earrings: si*na Jewelry, Sakura Necklace and Earrings
Shoes: Haysuriza, Eiris Pumps Pointed100 Classic (red)
Hair: R’s Hair Style, Kay ver2 (black)

Written and modeled by Kay Fairey, model and writer for the Best of SL Magazine and Runway Magazine.

Shoots With Elysium Eilde

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Recently I joined a Material Squirrel poster shoot with Elysium Eilde. And the resulting pics were posted on her flickr page. Once they are up on her flickr, it means that we can download them from there.

So here they are.

The first two are in-store posters for Material Squirrel.

Above: From left to right. Vitality Lollipop, Krystanna Wycliffe, Kay Fairey, Pyper Dollinger, Valeria Pienaar and Elysiana Eilde

Aboe: Tiffany Drasonash (front) and Kay

And the last one was shot in response to Ely’s call to come wearing pink for an anti bully blog post in Ely’s blog.

Above: From left to right: Kay, Dion, Feles, Elysiana, Vixie, Elysium.

Click here to see Elysium Eilde’s flickr page.

Written and modeled by Kay Fairey, model and writer for the Best of SL Magazine and Runway Magazine.

A New Release From Azul

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Mami Jewell of “azul” has just released a new gown called Mia. It is an elegant gown that has a very wide black ribbon that composes the bodice of the gown and tied in a very big and soft ribbon at the front. The colours are arranged into what seems like a graduation with the colour becoming darker at the skirt but more vibrant at the top, creating an interesting look to an otherwise very simple design. The skirt is soft and voluminous while it is cropped short at the front revealing the legs. I found this gown to be great for dancing as you can still be in a formal gown while your legs will be revealed as if you were wearing a short cocktail dress.

I matched this gown with a very unusual coloured hair. I tried my usual black, but with a navy coloured dress, I wanted a bit more colour to the entire look. This is a colour called “pink brown” and it is a colour that is only available if you purchased a fat pack of the Kay ver2 hair at R’s Hair Style. Usually pink hair will be too childish or only good for fantasy looks but this one, because of the shade of brown in the pink, was good for any style with a touch of difference.

Choice of shoes will be important with this gown so I couldn’t just slap on a pair of “same coloured pumps” that you can’t even see anyway. I chose Stiletto Moody’s Bare series sandals to emphasize the bare legs in this look.

azul – Mia (blue)

Outfit: azul, Mia (blue)
Jewelry: Caroline’s Jewelry, Athena Pearls in White
Shoes: Stiletto Moody, Bare Audrey (midnight)
Nail: Towa, Prim Nail (blue heart)
Hair: R’s Hair Style, Kay ver2 (pink brown)
Skin: Minnu, MMS Fair – Care
*Minnu is closed until the renewal opening scheduled on March 15 when it will be re-opened as “LeLutka.”

Written and modeled by Kay Fairey, Modavia Super Model, model for Boulevard Agency, Evan Model Agency, Ewing Fashion Agency, Runway Magazine, Beauty Avatar, Best of Italian and Second Look Studio.