Is it time to coin the term "freebism"?

I don't know if any of you have seen this around lately, the thought of freebies being harmful for SL economics has spread out a lot, and is now something nearly everyone talks about.
You can find it on various blogs by content creators and fashion bloggers: many are disappointed by the new trend of expecting freebies and expecting them to be 'nice'.

I have followed the threads a bit, and thought I would share my opinion as a designer.

I was VERY lucky with all those who came to my shops for freebies... cause I cannot recall anyone being rude about something being 1L$ instead of 0L$, nor I had anyone pointing out seams were not perfect or prims did not move properly.
This is maybe because, even those freebies I have had for ages (which are actually items I created before starting my business!) are things I made with care. Obviously they are not the quality of my latest creations, but they are free, and people have always appreciated them, and I consider it something nice to give out samples of my very first creative steps.

Then I have started giving out for free some items I did dedicate long hours/days to.
The most famous example is my Jacqueline gown in Tobacco... that gown I had released after 2 weeks of work on the dress, when I thought textures were ok but was still figuring out the prim skirt.
I got a load of "Thank you"s from customers, got bloggers interested, got a huge number of teleports to my main store.
And a week or so later, when I had finally finished the prim part -and could release the gown in its full price and many colours- I still got a great satisfaction from it.
People would buy the freebie and then some other colour to show appreciation, or maybe just cause they liked the second colour better.
That freebie has been my only VERY HIGH (lol, hey, at least in my lil universe) QUALITY freebie stable in my store since January... and I still sell many copies of it every day!

After that, since I liked the idea, I released a couple of 'work-in-progress' dresses that were for free in my store for a limited time, and I often make 1 more colour of my new release to hand out for 0L$ (always for a limited time).
This is just a little courtesy I do to show the quality of the design in a non-demo way (although I have demos available for almost all my items...).

What has been happening for a few months, though, is that people got so used to receiving freebies that they no longer show appreciation for them, nor do they accept the gift as it is.
I have heard a lot of designers have been down because people would "expect" the freebies to be FREE (as 0L$), or complain cause the freebie was not "good enough".
This means designers keep spending hours/days/weeks in creating something to give out as a gift, and people are not even thankful.

Why do we do that, then?
The way I release freebies is harmless to me, anyways... cause it doesn't cost TOO MUCH to make 1 more colour when I have the range ready, and I don't need to pay for the cloth I use.
But I think that if it ever happened to me to be treated badly by someone who just picked up something I hand out as a gift in my shop, then "Hey, let's stop it here!".

Now that "It’s unsustainable for business owners if there are thousands of high quality freebies on the grid, as it leads to a culture where a large number of users refuse to buy anything and live off freebies. If content creators aren’t making any money, then there’s no incentive to release freebies." (from Prad Prathivi's blog), then maybe the time has come to start talking about "freebism", as this phenomenon seems a bit too negative to be called "freebie culture".

Clio

Embrace gown: NEW colours!

Here they are!
As I promised, not the ordinary colours I am used to.
Apart from the black and white, I went totally crazy, overwhelmed by RL stuff and on the verge of exploding.
Antique, Memoires and Shock are my way of saying 'Help! I wanna get out of here!' and 'I still remember the good old times...'.
If you want to read more about what brought me to design the Embrace line, have a peep at my past post about it.

These gowns are as always available at my main store, and to shoot the pictures I wore a Crys skin by PXL Creations.

And, let me announce to you all an event that will be starting tomorrow. I had to organise some event to attract people to a cool new SIM, inspired by Sicily, Italy.
And as I was thinking about it, I came up with the idea for a gift hunt!
So, let me introduce to you my very first "Cookie Quest" on Nuova Sicilia!

The event will start tomorrow italian morning. You can visit the place and go cookie-hunting here!

With love,
Clio

Almost back from a BUSY time:)

Hello my dears,
as most of you might have noticed, Clio has been absent and hideous for a while.
I will be back soon, my RL has been hell for many many weeks(acually for a couple months, we could say), and I had no time to design nor to be on SL as much as I used to.

I am now at RL work, one of the last hyper-busy days for now. Then back home for a little vacation till next week, so maybe I will still be hard to get in touch with, but hopefully a bit less stressed :) And I will try and get back on designing between the rest of this week and next week.

Just to let you all know: the Passions of Black Swan event came to an end on the last day of February, and the dresses I had made (Embrace) are now available at my main store, as usual.

Then, right now there's a super expo running, for another couple weeks, the Glamour Expo. I was lucky enough to get a spot at this awesome showcase, and have a little shop there with some of my most recent creations displayed.

Also, a shocking news is: I will be trying to work out some basic reselling program, using Hippo technologies to let resellers sell my products at a percentage and get directly the product they want.
This is something I will still keep limited to a few people (ie: you wil not see Clio sold just anywhere), and anyways not yet up, as I only have 1 actual reseller at the moment, and at her place I am not using the easy Hippo system, but had to place the boxes myself.
For anyone who might be interested, leave me an IM inworld:)

Last but not least, let me leave you with some little forecast of what you will be seeing at Clio 'soon':
I am going to make new colours for the Embrace, to make the range a bit wider, and among these I can already tell you: GET READY FOR CRAZY! I am working with really out-of-ordinary colours lol.
Then, time allowing, I want to obviously release some males clothes. And people, trust me, learning the whole new set of shades and cuts for guys' clothing is not something I can come up with at my first try:)
AAAnd, whenever I get some very free time I want to make a new line that will definitely please many on SL... hehe, won't tell you more, cause this idea is very far from happening, but I want to make you curious ;)

Ok, well... I should get back to RL work...

Sorry for being so away all this time, I will make up for it as soon as I can!
With love,
Clio

Clio & Sams cross-wearing Black Swan creations!

Yey!
People, let me show you what came out from a very funny and (at least for me) unusual photosession I had with Samsara Nishi, of Sams Secret Boutique ;)
We got the idea from a post by Ivalde designer, Neferia Abel (see it here), where she and caLLie cLine cross-wore their Black Swan creations...
So we thought "wow, that seems like something nice and funny to do!" and here are the shots I was able to take on that day ;)
I am wearing Sams Secret Boutique Lava Dress, in the 3 different lengths Samsara made for it.
Plus the skin you see on me is Tuli's Fire skin for Black Swan in fair tone (<-- awesome!) :)Hehe... in this shot Sams said I was flirting with the angel.... you know: I was wearing the 'light' version of her lava dress, and got flirty ;)

Here's my friend wearing my Embrace Darkness... isn't she malicious in that smile? I absolutely had to take a picture :)
Then lol... crazy shot!
2 ladies wearing formal dresses shouldn't be dancing like that! Not in public, at least! haha, but we had to start our delirium somewhere, right? And a dance on the catwalk seemed the most natural thing to do ;)
The one I am wearing in this funny shot is the version I prefer from Samsara's Lava Dress: sheer. VEEERY sexy ;)
Woot at this shot... I complimented with myself lol.
Looks like we're 2 dangerous warrior princesses, or anyways 2 gals you would keep at a distance from... we heard a noise and we're scaping the darkness, looking for the disturber.... run if you can! Muahahaha.
And last but not least: me as a lava princess!
I was still looking for the courage to get in the pool... don't worry, I did, and I can prove it! Check out the shots I flickred, and you'll get some more pictures from our shared-trip :)
Samsara blogged about this, too, and added her own shots!

Plus, there are some nice things to check out on rezzable.com, one of which is a super-duper video of the show, where you can briefly see the creations from ALL the Black Swan designers (GREAT video!), and my dress and Samsara's blogged together by Adaire Decuir!

All the dresses you see us wearing will be available at the Black Swan until the 30th of September, and at our main stores after that date :D
Hope you liked the little reportage, hehe.

Lovable hugs!
Clio

New show at the Black Swan!

Due to the awesome success of the first big Black Swan show.... here comes a second one!
It's an extra show planned for those who couldn't attend the first show on the 15th (like me... sob).

Hope to see you all there! And hope to be able to get to the show, too, this time... so I will have some pictures to post here for you!

Besides, Rezzable has started a photocontest for the Black Swan, with prices for the best shots taken on the SIM. You can find all the information about it here!

Hugs,
Clio

Embrace Gown: let me talk to you about it:)

As I saw Samsara Nishi did this for her great Lava dress, I am adding a few words on why 'embrace'? what does this gown mean to me?
Well, the designs we (me and 20 or so other VERY talented designers) presented for this event have all been inspired by the Black Swan. Wonderful and absolutely *different* sim.
Those of you who know me most likely also know I am a very troubled creator... I get inspired by totally random things, I suffer from lack of creativity at times (and feels AWFUL!), I always find a defect in the making of most of my crazy ideas...
So I am very slow when it comes to making something new. I start thinking what I want to come up with, start experimenting for the prims... then when I find an interesting and well-made prim shape I like, I go with textures.

Now, being picky as I am, I often stop designs even at their very first steps... cause I just KNOW the prim skirt won't look good enough while walking, the textures will not render it too good... and who knows what else lol!

So this time I said to myself: Clio, go on that SIM! And find something that strikes you!

I did... teleported over, got the pass device, had a flight all over the place.
There's tons, millions, zillions of inspiring, weird, halucinogenic (is that even a word? lol) things on the Black Swan. I could go with those lights that circle around right over the water's surface, the lava lake, the ballerina, the baby in the egg (which kind of scares me, honestly), the see through figures of dolphins and birds that look like a dream or a mirage....
I swear, I kept asking myself what to pick!

All those things just reminded me of too many colours, too many shapes that were already 'decided' for them (eg: if I decided to make a lava dress, I would have probably made it red... cause that's what lava would be to me! ... while Samsara managed to give it a much deeper thought).

Till after around 30 minutes of desperate flight around the island, looking for something that could really shake me, I bumped in the 2 giants holding each others.

They are so big, so tall in the exact centre of the SIM that I hadn't even noticed them at the beginning.
A man and a woman together in a steady but passionate embrace.
The idea struck me in that very moment.
I flew around them for a while, contemplating the sculpture that was already suggesting me the ideas I wanted, so I could get to work and start creating.

As an embrace the dress is soft. It moves gently and holds the woman as if the skirt panels were the arms of a lover.
The sleeves are long, because a hug feels warm on your arms, and they are softer and somewhat heavier up towards the shoulders.
Neck and shoulders are uncovered, to show a woman's beauty and sensuality, and a flowered chocker adds delicacy to the ensemble.

I always go for many colours options, cause I love colours. They are a way to express emotions and thoughts (almost like music, if you allow me:)). They are the instruments of a painter, and of us who use visuals to communicate.

I made 3 colours versions for this one... only 3, cause I did not have time :)
But for each I splitted the cloth in 2 and added 2 different textures: afterall, it takes two to make an embrace :)

And that's how I made a dress to express a woman's soul, to say how good (confusing, fizzy, warm, delicate, passionate, soft...) it feels to be held in someone's arms.

Lol, I am not used to writing serious things. Forgive me if I sound silly, but I thought I'd let you all know what this dress means :)

I hope you all will find the time to see the Black Swan SIM, because it really deserves a visit:)

With love,
Clio

Passions of Black Swan starting today!

Hear ye heary ye!

The time for the Passion of Black Swan event has finally come!
You are all invited tonight at the fashion show!
Many very talented designers took part to this project, so be sure to have a peep at the awesome SIM this all was inspired by.

Tonight: presentation of all the designs at 12PM SL time, at this location.

For all updates, you can visit rezzable web site, where you can find all sorts of news about the Black Swan.

Also, as a little credit: for the posters of Embrace Passion and Embrace Darkness I used 2 skins made by Tuli for the Black Swan... the colours just match perfectly ;D

Hug hug and hope to see you there :)

Clio

Crash Royalties at Clio's!

LOL!
Yes, I know... Clio stays silent for ages, and when she finally makes something new it's a silly joke-top :)
But as I am working on a couple other things, and I am being trapped in RL long hours, I wanted to still release something. So I got the idea from a customer who said long ago: "Why don't you make a T-shirt with Crash King on it? It would be so funny!".
And here it is!!!
I made both tank and T-shirt in 2 lengths, and the shorter on both shirt and jacket layers ;)

Hope you all LOVE it! As always, available to purchase at my main store :)

Lovable hugs,

Clio

Rania Gowns out... my first bridal!

Hellooo!
Finally blogging again, huh?
I have been just SO busy lately... vacation, then the beach in RL...
But most of all, the big news is I moved my main store! Yesss, I am now having it here!!! Come check it out!
I will have some party there soon (hopefully!) with pressies given out and other things... but right now, it's open to public and it is where you can find my new release... my very first bridal gown!
Woot!
I made it in 10 colours, as usual, so it's not NECESSARILY a bridal gown... and it's in 2 different versions with obviously mixing and matching possibilities hehe:)
I am selling them as single packs or together, in a complete package.
See all the pictures below:)
A DEMO is available at my main too!



Let me also credit the creators of the skin and shoes used for this shot:)
The skin is from Hart Larsson, awesome creator of PXL, while shoes are from Melanie Zhao :)

Hope you love the dress, and do come by the new store, woot! :)

Huggable hugs:)

Clio

Clio blogged on Second Style!!!

A big hug to Rhi Rossini for her post!
And a bunch of kisses to you all for your never ending support :)

Thankies:)

Clio:)

New Lucy Dress:)

Hello all:)This is my new dress:)
Finally managed to release something new, huh?
I will try and work as much as I can... but RL during vacations gets busier than ever!!!
And these days it's so hot that sitting in front of the PC is nearly unbearable...
So, anyways, you can get a DEMO for this dress buying from the poster like the one above in my main store.
I made the skirt after watching a 60's italian movie one afternoon.... thought "those large skirts are beautiful!". So I came up with loads of layers to give a full and fluffy look to my SL version of those dresses:)

And since I'm here writing to you all, let me give some credit to the people who made the skin and hair for the posters this time:
Hart Larsson of PXL Creations (Crys skin), and Kavar Cleanslate (Ayumi - hair).

Many kisses,

Clio

Theresa Gown

Hello all!
Sorry if I post this after so long.
RL has kept me busier than ever, and between one thing and another I never had time to get it done with this new release.
I think it's a stunning gown... made maaaany colours: 11 out for sale as usual, plus 1 for groupies... and 1 I will use for some special event hehe.
Here is a picture of the one I am giving out to all my group members until the end of the month:

As you can see: 2 different top options!
It comes from a suggestion a customer turned in. Always better to make the dress more versatile by adding things hehe.

If you like it, be sure to pick up a copy at my main store! As always, I have a DEMO out, too^^

*hugs to all*
Clio

Charity Colville posts about Clio! yey

Second Life ~ Real Romance and Sucessful Business: Finally my ULTIMATE Shopping Guide...

Click on that link!!! Charity, owner of Sweethearts Jazz Club and founder of old Phat Cats, wrote about me, too! Woot!

SL 5th birthday and a cascade of shows!

Woo hoot!
People, did you know?
Second Life is at its 5th birthday! And for this massive events, LL set up 8 SIMs on which they will hold a 2 weeks celebration, from the 23rd of June to the 7th of July. More info can be found here.

But let me get to the juicy part: I was kindly asked by KSG to be one of the designers showcased by them for the event.
Shows will be held every day (!) during the first week at the following times:
Monday at 1PM SL time;
Tuesday at 6PM SL time;
Wednesday at 3PM SL time;
Thursday at 6PM SL time
and Friday at 3PM SL time.
We will be on the SIM SL5B Phantom! My turn to be showcased is Monday.... tonight!!!

As you see, shows are all at different times to allow residents from all over the world to participate!!! I wouldn't miss the chance if I were you hehe... also to see all the rest of the SIMs and the rest of the showcasing!
There will also be a lot of free items give-aways, as all will want to gift you people with something ^^.

Then, this week I will also be showcased by an italian model agency, for its inauguration show! It will be held at DARNA DREAM FASHION on the 26th of June, in 2 different time frames (and showing different outfits) at 6AM SL time and at 12:30 PM sl time. Together with me the models will be wearing outfits from other 3 italian designers!

See you there, to ALL those great events (if time will allow...:))

Hugs.

Clio

Photocontest winners!

Hey hey!
I wanted to post here the pictures that won my photocontest!!!
3 wonderful shots!


The first one you see was turned in from LadyRed Sautereau, wearing the Drousilla dress.
Second shot you see...it's my super friend Kuci! She has on my Jacqueline Burgundy gown... my fave!
AAAAnd, last but NOT least: a pasting of pictures by Shylah Oceanlane, modeling my Katia Peach Evening Dress, the freebie I had out for group members!

A super round of claps for these 3 awesome ladies!
And a big hug to ALL those who turned in a picture... it was a very hard choice (Pall can witness that) but at the end had to come out with the very best, and these are, to me:)

Have a great day!

Clio