Christmas Exhibition at the new Musashi-Do Shop!

It's the 4th Christmas i spend on Second Life, and Goodness, it's been an hell of a Ride.

Many things are going to change from now on, as the Musashi-Do brand is preparing for a grand comeback. The new shop is almost ready, and it's looking great (someone may think that the Musashi Tower spawining from it is a little megalomaniac... and maybe that someone is right), with three floors for the shops, one to be used for exhibitions of various nature, and a beautiful panoramic restaurant at the very top of the tower (wich is already open, so feel free to bring your special someone and friends alone and come enjoy a good glass of Barbaresco del Piemonte while enjoing the sight of the winter wonderland from above).

Also, as a little christmas treat, i'd like to invite you to the themed photographic exhibition that i opened today at the brand new Musashi-Do store (click for the SLurl).

Milano Holidays: the capital city of Italian Fashion dressing for the winter season

The exhibition (all the pictures have been taken by me) will stay open until January the 6th and hopefully will let you appreciate the charm of Milano during the Christmas holidays.

In the next few days the shop is gonna be complete and the long awaited new Musashi-Do creations that were held back by the overload of work for RL companies and by having to attend fashion school everyday, will be eventually released in a quick sequence.

So stay tuned, because Musashi-Do is back, and is back to stay!

The Accademia Montenapoleone 5 opens in Second Life!

Many wondered why I had been pretty much silent for almost a year. Here's the explanation:

During the last few months I worked very hard on the building and opening of my new project: bringing the first real life fashion academy to Second Life. I could find no better one that the fashion academy I study in every morning, and that's the Accademia Montenapoleone 5 (also called Accademia del Lusso or Luxury Academy), whose homepage can be reached at http://www.accademiadellusso.com/ , that already distinguished itself for the innovative and effective teaching methods and was definately the best choice to be a pioneer in Second Life too.
Why did I decide to start this project?
First of all, Second Life has an unparaleled potential for creativity. It's my belief that, short of the real thing, there's no better place for a fashion student to learn how to create a brand and manage it, and also how to interface with the tastes and the needs of a real audience and market than Second Life.
Also, my personal dream is to bring the excellence of italian fashion and creativity in Second Life as it is in Real Life, and to create a point of meeting and merging between Second Life and Real Life fashion.

After about one year since when the idea has been conceived now the virtual academy is ready, and can be visited at this slurl

The grand opening last saturday, featuring a fashion show with the virtual brands Callie Cline, Simone, Shiny Things and Musashi-Do (wich are the guest brands that already have a shop in the island to pose as an example for the academy's students) has been a groundbreaking success, with the sim being filled by the enthusiast audience from start to end.

The project itself will be divided in several branches:

1: The real academy students will be granted shops in the island (in the reproduction of the real life premier fashion street in Milano, Via Montenapoleone) to create and manage their brands and projects in second life. Second Life residents will be invited to port in and to shop 'til they drop on the fruits of their creativity.

2: Several of the academy's teachers (wich are all real world fashion professionals) will hold classes in the island, open to every second life resident, that will cover every aspect of real life fashion.

3: Second Life residents involved in the world of virtual fashion will be invited to host classes themselves, encompassing all aspects of virtual fashion (Everyone interested can contact me (Shiryu Musashi) via IM, or at my email adress shiryu@musashi-do.net).

4: I'm holding myself a real life course on Second Life creativity (it already begiun on December the 3rd) at the real academy, to help the real students and teachers learn thepotential and the use of Second Life.

5: An exhibition center is ready to host exhibitions on several aspects of fashion and art. It already features a small exhibition on Still Life photography featuring the work of last year's styling course at the academy.

It's definately an ambitious project, and i really hope it'll meet it's goals, creating a true place for Second Life and Real Life fashion to meet and merge, and for Second Life Residents and real life fashion students to learn from each other and improve their knowledge of fashion.

Anyone that's interested in attending the classes can join the "Accademia Montenapoleone 5 Update" group (free to join) where notices will be posted to let everyone be aware of the schedule.

If anyone is interested in downloading pictures of the grand opening (for publishing reasons) please click here and feel free to send me a message in world or an email (at shiryu@musashi-do.net) to require any kind of info.

Also, a machinima (movie) of the event will be published soon.

I'm extremely proud of this project, and happy to finally let it see the light :)

The classes will begin soon, so stay tuned!

An heart-felt farewell to Gianfranco Ferre'

This evening, due to a sudden and fatal illness, Gianfranco Ferre' left this world. As one of the world's most famous and creative designers, he helped bringing the excellence of italian fashion to it's current level.Ferre' was an immense source of inspiration for me, and I'm sure for many other SL designers, so I'd like to remember him with one of his last famous quotes:

"Je ne sarais jamais personne, mais personne ne sera jamais comme moi"

"I will never be no one, but no one will ever be like me"

May you find peace, Gianfranco...

Vittoria!

And it's a victory!

After a year of total domination Inter finally managed to win the italian soccer championship :)

Forgive this sudden outburst of sport passion, but i couldn't help it :)

Forza Inter!

My Scion xD featured at the Scion press event

Many for sure wondered where was I gone in the last few weeks. It's actually pretty simple. I begun working for Millions of Us, and precisely I created the new Scion xD for the Scion press event held at the same time in Chicago and on Second Life's Scion City (you can read about it here). It was a thrilling experience, both because I love the car itself (it has a beautifully aggressive look for it's small size, and i LOVE aggressive cars) and because I'm getting to work shoulder-to-shoulder with some pretty awesome and very talented people. It wasn't an easy job, and I didn't manage to sleep more than a couple hours a night in the last two weeks, but it was SO worth it. Isn't it a really cute baby?

A new Musashi-Do shop opens on ASpiRE island

While i wait for my fashion sociology exam and the Milano Women's fashion week (upcoming respectively in one and two weeks) i decided to open a new Musashi-Do shop. My sweet beautiful Bianca not only granted me a place on her ASpiRE isle, but she even furnished and textured the shop herself, with her awesome taste and fashion sense. I really love it!

This week end i'll hopefully manage to get a couple long postponed releases out... i really had a couple very hectic months, but now it seems to be settling down. About time!

The Milano Men's Fashion week begins!

It finally begun, after months of hectic preparation the Milano men's fashion week has begun. Today i got to see RoccoBarocco and Costume National's A/W 2007/2008 collections. There weren't many surprises as of colors, lots of Anthracite grey, white, some black and whole lodads of brown (wich is good, since i love brown).
Again i was sad to see that an important element of elegance like the tie was totally overlooked, both on the catwalk and in the audience. Looks like the stylists are trying to give men an image of a sporty dandy that wouldn't dare working even if work came and bit them on the rear...


Today I was the only man in sight wearing a tie (my new Brown/gold/white striped tie btw, I love it, and it really looked good with a chocolate brown shirt and a black suit with brown pinstripes... did i say I love brown already? :P), and know what? I'm pretty proud of it!
Until a few years ago the tie was pretty much a sign of aggregation, an emblem worn to show that a man was part of that working and productive class that crowded the cities, and as such going around with an open collar was pretty much distinctive and sporty. Now the situation is basically the opposite. The tie has become a sign of distinction and it actually takes guts to wear one with pride in certain situations.
It's ok. I consider the tie an important sign of elegance anyway, a spotlight in the middle of an otherwise sober outfit. So if beside being elegant it can be distinctive as well, all the better.

Whatever the big real life couturiers will do, i'll continue to produce my ties in Second life. It's not an act of rebellion against official fashion or whatever, I just like them, and looking at the sales figures of my ties, many men like them just as much.
Tomorrow i have to go see another fashion show (Frankie Morello's) and know what? I'll wear another tie. Proudly. :)