To me: creativity Is intelligence and having fun, It's a known fact that the desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul and this feature is about a queen who listens to her deepest yearnings and blows minds with her creative work. One favorite quote comes to mind every time I see her work -Everything you can imagine is real." ~Pablo Picasso.
As you already know I own a Fashion, Beauty, Lifestyle, and Entertainment Magazine (OTSMagazine), We feature, promote, and create more awareness about celebrities, Models, Entrepreneurs, and upcoming Brands, OTS is the virtual 3D version of my magazine, but it's a more fun way of doing things because I get to communicate sort of in-person with the guest and audience using 3D Avatars, sitting around a beautifully decorated room and enjoy the show.
My biggest passion is lifting others up and showcasing their work, skills, and talent to the world, I believe in the saying -We rise by lifting others. I hope you all enjoy reading this interview with the amazing MissC and if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me.
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Interviewed By Linda Bella Via IMVU Platform
OTS: Welcome to the show MissC, Please Fully introduce yourself to the audience telling us more about you and your personal lifestyle.MISSC: I’m a 27 year old Lithuanian and a big fashion and CGI nerd. That pretty much describes me.
OTS: When and how did you discover This Virtual Website? What made you decide to join & what made you stay?
MISSC: I believe I was 12 when I discovered it. I was playing another Chat room type of game at that time and I saw a girl post a screenshot from the dressing room. I couldn’t believe there was a game with avatars that beautiful and 3 dimensional! I got googling and created an account that same hour. I think I was addicted 6 hours later :D
Creating made me stay. I loved every second of it. And people who encouraged me and saw how passionate I was about creating before I even had a right to do that (I was a Guest_ username back then).
OTS: what sparked your interest in fashion? And What made you go into creating 3D Virtual Products?
MISSC: It’s hard to answer these questions logically because those choices were not logical or rational for me. I was a kid back then and kids just do what they love without overthinking it. I mostly fell in love with the work of other creators, like Smexy, 0oPariso0, Tigerlily, Imogen, and I wanted to be like them someday. I thought of them as rockstars. They were the coolest people in my head. Now I know for sure that digital creators are the coolest people. I’ve met many and was rarely disappointed. The community is totally amazing and blows me away pretty much every single day. Like tonight for example.
OTS: How would you describe your brand aesthetics and Personal Style? Also, is what you do In this community similar to your RL career?
I’m very into Haute couture, I always check runway pics after every fashion week. I remember watching Givenchy haute couture videos when Riccardo Tisci was still running it, and I couldn’t stop crying. I was just overwhelmed by beauty. Now I’m a hardened Eastern European woman and don’t cry over YouTube videos anymore, but I’m still in awe when I see high-quality designs.
My personal style is different, I mean I’d wear haute couture every day if I could, but I can’t afford it. I love to mix men’s and women’s fashion. I love oversized jackets, I’m a big sneakerhead, but I mix those with tight-fitting items like jeans, lacy blouses, and a bunch of jewelry. But usually, I just wear sweatpants and t-shirts. To be honest, after thinking about clothes all day, the last decision I want to make is what to wear. I guess that’s why all the designers either always wear the same thing or dress like homeless people.
In regards to my career, what I do on this virtual platform is my real career. I dropped every other thing I’ve tried because I never loved anything as much as I love creating. I’d do it for free. I’m still shocked every time someone buys my creations.
OTS: Aw, it's very important to make sure what you do in life is what you enjoy, and when you enjoy what you are doing it doesn't feel like a job, it's fun! This brings me to my next question:
As a fashion developer, how would you define your role in this virtual community?
MissC: I don’t think I get to define my own role; other people should do it. It’s hard to see yourself clearly. I’d like to believe I play an important role and that I have left my mark during the 13 years I’ve been here. Nevertheless, I know I could log in one day and be banned permanently. Then my role wouldn’t matter one bit anymore.
I know I’m not replaceable but if I were gone one day, 10 creators more talented than me would fill the hole that was left by my absence. I just try to appreciate each day I get to spend here and not take anything for granted.
MISSC: It wasn’t really a rational choice at first, because I was just a little kiddo and things happened without me being able to grasp how unusual and extraordinary my position was. I just started earning too many credits one day and I didn’t know what to do with them. Then I found out that people were buying them in bulk and then reselling them. The rest is history.
I’ve had other jobs, I worked in the fashion industry for a while, then worked at an NGO. I appreciated both opportunities, but I knew I was lying to myself the whole time. I would much rather have spent that time creating and learning more about 3D. Nothing ever came close to creating for me.
Last year I made a conscious decision to focus on this platform full time because I just couldn’t fool myself anymore. I had to try; I can always go back to working at jobs I hate if someday the VU doesn’t work out for me anymore.
OTS: What Would You Consider the Most Important Components of Your Style? And Do You Feel You Have A Signature Style?
MISSC: I don’t think I do. It’s constantly changing. Obviously, the trends influence it a lot, and no one can avoid that. I’m also influenced by what I read. Recently I’ve been very interested in biology and that’s been a big influence on me. Nothing man-made is more beautiful than what nature has already perfected.
OTS: How has your work evolved since you began your own label? And, have your pieces become more appealing to people as a result?
MISSC: Honestly, I don’t think of MissC as a label. I just make stuff I’d like to own and wear and there’s not much branding going on backstage.
I’d like to think my work is always evolving, I keep pushing myself to learn new things and I know I’m doing something wrong if I can make an item without googling anything or watching a single tutorial. It means I’m not challenging myself and just doing things I already know how to do.
I really can’t speak for other people and their opinions about my pieces, but I sure hope so.
MISSC: I rarely make collections, usually my items stand on their own. My favorite item is the next one. After I’ve clicked ‘Publish’, my creation is released to the public and it’s not mine anymore. It belongs to the people. I’m only interested in the next thing and how can I make it better than the last.
OTS: You use quite unusual materials in your collections, where do you find inspiration for your designs, and what influences them?
MISSC: I’m a big reader and books have been a big influence on me lately, because I realized that I can turn ideas into designs.
A lot of things influence me. I’m a visual person and I experience the world through my eyes. I watch people on the street, I look at buildings, I look at shapes of plants or leaves on my walks. All that visual information gets stored in my head and when I lay my head down to sleep at night and close my eyes, designs just flash before my eyes. I don’t really have to do much work, I just have to remember them in my sleepy state.
Previously I was just a big fashion nerd who obsessed over designer shoes I knew I could never afford. The only way to own them was to make little pixel versions of them. So that’s what I did. Over and over again.
MISSC: Stop buying 5 dollar T-shirts.
OTS: Do you think style and fashion play a larger role in today’s world?
MISSC: Of course I do, clothing is a big part of our lives, but not the most important. Everyone gets dressed up each day and owns many clothing items. Culture influences fashion, fashion influences culture. Fashion houses have the power to dictate what’s next and that trickles down to an individual consumer. From runway to Ads and influencers, to magazines, to your cart, to your closet. If big designers choose sustainable materials, human-looking models and send positive messages, that can quickly become the status quo and what’s considered cool.
OTS: Where do you look when seeking creative inspiration when you hit the “Well Known” –Creator Block Wall.
OTS: I am living for your answers, Let me ask you this - I have noticed that in the VU community it's easy to blend in or stand out, Most of us choose to stand out and create that which appeals to us in hopes that someone out there is as crazy as We Are and will also find our work appealing, at least this is my mindset, So, How do you walk the line between being unique and having commercial appeal?
MISSC: I don’t worry much about commercial appeal. I tried to in the past and that never works out. My long-term strategy is to do this for as long as I can, and for that to happen, I have to love the process. Meaning I have to create items that I love and are challenging to make.
My thinking is this – I’m not that unique, I’m just another human. And if I love something, chances are – a bunch of people will love it too. So far it has worked out ok.
MISSC: That rarely happens to me. The idea is the easy part. The execution is what’s hard. I guess good places to look for ideas would be VOGUE runaways and street style photos, Instagram, Pinterest.
OTS: Describe Women Empowerment in your own words.
MISSC: To me, women empowerment is about equality. So, I’d like to stop categorizing people into men and women categories and just think of them as people. Of course, that’s not very practical, there are obvious biological differences between the two, but those have nothing to do with intellect.
I often think about how lucky I am to be born in a generation where men and women are pretty much equal for the first time in Western history (with some exceptions).
I guess the main thing is equal opportunities for both men and women. But I don’t think that’s the problem these days. The problem is in people’s heads and that’s much harder to change because social norms change quicker than human brains do. Evolution is a slow process.
OTS: I believe we need a new era of connectivity in the workplace that empowers people of all ages, sexes, and dispositions to work better, together, If you could create a feature/platform/app to achieve this – What and How would you go about it?
MISSC: I wouldn’t. It’s way too hard of a problem for me to
solve. I know my place and what I’m good at and working with other people isn’t
one of my strengths. I’d leave tasks that hard to people who are way more
qualified than me to make those sorts of decisions.
OTS: What sort of aesthetic do you bend towards? Also, how does color influence you, or how does it affect your designs while creating products Virtually?
MISSC: It changes a lot. I’m more of a minimalist, I don’t like loud patterns or a bunch of bold colors. I mostly find myself working with neutral tones: everything grayscale, nude, animal prints, and metals. I’m obviously fascinated by gems, embroidery, and sequins, but I think that comes from my love of haute couture.
I’ve been learning color theory though and I’d like to experiment more with different color schemes.
OTS: If you could go back and tell yourself one thing before beginning your career as a virtual creator what would it be? And, What was the biggest rookie mistake you made when just starting out?
MISSC: Oh, this one’s easy – COVER UP THE TITTIES! And when you’ve covered them up, go back and make those coverings bigger. If your grandma wouldn’t wear that type of lingerie, don’t put it on your avatar! And my biggest mistake was not covering up the titties well enough cost me a lot of coins and suffering.
OTS: I am so sorry to hear this, sometimes I feel this could be an honest mistake anyone could make and people probably deserve a warning rather than being "disabled" or "banned", I mean if someone does this repeatedly then of cos it calls for more drastic action against them, not when it's someone of good reputation making a humble mistake, but anyway I am sure each virtual site has their rules and policies they must uphold for the safety of the community.
Question: What are you fascinated by at the moment and how does it feed into your work?
MISSC: I’m fascinated by everything 3D- modeling, physically-based materials, animation, simulations, lighting, environments, etc. That influences my work because I’m constantly learning new techniques and then trying them in IMVU.
Making 3D items and simulations also makes me constantly amazed at the beauty and complexity of the world around us. Once you have to build reality from scratch, you realize how complicated that job really is.
For example – water. It’s everywhere around us: fog, rain, in your drinking glass, little droplets on your bathroom walls after a steamy shower. And it’s so hard to make a realistic 3D version of it. How water behaves is influenced by many different factors, like temperature, friction, gravity. Also grass, trees, clouds – so complicated and beautiful that no matter how good I become at 3D, I can only make simplified versions of these things.
And these objects are everywhere around us and we don’t even notice them. That’s why doing 3D work made me a much happier person. I’m constantly shocked by how lucky I am to be alive and the fact that I get to experience things that are that magnificent and so complicated it would take me a lifetime to learn everything about one species of plant or animal. It would take me a lifetime to learn all the properties of one material.
So, I guess the short version of my answer is this – everything is fascinating if you’re curious about it.
OTS: what is the biggest lesson that you have learned since you started your creating via This Virtual Platform?
MISSC: Oh, there’s so many!
1) People are generally awesome
2) If you don’t ask the answer is always NO
3) No one owes you anything
4) People will steal and that’s ok, take it as a compliment
5) Learning every day is extremely powerful
6) Don’t sit on your laurels, get back to work!
7) IMVU isn’t promised, think about how your skills could be useful outside of it
8) Don’t repeat yourself and don’t copy other people.
9) Don’t cheat at Solitaire.
OTS: What are your latest and upcoming projects, also Tell us about a project which has been your greatest achievement?
MISSC: My main goal right now is to make all original designs that are of the best quality I can make.
The biggest achievement so far has been being involved in IMVU’s fashion week and getting to work with the most talented creators I’ve ever seen (EsmeShaw – she’s perfect, SecondHarvest – the smartest guy I know, and Pharmacist – hardest working and she’s a Pharmacist in real life too?!) and we even got to be in VOGUE for a bit. But I really hope that all my biggest achievements exist in the future.
OTS: what would you like to achieve before the end of the year?
MISSC: I’d like to try my 3D skills outside this platform and see if I can make it in the real world using what I’ve learned here.
OTS: Are you superstitious or do you have any rules you live by?
MISSC: I’m not superstitious. I do have a lot of rules I live by. I guess that comes with age, just because you have to simplify many things so you could manage increasing complexity.
1) Don’t worry about the things you can’t control
2) Don’t be friends with people who don’t listen to you
3) Motivation and inspiration are cheap, learn to be disciplined
4) "Don’t do things that you know are morally wrong. Not because someone is watching, but because you are. Self-esteem is just the reputation that you have with yourself. You’ll always know."
5) Speak kindly to yourself. That will change the way you think about yourself and in turn – how you act
6) Don’t take ‘knowing yourself’ for granted. You don’t know yourself; you are way too complex. You have to watch and observe. Getting to know yourself is hard work.
OTS: What role do you think social media plays in fashion today?
MISSC: A large one. As advertising always did. The marketing industry just found a more effective platform than the previous ones – which is social media. I see it as a good thing because it became more decentralized and individual people hold more power. There are no gatekeepers left. Anyone can become a big source of influence with social media.
OTS: what’s your motto?
MISSC: Don’t practice what you don’t want to become.
I tell this to myself a lot. For example, if I scroll on Instagram for a bit too long, I remember this quote and stop doing it. I don’t want to be a person who spends hours on Instagram each day. Same with watching television, gossiping, being lazy, etc.
Another good quote that pretty much says the same thing is: “The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”
OTS: Another interesting answer, many know I love taking occasional breaks from social media platforms to rejuvenate and retune myself, In this day and age it's easy to get lost and lose sight of what's important while using social media platforms, you notice so much time has gone by and you have not been able to get anything done due to non-stop scrolling.
Question: What makes ‘MISSC’ clothes different from other fashion designers?
MISSC: Nothing, they are not. There are so many designers nowadays, you can probably always find someone comparable. I’m not that worried about being different, I believe I have a unique brain with unique ideas and I’ll be original by default if I trust myself and bring those ideas to life.
OTS: Describe your typical day when you are not working.
MISSC: I’m always working I work 7 days a week and I do take vacations or days off when I need to. But then there’s nothing typical about those days. But I always spend them with the people I love.
OTS: Where does that drive to be your own boss come from?
MISSC: I guess doing group projects in school and university thought me that most people just sleepwalk through life and do the bare minimum. I’m not like that. I believe that how you do anything is how you do everything. Of course, that’s silly and there are many people smarter, more hard-working, and talented than me. If I work with those people then it’s awesome.
Plus, I love my freedom. I don’t want to do things I don’t want to do. There are too many things I love doing that I’d rather not sacrifice the time I have doing things I hate. Simple opportunity cost.
And I have to add – I got lucky. I didn’t set out to be my own boss, it just happened for me. Most people do not get that opportunity.
OTS: Which entrepreneur/person has inspired you the most in life & why?
MISSC: Oh man, there’s a lot of people. But I’d probably have to choose Charlie Munger. His wisdom is incomparable. His knowledge is very multidisciplinary and he takes the most important concepts from each discipline and applies them to his own work. It worked out quite well for him, so I try to do the same.
OTS: I love Charlie Munger, one of his wise words stuck in my mind and soul when I first read it and I still stand by it - The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more. Question: How do you want people to feel when wearing your virtual products?
MISSC: I want them to feel like they look amazing, of course!
OTS: There’s so much pressure for developers to come out with their greatest collection season after season. What advice would you give to aspiring developers just starting out and hoping to make it in the Creators Community?
MISSC: I love giving advice on this topic because I’ve been doing it a while and I have a set of rules I live by. And they have worked well for me so far.
The biggest one regarding your question would be to not compare your work to others. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday. Are you a bit better today than you were yesterday? Did you learn something new? Great! Keep that up day after day and your progress will skyrocket. Incremental improvement really adds up.
Don’t worry about what other people are doing or not doing, don’t feel pressured to do certain things because you see others doing them. Just do you, stay true to what you feel is right, do the work and things will work out. But that means you have to trust your own thoughts and ideas. Which can be quite hard.
OTS: What do you think is the biggest challenge for a VU Creator and if you could change anything about the VU community what would it be and why?
MISSC: There are many challenges, but it depends on how you react to those. Every challenge is an opportunity if you view it the right way. Never waste a good problem.
I used to be really mad about MCG requirements. I felt that they were stupid and limited my creativity. Plus, they are old-fashioned, we should have freed the nipple by now. And they don’t take context into account. You could have a dress that went from ears to ankles, but if the pasties underneath didn’t cover 3 red pixels, it gets re-rated as AP. It used to really boil my milk.
But I emailed one of the IMVU co-founders about it and complained that VU is trying to limit creatives. He said something really wise – “Insofar as your comment on creative people breaking rules, I disagree. They might do it by accident once or twice but it is not a rule. Rather, creative people learn how to spend their lives creating. Often, this means taking the time to understand the rules and abiding. This is true across industries and across centuries. I encourage you to consider how your current opinion of creative people filling the role of dissident might be altered to make you happier for the rest of your life.“
I really took that to heart. Limits imposed by the system can only boost your creativity if you don‘t waste your time being mad about them.
I hope you all enjoyed reading the interview with the talented MissC, I have to say I have seen so many talents in the world and hers is one of those that stand out to me, her concepts and products continue to blow my mind and I am so proud of her.
To keep up with MISSC follow her on Instagram (Here)
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