Q&A: Christian Siriano on Designing for Gaia's Prom Crasher

Starting in just under half an  hour, Gaia Online is kicking off its first virtual Prom Crashers event.  As an extra attraction for Gaia users, Christian Siriano, the recent winner of Project Runway contributed exclusive virtual outfits. Also, one winner will receive a real-world interpretation of Siriano's work. We asked Siriano and Gaia VP of Creative End-User Experience Scott Kinsey about the experience of designing for avatars, how the users were reacting, and virtual fashion.

Virtual Worlds News: What brought you guys together?

Scott Kinsey: Christian is perfect for our brand. He's willing to explore and take chances. He's got a big personality and is extraordinarily creative. He's someone who is very aspirational for our audience base. It's almost impossible for me to think of a better fit.

Christian Siriano: For me it was more that it's kind of cool. I relate to a lot of the readers and everyone that builds these avatars and characters. I think if I was developing and younger and playing around with what I wanted to do in my career path, I would have loved to have been a part of Gaia.

VWN: What's different for you about designing for a virtual world than the real world?

CS: The virtual world and real world are different. For me, I'm more of an artist. I can be really creative and take changes. I'm not going to be mass marketed to every person in the whole world. Virtually I can be as creative and innovative as possible. There's not as much judgment. Everyone that's on Gaia is talking and supporting what they do creatively. There's no limitations. People can wear some of the craziest clothes in the world.

VWN: So it's more open-ended for design?

CS: It is as open as you can be. For this particular project, since it's for Prom Crashers, I still tried to make the clothes seem like they  could be worn in real life as well. I didn't want to make it so fanciful that it couldn't be translatable. I wanted it to be kind of prom in a way. It's still cool and interesting, but not as weird.

VWN: There have been cases of virtual fashion designers launching fashion lines into the real world. [Note: Gaia actually offers a line of some of its own virtual goods translated into physical clothes]. Do you have any plans to take the designs back to the real world?

CS: Yeah. One person is going to wear the actual piece from me, which is really cool. If that's something from the future that comes along, actually selling real pieces that are virtual, that'd be really cool. That is what I like to do, see it in real life. I wouldn't  call myself a virtual fashion designer, because I'm not, but this is cool and creative and something I wish I had had when I was younger.

VWN: Would you consider doing any more work in virtual worlds?

CS: I think I would. This is for a particular event. I don't know. It's really new to me and something to keep exploring. We'll see what it's like once the prom event happens. It's something you need to test out, just like when you show a collection.

VWN: What have you guys learned from the experience so far? Are the users getting interested?

SK: So far the response from our users is outstanding. They love Christian. In our forums, there's been a great deal of discussion about the fact that Christian is working for us. We sort of feel like Gaia is an extension of our users' worlds--there's a nice bridge between the virtual world and the real world--and Christian's work transitions perfectly.

CS: Yes it's virtual clothing, but for the people that participate, it's part of their real life as well. That's also why I think Gaia is quite interesting in that way. It's something new to me, and I didn't know what it was going to be like.

VWN: Did you have to adapt to that mindset?

CS: No, it's not something that's so difficult to adapt to. It's just different. I'm just honestly not an Internet guy or blogger or anything. The thing I like about Gaia is that it's not just virtual. It is kind of like their real life. If it was just virtual, people wouldn't really know who I was. That's what they're relating to: the real world creativity.

VWN: Anything else you're particularly excited about for the prom?

CS: I'm going to look fabulous at the prom, so that's something to be excited about.