I’m glad to announce that after some weeks of work my Madame de Pompadour gown is finally available!
The gown has been blogged by Juicy Littlething of Juicybomb.com, by Freyja Nemeth of Hippoi Athanatoi, Ina Centaur of the SL Shakespeare Company has some pictures in her blog, some Japanese blog which I can’t quite read - and the SecondLife Court of Versailles received the gown very well :-)
The gown can be worn in several ways, as shown here:
The gown comes in no less than 23 colors; here are all color options:
It can be found at my Main Store - for a short time near the entrance as a ‘New Release’, and, of course, in the Rococo department. Also it can be found on XStreetSL in my store there.
Since I’ve been pretty sick over the last week I just now found the time to write a bit about last Sunday’s fundraising auction for the SLSC, which took place in my ballroom (near my main store).
First it seemed as if no one would show up - I was sitting there for quite some time alone with one of my customers, Thomasine Guisse, who was also waiting for the event to begin. Then, Ina Centaur showed up and just a bit later finally the ballroom seemed crowded. *How* crowded I can’t exactly tell because I was pretty busy holding my Elizabethan costume lecture:
(The pictures were taken by Ina Centaur and can be seen in her photostream. I was too busy with the lecture to take pictures 
)
After the lecture, the auction started when our live auctioneer, Auction Hammerer, showed up. At that time, the Rainbow Portrait dress was already at L$ 50,001.
Believe it or not, but the man in the photos who looks a lot like Abraham Lincoln is our live auctioneer, Auction Hammerer - and how he deserves that name by hammering the gown at no less than
L$ 100,000 for the Rainbow Portrait gown!
I was so surprised, happy and confused that I right away stripped down to corset and bloomers (yes I know, not period for Elizabethan but was the best I could come up with ;-)) and handed the gown over to the new owner (and I *DO* sincerely hope that NO ONE took photos of this, *lol*)!
Some people said it’s crazy to pay L$ 100,000 (equalling about US-$ 310) for a virtual dress - something that the winning bidder can never wear in RL.
*Scratches head* - well I personally wouldn’t be able to afford that either. In fact during the auction when the dress was at L$ 70,000, I said that this is the first occasion on which I couldn’t afford to buy one of my own dresses.
However… this virtual dress with the jewelry took two weeks to make - about 80 hours of work; and that’s *real* work, not virtual. And keep in mind that the entire amount went straight to the SLSC, I saw nothing of it on my account. Nevertheless, I say it was worth the work because it benefits my favourite SL theatre company. I also say it was the best Christmas gift I got.
After that it was a few days of recovering for me. At the time of the auction I was still having the flu (though the fever had gone down by that time), but a day earlier I had caught otitis media, which I still have, meaning I’m deaf on one ear (besides the constant beeping I hear on that ear). So I thought I deserved to take a few days off. (And yes I do feel like a whining old woman, thank you.)
Wunderlich? Taking ‘a few days off’? Not possible… ah yes, right. Of course I did a few things - up in my skybox, though. Like - working on a new gown. Namely - this one:
(you can click the photos and will then be taken to my Flickr pages, where you can see larger versions of them and also read what exactly you see in the pictures).
Yes, Naergi is doing Madame de Pompadour’s famous teal dress. Estimated finishing time: No idea, but would love to have it finished before New Year’s Eve.
Comments? As always appreciated
After receiving quite a few requests yesterday about extending the auction of the ‘Rainbow’ portrait dress, we have decided to extend it by one week, until the 21st of December, 2008.
The auction will then be ended at an Elizabethan event at Wunderlich’s ballroom at http://slurl.com/secondlife/ZoHa%20Islands%20E/222/37/27 (the ballroom next to my main store, in case you should wonder) between 14.00 and 16.00 SLT, where I will also give an overview of typical Elizabethan Fashion.
All updates concerning the auction will be written to this blog entry.
This is where we currently stand:
AUCTION HAS ENDED!
Highest winning bid: L$ 100,000!
I would like to thank everyone for the wonderful event. A report will follow tomorrow!
Bids should be dropped in the form of notecards inworld to Naergilien Wunderlich.
I do take bids that are to be incremented in L$ 100-steps, too (i. e. if you tell me in your notecard ”The current bid is at L$ 5,000; I bid L$ 6,000 in L$ 100-steps” - then I will do that: I will first add L$100 so that the auction price is L$ 5,100. If someone else now bids L$ 5,200, I will right away increase the bid to L$ 5,300 - basically, it’s the Ebay automatic bids system, just handled by me ).
This is a silent auction, meaning the name of the current highest bidder isn’t published (and the name of the winning bidder will only be published if the winning bidder agrees).
The winning bidder also has the choice of getting the dress mod/trans or mod/copy (or even to have the dress delivered to a completely different avatar mod/copy).
For those of you who have missed so far what this is about…:
I have created and will donate a one-of-a-kind gown for the SL Shakespeare Company Fundraising. Click the images to enlarge them; and read on below for further information!
I made a close-as-possible SL reproduction of the above shown ‘Rainbow’ portrait gown by Queen Elizabeth I., painted in 1603, showing the Queen in an iconographic gown which could also have been worn at an Elizabethan masquerade:
Some more pictures taken at the Fundraising Soirée on Sunday, 14th of December, 2008 can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alpha_auer/
(If you want to see a link to your photos here, just comment or IM me inworld and I will add it!)
If you would like to see the gown in person, drop me an IM inworld and I will meet up with you. Also, for a few days I’ll be holding a rezzed copy in a glass display by the entrance of my store; the SLURL is http://slurl.com/secondlife/ZoHa%20Islands%20E/199/114/22. This way you can have a look at it without having to IM me. The earrings are missing on that mannequin, though; and of course it looks a bit strange on a mannequin, but I had to come up with a solution to be able to show the gown to interested people 24 hours a day.
Since it IS OOAK, I can’t give review copies out; sorry:
This gown is REALLY one-of-a-kind (OOAK). Only THREE copies of it will exist in SL:
One, obviously, belongs to me. Another one will go to the wardrobe of the SLSC, to be used in their plays. The third is actually the ONLY one that will be available to the public; this is the one this auction is about.
It can be worn in several ways; with/without the loose gown, with / without the jewels; comes with two different pairs of sleeves - and I don’t think I’m exaggerating if I say that this is the most complicated gown I made so far in SL. The entire auction amount will go to the SLSC.
If you need more information, please IM me or comment here. I will keep this blog entry updated with all possible information which I haven’t thought of adding so far.
Last not least… please spread the word about the auction going on. Even if you don’t plan on bidding yourself; every bid helps the SLSC!
Best wishes,
N. Wunderlich
Wunderlich’s is proud to announce a Fundraising Soirée for the SL Shakespeare Company (SLSC), coming on Sunday, 14th of December 2008, from 2 - 4 PM SLT at the lovely Aobhach House in the Stained Glass Ballroom at Caldeon Highlands (SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Highlands/22/96/46 ).
Among other items to be auctioned off, Wunderlich’s will donate the following two items:
First, a jewel - a copy of Mary Tudor’s favourite jewel, which she wore in many paintings (see this page - scroll down to “4. Mary Tudor’s favourite jewel” to find out more about it!).
This jewel - which can be worn as a chest attachment - will only exist 52 times in SL:
#0a will belong to me. #0b will belong to Ina Centaur, who runs the SL Shakespeare Company. #1 will be auctioned off at the Fundraising soirée. #2 is already reserved for a buyer who wants to go unnamed.
The numbers #3 - #50 will be available at my shop and in the SLSC gift center - near the SL Shakespeare Globe - from the next week on, at a price of L$ 2,000 each. The earnings from the sales of this jewel will entirely go to the SLSC.
Some images (which can be clicked to enlarge them!):
You will notice that the backside of the jewel holds an engraving, telling you the exact number of the jewel. This engraving was made for each and every copy of the jewel with the corresponding number. You can tell from the image above, as described, that you’re looking at my copy.
Second, I will donate a one-of-a-kind gown. Click the images to enlarge them!
I made a close-as-possible SL reproduction of the above shown ‘Rainbow’ portrait gown by Queen Elizabeth I., painted in 1603, showing the Queen in an iconographic gown which could also have been worn at an Elizabethan masquerade:
This gown is REALLY one-of-a-kind (OOAK). Only THREE copies of it will exist in SL:
One, obviously, belongs to me. Another one will go to the wardrobe of the SLSC, to be used in their plays. The third is actually the ONLY one that will be available to the public; it will be auctioned off at the Fundraising Soirée.
It can be worn in several ways; with/without the loose gown, with / without the jewels; and I don’t think I’m exaggerating if I say that this is the most complicated gown I made so far in SL.
Others have donated / made items for the auction as well; just to name a few: Alastair Whybrow; Aberdon Enigma and SimplyAmy Iwish.
If you need more information, there’s a notecard giver by the entrance of my store (titled ‘Christmas at Highlands’, showing the hosts of the Soirée, Aberdon Enigma and Fauve Aeon, on a dark blue background). It also has the ‘Rainbow portrait’ in the lower left corner.
I sincerely hope to see you at the Soirée! In case you have any questions… ask them here, or IM Fauve Aeon inworld. Bids in absence can also be placed with her.
Best wishes,
N. Wunderlich
