doveswanson
Yeah, I went there. I think I got in about an hour after it opened to the public, so it was hectic but that was to be expected. Oh, and before I forget – for the love of God people, remove your fucking attachments, prims, scripts, bling, etc! (mutters) Okay then. Back on track! :p
I probably don’t need to tell you that it was set up on four sims donated by Rezzable, and the sims were themed by seasons; Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. I think the layout idea was kinda cool, but seemed to have floundered a bit somewhere along the way….tons of empty space not just in the center of the four sims, but also empty lots along the sidewalk shopping areas too – were those empty spaces meant for designers or no? I never did get my questions answered as to who decided what shops went where…the most I could gather is that maybe the shops were placed by “theme of the season” ….darker shops in the darker seasons, bubbly shops in the spring and summer sims. No idea. Fall and Winter sims seemed easiest to navigate, less lag and crowd, I’m sure that’s a direct connection to the shops offered in those sims, as the spring and summer sims were pretty much jam-packed the entire time. Amazingly, none of them crashed while I was there!
Anyway, I have to say if I were giving a rating to this event it would get a …..C-….I hate to say that because it’s for a great cause and everyone involved (I’m assuming) was on a volunteer basis and all the work was done for charity. BUT…it was just rather disappointing. I guess I was wrong to expect new releases at this event, from some of our favorite designers – or if not new releases, perhaps exclusive RFL items. If you go, you will soon find out what I did – a very small handful of shops even had anything new to offer and a large large large amount of the vendors didn’t even offer an RFL item….at …all. I’m not sure how that’s exactly kosher, considering this is an RFL fund-raising event? I’m hoping (although I could never get a clear answer on this one either) that the stores that didn’t have an RFL vendor at least donated some or all of their proceeds at the fair to RFL.
On the actual shops there, it wasn’t a terrible selection. I was a little surprised at some of the designers that *weren’t* there…and a little surprised also by some that *were*! It was such an odd mix, I have to wonder how exactly the designers were picked. It ranged from unheard of designers (you’ll see why), to really big names (some I’ve never seen participate in these sorts of events). There was an ungodly amount of fantasy-themed designers, I think I saw more of that than anything else there – not sure why, was that intentional?
Pretty much, to sum it up, the fair is basically your typical, daily, shopping-sim, adventure – imagine one of your favorite sims to shop, throw some donation kiosks around it and you’ve got the RFL Clothing Fair. Nothing all that special about it, except the cause itself. If I were you, I’d wait, let others brave the lag and chaos, read up on fashion blogs that mention or highlight the good shit, get in, get out and then just donate from afar.
I walked away with five items, two were RFL purchases, one was just a random purchase from a favorite designer, since I was already there, and the last two were from a shop (new to me) which did not have an RFL vendor in it that I could find. To be fair and not just a sourpuss, I’ll drop some goodies on you too! 
RFL Clothing Fair Pick: TULI (and it’s an actual RFL vendor item! it’s in the Winter sim, on the Fall end.)
Honorable Mention: *ICING* (another actual RFL vendor item! Spring sim, near Winter.)
Small Perk: Moonshine (I’ve never shopped this store before, I don’t think it’s emerging at the fair but it’s new to me. I thought they had some really fun and fresh design concepts and styles.)
Enjoy!
UPDATE-
I’ve been watching the feed coverage on the clothing fair, and I feel like I should add – to be fair (ha!) – that there were a ton of things that were not at all my personal taste (TONS of fucking gowns, which usually fall under ‘fantasy-themed’ for me personally heh). I also forgot to mention that (although, more have been added since the first day for some reason, as have more RFL items, probably because people were bitching and quite confused) if you are looking to score freebies, supposedly there’s a nice collection of those also. I didn’t go looking for freebies myself, I went looking for newness and RFL exclusives. So yeah….just thought I should add that, for people who are down with the gowns and freebs.
