I am loving the Second Life 2015 fashion scene. 2014 was all about the Fitted Mesh Body Revolution with bodies from Slink, Maitreya, Belleza, The Mesh Project, and Eve (just to name a few) released. This has brought huge changes to how we look and the fashion industry in SL. 2015 has so far been an explosion of Fitted Mesh or Fitmesh clothing that is made specifically for those bodies as well as mesh heads. With all of this has come a lot of new terms and verbage and not everyone seems to be on the same page and certainly not everyone is understanding all of these new terms. When designers are not even using the same terminology, shoppers, event organizers, and bloggers have a hard time communicating to the public. 

So this blog post is being written for three main purposes:

1) To streamline and define current 2015 fashion terminology
2) To explain current 2015 fashion terminology with a video
3) With the hope that we all start using the same words to describe the same things. 

      I was recently talking to Del, the owner of Seraphim, about using more clear verbage in her descriptions. I suggested that they specify like this: 5 standard sizes, 3 Fitmesh sizes, and Appliers included. Of course putting the appropriate numbers in the description based on what is included in the outfit. Mainly I just want it to clearly say that the outfit contains fitmesh sizes rather than the current "mesh body compatible" that could mean standard sizes that work with mesh body alpha cuts, it could be fitmesh to the body, or even appliers that work with a mesh body. I don't care as much about which bodies because often fitmesh made for something else will still work for my Physique or Lara (the two I wear), but I do want to know if a fitmesh size or sizes are included. 

      Her reply was so spot on and clearly shows the problem we have today, "Standard sizing and fitmesh mean different things to different designers, so its incredibly hard to summarize that in a clear format. Some people say they have fitmesh but they mean they're TMP compatible or something."- Del

    I have also seen the term fitmesh used when it is really just standard sizes that can be worn on a mesh body, but the clothing does not actually move with the soft sliders and was not rigged using the cBones. So I think we definitely need streamlined terminology defined for everyone in the fashion industry. This is my attempt at that lofty goal. 

2015 Universal Fashion Definitions:

Rigged Mesh- Mesh clothing (3D) that will move with your skeleton (avatar) and only moves with a few sliders (often called hard numbers) like hip width, leg length, and arm length. You can not change the size. 

Unrigged Mesh- Mesh clothing (3D) that you can size to make it bigger or smaller. 

Standard Sizes- Mesh clothing (3d) that is rigged mesh and has been made to fit exact slider numbers. In order to fit into this clothing you have to change your slider numbers on your shape to match the slider numbers of the standard sizes. Standard sizes are made in XXS, XS, S, M,  and L. 

Fitmesh (Fitted Mesh)- Mesh clothing that will move with your avatar and changes with more sliders (often called soft numbers) than the original rigged mesh. For example fitmesh clothing changes size when you move the body fat, butt, and boob sliders in your shape. I think we should use the word Fitmesh mostly because most of us already are and it makes it easier to say and type by making the word shorter. Fitmesh does NOT mean that it will just "fit." You usually need some alphas with most fitmesh items. 

Fitmesh for a Mesh Body- Mesh clothing rigged specifically to the weights of a certain mesh body, like Physique or Aesthetic, so that the clothing fits those bodies better (not perfectly). Some designers are doing experimental fitmesh because they do not have a designer kit for that mesh body, like for Maitreya Lara. 

Mesh Body Alpha Compatible (Mbac)- These are standard size mesh that have been specifically designed with a particular mesh bodies alpha cuts (in the HUD) in mind so the designer knows that the alpha cuts will work with the outfit. I would like to suggest we use an acronym MBAC or Mbac to shorten this term and make it more user friendly. 

Appliers- This is 2D drawn clothing, skins, or tattoos that get put on or applied directly to a mesh body layer by using a HUD. This is not mesh clothing. 

mBones- The original bones when mesh was first introduced into SL and what standard sizes were based on. The mBones were called the standard skeleton. All of the mBones had to be included. 

cBones- (Collision Bones) There are 26 collision bones. Fitmesh clothing is rigged on these cBones and that is why it moves with the shape sliders. The 26 collision bones are called the Fitted Mesh skeleton. These are the actual points where the mesh connects to the bones of the avatar. Designers do not have to use all of the cBones, rather only the ones they want. (Rigging Fitted Mesh wiki)

Materials- a specific set of shaders that make objects look more realistic by reacting to light and other objects in a natural way. For example, this creates reflections or shininess as well as bumps, ridges, or grooves on objects (3D mesh clothing). The shine moves when you move. To see materials you need local lights turned on and prim lights in your houses or stores. Video by Strawberry Singh

Here is a video that I made to show some of the more confusing fashion terms and the ones I am seeing mixed up the most. WARNING: This video is a little NSFW in a few places.



So those are my suggestions on the universal definitions for the current fashion terminology needed in 2015. Here is some more information and some of these terms discussed by other people with a lot of useful links included as well. 

FITMESH

"Fitmesh garments (clothes, accessories, etc) respond to (the) avatar's shape sliders similar to (the way) the avatar body (moves with the shape sliders)."- Meli Imako in her Fitmesh Manual with video

"So, what can fairly be called fitted mesh?The criteria is not whether it needs alphas, but whether the clothing changes shape when you change the soft numbers in the shape editor (such as fat and muscles and breast size). Non-fitted rigged mesh only changes shape for the hard numbers such as length of limbs and hip width."- Aimee on sluniverse forums

"The intent of fitted mesh was to allow further deformation detail to clothing or mesh avatars using your sliders. Originally, mesh would only conform to certain sliders, Fitted Mesh changed that. For the most part, it eliminated the need for multiple sizes and conformed better to your actual shape." -DoC Eldritch, DE Designs Owner in his informational blog post about Fitted Mesh

"With FitMesh system now dresses will respond to sliders similar to avatar shape. For example if you increase the butt size or leg size on edit shape window, the outfit's legs and butt will also get bigger. It will also carry out the physics (such as breasts wiggling) if you are wearing avatar physics. FITMESH wont get rid of alpha maps or it will not fit 100% all the time (It still is not dynamic clothing with collision detection), but it will fit much better than before. Consider FITMESH more like as shaping clothes similar to shaping your avatar by using sliders." - Lenka Canvas from White Canvas Templates

FITMESH FOR A MESH BODY

"Speciality Fitted Mesh – eg. Fitmesh for Maitreya or Fitmesh for Belleza – this type of fitmesh has been created by a designer and specifically fitted to your mesh body. Now this isn’t a perfect science, because mesh clothing creators need certain models from each mesh body creator to make ‘perfect’ fitmesh for their body, and many creators do not give this out. For this reason, many designers are ‘eyeballing it’ or just plain doing their best to make the garmet be the closest fit it can be for your body. So always demo demo demo and remember, creators doing this are doing their best. It’s incredibly difficult to do, and I say good on them for giving it a go!" LilDaria Resident in her informative mesh body troubleshooting guide (a must read)

‘Fitmesh for Mesh Bodies’ (Fitmesh for Maitreya, Fitmesh for Eve etc.). These are mesh clothes that *have* been designed to cover the Mesh Body you’re wearing." LilDaria in her Fitmesh Lesson

"Fitted mesh that is made for mesh bodies by mesh body vendors, probably won't need alphas. Like TMP stuff never needs alphas. They make the body and have the exact weights. 

The mesh body kits that are given to 3rd designers is a close match but not exact. So almost every 3rd party item is going to need an alpha for some poses. I have made some Slink items that don't need alphas, but in general you are going to need alpha for some poses. 

The mesh items all deform with sliders so they are fitted mesh and so it is correct to call them fitted mesh even if they use alphas." - Eboni Khan Hucci Owner

      I really love Fitmesh made for one of the mesh bodies I wear. I think it works the best of all wearable mesh and finally allows me to break out of standard sizes and still wear mesh clothing. I am not alone in my feelings. Here are what some other bloggers had to say about Fitmesh:

"Fitted mesh, it’s the best and easiest way to wear mesh clothing. If it’s not fitted mesh, it’s not awesome!"- Gogo on juicybomb.com 

 "I love buying from a brand that makes a fit for my body. I really don’t want to be bothered with making things look like they fit." - Caroline Apollo

"The mesh is great quality (Just Because) but what I love is that they have fitmesh for the Maitreya body (and other mesh bodies) that fits perfectly." - Strawberry Singh