Written by: Teresa Republic
Images by: Hannah Yakkan
Creator: Hannah Yakkan, L&S Designs
When on the hunt for attire for your role-play character, there is much to consider. If you can find an item you like, is it the right price? Does it fit your character? Is the seller reputable? Well if you’re in the market for items for your Fairy, Mermaid, or Medieval character, you may just want to stop by Hannah Yakan’s store, L&S Designs (Formerly Laces and Steel.) The quality is outstanding, the prices are spot on, and you can find a wide variety of items to suit your characters taste. We sat down with Hannah recently to find out how she pulls off such an amazing shop; among other things (we’re nosey!)
Hannah’s inspiration is not drawn from any one particular venue, which explains the tremendous variety available at her shop. Hannah told RPG, “All sorts of pictures and fabrics are inspiring.” The designs, however, are not generic. She explains how she fights the tendency so common with some designers to follow the trends, “…what is not inspiring [is] looking at the fashion feeds. I can’t help but look at them. I love scouring through the ads and photographic-art people have created using their avatars and SL fashions. I just make sure to resist the urge to look when I do start a new design.” Good to know, who doesn’t want their character’s appearance to be fresh and exciting?
Hannah’s fairy apparel was just recently added to her collection. With such creative conception and brilliant execution, one might think that her Fairy line was meticulously planned. Not so, says Yakan, “I started one design and three more designs popped into my head instantly.” The fairy outfits come with stockings for the arms and legs, a detailed corset and ruffle skirt, and unique feature for the wings which when trying to describe Yakkan says you’ll simply, “have to see for yourself :).”
Hannah’s journey into Second Life started with wild curiosity, as it did with most of us. When asked about what brought her into second like, Yakan had to say that, “Truth be told, I was actually googling ‘virtual sex’ and stumbled upon Second Life.” However her research enlightened her to the enormous content creation aspect of SL, and it seems that she was destined to be the role play fashion 
extraordinaire from the start of her second life. She explained to Roleplay Guide, “I started reading the forums and website information. I learned I could create clothing and sell it in SL. Even before my first log in, I had made up my mind to make clothing. It took two months to teach myself Photoshop and a month later was uploading my first designs. That was Dec. 2006.”
She has certainly come a long way since 2006. Since 2007 when she opened her first store on the “Claiming Beauty” sim, she now has over 14 successful satellite stores in addition to her mainstore. It’s no wonder she’s already thinking of what’s on the horizon. As for her future plans, Yakan emphasized that her fairy clothing line would continue, along with some new details to her medieval clothing, saying simply, “more realism in the details.” She’s not kidding! 
Some of her new designs will have blood stains, rips and tears, and frayed fabrics. Makes sense, there’s no way people were walking around in those times with perfectly pressed frocks.
Hannah’s only weakness (if you’d call it that, even) is that she is so in touch with the feminine designs that she creates, it makes a men’s line difficult. She is very in touch with her limitations, however, and explained “I would love to create a men’s line. I am always disappointed with the results though. They always come out looking too feminine… lol”
Anyone who has tried their hand at creating any kind of clothing in SL knows it is a grueling, tedious, and very difficult process. Hannah, however, sees it as her duty to her own creativity and expression. I’ll leave you with these closing thoughts from Hannah, “Designing clothing in Second Life is art. There is so much hard work that goes into creating fashion. Designers put in very long hours. Hannah adds, “we have to keep up with the latest technology (prims, sculpties, and soon mesh!). When you purchase someone’s design and every seam is correct and fabrics matching up between clothing layers, it means someone has taken the time to produce a fine work of art.”
Truer words never said!
Reproduced with permission from Roleplay Guide Magazine.
Issues as printed are found here: Roleplay Guide at Joomag
