What's your Achilles heel in SL? You know the kind; the place you ALWAYS go either to hang out or to spend money? One of mine is DE Designs. A wonderfully, beautifully different clothing shop in SL. With a real sense for fantasy, gothic 3D designs DE catches my attention each and every-time.

DE is approaching its 3rd birthday (I know this from the fan group!). With a new outfit planned for the birthday (previews on the blog).

I had the privilege of speaking to DoC Eldritch the owner and sole DE artist.

Trin - DE Designs is approaching its 3rd birthday, can you tell our readers the highs and lows of the last 3 years?
DoC - The high for me is what I have learned personally as far as creating these designs. Taking the 2-D aspect of clothes in SL and making them look as 3-D as possible. This has also allowed me to get into doing more art work. Something I had never done before. When I get im’s from someone saying how much they enjoy and outfit, or how they love a background, that’s my high. Lows, hmmm, I try my best not to get down about things. There are going to be those days when SL isn’t running right, something happens and you get dozens of im’s, someone “sets” you off so to speak or everything just piles up at once and I have to step away. You’re going to have those days in any business be it SL or RL. You learn how to deal with situations, take a breath and focus that energy in what you enjoy doing. It’s easier said then done at times.

Trin - What was your inspiration behind DE?
DoC - For the most part I wanted DE to be somewhere anyone could shop for clothes. Regardless of your appearance and or preferences, I had something to fit. As far as the designs, it really all depends on my frame of mind in a given week to be honest. Some weeks I want to create complex Ladies and Men’s matches, while other weeks I rather do a trendy or formal design.

Trin - Do you do all work on the outfits including promo pictures etc?
Doc - Yes I do. In the last year in particular all my backgrounds have been drawn in Photoshop. A lot of times it may take me just as long to draw the background ad as make the outfit but it is something I enjoy doing now. I have always done all of my ad’s however since day one.

Trin - Roughly how many outfits do you have and what is your favorite style of clothes for designing?
DoC - Its over 1000 I know. I’m not really sure on an exact number however. At this time I enjoy doing the Fantasy style the most.

Trin - Do you have any fashion experience in RL?
DoC - None at all, most of my items lean towards an art, fantasy and or gothic old world look however.

Trin - What does the next 3 years hold for DE Designs do you think?
DoC - Hard to say, I take things day by day. I have expanded somewhat into other things outside of SL but I won’t to the point where it affects me creating for SL. Hopefully there will be more options within SL to expand creations, such as in the last few years with Flex and Sculpt options. A couple more clothing layers as well as another face layer would be great.

I personally adore DE Designs and turn into a child at Christmas when I go there. Its never out of my cache! Check it out in world here and the official blog here.