Ooo the drama!

Anyone who knows me knows that I avoid drama at all costs. Anyone who really knows me knows that I have no qualms about standing up and saying what I feel the need to say. This is one of those rare times that the two overlap. It bugs me to no end when someone feels the need to speak on my behalf because they don't think I'm capable of doing it for myself.

So lest anyone think for a second that may be true and I don't have the balls to state my own feelings, here are some of my thoughts on a a recently "hot" post to hit the fashion feed. I'd rather my own words be read than implied by someone else.

Truth said...

"P.S Haedon and Lily I have your back on this issue as you guys are some of the quiet ones and I dont mind being the loud mouth cock on this issue ;)"

I saw the comment that was made about Calla on Sofia's blog. It wasn't actually in her original post, but in a comment she made to someone else's comment about her original blog post. (Five times removed and someone is their own grandpa's mother's dog's uncle.)

She said:

Sofia Gray said...

I would agree with you Chardonnay, however Truth (as well as Frangipani, and Calla) is/are a store(s) that build the majority of his collection by knocking off ETD styles. (Actually, Calla has a lot of original stuff, but lately it seems like they are desperately grasping by copying ETD styles...[cut]...

Did it bother me to be accused of being a "store(s) that build[s] the majority" of our collection "by knocking off ETD styles" and by "desperately grasping by copying ETD styles"? You bet your ass it did.

When I read it, I was pissed. Mostly it hurt my feelings, because I work hard at what I do and put a lot of time, effort and thought into the products I make and will not release something that I don't feel 100% confident in the quality of. But after that because I know it's not true and was such a broad generalization and blanket statement. So my pissiness lasted a minute or three until I realized she was stating her opinion, and even if the rest of the grid thinks I copy ETD's styles, so what? I know the truth. I'm the one who has to live with myself. I'm the one who has to look in the mirror every day. I'm the one who sleeps comfortably at night (assuming my kids let me). I'm the one who has customers that adore the styles I've made who own both Calla and ETD styles and don't think they are at all alike.

I know I haven't copied Elika's styles (or anyone else's for that matter). I'm the one who sooo wanted to go and buy up half of her store when she had that 25L sale and didn't feel that I could, because of potential broad generalizations by people who don't know what they're talking about. I guess I'd rather "avoid the appearance of evil" and miss out on great hair than put myself in a position that may look suspect. I'm honestly sick of that whole mentality of hair makers not being able to own something another hair maker made because of "so and so copied so and so, and look they bought this, and look what they just made that looks just like that" but that's an entirely different rant.

We're all entitled to our opinions. We're all entitled to express them however we see fit. In the grand scheme of things, one person's comment about what they think I do doesn't really carry a lot of weight with me. So much so that I didn't feel it warranted a response. She has her opinion, I've got mine, and readers as well as customers have theirs, too.

I quit caring what people thought of me after I made it out of high school alive; which was a long time ago. I enjoy what I do. I enjoy my customers. If I make something you like, that's fabulous! If you don't like it, that's okay too. What a boring place the world would be if we all liked the same things.

I was offended, momentarily, by a blanket statement that was unwarranted and I feel (oooo look, my opinion!) undeserved by someone that I'm not sure even owns any styles I've made. She has the right to express that opinion (whether she owns anything I've made or not) just as I've the right to be upset by it, get over it and let it go. The world turns. We all make choices. We can choose to let things like that upset us, or we can choose to take it with a grain of salt and move on.

Keep doing what you love, whether it be making hair, or stating your opinions about things, or sitting around with your thumb up your ass and watching it all happen.

Really, in six months, will any of this matter?

Sofia, I may not agree with everything you write. I may not appreciate what you said about Calla, and therefore about me specifically and one of the most important people in my life (Haedon, just so there's no confusion by anyone). However, I do respect your opinion as being your own, and your right to voice your thoughts and feelings without being hammered into changing them to suit someone else, and I have no right to ask or expect you to do differently. Lord knows I don't cave to what someone else feels I "should" do.

I'll keep making hair you don't have to like, you keep making statements I don't have to like, and somewhere along the way people are going to agree with one or both or neither of us.

That, to me, is the beauty of creation, whether in words, or prims, or any other medium.

To our customers who continue to show faith in us and continue to send kind words at the times we need them most, thank you for standing by us and enriching our lives, both first and second. To those of you who aren't our customers, I only ask that you evaluate our work first-hand and form your own opinions.

Signed,
A tired Lily whose mother-in-law is in town staying with her and thus feels the need to rant endlessly.