Some thoughts on looks

Meangirls want to wench about shapes.

Some of the things in there have value, others don't. Some of my shapes (there are 23 different lillie shapes for different circumstance) have legs 100, because when you are on the pole, tall is better. Ditto being on a man's arm at a function. He wants to be tall to be noticed, and you had better match him.

"There are plenty of other body parts yet to go. Hips are a delicate subject. I was once a victim of being under the influence of the prim skirt. There is no universal size for building prim skirts and therefore so many have opted to have waif thin Kate Moss avs just so they can wear that brand new skirt put out by InsertDesigner Here. Girls its not true! I can guarantee that if some of you models were to give yourselves some curves that designers would re-think their products and product proportions. There are plus size women IRL - and also in SL."

And most of the plus size women are trying not to be. Hmmm. One of the running problems with SL is that the skirt object, and it is an avatar object they same way your body is, is well known to widden out your hips. Good shape designers will include skirt/no-skirt versions of a shape, and girls who know what they are doing will shift from skirt to no skirt when the time comes to take off the skirt. Prim skirts are largely dictated by whether or not there is a clothes skirt underneath. Prims with pants should have the no skirt shape. No skirt shapes should also pare back on the curve as well as the width. By the way boys, you should have more jut to your hips, it implies the ability to pump. Pump is good. Trust me, pump is good.

But let me answer this question:

Speaking of models ... what exactly makes someone a model in SL? I've never been one, and I can't say I even know one but I see a lot of profiles that say "model".

Yes, rl being a model is partially about physical endowment, at least for whatever body part you do, there are hands models, underwear models, body doubles and so on. However, in both sl and rl, the other part is knowing how to move, and in sl knowing how to shoot. This means having a good monitor, knowing how to use photoshop, knowing how to frame a shot. It also means in SL having a good AO, a battery of poses, knowing which ones will flatter which clothes. It means picking out good locations and color contrasts for clothes, picking out ensembles that will flatter the clients clothes and knowing how to make small but important edits for cloths/hair/jewelry to fit you.

As with being an escort, or designer, or builder, it is easy to say model. I've modelled in SL, but I know some girls who bring in respectable amounts of money as models. I respect their skills in making fashion look better, because it is a set of skills that have to be learned and acquired.

I guess I'm just against conventional beauty

I'm just against convention.