Picking a VU Model

VU model lntoxication posed and edited by the IMVU design team in this gorgeous shot.

So you want to be a VU Model like this guy? Awesome. I’m here to help.     

My name is VUMARU(I love donuts) – you may recognize me from the IMVU Official Twitch streams we have been doing recently. I want to give you the inside look at how we choose and what we are looking for to build our portfolio of VU Models.

VUMARU eats a donut while investigating VU Model entries.

There will continue to be opportunities to apply to the VU Model program, so don’t give up! Keep your eye on our social media and the blog.

The VU Model program was designed to excite and encourage fashion design interests that we have within our community – and to give more of you a chance to be discovered through modeling. As a VU Model, we see you as a rising star and a testament to why we created IMVU – to encourage self expression, to create friendships worldwide, and to offer opportunities to create and be discovered as the next Face of IMVU.

We hope that your participation in the program brings you more followers and friends, as well as admiration of your creativity amongst our community of millions of users. Hopefully, it also inspires you to continue exploring your personal creative endeavors and expanding upon your self-expression on IMVU.  We, in turn, benefit from being able to showcase a diverse and ever-changing portfolio of our best avatars that win the attention of our audience in our advertising, blog, website, and social media channels.

So what is the process?

To start, the deliberation process actually goes through different rounds of checks from several different teams. In the first round, we check all entries initially for general guidelines and rule following, which are listed on the VU Model home page. . Finalists are vetted to make sure the applicants are in good standing with their IMVU account, meaning they haven’t violated any of our Community Guidelines. We want our VU Models to be a positive influence for our entire community inside and outside of IMVU, which means their reputation should be just as clean as their look.

 

I’m sure many of you are wondering what we look for in choosing that perfect VU Model look…

 

In the second round, our avatar expert group reviews the finalists for high quality submissions by viewing the submitted image and trying on the outfit. In the first phase of this round, the avatar experts are looking to rule out rookie mistakes in avatar creation (no double eyebrows!), proper usage of scalers, matching skin tone from head to toe, and an outfit that doesn’t break or overlap with its accessories or layered items.  

In the next phase, we look for what any modeling talent agent looks for – the “magic”, the “special sauce”, or the “spark.”  We want to see something different and that stands out in a striking way. For instance, if you have the same head as most people, your avatar may not catch our eye. Your avatar’s DNA (eyes, head shape, eyebrows etc) should come together to make a stunning combination and can be done even with a common feature.This can be hard to define, but it may be that you celebrate vitiligo in a beautiful way, maybe you’ve mixed gothic with K-pop styles in a way that is special, or maybe you are a classic beauty with a unique twist. Piercings, tattoos, skin flaws, pimples, glasses – all of it is a welcome addition to our VU Model portfolio, but style in a way that accentuates your best assets.

VU Model SierraMyst posts gorgeous model quality pictures on her feed regularly.

We do focus on some factors: the FACE. We want to see it because we are going to FEATURE it, so if you’re wearing shades and hiding your face with a bandana…we’re not able to see you as well.  Hair matters some, but it’s possible that hair will be changed to fit certain outfits…so really the biggest focus is the face and what you’ve created there. A unique look that isn’t standard is important as well! Uniqueness doesn’t mean blue skin or face tattoos or colored hair; uniqueness means we can recognize your face even if update your look with different hairstyles and outfits, just like a real celebrity!

After this round, we narrow down the submissions even more. This means it’s time for our Marketing team leaders at IMVU to view the submissions in the third round and shorten the list even further based on the same key tenets: quality, creativity, uniqueness and attention to detail.

We do focus on some factors: the FACE.

At the end of the third round, we vote and pick a winner, plus three runners up from the top rung of our short list. We start with the winner, of course, and reach out to see if they would like to accept their VU Model title.  We give the winner a few days to respond to us with acknowledgment of their newl title and a signing of their contract. Should the few days elapse without a response, we move on to our runners up one at a time..

We believe that ANYONE can be the winner of VU Model and YOU may be next, but it’s up to you to enter and put your best avatar forward. As an IMVU VU Model, you will join us hand in hand as we inspire creativity in our community and bring more people to IMVU. Together, we will continue to celebrate diversity, beauty, and unlimited access to creating our most ideal self expression to a global audience. This is what IMVU stands for today and always.  You are a major part of that story and we can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with next.

The next winner will be chosen in September!

Are you ready to be the next VU Model?