Today we bring you yet another community interview!
If you've been to Eorzea Collection, you already know Vederah Kilmister.
Our homepage is sprinkled with their lalafell cuteness and showcases just how diverse and creative Vederah is.
Aside from the character, Vederah is an active writer for our pals AetherflowMedia, and is also helping us fight this pandemic.
This month, I finally had the opportunity to get to know more about Vederah and how some of these glamours are created.
So read on Eorzea Collection's exclusive interview with Vederah!
Hey, Vederah!
To start us off, can you tell us more about yourself?
Hi, friends! I’m Vederah Kilmister, and you can often find me ninja afking on the Gilgamesh server. One second I’m there, the next I’m not - just a Lalafell, perpetually on the go!
I’m a 33 year old x-ray and CT technologist from Illinois, which keeps me extremely busy - especially now given the current pandemic.
In order to combat the stress, most of my hobbies have become pretty leisurely in nature: laying out in the inflatable pool I treated myself to this year, reading, and slowly starting back to dabbling in FFXIV glamour writing for Aetherflow Media.
How long have you been playing FFXIV and what drew you to it?
Several friends and I joined FFXIV around 2016 after hitting a major lull with World of Warcraft. Fairly certain I was the last one to jump ship, since I had spent loads of time farming transmog items (their equivalent of glamour) and didn’t want it to be all for nothing. I was swayed once the glamour and dye system was explained to me and I saw screenshots of how detailed all the gear was. Sure, the game play and the story line were also phenomenal… but I was more interested in all the cool outfits I could stash in my closet.
What is your favourite thing about FFXIV?
How completely visually stunning it is. I can’t even begin to fathom the amount of work the designers had to do in order to breathe such life into this world. From the moving night sky, to the textures on the ground, to the baubles hanging from our waistcoats - no detail was too small to matter to the design team, and it will always be something I have the utmost appreciation for.
Were you always as invested in glamour or did that interest develop over time?
As completely ridiculous as it sounds, every aspect of my gameplay is glamour motivated. Even before I logged in for the first time as a wee baby sprout of an archer, you can bet your butt that I looked up how large and fabulous their hats were ahead of time! Back then you even had to wait ‘til glamour unlocked at level 50 - and let me tell you, I’ve never leveled anything in a game so fast as I did my starter job to that point.
Any subsequent job that I leveled was purely motivated by specific glamour items. I now main as an Astrologian - but the drive behind even playing it was the Welkin Robe. My first tank? Halone’s Mail of Fending. Black Mage? Lunaris Rod.
What about in your everyday life, are you as fashion-conscious as you are in-game?
Pre-pandemic lockdown? If I wasn’t wearing surgery scrubs for work, I would say I was just as fashion-conscious. Back in the early 2010s (is that even how we refer to that time period?) I actually used to have a personal style blog. I was really coming into my own style around that time and just adored mixing and matching different pieces to really highlight how versatile a capsule wardrobe could be. A lot of my love for the amazing item details and textures in game is mirrored by real life. Give me all the fringe, the velvet, the funky embroideries, the authentic stone jewelry. I just needs it all!
Can you walk us through your process of creating a glamour?
Oh honey, buckle up because you’re about to get whiplash. Just kidding, kind of. Maybe.
Creating glamours is usually a very time-consuming process for me. I’ll typically pull up a browser with FFXIV Armoury Collection; in case I need to window shop for something I don’t currently have in my inventory and will need to farm. Much like the other interviewees, I will typically start with a larger anchor piece like the chest, hat, or weapon and work out from there. It’s a lot of shuffling between my maxed out retainers, who I honest to God have organized by item type, just trying different things on. If I can’t find anything on them, I’ll teleport to the closest inn and check the glamour chest. Or my chocobo bags. Or wait - maybe there’s something in the armoire! Guys, I’ve got glam everywhere. It’s a beautiful problem. I’m a dang mess.
I really prefer to keep a heavy “fantasy” aspect behind my personal glamours. Sure, I’ll occasionally dip into the cutesy-lalafell scene - but, for the most part, I really enjoy keeping my glamours feeling very natural to the FFXIV universe. The best part is that FFXIV is so stylistically diverse that I feel like I could do practically anything my heart desires without feeling like I look too out of place. The world is my oyster, and Booboo - I’m going schucking!
As far as “rules” go - I try to use at least two to three different dyes. I’ve never been an all-one-colour kind of gal. As cool as those monotoned outfits look, I love the amount of depth and visual interest you can inject into an outfit by using multiple dyes.
Do you have a go-to glamour or gear piece?
There was a time when I was very much a “new day, new glam” type of person. But between work and also having to create glamours for Aetherflow Media and other fan publications, I had to pull that pace back quite a lot. Was just getting completely burned out.
What about a favourite in-game colour?
I have a very strong affinity to Abyssal Blue and Coeurl Yellow. But from a versatility standpoint, I’d have to say Loam Brown and Bone White are the unsung champions of the dye world. Any plate or mail gear you want to be the perfect soft gold? Bone White is the new love of your life. Please invite me to the wedding.
We know glamour is the true endgame, but is it your main focus in the game or do you mix it up with other activities as well?
100000000% my main focus. A lot of the reason behind me leaving World of Warcraft was because I was so burned out from raiding all the time, so I wanted my experience with this game to be completely casual. The only “end game” content I’ve ever ventured into have been extreme trials, and let me tell ya - I’m a mess. If I show up in your party finder just have mercy on me.
If you could wish for one thing in FFXIV, what would it be?
/Casually puts her laundry list of requests back in the drawer
My wish is one I know we will never actually get - a glamour log. I’d love nothing more than to be able to have the ability to just gather an item, equip it to “save” the appearance in a log, then be able to toss it and still have the ability to use it as a glamour whenever I wanted.
I would hand polish each and every one of Yoshi P’s finger rings for the next ten years if it meant we could have a glamour log. Even Warcraft now has a glamour log, Yoshi! C’mon! I am desperate!
How did you first find out about Eorzea Collection?
One of my friends actually sent me the link to it back when I was just really starting to collect items for glamour purposes. I was utterly terrified to post a look on it, even though it was long before there was any kind of “love” system implemented.
What do you love the most about Eorzea Collection?
I love that it brings together hundreds of people with the same passion for ingame fashion in an environment that doesn’t feel judgemental. It allows everyone to share their personal styles and creates this constant flow of creativity and inspiration amongst all its users.
What about Eorzea Collection, if you could wish for one thing, what would it be?
Edeon has been wonderful about listening to the community and working with their desires. So, I truthfully want for nothing with the actual site at the moment.
What I do wish for is more of a request of those who utilize the site. Be confident. Ignore the likes and instead of treating this like a popularity contest, focus on your beautiful individual style that is so worth sharing. Not everyone is going to like a glamour that’s been shared - and that’s totally okay. But remember that just because someone didn’t click a button doesn’t mean you didn’t inspire them. So be proud of your glamours and share them fearlessly! You may unexpectedly see it pop up on someone else in Duty Finder someday. :)
Thank you so much for your time, Vederah!
Do you have any closing remarks?
Friends - It’s been real. Thank you so much for popping by to listen to me ramble on about glamour. Should you ever feel the need to listen to more of it, you can always look up my work in Aetherflow Media or hunt me down on Instagram (Vederah Kilmister).
For some highly recommended glamour artists - I suggest looking up Schan Starfall, Leisha Aysheen, Arsibra Therion, Lohia Aihol, and basically I love everyone’s glams so I highly suggest lurking on the “Latest” section of Eorzea Collection so you don’t miss any of the things!
And for some parting words of wisdom - Be excellent to each other and party on, dudes!
/walks into the distance hoping people know what movie that’s from
