It’s official: flexiprims really are the new black. For better or worse, (mostly for the better, in my opinion) they’ve taken the Second Life fashion world by storm. Here are my top 4 flexiprim dress designs in no particular order: Sensual Casanova’s Sensual Idol, Simone Stern and Sherona DeGroot’s Josephine, Ginny Talamasca’s Deadly (in original black or in living color), and Nephi Protagonist’s Little Black Flexi Dress. Click for photos and commentary.
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I know, it’s one of those dreaded blog memes. Sorry! But it’s so much fun — I had to know.
I read it on New World Notes, Linden Lifestyles and Elika Tiramisu’s blog. It just so happens that I have a set of headshots I took for a feature story about Second Skin Labs (I haven’t written it yet, d’oh!) sitting on my primary blogging computer, so I ran the photo of my avatar at the top through the website at myheritage.com. The best matches for me were Audrey Tatou (70%) and Elizabeth Hurley (70%). I’m not sure I see all the resemblances but I can see some. And it’s certainly flattering to be compared with those two beautiful women.
In case you’re curious, I’m wearing a custom skin from Second Skin Labs (precise details coming soon), hair by Six Kennedy (Milan, creamy blonde), eyes by Canimal Zephyr (Fetish, DkBlueScope) and prim lashes (Hollywood long) by Lynnix Muse. The shape is my own.
I know there’s way more flexiprim goodies out there than I can possibly do justice with in an individual post, but I really wanted to highlight one of Ginny’s newest releases, the luscious Ysandre, which I like to describe as “boho meet the red carpet, red carpet, boho.”
This dress goes from rustic with its embroidered seams and beading applique to glam-wow with the low low neckline and the addition of the chiffon drapes front and back and the fabulous whispery neck scarf which trails behind so fetchingly with every step. So far? This is easily my favorite use of flexiprims in clothing.
Given the pricing of some of the other flexiprim outfits I’ve seen (and purchased), this is an absolute steal at only L$325. I paired mine with Lash’s new Helena release, hair flowers tinted to match the dress color (I got ceylon blue, shown far left). Wearing that made me feel like some Greek goddess movie star. Wow, what a dress. Get it at Dazzle in Innamoramento.
And now I’m off to buy a “real video card.” Flexiprims are gorgeous, but they kill the frame rate on my poor lil Powerbook. So (some might say “finally”) I’m upgrading my Windows box. 
More updates over the weekend.
Today’s focus is on flexiprim hair. The new clothing classifieds are still on fire with new flexiprim designs — and they probably will be for several weeks to come. (More flexiprim clothing posts coming soon…)
When I first heard about flexiprims, one of the most exciting applications of them would be for hair. But after learning more about the new flexible prim types, I wasn’t so certain about it. Most prim hair designers though use tori (warning: scary link — math is hard, let’s go shopping!), not prisms, cylinders or cubes (the only three flexible prim types as of 1.10) as the primary shape for prim hair creations. Elika Tiramisu wrote:
the new black is flexi prims….I don’t see myself making flexi hair. I am almost positive that I won’t. I don’t normally use cylinders or boxes in my hair. I just don’t like the look of it….it’s just a personal choice. I mean, if later down the road LL would offer more options or more prims to use instead of a box or a cylinder I may attempt something with them. Or even an option where you can choose a point for the flexi part to begin…I would give it a whirl…But here’s the deal… leave a comment saying you witnessed me say I won’t use flexi prims for hair. And in the event that I do (pretty much contradicting myself) I’ll send those who witnessed a free Willow Pack aka FATPACK of the first style I make with flexis…..if in fact I do make one.
About 12 hours later, her witnesses got a free Willow Pack of a style Elika’s named Farfalla (after the Italian for “butterfly,” not the pasta!) Unfortunately, it’s not released — yet.
(Thus proving great minds think alike: see also Willow Zander’s great flexihair roundup at PXP.) I have more flexihair and pictures under the fold.
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Canimal Zephyr coaxed amazing digital artist Devyn Grimm of Chaospire into an interview at Pixel Pinup. This wide ranging interview covers Devyn’s history in Second Life, his background in digital art, his musical talent and his interest in designing a line of men’s wear. Sprinkled throughout the article are the incredible ad textures for many of Devyn’s products. Don’t miss it.
I have to admit that I love the way the flexible prims move with my avatar, whether she’s dancing, slinking, jumping or flying. But at this point, most of the flexible prim skirts I’ve seen and worn in world come as discreet pieces of fabric arrayed around my avatar’s waist, not one unified whole piece of cloth, and to me that makes them a touch disconcerting to wear. It leads to what I call The Seven Year Itch Glitch. In that movie, Marilyn Monroe is wearing a fabulously sexy little white dress and stands over a subway grate. When the subway rumbles past underground, the skirt flies upward every which way as she coquettishly tries to tame it.
Flexiprim skirts make me feel the same way except everywhere I go in Second Life, there’s a subway grate under foot pushing the skirting pieces up over my waist. Most of the flexiprim outfits I’ve worn and liked in world have shied away from using flexible prims as skirting material and instead used them as scarves, ribbons or other adornments where one can achieve the same incredible sense of bounce and motion without having to feel like she’s flashing the entire sim with every step she takes. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I guess, unless you’re in a PG sim. )
I really hope the incredibly talented fashion designers in Second Life can find a way to overcome this limitation — because I’ll be so excited to wear something that really flows and moves like a single garment.
The 1.10 release has two amazing features (and a lot of lovely little UI tweaks): usable local lighting and 3 flexible prim shapes (no flexi torii, alas. Prim hair creators everywhere are very sad — but also very innovative — some flexihair is released already and some is still being developed — I spy my little eye on Lash Xevious’ flexihair experiments on snapzilla; a beta hair now available for L$50!) Just like at Hair Fair when there was an explosion of much new goodness, I’ve chosen a few of my favorites to highlight, and then link the all of the forum posts.
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I’ve decided that I’ve been too restrictive with post comments, so I’ve opened them up a bit — you can comment on any post simply by using an email address. All the comments will be held until I approve them. That’s mostly to stop comment spam (blog spammers leave comments with embedded HTML links to sites they want to promote in search engines to raise its page rank) so feel free to offer criticism or praise or questions, anonymously even, if you like.
As always, thank you for reading!
Lash Xevious is back with a brand new hairstyle, Helena, the first release in a new line she calls “Deity.” I always marvel at the inspirational sources that Lash uses for her creations whether it’s her sculpture or her hairstyles. In the ad for Helena, that profile background shot reminds me very much of a classic Greek bust. She writes:
This series will be a set of wigs that are inspired by romance, lyrics, literature, and the rich history of the female beauty depicted in portraits over the centuries. Think myths, cameos, vintage, things that are dainty yet powerful at the same time.
Helena includes a marvelously executed hair adornment which features beautiful and delicate flowers. The adornment itself and the flowers on it are all color changing — and if you want to just buy the headband it is sold seperately from Helena. Unlike most of Lash’s other hairstyles, she writes this one will not be sold in her customary packs because not all of Lash’s textures preserve the classical look she’s trying to achieve. It does come in Black, Bronzed, Blonde, Pale Blonde and Taffy, though, for now. Helena is available at the Lashed Boutique in Butsu.
Sparkle Skye released the Princessa Long Braid style in several different colors. Naturally I love the flower attachment — they’re my kryptonite. I must also give a short “Hooray!” because the default position for bling is “off.” Sparkle writes at her blog:
I maybe eleminating some shades where I feel the differences are too subtle for how SL renders. It is disappointing sometimes when trying to paint in a variety of colors and then to upload and have them appear very similiar on a prim when in fact they are quite different.
Sparkle is one of those hair creators who goes out of her way to think of interesting jewel toned hair textures, so it’ll be interesting to see how she overcomes this limitation of the Second Life renderer. She continues:
I love flowers and all kinds of things for my hair in real life, I really wish redoing my hair styles and accessories were this easy in real life I’ld be in heaven.
Hehe. Me too. Imagine how nice it would be to apply new makeup by just choosing a new skin from your inventory? Sounds like a freaky issue of Transmetropolitan. Er, not that I’d be dorky and read comics. You can shop for this design at Allure by Sparkle in ImagineNation. (See also previous Princessa designs.)
Astry Mirabeau, fresh off the build of her new store on a new private sim released several great new items this week, including two wonderful, sexy prim skirt designs including this black satin, cherry patterned design. So much to look at in this design from the deep red tulle petticoating to the cherry pattern stockings to the metal-clasps of the exposed garters. Plus the dress itself is almost too cute, but it keeps that super sexy edge by showing off the stockings. Also new are three capri designs, a new set of jewelry and another black-baby blue prim skirt that I almost featured instead of the cherries. It’s a nice problem to have when designers put out so many wonderful things you’re just not sure what to blog. The place to shop is Digital Knickers in The Siren’s Grotto.
Two fabulous new releases by Ginny Talamasca, my fashion crack dealer™. First is Cerise Tart, Ginny’s cheeky cherry jewelry design. I used the “box ad” for this because I was blown away by the detail on the barrel clasp for the necklace. As Ginny’s pointed out before, I am a total detail whore and also in a former life, a jewelry salesperson. Attention to those little things — where every eeny teeny microprim has to be just so — is what makes the great designers so great. Second is the oh-so-yummy silk ruched bodice on the dress St.-Germain-des-Pres — a post-war trendy intellectual district of Paris where Sartre used to smoke Galois, drink espresso and think bleak thoughts about his fellow Parisians. I adore the ruffling detail of the bodice and I can’t get over how cute Ginny looks in HoseQueen’s skin. Love it! Check both new designs out at Dazzle in Innamoramento.
