Speaking of Nonna Hedges, she released this gorgeous dress design titled “Dangerous Whisper” in a luscious, sleek satin texture. The gown has a racy lace bodice, and just gorgeous satin texturing — look at the way the light pools and swirls in the fabric. Amazing. The tafetta prim train was created by Allya Fatal. I adore this design in the cocoa (shown), but it also comes in a daring red, and even a bridal white if you want a Billy Idol style White Wedding. Shop for it at Details by Nonna Hedges in Picasso.
Rebel Hope released Nonna, a tribute to Nonna Hedges. This is a very feminine and pretty gown, but it retains a bit of an edge with the asymettrically shredded hemline and the color palette of black and dark grey. The beading work on the bodice is exquisite and elegant, lending a touch of glam shimmer to the overall design. It’s beautiful work, and a fine tribute. You can buy it at Rebel Hope Designs on Isla Del Amor.
New designer Wanda Rich released 6 deliciously detailed corset tops, including the pinstripe and sequin set. Also available are leather and tartan, and a set with red and green faux fur patterns. These are wonderfully executed — the pattern, shading and wrinkles look fantastic. Look at the detailed metallic clasps holding the backstraps in place. Lovely! Wanda’s designs can be found at Pleasure & Pain in Meribel.
(Willow Zander at PXP also really likes these!)
Over on Torrid Midnight’s blog, Frans Charming left an interesting comment:
I don’t know much about the fashion industry in sl, but i think that it will be a deadend street for most people in the long run anyway. With no production costs, everything will be availible allways. Style and Brand will still be important but it will behave different from rl fashion, i think.
This is an interesting point, but the cost of production of fashion in Second Life isn’t zero — the cost of mass producing a fashion design is zero. In this sense, one might as well think of the Second Life fashion marketplace as a very specialized niche software market. The cost of creating software itself isn’t zero. The cost of making copies of it are zero. The cost of distributing it are zero. But it still costs money in salary and talent to design and to build. Another example of such an industry is Hollywood — what do they sell? Content. How do they sell it? Any way they can possibly make a profit: DVDs, CDs, television rights, theaters. So it seems to me that the business of selling content itself is not at all a bad one — it is in fact quite lucrative according to The Big Picture, a fascinating book about the economics of Hollywood.
I also don’t believe that all content is always going to available. Even private sims have a maximum prim limit of 15,000. If you filled an entire sim with 1-prim vendors, you’d still only be able to offer 15,000 items — a truly ridiculous amount of designs to be certain, but not unlimited. (And the lag of all those pictures loading — very very scary.)
A major reason designers retire older or less marketable designs is because they want to reclaim wall space in their store — and wall space is NOT an unlimited resource in a 3D world like Second Life. (Just ask Ginny Talamasca or Elika Tiramisu! 
) Another reason designs are retired is that designers themselves have grown in skill and talent as they continue to create in Second Life — they don’t want to hurt the brand by selling “early” works which don’t quite meet their quality standards any more. And finally, there are designs which are created as specific “limited editions.” After they sell X copies, or have been available for sale for Y weeks, the creator takes them off the market.
As Second Life acquires more residents, there will be more consumers of content and there will still be a barrier to entry in content creation, namely brand and talent. Those two things taken together should not be underestimated. I think it’s safe to say that if the most talented content creators in Second Life sustain the quality level of their creations, they will continue to be successful entrepreneurs.
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Raven Lament released this catsuit set as a charity fundraiser for BROOD, Basset Rescue of Old Dominion. This set includes the buckle corset top, matching pants, a skirt and gloves in five slick shiny colors. Check it out at Ravenwear in Bizarre. Woof!
I was so thrilled to find this release on the forums this morning. Finally, some girly “modest” lingerie — it’s pretty, decidely feminine, and sexy without a trace of hoochie. Essence is part of Ravenlynn Templar’s new Forsaken line of clothing, a collaboration with Leyla Christensen, the owner/DJ of the Forsaken Club. Essence comes in four beautiful colors, including the rich silky champagne shown left. Also available are cornsilk blue, cream and baby pink. These are available now at Liquid Velvet Studios main store in Yulmu.
Nephilaine Protagonist released three incredible new dress designs today. My favorite design without question is the elegant, super chic Natalie design with its long very formal shoulder length gloves and the stylish fly-away scarf (I cannot wait to see that scarf as a flexiprim post 1.10 release! Wow, that will look so gorgeous) but there’s more detail goodies. Look at the tone-on-tone brocade pattern of the skirt, the subtle shading of the piping on the corset bodice. It’s just an amazing work of art. There’s also the cocktail reception friendly “Martini” dress — with its art deco black and white (but tintable!) diagonal striped patterned bodice, and the flirty fun Eris (Hail Eris!) prim skirt set. All three are available at Pixel Dolls in Chartreuse.
One of my original goals for starting this blog was to help newbies sort out the mass of freebie clothing that has piled up all around Second Life. Most of it is bad (terribly bad), but there are a few gems — or at least wearable items and outfits. It turns out that I’ve been so busy with classified highlights, magazine stuff and other things that the “freebie filter” feature has slid down the priority list. But to make up for that, I love to highlight the wonderful things designers create and release for the GNUbie store in Indigo and I have a special category “For Newbies” on the left sidebar. Here’s four great bikini designs that Jonquille Noir’s made for the store. I especially like the pink polka dot set. Thanks Jonquille!
Kitty Minogue posted a note today about the re-designs of some of her older work. She writes:
I am doing this to increase quality, look, and decrease prims. What more could you ask for? So far I have recreated the Dangle Heart Earrings, Chasity Earrings, and Silver & Gold Peace Chains. Trust me, there will be more recreates coming soon!
I liked the Chastity earrings which now come in gold and silver (both for L$90), but the Dangle Heart set is also super cute and comes in a literal rainbow of colors — all the colors come in the same pack for just L$100. You also have to go see the new Pollyesther’s rebuild — it’s just great. Head over to Kitty’s Rampage at Pollyesther’s while you’re touring around.
MeriJayne Hornpipe posted these really sweet belt buckles to the forums this afternoon. All 12 buckles come in a pack — and there are two belt design options: bullets or studded, one pack of each type for women and for men. I totally dig the sacred heart in the middle of the third row — that is seriously cool! Can’t wait to get a pack for myself. Find MeriJayne’s store Nerdy Birdy in the new Pollyesther’s rebuild
Look what I found at the Gurl 6 blog — a bargain! Six Kennedy writes:
{F]or 199L you get 7 pairs of these platform shoes. Colors in the pack are Pink, Black, Brown, Natural, Sky blue, Peach and Lime Sherbert!
Wow, nice value. I do love the fun clunky, chunky heels on these — and the platforms have a really nice wood texture, oh so trendy. Get your bargain chunky sandals at the Gurl 6 hair warehouse on Euphoria Island.
Coincidence or Fated Internal Conspiracy? In the same day Nylon releases a bellydancer outfit, Koge Cleaver released a pair of earrings named “bellydancer” — and that can’t just be sheer luck, can it? In any case, there are three other new designs, including another I really liked — “India Dangle.” These are sold modify, copy, no transfer so they can be recolored as you like (but it does make gift giving problematic as I discovered last week… D’oh!) Stop by Koge’s store JUNK Jewelry in Pollyesther’s — the brand new Pollyesther’s rebuild in the sky.
