Take a look at this! This is Bathtub Gin, one of four different late 20s/early 30s period inspired dress designs released at Simone today. I stopped by early this morning before the update and I really really liked Empire (which is an empire waisted design) but I didn’t see an ad for it in the forums. (Maybe I can post one later tonight…) In addition, Simone made a really cool looking boa accessory (sold separately) to finish off your flapper look. A small word of caution: Simone has a big sign in her store warning customers that these designs look best on avatars who can modify their shapes to be a bit more “boy-like:” slender, square hips, a smaller bust and a flat butt. If you have a shape that’s no mod, these might not be the dresses for you. (In that case, I strongly recommend you head over to Torridwear and buy one of Torrid’s mod/copy/no transfer shapes for L$150 — a worthy investment if you don’t want to be bothered with making a lovely shape for your avie.) The flapper dresses, boa and Empire are all available on Simone island.
Tuli showed me a sneaky peek of these swimsuit releases about a week ago — and she correctly predicted that this one (swirl) would be my favorite. OK, Tuli knows me a little too well, I’d say, but I really liked all of the designs — just that this one was my definite preference. I’ve had it in my inventory too — and I’ve even shown it off a couple times, so I was wondering and waiting when she’d post to the forums so I could tell you how much I like it without stealing her announcement. I think the part I like best is the tie-waist, but a close second is the color palette, in the classic pink and black. This release comes with the same goodies as Callie Cline’s swimsets from yesterday — beach ball, towel, innertube and in-world MP3 playing radio. Groovy. Check it out at Lollypop in Yelas.
Ciera Bergman of Vitamin Ci was nice enough to drop a copy of her super tropical hibicus flower Hawaiian bikini set in teal. (Thanks Ciera!) It’s a classic bikini cut — perfect for this pattern. This entry on her blog cracked me up:Any excuse to be wearing hardly anything, yet not look whorish is a good enough for me!
The really nice thing about this release is that Ciera’s made a “couples” pack so you can get a matching look for you and your boy. Choose from berry, green, red and teal — shop at Vitamin Ci in Extraordinaire.
I heard that DoC Eldritch has been playing around with Poser, creating something akin to his recent dark fantasy inspired body suit for the Poser environment. He emailed me the ads he’s put up over at Renderosity and they look pretty amazing. In his email, he gives a flavor for what it takes to create an outfit that can render perfectly at 3000 x 4000 pixels:
I will be doing more poser work as time permits. This is really a side project for me, as SL is 1st priority. I will be working with conforming clothes next. Everything in the pics — shadows, lighting, etc — has to be done within poser. You cannot do any “post” photoshop work on the actual item you are selling. Poser takes a lot of time, images and files to create these figures. In this 8 part bodysuit pack the buyer receives a 20+ meg Zip File that contains 34 files. Yes, you have to make all these files in order for it to work seamlessly for the buyer. 34 files might seem a lot, but this is really one of the more simple things to create. So in doing this, I gained a whole new respect for the people who create the content for poser figures.
He goes on to say that designs like this might sell for US$10, but that the artist only gets maybe half. It makes me wonder when (if ever) SL might be able to casually render clothes with 4000 pixels. Maybe Cory Linden will bet me a quarter and set a date. 
Did you see this post about Wig Out, the new palace o’ hair by Janie Marlowe and Ariel Black? It totally flew under my radar, but this morning before the update, Ariel pinged me to take a look. I’m sure glad I did. There’s 8 new styles available including the super cute Genie II and Jenevieve styles. (Small side note: The hair was made for size 65 heads — if you have a smaller head size like mine (50), you’ll need to shrink it to make it fit perfectly.) Ariel and Janie have gone wild with textures — they have 55 different ones — some really unique and cool, unlike what I’ve seen around the grid. There’s no demo hairs yet, but Ariel says they’re coming soon. I also spent a fair amount of time trying to convince Ariel there’s a market for an inventory bloating FATPACK with all 55 hairs in it. I don’t know about you all — but I like being able to go from teal frosted blonde to pink frosted black with a mouse click (As I tell Elika fairly regularly, I am very spoiled by Willow packs.) Anyway, Wig Out is on Illusion, and I’d definitely have a look at the new store and all the new styles they’ve made.
I have to admit, I was sort of wondering when Canimal would release her first flexi outfit — here it is, and it is marvelous. Plaid is going to be so huge this fall — plaid lovers rejoice, and it’s nice to see that trend reflected in our little virtual corner of the world. Daydreamer is a really cute babydoll style dress with a high waisted belt accent and a long flexi skirt that falls to just over the knee. It comes in six color combinations and sports sexy decolletage. Shop for it at Canimal’s on Celestial City.
Update: Lyra’s finished up the matching earrings and bangle for this choker set. It’s available now in Innamoramento.
Lyra Muse has been taking a break from Second Life, but today she released this incredible jewelry set named Anguissette — after the character in the Jacqueline Carey novels. What an amazing set this is — loads of details and on her blog entry, Lyra writes:
This is a very special series for me. It actually started with a pair of shoes I’ve been putzing with for a while with the same name, but haven’t gotten around to texturing. Originally I wanted to release them in shiny only because they looked SUUUU sexy, but then LL went and borked shiny + invisi prim and I was left stewing for several weeks. A certain blonde kicked my ass, and now not only am I texturing those, but I’m making a set of jewellery to go wiv it.
But wait! There’s more. A matching bangle and flexi-earring set is being developed this weekend. Wow! Glad you’re back Lyra!
When Six dropped this ad texture on me this morning I was smitten. It’s so 40s pinup — I started thinking about ways to use it in a photo shoot almost right away. It’s also the first non-flexi hair Six has made since the 1.10 release — so it’s kind of a special hair for that reason alone. I really like this one a lot. There’s two other styles out today too, a really punk-a-licious faux-hawk named “Situation Normal” (heh!) and Tart Too — based on the Tart design of a few days ago, it has modified bangs and a little bit less length. Check it out at the Gurl 6 warehouse on Euphoria Island.
As Paeoti Pomeray noted in her forum post, Era Gowns. Gotta love em. I do! Here’s the latest from Nymphetamine, a big hoop skirted ball gown from the antebellum South in six shimmering iridescent jewel tones, including the shimmering purple shown here. Silk and taffeta skirting is paired with a beautifully brocaded bodice complete with antique button details running the front and back of the bodice. The textures on the skirt prims are wonderfully executed, and I have always admired the way Paeoti really gets a shimmery color contrast alpha blending the top skirts over the base. You can find it at Nymphetamine in the Siren’s Grotto.
sachi Vixen has been creating a set of Native American inspired designs. She writes:
I did have a method behind my madness for making these garments as I heard there is a new sim opening soon with a native American style flavour…
This is Prarie Bloom, the latest release in that design vein. I liked the tan color (though it comes in 3 others) because I think the tan really resembles doeskin leather and the turquoise beading really pops on this base color. I also really like the feather hair adornments which add a lot of finishing flare to this outfit — it feels a touch costume-y to me but it really looks good in the context of this outfit. Find it at Adam-n-Eve on Genesis.
P.S. I just noticed on sachi’s blog that her link to this blog is titled “Celebrity Trollop has the best name ever.” LOL. Thanks.
Seems like it’s been a little while since Ravenlynn Templar made something for the ladies. (Most of her recent releases have been for the guys.) I fell for this design when I saw it on the forums this morning. It adds a tiny little bit more skin to an already skimpy, sexy halter bodice. But the fabric shading and wrinkles on the metallic satin are fantastic and paired up with a flouncy flowing organza skirt, this is a great formal. It comes in six colors: silver (shown), gold, purple, pink, green and blue. On some of the other colors, the bust line is composed of a color contrast pattern. Find them all at Liquid Velvet Studios in Yulmu.
Callie Cline released six fantastic new swimwear designs including the red polka dot design shown left. There’s several other colors and patterns available — plus a lot of great extras packaged into the box — sunglasses by Barnesworth Anubis, some other beach themed goodies like a beach ball, beer(!), a towel, but probably the coolest little extra is a radio that plays an original song written by Callie and performed by Callie, Kiana Dulce and Tuli Asturias (yes, a resident fashion designer girl band called 3D! Heh.) The song has a pitch perfect beach sound — lots of Dick Dale guitar and a nice catchy refrain. If you stop by Callie’s store Funk in Elpenor you can hear the song and see the other swim designs she’s created.
Nora owner Sezmra Svarog released a set of RFL limited edition skins named “Flowers” in a brilliant pink theme. Sezmra blogs her personal connection to the RFL:
My father died of lung cancer in 2003. It wasn’t a big surprise considering he was a smoker for roughly 50 years or so. On my mother’s side, there’s the sinister breast cancer floating about. My cousin lost both of her breasts to cancer, just recently. Cancer is very real, and it’s easy to ignore, like most things, until you’re faced with it.Relay For Life lets us face it in a positive way, and to honor that, this year I had time to put together a set of simple skins with a pink theme. Yes, to honor breast cancer awareness, as it’s a very close possibility for me, as a woman with a family history of cancer.
I’ve become a big fan of this line of skins — since the line came out a few weeks ago — so I will have to stop by a pick up a set! Find them at Nora Body and Fashion in Alpha Centauri.
