I have two new weblogs to mention today.
That’s it for this week.
So much to sum up with this post. I hope you can bare with me…
It was such a a busy fashion weekend. It seems workaholism abounds and all of the fabulous designers just can’t stop producing great stuff. If you missed the hair explosion this weekend, you’ll want to check out this post. I guarantee every fashionista on the grid bought at least one new ‘do this weekend. It was impossible not to with a must-have style being released every 30 minutes. Unfortunately (or fortunately for my wallet) many hair styles/textures don’t look natural with my ethnic skin. But the ones that do are nearly impossible to pass up (when the budget permits…)
Anticipation mounts
We got a hint that a lot of new awaits us when Port Seraphine opens. I, for one, am excited, but no opening date as of yet. I am also anticipating the re-emergence of Ginny Talamasca and the next dazzling thing she has planned for us. Speaking of DAZZLE, you now have less-than a week to snag up your favorite items. Traffic is still heavy, but it’s worth fighting the crowds and lag. I’m wearing one of the items I had to have in the photo, to the far left: Piya in dolphin blue. I have no idea when I’ll wear it, but it’s precious none the less. (Hair: Chele Chestnut ETD; Skin: Bronzage Dark Sophisticate 1 Tete a Pied; Shoes: Libertine Sable DAZZLE)
And what is that in my hands?
Why it’s my new, signature handbag! Roslin Petion and CJ Carnot of Tete a Pied have shown us once again how wonderful it is when creative people collaborate. The Heiress Handbag is the result of a design by Roslin and was constructed by CJ. It features a pebbled leather texture and a brassy Tete logo, along with a hold script and–best of all–a color change script that automatically cycles through six colors with a simple click of the bag.
This bag has immediately become my signature purse. In the two short days I’ve had it, I’ve carried it everywhere, changing outfits and colors at will. It’s upscale, but not gaudy, or pretentious in any way. I just love it. It’s also an example of where something we own in our second lives can be SO much better than those from our first. Imagine if you were able to buy one perfectly-shaped purse in RL and you could modify it to match everything in your wardrobe simply by touching it in the right place. Sweet!
Speaking of collaboration
Sol Columbia and Nyte Caligari got together once again. This time to produce a Grecian-inspired, iridescent collection called Pearl. The set comes with three different tops, prim skirts, and glitch pants options. The long skirts are sheer and flexi. I felt very goddess-like wearing it. there’s also a Nyte-signature mini for you girls who like to show off those legs. I am wearing the sheer middle halter with the longest sheer skirt option. I really love the cut on the halter and the opalescent texture on all of these pieces. And the way Sol’s belt design draws your eyes right to the waist.
There is something ethereal about the look; but also a sexiness, in a silk-light kinda way. Honestly, this is not a look I think I will put on often, given my love of casual and color. But when I am sneaking behind the waterfall at Majic, I can’t imagine anything I’d rather be slipping off. Sol tells us that light tinting works well. I tried it, and I got a pretty result using a pale aquamarine color as well as a lavender. (Hair: Young (Newbie Hair Pack) ETD; Skin: Bronzage Dark Newbie Tete a Pied)
Last but not least
We have the new and sassy Denim Diva Suit introduced at Mischief on Sunday. Nothing says upscale casual like a denim suit. So once again, Choice is in love. Damn you Janie Marlowe! The stitching detail on this suit makes it, as does the shading, highlighting, and overall denim sateen texture. In the photograph (second from right), I’ve styled the suit for business (or maybe a lunch date?) and layered it with pearls from Raven’s Creations and the tintable Tucked Halter from PixelDolls. (Hair: Candace Caramel WigOut; Skin: Bronzage Dark Peach Melba Tete a Pied)
I am completely crazy about this suit, but not so crazy that I won’t break it up to show you an option c’mon you’ve got to expect the mixing and matching by now 
. In the far right, the blazer has been matched up with those great trousers from TART and layered over the camel Embroidered Shiny Halter from IKI. This is a much more relaxed look, but still pulled together. It just shows you once again what fantastic neutral pieces can do for you. (Hair: the Wavy Caramel ETD Couture; Skin: Bronzage Dark Newbie Tete a Pied; Necklace: !BF! Promo Vintage Beach Necklace boing fromage; Shoes: Willful Caramel DAZZLE)
And finally…
A special thanks to the new tutorial by Alaska Metropolitan. With her help I learned how to get the back lit effect I had been struggling with all last week. I’m embarrassed to admit how long I’ve been using Photoshop without ever figuring that out, but am relieved that I will no longer have to use the colored backdrop on the modeling studio. I promise that any ugly backdrops you see in my future photos will be my own creation
Disclosure Info:
All items were seen in world, hence I am wearing them. Since so many different pieces were featured, I will only list the yesses:
Friends List: Roslin Petion, Sol Columbia
Review Copy: Heiress Handbag, Pearl
It was about four months ago when I converted this blog from “plus” to “pro” mostly to get an expanded bandwidth allowance. If recent traffic patterns hold, the blog should exceed 10 GB in total traffic this month! Wow, that’s a lot of data. Also, over the weekend, the 900th post was made to this site, so we had another mini-milestone too.
Unfortunately, I think we’ve reached the limit of what TypePad can offer so I’ve been working with Josie Hamilton on creating a new home for Second Style Fashionista. You can see a sneak peek of the new site design to the left. I’d love to have your thoughts on the color schema — is it too pink, too pastel?
In any case, none of the content here is going to be lost (comments or posts) and all of the sidebar items will also continue as well — links to designer blogs and other SL web resources. We will also start accepting full IAB banner sized ads (468 x 60 pixels) when we transition to the new site. The URL for the blog will remain the same (blog.secondstyle.com) — just about the only thing that you might need to do is update your RSS reader when the transition occurs.
But more on that in a few days! Needless to say we are so thrilled (Choice and I) that you’re enjoying what we write about Second Life fashion. Here’s to another 900 posts!
Andrew LaVallee, tech reporter extraordinaire for the Wall Street Journal, wrote a fantastic profile of Second Life’s virtual fashion scene. There’s a touch of man-bites-dog in this story, but for a lot of readers of the Journal this probably is a man-bites-dog story. One of the things I really liked was that he quoted some less well known designers in the story, such as Astry Mirabeau, Tanya Book, DoC Eldritch, and Francesca Poppy.
Second Style’s own Nick Shaftoe also has a couple quotes in the article including the last zinger: “My wife makes fun of me; I don’t like to shop in real life.” (Hee hee.)
If you found your way here because of the WSJ, welcome! Please browse through the archives to the left and stop by the Second Style Magazine website to pick up issue #4 (the current one) and our back issues too, if you like.
There’s also a huge variety of other Second Life related fashion websites — another popular online fashion magazine/blog is Pixel Pinup, and there’s a lot of sites in del.icio.us which I invite you to check out.
Elika Tiramisu posted a note that the main ElikaTiramisu.com is back — but not yet in its final stage yet. Elika’s computer apparently had a hiccup and she lost her original design. She wrote:
I’m about to throw my computer out the window.It’s basically a Flash site…a lot of Flash. As I was working on it…and was almost done, my computer decided to freeze and pretty much blow up before I saved it. So, I kinda got fed up and rushed to put something up.
But the most important things — like five new hair style previews (including three in the genius Couture line, such as my fav “Pullback I” shown left) are forthcoming. But you’ll have to visit the new site to see them all! You just get one here for free! (Hee hee) So glad it’s back, Elika!
You just know that if Carl Douglas had a Second Life avatar, this is what he’d be wearing. This is “Spirit of Battle” by Shiryu Musashi. As you can see from the ad, it looks great on men as well as the ladies — and aside from the funk-a-licious disco tune, I could totally see some awesome chop-saki machanima kung fu flicks arising at some point in the future — these outfits being front and center during the costuming phase of production. Aside from the yellow I’ve shown here, it comes in orange, white and green with contrasting embroidered dragon and matching clasp detail.
Seen in world: No
Review copy: No
Friends list: No
Sure, why not? It’s always a nice day in Second Life (whenever the drama llama stays far far away…) but I guess if you’re going for gothic in your SL wedding, you probably want rain for it, no matter what Alanis Morrisette might say. So Rebel Hope has a new blog which I just stumbled across yesterday — and Gothica II is the current top entry there. It captured my attention just because it subverts some of your expectations about what a wedding gown should be (black with blood spatter? oookay, if you must!), but still hews close enough to the conventions that everyone will know, hey, that’s a wedding gown — poofy skirt, sleeveless corset bodice, and a gauzy veil — okay it’s in black, but still — even in Second Life you don’t see anyone other than brides running around in veils that look like Gothica’s.
If you’re set on having a darkly beautiful wedding to the pale lil’ gothic heart throb in your Second Life, put Rebel Hope on your shopping list to check out.
Seen in world: No
Review copy: No
Friends list: No
Ninja Petion and Zoey Pinkdot have been busy cranking out new goodies for your virtual photography needs. Check out the 30 new vintage pin up poses Ninja’s just created. I had a look at the ad a few days ago and I was thinking, “Can’t wait to put those in my photography poser!” They’re lots of fun, and give you something a little bit different from the typical modelling poses we see all over the place in Second Life. I’m especially enamoured with the “coy-over-the-shoulder-coquettish” pose in the middle of the bottom row.
But don’t let me forget about the super cool bejeweled lace choker that DDD just released a few days ago. It looks a little bit dressy, and a whole lot sexy with a lot of different clothing looks and styles. The gems come in black (as shown), but also in sapphire, ruby and emerald if you’d prefer something a little more colorful. You can shop for both of these releases (and a lot more too) at Digital Dragon Designs in Keundott.
Seen in world: Yes
Review copy: choker only
Friends list: Yes
I’m extremely thrilled to announce that Nick Shaftoe’s Second Man blog is joining the Second Style brand as Men’s Second Style. We’re still working out some details — but we’ll be sharing ads and cross promoting things as they’re apppropriate. Nothing else is going change — although we’ve been talking about making Nick’s blog available as “men.secondstyle.com” Let us know if you think that’d be a good idea.
Additionally, I hope that we’ll see expanded men’s fashion coverage in the magazine. The entire staff of Second Style are very excited to welcome Nick and the other authors at Second Man to our little corner of the Internet and Second Life.
I just wanted to post a small note of welcome and appreciation for Choice Sliter. My RL has taken a turn for the extremely busy lately — and with all of the incredible fashion content coming out everyday I felt like I needed to find some help.
As Choice wrote earlier, she’s new to Second Life, but she’s already been a tremendous help in getting Second Style #4 published and she’s working on some really fun promotional ideas — which I hope we’ll be ready to unveil soon.
In the meantime, welcome aboard Choice!
Starley Thereian had been looking for some volunteers to test drive a new skin she’s working on and provide constructive criticism. She receieved over 100 applications, and over at her blog she writes:
I’m really impressed with the level of critique and information people included in their applications. Not just what skins they wear, but why they wear them, when they wear them, and how they make them feel!This was incredibly insightful and interesting to read. The applications themselves have been a HUGE HUGE help and all information provided will be taken into consideration.
I’m not surprised by this — skins are extremely personal (custom hoohah anyone?) and very important to how your avatar looks — wild makeup, no makeup, haute, casual — and the body shading: killer abs, lots o’ cleavage, tight buns, photorealistic or hand drawn, or both. All of these appearance items intersect and come from your skin choice.
So here’s what I’d like to talk about in the comments: What’s your absolute number one skin in Second Life, and why do you like it so much? If you can’t pick just one skin, talk about what skin you wear and why.
I’m really interested in what you all have to say about this.
Ahoy matey! ‘Tis talk like a pirate day again!! Already?!?! Time does fly indeed — seems like the last TLAPD was just last week! In any case, ’tis a fine way ta talk, and to get ye in the proper pirate mood I’ll be reviewin’ a few pirate outfits from the past… Portside, ye can feast your peepers on Rebel Hope’s Lady Ann outfit, which was shown here in early June. Arrg! Ain’t she a beaut? And don’t ye forgit about sachi Vixen’s Mary Read pirate outfit. Both these designer wenches be providin’ outfits for ye menfolk too, so scurry up the mizzen and get ye proper lookin’ outfits for this fine, fine day — talkin’ like pirates!! Arrrrr! Pass the rum!
