Second Style Magazine

Caliah Lyon has been one busy avatar lately. She was the coordinator for the Second Convention Fashion show a week ago, and she’s gotten several modeling gigs recently — notably as one of Ginny Talamasca’s Girls Next Door (not difficult to understand given these ads!)

I was thrilled she could work with me on our lingerie layout for Second Style #7. But something I didn’t know was that Caliah also makes beautifully elegant and classy jewelry. Since she sent me a sample of her Couer design, I’ve seen been back to buy the rest of the collection so far — the Claris pearl choker and earrings, the Laurelin necklace and another beautiful dangly gold and silver design. You’ve probably seen the various pieces of the collection in several pictures I’ve posted here on the blog — it’s never far from my thoughts when the outfit calls for something strikingly original and elegant. These initial pieces show a lot of promise and I hope to see much more forthcoming releases from Caliah.

Caliah’s store, Muse, is currently found in Imogen.

Seen in world: Yes
Review copy: Yes (but not these two selections)
Friends list: No

My Google Alerts filter caught that Fashionista’s been linked by the TimesOnline contributor Michael Parsons. He writes about

the moral threat posed by new technology in general and virtual worlds in particular.

As for the shoppers in Second Life, he writes:

What does it say about consumption – its eerie immateriality, its fantasy nature – that it can be as satisfying and pleasurable to buy a pair of virtual shoes, such as the Jeepers Creepers rolled-cuff Riggers Boots for your virtual self as it is to buy a pair of 8-hole Doctor Marten boots in the material world? What does it say about where we’ve got to as a culture that millions of people in the affluent world find satisfaction and delight in this kind of virtual consumption?

Should you feel guilty about enjoying shopping in Second Life? Should you feel moral shame at being able to participate in Second Life when others cannot?

It’s a topic I have to take a pass on for now — I am actually on the way out the door. It’s probably not fair to make a judgment just on a couple of blockquotes from a longer piece, so read the whole thing and ponder it along with me. We’ll revisit this topic soon.

“Much like many of the days in my cramped, spartan office, the clouds and the time rolled past slowly. Very few people visited my little corner of the world, and if they did, they came for reasons other than being in need of my detective skills. I stared out of the window, while toying with my pearl necklace. It was warm on this particular day, and I had already had to unbutton a few of my shirt buttons to try and stay cool.

And then she walked in.

She was one of those women that could have never been classified as a lady. Vivid red hair, legs up to here…you know the type. The type of woman that may as well be holding a neon sign above her head that flashes ‘Trouble!” …yet you can’t stay away.

‘I need your help…’ She drawled.

I knew then that I was in for the adventure of my lifetime.”

---

“Executive” is a new outfit by DE Designs, a very retro nod to the business suit trend that’s flown through SL lately. As is the norm with their clothing, there is very high attention to detail, and is a very unique and attractive design. The outfit comes with the three shirts I’ve displayed, and pants on the pant and underwear layers.

Become an Executive at DE Designs.

Necklace and Earrings are “Gypsy Pearls” by Coconut Ice.

Seen in world: Yes | Review Copy: No | Friend’s List: No

“Confident” is one of First Impressions’ new releases. I had seen this outfit in one of the FashCon notices, and fell in love with this ensemble. It has the bearing of an ensemble that a woman would wear when she wants to be her most…persuasive. Prim ruffles and a belt add a very classy touch, and as a whole, the outfit is lovely and very nicely put together. Provided is the top on a shirt layer, two skirts (one with the front slit, one without), the prim ruffles and belt (which are given to you together and separately), a white camisole (which I am displaying here), and white underwear.

Display your Confident side at First Impressions!

Seen in world: Yes | Review Copy: No | Friend’s List: No

Hair Fair 2007 is coming back for a repeat performance in a few short weeks from April 6th to the 14th. Over 300 new hairstyles will be unveiled — and there will be more hair creators spread over more sims than last year’s event. I know also that the fabulous freebies of last year’s hair fair will be back for another go around with all new schwag from some of Second Life’s most talented content creators (definitely there will be a lot of free hairstyles, but also other goodies.)

Additionally, the Hair Fair organizing committee will be sponsoring the Locks of Love charity with special events and special content. I remember last year in April, Hair Fair was the place to see and be seen. This year will be bigger, and better!

OMG we are all in jeans mode right now. Jaydei… (Hi hon.. welcome to the club) posted about the fabulous Launa Fauna jeans and the daring Liquid Velvet denims, and Celeb contributing to her entry with the same pair of jeans and I’m in jeans too that I want to share with you. The totally comfy, worn and washed Blasted jeans from SLAB! by Pompo Bombacci. They are awesome, and Pompo is so considerate to make them in a boot version on the undies layer, and in 3 fits (tight, loose and baggy) on the pants layer. I’m wearing the loose fit here and combining it with Sand Shack Surf & Co’s Kloey top in orange that has a nice prim bow on the back.

On the same jeans I’m wearing some blouses made by Grace Winnfield. The cocoa and burundy Sunshine Day blouses do have separate matching skirts as well, but I rather keep them separate since, should you wear them as a set, it’s very cocoa, and very burgundy. On the other hand, those skirts would be very cute with the cream Pretty Perfect blouse that reminds me of a cheongsam dress. The green is just a very happy colour. It looks like spring and it makes me want to go outside and do some landscaping.

Hair and skin in these pictures are the same as in the last posting. I wanted to make one big round up, but in the end decided not to. So, It’s Lovey Darlings not yet release Passion Fruit skin in Cinnamon and Naughty Designs’s Lucy in black pearl

 SLAB is located in Albata (173, 3, 25), Sand Shack Surf & Co. is located in Amour (132, 173, 30) and Gracie’s Store can be found in: Phi Phi Leh (200, 174, 300)

Seen in world: yes  ~ Review Copies: yes  ~ Friends list: no

Surprise! There is yeat another relatively new designer on the block by the impressive name of Betty Barracuda. Betty has a cute shop in Son where she sells fresh and original designs. Right now she has an Alphabeth Sweater, that she will customize for you with the inital fo your choice. But there is more… like a cute set of mix and match separates and some lovely outfits with a 50′s look and feel.

And then there is this. After Hour. A cute grey dress with some sparkles on the top and on the tulle skirt. I’m so fond of grey. It matches with everything and it’s elegant. This dress can also perfectly be worn without the primskirt as the application on the top is continued on the mesh skirt. The red lovely dress is called Charmin’ and it is indeed. It comes in four wonderful deep colours and I love the fact that there is two tops in the pack… one as part of the outfit, that matches perfectly with the lace on the skirt, and another one for separate wearing. 

Last thing for now… when you are at Betty’s shop, please consider her cute Poodle outfit too. Très 50′s and everything you pay goes directly to Relay for Life 2007!

In this photo: Lovey Darling’s Passion Fruit skin in Cinnamon (available as a special in the Perfect Image Girly Beach Kit in her shop) and Lucy hair in black pearl from Naughty Designs

Total Betty is located in Son: 175, 208, 27

Seen in world: yes  ~ Review Copies: yes  ~ Friends list: no

PS: about the skin, Aradia Dielli from Perfect Image just informed me that the skin is not yet released….. it will be probably by Sunday. But Lovey’s other skins are delicious too.

Congratulations to our first Fashion Challenge winner, Shizuka Hayashida. It was a pretty close vote, too! Everyone who sent in a photo — thank you! We’ll be starting another challenge shortly.

Shizuka Hayashida
Read the rest of this entry »

Jeans…nothing hugs and flatters a great pair of legs quite like jeans do. (Except leather, but when the day is done, I like to take my pants off and not take my skin off with them.) Dress them up to go dancing or out to dinner, or toss on a cruddy t-shirt and lounge around the house playing World of Warcraft all day (if you even wear clothes for that >.> <.<) Here are two newer pairs of jeans that I have fallen in love with:

- The “Perfect Sister” Jeans -

Ladies, this is what you’ve been waiting for. These are the jeans that all other jeans look at and despair. Launa Fauna of LF Fashions does a brilliant job of telling the pants template “bite me!” and using prim cuffs to add length and realism to a set of jeans that is quite well done as is.

Because I was bored, while kicking back in these a few days ago I zoomed in on the prims to see how well they matched up. And gawked when I noticed that the detail was a nearly perfect match to the pants, right down to the seams. Whatever Launa did to make the tones match so well (after hardware lighting caused a lot of prims attached to clothing to light up and look a bit silly), I want to see more of…it’s fantastic.

In each set (and there are nine different color sets) she provides the basic pants layer, an underwear layer to use with boots or with the prim legs, and of course, the lovely prim legs, in a long and short version.

And men? She didn’t leave you out, hooray! Check out her Apollo Jeans, right above the display for the girls.

You can buy “Strict Jeans” at LF Fashions.

Seen in world: yes | Review Copies: no | Friends list: no

- The “Sister you stay up at night worried about” Jeans

These jeans are the pants that the family calls “a bit *too* popular” in hushed tones, whilst sighing in frustration. But oh, they are way too cute to keep hidden!

Liquid Velvet Studios has long been one of my favorite places to browse…Ravenlynn Templar seems to have this unlimited well of creativity that she pulls her work from. She has another store called NekoTails, which caters to the cute, whimsical side in all of us.

Her new creation for that store, “Peeka Kitty Criss Cross Jeans”, is definitely all of that, with a humongous splash of sexy. Silver studs adorn the pants alongside criss-crossed slashes, slashes which are meant to show off your…assets. (And for you shyer girlies, there is a version with no slashes in the back.)

These naughty little vixens can be bought at NekoTails.

And by the way, the tops in both of these pictures are part of the ladies’ shirt/tank collection at [Renegade].

Seen in world: yes | Review Copies: no | Friends list: no

Update [CT]: It was uncanny — when I met Jaydei in world last night, we just happened to be wearing the exact same pair of these jeans. I’m super impressed with these as well — and that was just when I thought I needed another pair of denims in SL like I needed a third arm.

Launa says there’s probably more denim on the way too — which I definitely will be keeping an eye out for. These are as impressive technically, construction-wise as they look. As for the picture to the left, I just had to giggle a little since Jaydei’s top and this one are both by Renegade. Plus, more on the new Silver skin by Portia Sin seen here in a forthcoming post. (S: Yes, R: Yes, F: No)

…Celebrity is certifiably loony. After all, she is allowing me to blog on this site. ::grins::

Greetings all! My name is Jaydei Benmergui and I’ll be your style blogger and resident evildoer today. Bwahaha.

I have been in-world for a year and a half now, and have been following the fashion blogs for a good part of that time. I love the inherent variety that allows Second Life to be such a wonderful hub of creativity, especially in the fashion industry here.

Likes: Silliness, unique personalities, jewel tones and neutral colors. I like to either blend into the crowd or stand out in the center…for me, there’s no middle ground.

Dislikes: Bad attitudes, god complexes, the color puce

Feel free to say hi to me in-world, I typically don’t bite. If I don’t answer, I’m more than likely working on my photography or editing outside of SL.

Thank you Celeb, for giving me this wonderful opportunity! I’m so excited to be here.

Celeb directed me to Pixeldolls back in late November when I started to write for Second Style Blog and since hen I have stuffed my inventory with the awesome designs of Nephilaine Protagonist, but I never have blogged Pixeldolls before. So when some of the new designs were droppped on me.. I was determined to do just that this time. Nephilaine has tons of new stuff out and redesigned her shop too. Really worth a visit!

My total favourite is this sweet and sexy white Whimsy dress.  It makes me sing, it makes me happy… it makes me feel that spring is near. The cute red details in a reptile look texture spice the dress up and the prim ribbons on the sleeves are really finishing it of. The dress comes in 6 different versions, but since I’m kind of in a red mood right now I just stick with that. I picked my favourite Gypsy Hoops from Yummy to wear with it and Elika Tiramisu’s High Pony hairdo from the couture collection in smoke for an extra girly look. The skin is Tete à Pied’s Sophisticate 1 in bronzage medium. 

Next is the lovely halter dress Roses.  It’s red roses all over. I remember having read somewhere that Nephilaine used to be not too fond of prim skirts and indeed she has a lot of great outfits that have the best mesh skirts on the grid. This one has a rather daring slit on the side, and I’m really glad there is a set of cute lace shorts to wear under the skirt. In the other photo I wear the dress with the Empire Belted Suit Roses jacket for a more dressed up look. The suit is with pants but since most of the new releases use co-ordinate textures they are awesome to mix. You’ll find the new releases at the first floor and the ever fabulous older collection on  the second and third of the Pixeldolls shop in Port Seraphine.

Pixeldolls is located in Port Seraphine: 133, 130, 27

Seen in world: yes  ~  Review Copies: yes  ~  Friends list: no

I’m using the down time today to give you a small update on some of the new releases in SL that neither Celeb nor I have been able to cover sooner due to hectic RLs. 

Lollypop Extraordinaire from the dito named shop has made some new gorgeous formals. A pleasant low (no) prim surprise is this flamboyant red Moet that combines a dangerously low decolleté with an equally low back and still covers enough of you to not be arrested for indecent exposure. With the expanding concurrent users, this dress is awesome to make an entrance and yet being able to move in a crowd. I wear it with the uncomparable hight quality red sandal pumps  from 1-800 Bettie’s as well as with the not yet released Louvelle earrings and necklace from Earthtones. The Hair is Calla’s Day Lily in Black, and the Skin is Naughty Designs Alina Singles Fair, Smokey Eyeshadow & Red Lipstick (quite a mouthful for a skin name).

Another cute number from Lollypop is the all included outfit Sassy Nude. A sweet asymetrical prim skirt on a lovely strapless bodice, covered in sheer black lace. The shoes and a nice purse are included in the outfit and are pretty good for combining with other clothes too. I have left the purse out, since it does not really work well with the modeling poses, but trust me when I tell you it’s sweet. The necklace that I wear with this is Paper Couture’s Black Bead Necklace. Would I have been able to go in world, I would tell you if other colours are available, but well.. I guess you’ll have to wait another couple of hours before we can check on that.

Extraordinaire is located on Extraordinaire Isle: 33, 138, 36

Seen in world: yes  ~  Review copies: yes  ~ Friends list: no 

I know Ginny Talamasca is as much a run-way watcher as I am, so I was thrilled to see her develop a series of really fabulous designer takes on the amazing coats that just sauntered down catwalks all over the fashion capitals of the world last month. She brings us Dressage — and several other new releases, too. This was the one, in particular, that made me flip when I saw it. It could’ve come right off a runway and into your inventory with it’s flouncy trimmed blouse, with lace cuffs at the wrist and the super high collar. Look at the texture work on that fabric — it’s incredible to see such tone-on-tone detailing in a fabric texture.

But aside from the delicious sartorial goodies that Ginny’s served up, I want to highlight three of the most recent shoe releases from one of Ginny’s partners-in-crime: Lyra Muse. Just look at the texturing on the alligator leather pumps — and the Nonni shoe has already become a wardrobe staple with everything from denim to gowns, but I think my favorite design from these three releases is the Vivica two-tone collection. Lyra devised several wonderful complimentary color pairings and then inverted them so you can have a colored shoe with a splash of ivory, or an ivory shoe with a splash of color. These look phenomenal with anything that’s a little more dressy casual. As Ginny predicted when she sent me the ad textures, these shoes PWN!

Both the shoes and the Last Call Equestrian Club releases are available now at Last Call on the Dazzle sim.

One final note: Ginny sent a note out to her Last Call devotees — she’s looking for a model to star in the photos for Friday’s “Girl Next Door” release. Win a complete Last Call release, modeling time, and even some money! Contest entry details are in the notecard she sent to the group.

Seen in world: Yes
Review copies: Dressage yes, Boardroom Bish: yes, Nonni: No, Vivica, No
Friends list: Yes