Second Style Magazine

Known for her awesome sculpty hats, Tesla Miles looks to be making a run at the shoe industry. Jane, a line of new sculpty stiletto pumps from Tesla completely rocks my socks. They come in six colors and two patterns (zebra and leopard), each color is L$349. Tesla offers them all separately, or for L$1589, a fat pack with all six colors plus a bonus pair in a plaid homage to Burberry. Shown in the picture is the adjustable ankle strap that comes with each pair.

On the topic of shoes, Zhao Shoes is, in the words of employee Alisa Barzane, “trying to take the business to the next level.” They are launching eight new designs at their store. They sent over a review pair of Ciera, an open toe slingback with a cute bow on the cutwork. The new shoes come in three basic colors for L$350 a color and include the adjustable ankle strap shown. They’re celebrating the new line with a party open to the public on September 7th at 6:00pm SLT.

These lovelies have been sleeping in my inventory like forever (oh well, it is an art to exagerate, must have been since mid July). Just wanted to share them with you. These are Earthtones designer Lucas Lameth’s first released dresses and I just hope that they won’t be his last. They have a distinct Asian feel, but are absolutely no traditional kimonos. I love looking at those, but I am not likely to wear them. These on the contrary are dresses that I would like to wear IRL too.  If Lucas is going to be as good with the flexi prims as he is with the tinies, my inventory might reach critical size in no time.

The hair is Aveda’s Short Crop in Cinder by Elika Tiramisu, the skin is Tete à Pied’s Vivant Sultry 1 in Bronze. The shoes are Shiny Things: Tuxedo Pumps (Red & Blue) and Sprins Stilettos (Olive)

Seen in world: yes  ~ Review Copies: yes  ~ Friends list: yes

Myllie Writer has started designing clothes quite shortly after her coming to SL  last June and has now 2 small shops with also a small but very nice inventory. When I tried on some samples that she sent me, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the textures and the prim work which, as a matter of fact, remind me a bit of Moire Georgette’s work. The orange dress is a freebie and comes in a longer (wearing) and a shorter version of the skirt.

A quick check in her shop  in Ivanova shows there is no item older than July 25, so it is very recent that this girl has taken up making clothes. I think this is someone that we need to follow because if she makes things this cute so early in her career, I have great expectations.

For you lag loving dare devils, Myllie also has a shop on Phatland

The hair is O style Chocolat in Black, the skin is Tete à Pied’s Vivant Bronze Basic Nude 1. The shoes are Shiny Things, Spring stiletto in Sunset Blossom and Dare Pumps in black.

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

While the Second Life Community Convention rocked Chicago, those of us left on the grid had some fun in-world events of our own. One of these treats was the Style Asia show at Artificial Isle. It ran both Friday and Saturday afternoons and presented a wonderful array of styles from a bunch of designers. Included in the show were Shai Delacroix of Casa Del Shai, Rei Gully of 0 Style, Nicky Ree, Seu Ahn of Shop Seu, RuRu Nagy of LaLa Moon, Elle74 Zaftig of Bellissima!, Caliah Lyon of Muse, and June Dion of BareRose.

The picture at the top is of Jade by Nicky Ree, modeled by one of the Face of Asia Model Search winners, Sunshine Kit. Sunshine is wearing hair by Seu Ahn of Shop Seu. To the left we have Encroached by June Dion of BareRose. It is modeled by Shaylee Greenspan, who is wearing the Tsubura Hair from *O Style* designer Rei Gully. The show was fun as the vibrant clothes and melange of styles kept the audience wondering what would follow each presentation. The models were, as always, fantastic, and many of them were in their first show. They were Robert Pegler, ShayLee Greenspan, Jaydei Benmergui, and Elizabeth McMahon as well as Sylar Boyd, Face of Asia male winner and Rodion Resistance, male runner up and Yumi Darkes, who was the female runner up.

I don’t know how much longer it goes on, but my favorite in-world event from the SLCC has been the magic mushroom hunt. Scattered throughout a number of sims are magic mushrooms, each one containing designer goodies. They are hidden REALLY well, so good luck. For info on how many mushrooms are where, there’s a post here on the SLCC website.

After a period of less content creating activity, Caliah Lyon, the extremely talented Muse designer, is back with a very intricate set of Orient inspired jewelry: Chinoiserie Fan.

It is an amazing set with so much attention paid to all the details. Ms. Lyon sure knows how to work the tiny prims. This set, consisting of earrings and a necklace comes in 4 different versions: crimson, jade, azure and onyx.  As usual it is pretty primalicous, but it is so drop dead gorgeous that I would happily crash wearing it.

Caliah recently moved into a shop on the Dazzle sim, and oblesse noblige, so with the creating force that Ginny is, I do expect Caliah back in full swing and inspired as ever.

The hair is ETD, Grace in Smoke Burnt, the skin Tete à Pied’s Vivant Sultry 1 inBronze, the clothes are the Halter and Wrap dresses from Pixeldolls.

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

This week’s blog item of the week comes from Kya Eliot of Escape (Here’s a SLURL). The outfit is called Sam and I LOVE it! Punky funky subtle plaid skirt with a leather top and exquisite detailing. The package comes with different variations of the top. Sam comes in 5 colors (four plaids and one plain black). All that for just L$275.

Onto the Bloggier Stuff:
This week we added a great new Blog about the sexier fashions of Second Life called Sexy Second . (I should mention that, if I can ever stop blushing about it, yours truly has agreed to be an occasional contributor over there).

Coming in just under the deadline to make this week’s blog entry, Skin Score, a blog dedicated to the latest happenings in the world of skins.

We also added two fashion blogs with great names: Be Less Stupid and Style Schmyle

We also added some new designer blogs;

Blooberry, Escape, Rose Petal Creations, Sugar Cube, SySy Designs, Tête à Pied

We changed the BareRose URL to BareRose Tokyo

The new blogs coming into my office are slowing down, so I’ve had a chance to get out and see what links I need to fix on our blogroll. The pruning will start next week, but in the meantime, if you have a blog you want to add our blogroll or an event you want added to the calendar, IM me in-world or email me (justinebabii (at) yahoo.com).

In the pic: skin is RealSkin’s Krista. Hair is ETD’s Lisa.

Update: Just wanted to show the in world version of this dress. (I couldn’t find it in my 60 second search through MadamG’s store, so she sent me a copy of the ad texture.) Pretty amazing, in my opinion.

I just came back from a fascinating panel about bringing Second Life clothing designs into the real world. MadamG Zagato (RL avatar shown left), best known for her N30 photography studio started to turn some of her Second Life design creations into tangible clothing items! The dress she’s wearing in this photo, for example, came from a Second Life design for sale in her stores.

Turning SL designs into real world goods isn’t necessarily a super fast process. In fact, she says it can take up to six months from pattern to finished product ready for sale, but since apparel sales in the U.S. is a $192 billion industry, it’s fun to think you could take a sliver of that market for yourself. The cost is much less than I expected, too. She estimates that it costs US$1000 and up to produce a single design in quantity and there are several steps to the process, many of which Never30 can offer assistance with. MadamG told me that she’d have the slide deck from her presentation and a brochure about the whole process posted later tonight on her website http://design.never30.net. She says that designs using a solid color tend to work best, as many pixel fabric patterns do not exist in the marketplace and can add considerable expense to the production run — and if this idea intrigues you, but sounds like too much work, Never30 will quote a price to buy your design and have it produced in real life too.

As MadamG mentioned in her talk, maybe next SLCC there can be a fashion show and a dedicated fashion track! That would definitely be cool.

For more information, contact MadamG Zagato in world, or send an email to info -at- never30 -dot- com.

Three bargains you need to know about, even if you’re hanging around the SLCC hotel in Chicago!

Jolie Lumiere of Jolie’s Boutique is having a big sale through September 4th to raise money for medical expenses. Whether or not you’re feeling especially charitable, half off is half off, and Jolie makes some really fabulous items — everything from gowns to lingerie. This sale’s only at good at the Jolie’s Boutique mainstore located in Urantia 110, 175, 21 (SLURL).

Laynie Link is having a “pre-release” sale on her new broom skirt and embroidered top — shown to the left here. There’s only about a day left on this sale, so head on over to one of the LaynieWear outlets in Second Life. (I usually shop at the store located here in One World 155, 90, 31 (SLURL).)

There’s another collection of “Catwalk Couture” coming soon from Last Call — next week, but in the meantime, enjoy the lag and head over to Dazzle 70, 12, 27 (SLURL) to pick up the amazingly fun and flirty Ginny Talamasca Rae party dress and matching vamp sandals by Lyra Muse for L$1 (each dress and each shoe set)! Check out the details on the Last Call blog post.

Know about another sale? Having a sale at your store? Post the details and a SLURL in a comment!

Now I’m off to the bar before last call here in Chicago. Cheers!

Update: Emma Gilmour sent me a notecard today with a message to everyone who has helped her raise the money to fix her laptop. I can’t really imitate Emma’s inimitable style, so here’s what she wrote verbatim:

Hello everyone! The fundraiser is over and the goal was met!!!!!! Thank you so so so much for all of your support and encouragement!! I will have a working puter back in no time!! DDDD I’m so humbled by all the people that came out of nowheres to help me out on this… gah… I really can’t even explain. But I hope to see all of you around again – Also, I will be keeping all of the upstairs items on sale regardless of the fundraiser being over.. and soon will be having a clearance sale to make room for the fall goodies DDD

One last THANK YOU <3 and CHEERS for being able to return my BF's laptop to him!!! HOORAYY :DDDDD

I’m glad Emma’s laptop is on the mend.

Milkshakes and laptops do not mix well at all. Just ask Emma Gilmour who discovered this nasty fact when her strawberry milkshake ended up coating her four month old laptop. The repair is going to cost USD $1300, and to help cover the costs, Emma is having a huge sale at her location in artilleri 90, 179, 24 (SLURL) — there are also some tip jars scattered around the store too, if you’d like to contribute above and beyond any purchase you decide to make. (Every little bit helps, even L$10.)

You can read the whole story of woe right here on Emma’s blog, and check out some of the cool new stuff that she’s put out for sale — including my favorite of the bunch the wooden heart earrings for L$75.

We have just a couple of slots left open for ads in Issue #11 of Second Style Magazine which we’d like to fill before we put the magazine to bed for publication in early September. In addition to our normal, on-going buy 3, get 1 free promotion (for all ad sizes), we will give a L$1,000 discount to the next two ad placements in eighths, quarters, halves, and full pages.

All you have to do is contact HeatherDawn Cohen (email: heatherdawncohen -at- gmail -dot- com) with your preferred size and number of placements — when you email, please mention this special offer in the message. (Just like at giant warehouse clubs, you save even more if you buy multiple placements at the same time.) Full particulars about ad sizes and formats can be found here.

Based on our preliminary reader survey results, a huge majority of our readers use the ads in each issue to make purchasing decisions as they shop in Second Life, and each issue is downloaded about 20,000 times.

Also, two brief reminders:

• Our August reader survey is still on going until the end of the month. You can take it here, if you haven’t already. We will be selecting 5 respondents (at random) to each receive a L$1,000 cash prize.
• There’s still time to enter the Second Style model contest, too. Submissions will be taken until August 31, 2007, 11:59pm SLT. See more details here toward the bottom of the post, or see the ad in Second Style #10, now available for download.

Ok, I’m back.. vacation is over, mailbox has been brought back to acceptable size and is manageable again, SL is under maintancance and oh, did I spot  a lovely photo from Georgette Whitfield on Snapzilla:

 This is what Georgette wrote for credits on this:

Hair: Phaylen Fairchild
Skin: Naughty
Jewellery: Random Calliope
Top: Simone! (part of a wedding dress)
Pants: Last Call
Flipflops: Lassitude & Ennui

My attention was drawn to this photo because of the fabulous diva hair from Phaylen Fairchild. I must have it somewhere in my inventory… but where… time for a inventory cleaning action. Georgette, thanks for posting on Snapzilla!!!

Next Reader Style pick in a forthnight…. keep those photos coming. 

There’s been a lot of developments in modeling contests, so here’s a quick round up with links where you can get more information.

First, Style Guru and Second Style columnist Isabella Sampaio has revealed the 20 competitors (and 3 alternative participants) for her Miss SL Tropics contest. The winner will be crowned at a pageant that will take place at noon SLT on August 26, 2007 (when I will be at SLCC, alas.) You can see close up head shots of the 20 lucky finalists on Isabella’s blog post here. Good luck to all of the models.

A new contest to crown “Miss Liquid Heat” was announced about a week ago. There’s still time to enter though. Three winners will receive a big prize package including a spot in an ad to appear in Second Style Magazine, along with cash and other prizes. To enter, join the Miss Liquid Heat 2007 group, and submit a folder containing a head shot and a photo of your avatar from any spot in Liquid Heat Island to Sakura Nakamichi by August 25th. (Liquid Heat is a building and design firm, specializing in magic/fantasy thematic builds.) For complete details, please visit Liquid Heat on Vinca Island 43, 58, 21 (SLURL) or contact Sakura Nakamichi.

Grace Winnfield announced the five models she’s selected as the “Face of Grace” in this blog post — congratulations to Surrealia Anatine, Sunshine Kit, Lolita Bellman, Karla Marama and Carissa Crimson.

Second Style is also hosting its own model competition — if you missed the announcement in the latest magazine there’s still time to submit an entry. I also discovered to my chagrin that the “Second Style Readers” group was not set to open enrollment somehow (Quelle horror!), but that’s been fixed. We’re looking for both men and women avatars, and we’re looking for overall look, fashion sense, as well as diversity in avatar shapes. Please join our Second Style Readers group, then submit a notecard, labeled “Second Style Modeling Content — YOUR NAME” with a head shot, and at least two unretouched snapshots of your avatar showing off different fashion styles. Please embed these snapshots into the notecard, write 50 words or less about why you’d like to model for us and drop it on Fashionista Writer by August 31st, 2007. We’re looking for a nice large pool of models that we can call on for photoshoots as needed.

Finally, a note about Fashion Challenge #6, the diversity showcase — unknownst to me, the voting on snapzilla seems to have been turned off. What I am considering doing is taking the top 8 photos as ranked by “views” and posting them here for voting, because historically views and top vote ranking has been closely correlated. The top four vote getters would claim a prize as outlined in the original post. Obviously, we’re going to have come up with some means to decide a winner, and maybe one of you has a good, fair solution to this unfortunate situation. I’m open to ideas and suggestions, so please email or leave a comment if you’ve got one to share. Thanks!