Marissa Bergbahn is one of the coordinators for the Metaverse 07 Second Life conference in Europe — held this November (click on the site link for full details) in Munich, Germany.
She’s looking for European fashion content creators — especially hair makers — to contact her about participating in the conference. If you’re interested, or you know a European Second Life resident who makes hair — please IM Marissa Bergbahn or send an email to bergbahn -at- bokowsky -dot- de. Thanks!
There are a TON of sales going on right now. I know of four (in addition to the ETD sale) and I’m hoping that readers will comment with others. Here they are, in the order I heard about them.
Adam n Eve is having a sale, and though I don’t have details as to what sort of discounts they’re giving, or how many items are on sale, their store is so packed with such a range of items it’s always fun to go look. Adam n Eve has a second location, I’m not certain if the sale applies to both.
Luth Brodie of Reel Movement is having a sale on everything in the main store. Animations, AO’s, poses, it’s all wonderful stuff and right now, best of all, it’s all on sale! I popped in there last night to get a picture of the ad and can’t wait to get back and stock up on poses.
There are a couple of big skin sales right now. I went to Sin Skins last evening to get the scoop on their 50% sale, and was pleased to see that their automated chat greeter is up to date, as I was told upon landing that everything is in fact on sale. I’m not sure of the duration of the sale (and the greeter wasn’t telling), so any info anyone could post to comments would be helpful.
Finally, Tête à Pied is having a sale, and as you can see from the ad to the left, 4 packs of women’s skin are only L$500 and individual skins are only L$200.
If you have a shop or store that is having a sale, drop me an IM or send me a texture for your ad. (Preferably via e-mail to JustineBabii (at) yahoo.com). I can’t promise I’ll be able to post every sale, but I am always looking for fashion news to pass along to our fantabulous readers!
SL and lag have teamed up to keep me from exploring the Skin Expo in Givenchi in too much detail, but I was able to get there long enough to see that this is the place to go to see new skins. I also saw that RealSkin’s Stephen Lightworker is giving away a free skin from their wonderful Rose line, which is certainly reason enough to try your luck with teleport! I’m sure there are other wonderful deals and freebies, but as I said, my initial stay was brief and ended badly. (I did see a very popular pair of lucky chairs before I crashed, so I suspect they have nice goodies there too). I will certainly be mashing the teleport button to get myself back there and see what’s new in the world of skin.
The Expo runs until the 17th.
I had a delightful day yesterday trying to figure out what I was going to wear to a SL party last night. With so many wonderful things in the metaverse to choose from I wandered through my inventory looking at the old and the new and then popping out to stores to find accessories. Here’s what I ended up with.
The dress is Summer Breeze from newcomer Eloria LeShelle of Battered Boudoir. I was going through the review stuff she sent over and found this dress, then remembered it when I was looking for something to wear. I love it. There are two flexi prim attachments, one for the babydoll and one for the skirt, and together they give the dress a beautiful line. It comes in ten colors, retails for L$200 a color (or L$1500 for them all), and includes stockings, glitch pants and the top as several choices of layer. I’m wearing the dress in black in the pic.
For shoes I went to Maitreya and bought the Enchant pumps in black (L$250). I already have them in blue, plaid and leopard and going forward expect to make my way back to the store several more times to get the rest. They’re gorgeous sculpties.
For the “dash of color” I went to Earthtones and bought the Grazia necklace and earrings set (L$299) and then had to get the bracelet too (L$150). I bought the set in bloodstone, though the picture to the left makes the stones look darker than the deep red they really are, as it was taken at night. In the pic I am not wearing the earrings that came with the set, but rather am wearing a set of pearl earrings from Kyrinnia Desmoulins, who promises to open a store soon to sell her great jewelry.
I finished it off with hair from ETD and the Jessica Skin in tan from Cake.
I should add that I’m very excited to have new poses courtesy of Keiki Lemieux of Huddles and the Animation Warehouse!
**Update from Justine: As you may have seen in the comments on this post and on the ETD blog Elika has extended the sale to Friday, August 17! Yay!
Based solely on the number of people there with me when I shopped, this is not news to many people, but in case you’re bad with dates like I am and didn’t join the ETD group in time, the public portion of the big ETD sale is on right now and runs to Monday. Each color pak is only L$50, with combos L$75 and willow packs only $300. I’ve been once and am putting on my lag armor for a second round.
I had the difficult job along with my fellow judges Bianca Darling of Aspire and MJ Garrett of MTV’s the Real World to select just one finalist to take on Scarlett Niven, the July event winner, head-to-head for a two page photo spread in Second Style Magazine.
As in July we had a strong field of contestants, making the decision to go from 20-something to five very difficult and full of interesting discussions between the judges. In the end though, we thought that Graciana was the top model. She’s wearing a lingerie set from Chic Boutique by Arielle Ceres, a necklace by Fallingwater Cellardoor and a Charmed series skin by Starley Thereian.
This week’s blog item of the week went straight into my “!Faves” folder. It will be the perfect thing to throw on when I need a versatile outfit at a moment’s notice and it really is that cute. It is made by Tracy Scofield of Encore. The outfit is called Tease and consists of a black shirt and very well made belted slacks in a very tasteful plaid. The pants come in four colors and the outfit is only L$195 per color. (This includes two versions of the top, one slightly more sheer than the other). In the picture I’m also wearing a necklace and earring set called Plucky that comes from Encore too (L$150). Tease looked like fun on Tracy’s blog and looks even better in person. Encore’s blog is found by clicking here.
This week we added the following designer blogs:
AW Design, Cattiva-Cattivo, JetDoll, Mimikri Hot Couture, Namiko Surf, RealSkin, Second Mirage, Skin Within, Tracy Scofield-Encore
And we added
Essence Magazine to the Fashion Blogs.
If you have a fashion blog we haven’t listed, or a change in your URL, or something super cool going on that you would like to have us know about, feel free to IM me, Justine Babii, or send me an email at justinebabii (at) yahoo.com. I love to hear from our readers 
Hair is by Goldie Locks Skin by Celestial Studios Shoes by Maitreya
Una Ewing of the Ewing Fashion Agency gave us a special treat today, a fashion show on a Tuesday! Ewing runs a modeling school where residents interested in learning the ropes of life on the catwalk can get some training, experience and exposure. To the left we have the Athena FlexiDress from LeeZu Baxter Designs (L$290) worn by Holy Payne. The clothes shown from LBD were the right mix of style and practicality for me, and I’ve already earmarked a couple of their creations to go back for later.
In that way, the whole show was refreshing. Of the four designers, I was only familiar with Alienbear Gupte’s jewelry, so the chance to discover new things I love by new designers and be part of a special day for new models was a real treat. To the left we have the Contessa Flexi Dress by Juicy Details (L$225 per color or all six colors for L$875). Designer Jaxi Zabelin is a relative newcomer to SL as well as to SL fashion but her designs were striking and I can’t wait to see what her store produces in the months to come. The dress is modeled by Nikita Ewing.
Here we have two designs from Kya Eliot, owner and designer of Escape. While the fashion shows Ewing puts her newly minted models through are called “First Impressions” because of the new models, this name also covers the new and exciting designers like those shown today. Eliot’s designs are simple and appear to be very well executed. Her prices, like the prices of all the designers featured here, are great. The dress on the left comes with three different styles of skirts for L$250. The outfit on the right is a new halter she’s offering (L$65) with her great jeans (L$95). The model on the left is Rena Mascot and the model on the right is LayDeeBird Chastity.
The final designer shown was Alienbear Gupte, jeweler and owner of Le’Bear Castle. Alienbear’s jewelry looks stunning on the runway, and is reasonably priced. Shown here is a set called Princess Diantha which retails for L$280.
The First Impressions show certainly made an impression on me! Bravo to the designers, new models, and to Una and her staff for bringing it all together for us.
Hot off our virtual press — Issue #10! Enjoy.
I’m very pleased to show you the cover for issue #10, which should be released in just a day or two.
Reading through the proof copy last night, this might just be our best issue yet — we have almost one hundred pages of material — making this our biggest issue ever. Some of the highlights include possibly the most hilarious interview with the Lu sisters of Paper Couture and Julliette Westerburg’s four favorite jewelry designers. Shai Delacroix is covering Fresh Faces this month, featuring the designs of Japanese new comer BettyPage Voyager, and there’s a cool jewelry maker’s designer’s tip by Lucas Lameth of Earthbound Boutique, a new fabulous Style Girl (also our cover girl!) Mariya Nesiote, and a brand new Fashion Horoscope — plus mini-guides, Ryan Darragh’s Men’s Corner feature and two fantastic photo shoots to share with you.
And while I have your attention — I’ll give you an advance chance to enter our L$1000 readers survey drawing. This survey will be active through the entire month of August. You can take the survey at this URL:
http://secondstyle.m87.sgizmo.com/
All of that and more, in just a few days.
My inventory had taken on the look of a vacation suitcase, bulging with cool things and great buys. Last night I was determined to unpack and blog about some of these great things, and of course it went nothing like I expected.
I started with some sculptie hats that Tesla Miles of Tesla sent over for review and which subsequently sent me to her store for some shopping. Shown here is my fave Averly, (L$250). Tesla has a great collection of funky hats, some of which have a color change script that makes them versatile and definitely worth a trip to see. (Skin is RAC, Hair is Cake, Necklace is Dalriada).
While I was having fun matching hats and hair and skins and jewelry, I remembered Jaunty, a fun hair and hat combo I purchased a while ago at Wintermoon. It retails for L$125 per hair color, and I believe there are at least twenty different hair colors from which to choose. The hat features a color and texture change script that is activated by clicking on it. As soon as I put the hat on, I went roaming through my inventory to find a gorgeous gray rabbit fur jacket from Zagoskin Haute Couture (L$300) because I knew they would look great together. Click the picture, for a front and back view of the hair. (Skin is from Tuli).
By now I was crawling through my inventory, looking at everything interesting, and actually squealed when I found Amanda by Bewitched, a flexi curl ‘do with a slouchy cowgirl sheriff hat attached. Bewitched hair comes in color packs of either four or six for just L$195, and some, like Amanda, have a bigger option of color tipped hair for L$225. I found the flexi curls to be bouncy and fun and able to stand up to reasonable scrutiny from most angles, which allays my usual criticism of flexi curl hair. Clicking the pic will again get you a look at the hair and hat from front and side. (Skin is from Tuli).
My ability to focus on the task at hand melts away when confronted with so many great things to try on, so I was losing hope of getting a post done when I found the hair that brought the whole production to a screeching halt; Shania by Bewitched.
This hair screams honky tonks and fun on the town, so I spent much of the rest of the evening trying it out with many many things and generally having a ball. The hair is once again connected to the slouch hat, and comes in a four pack for $195. In the picture I’ve combined it with a skin (and pop necklace) from Cake, tattoos from artilleri., and a great halter that is on sale at Bossa Nova.
I may not have made much of a dent in getting through my inventory, but I had a superfun time wandering through some of the newer hat related things I’ve come across. In the process, I hope I’ve pointed you to something that will be your new fave, and as always, thank you for reading!
The Transparency in Reviewing Stuff:
Averly by Tesla: Seen Y | Friend’s List N | Review Copy Y
Jaunty by Wintermoon: Seen Y | Friend’s List N | Review Copy N
Amanda and Shania by Bewitched: Seen N | Friend’s List N | Review Copy Y
It’s been a while since I wrote about DoC Eldritch’s clothing, and he’s been regularly creating some really great pieces in a range of styles and colors. The thing I like the most about DoC’s work is the incredible attention to detail in the designs, from highlights and shading to sartorial elements like stitching detail, rivets, and grommets.
One of the newest lines in DoC’s lineup is this collection of ultra casual, super flirty summer tops and bottoms. These two shown here are called Tango Summer & Summer II, the original two designs in this series. I’m just showing one color choice from each different outfit style, but there are other ones available. A lot of it comes down to exactly what style you want to pick, whether it’s hemmed by design or tied off.
It doesn’t take a very discerning eye to see that all three of these first three Tango designs have very short-shorts as the bottom. And although they’re sold in collections of matched bottom and top, all of them can be used mix-n-match style with the other bits and pieces in the Tango collection. This design here is called Oasis, which features a spaghetti strap cami with a wide-square net overlay.
On the right is the latest release in the Tango line, named Cafe, is actually the one with the most versatile options. It’s sold as shown with a cropped jacket (on the jacket layer) with a halter style shirt (on the shirt layer) in three different color options, with the long pants — I liked this particular color choice because I can wear my favorite banana colored heels from G.L.A.M. with it. But one of the other nice things about this collection — and with DoC’s long pants/jeans in general — is that he often includes the “pants-on-the-underwear-layer” piece which makes layering boots with his pants very easy. I wish more content creators would offer this option, to be honest.
But it’s not just Daisy Dukes and layered tops that DoC likes to make. Check out this elegant gown named Whispers. This is the delightfully effervescent champagne colored Sharee incarnation of the gown. You can really see some of DoC’s best work on display here from the incredibly luxe fabric texture itself, to the antique lace at the waist and the ruching on the wrap-around top. I didn’t show the back of this dress, but it too has an interesting construction design, with a mostly open back, straps running parallel across the top.
I left the most unusual of the recent releases for last. This is called “Reaper” and it’s available in red and black, as well as a bonus brown color if you buy the multi-pack. Reaper sports a sci-fi bodysuit with a corset (on the jacket layer), gloves and pants on the pants and underwear layer — and to illustrate my earlier point, it was a cinch to add the Deimos boots from Dark Eden to this set. Some of the great detail work to be seen here is on the gloves, with the segmented and articulated fingers and seam down the forearm.
You can find all of these outfits at DE Designs (204, 132, 30) (SLURL).
Seen in world: Yes
Review copies: Yes
Friends list: No
I logged on hoping I’d successfully translated Swedish time to Linden time to make it to the fashion show at the Beacon Hotel in Plettenberg Bay. This show, called simply Fashion Show at the Beacon, turned out to be a ton of fun.
Featuring primarily designers from Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, this show was all over the map in terms of the styles that it presented. Heavy on latex and sexy underthings, this show definitely changed my opinion of Scandinavia as the land of heavy sweaters and parkas. One such store, BoingO, features primarily tiny swimsuits and similarly skimpy outfits. The outfit above is their tube top (pack of five colors for L$350) with their white metallic hipsters (2 colors for L$350 or L$200 a color).
The outfit to the left is from NanoGunk. It is the Wild OB Siberian and retails for L$ 300. Nanogunk has some cute things, many in the skimpy and latexy categories and is well worth a trip if you’re looking for something slinky and fun.
The jewel for me was finding Ivalde. Designer Neferia Abel has filled her store with wonderful outfits from a number of styles and eras. Because I was trying to get to as many shops as possible I was only able to run through Ivalde, but I will be back soon because this store looks awesome. Shown below is Evaline, a cute and flexible outfit that retails for L$ 350.
I fell in love with a number of Abel’s designs, including her Marit and Saga dresses. (Marit is in the background in the pic to the left). For me, Ivalde will be a store I have to visit a few times because it covers a number of moods and styles, and has with a lot of variety in each area. I’ve already tried a couple of outfits from Ivalde and found them to be well made and well textured.
I did some quick hopping around to all the stores in the show. Others were AW Design, which has some cute stuff, and Mirage Industries and Hybrid which seemed to team up on a couple of high tech futuristic designs.
I made it over to the very end of the MetaStock Fashion Show. Titled Good Girl VS. Bad Girl, the finale seemed to cover a lot of that ground. I was so late for the show I could only snap some pics and hope for the best, but I did see a couple of cute things from Coconut Ice, such as the Ever After Gown seen left in Wild Rose.
I popped in to Coconut Ice and browsed a bit. The Ever After Gown is L$799. Awesome Designs and Crucial Creations were also featured in the MetaStock Fashion Show and I will have to go back and study my pictures to better see who made which pieces.
Finally, the Mercury show launched at 7:00pm SLT. The late hour, the build-up to the event and the number of SLebs in the audience gave the show the feel of an event. The production, by Kirk Claymore and Mad Agency, was excellent. The collection itself is fun and offbeat and included a kitchen sink approach, from basic men’s white boxer shorts to elaborate combinations of contrasting colors and textures. The piece shown to the left, Dancing Pirate, is a good example of the line, with interesting combinations of seemingly dissonant pieces. The Dancing Pirate retails for $L 300.
UPDATE: For more pictures from these shows check out my Flickr Pix.
(Please get my permission before using any for commercial purposes! Thanks)
