Second Style Magazine

After seeing the cute coffeetable on SL fashion notices, and the dito hair on Savoir Hair, I really needed to check out Sugarcube for myself, and guess what? Cute clothes too!!  The shop is run by two Japanese sisters, Sayuri makes the clothes and Yuuki does a lovely job with the hair. This is about the clothes though. Edgy, streetwise, coy, it’s all that and a bit more. I fell instantaneously for the striped top and capris. Oh well.. the striped top, I’m not a huge capri fan. The ribbon on the neck is just too lovely. To the left on the photo there is the Maze of Love outfit, with an adorable jacket.  I would have bought it for that alone, but the skirt and shirt are very nice too. In an extra bag in the folder, there are more layers for the jacket (on the shirt layer) and the shirt (on the ondershirt layer). And it’s drawn so well!This actually goes for all their textures. To the right, Dark Satin Lyricism which comes with 3 different skirts, a cute bow on the back and the stockings? with and without tattoo… thank you ladies, we love the options!

I just saw that Fabulously Free in SL has blogged all the freebie goodies that are outside of Sugarcube! Yet another reason to check that place out.

Maze of Love is combined with ETD Kit hair in smoke burnt and the ribbed tights in scarlet from TaP, thee striped top and capris with ETD’s Bridget in smoke burnt, the hair adornment is the kanzasi nanten by Kurotsubaki and the flats are the chinese slippers from Bare Rose which I recoloured in a vibrant red. The Dark Satin Lyricism is combined with ETD’s Amber in smoke burnt. The skin I wear with all 3 outfits is the new Venus skin in tone 2, natural make up made by Sachi Vixen from Adam ‘n Eve.

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

RL master photographer Oliviero Toscani, who has been responsible for Benetton campaigns (remember the Aids ads?), has been shocking the Milan people with his No Anorexia billboard for the rather unknown brand No.l.Ita during the fashion week. In Italy as of this year, the models will have to present a medical attest that states their health and the absence of an eating disorder prior to be hired for a runway gig. This following the years long discussion of the ever skinnier models, and the eventual effect of that on the body image concept of women and young girls in particular.

SL photographer Pauline Baxter is shocking the residents with her SL interpretation of this campaign: No Anorexia Second Life. The skinny model discussion is going on in SL as well, although I believe that most of the overly skinny avies that you see is more a question of not knowing how to work the sliders than true cases of virtual anorexia. However, Paper Couture during their Fall ‘07 show made a clear statement when they decided to star voluptuous fashionista Swirly Cyclone on their runway, and designer Grace Winnfield made an equally clear but opposite statement when she announced in her model search that she was looking for skinny, “think TALL and VERY VERY Model THIN. Curves will not improve your chances” avatars. Anyway, I think this photo is as shocking as it’s RL counterpart. Comments both on Olivieri’s campaign as on Pauline Baxter’s work are welcome, I would like to know how you perceive the ideal body in SL.

Tonight, September 27, at 6 pm SLT, MODA is having its September Fashion Showcase featuring designs from Alchemy, Bossa Nova, Diva Style, Sherry Yates, and Vlintuition. The show will be held at Niagara Falls (219, 242, 38). For more information, check out the post on the MODA blog.

In association with Metro Models, Second Style is co-sponsoring the New Shoots fashion show on September 28 and 29 at 6pm and 11am SLT respectively. New Shoots is a show featuring brand new up and coming design talent in Second Life. I am excited that Myllie Writer of PERSONA and Annah Whitfield of Annah Couture will be participating in the show. Both of these ladies have been designing in world for under 4 months and the design quality is quite good. I hope you’ll be able to come see our models show off these two great clothing lines. Narcissus Island (203, 170, 21).

After the Friday show at 8pm SLT I’ll be hosting a Rock n Fashion party featuring the fabulous Shane Hornet as DJ playing Early Punk and CBGB alums at caffeine au go-go caLLiefornia (211, 162, 22). So get your mesh shirts, mohawks and safety pin earrings ready to rock out to the Ramones (and much much more!)

And on Saturday afternoon at 4 pm SLT, Simone Stern is showcasing her line up of brand new gowns in association with Calamity’s Haute Models agency — this same huge new gown release which was reviewed this past Wednesday on Stylecast #2. This will be a great opportunity to check out these designs in full 3D, instead just from the ads.

The show will be held at OnRez (251, 14, 22).

This is the first in a weekly series of the best of the best over at SLShopper.com. I found a ton of great stuff over there, but I was immediately and totally smitten with the Animal Ear Hoodies by Curious Kitties. The jacket itself is a bit loose for that casual feel but the best part is, of course, the sculptie hood with animal ears. It comes with the option to wear the hood up or down, so it doesn’t even have to conflict with your hair.
Seen in world: Yes Review Copy: Yes Friends List: No

Also new this week is an outfit called Tabitha by Vitamin Ci. It is made up of a lush long-sleeved sweater with a square neckline and matching pinstripe black pants with prim leg attachments. My favorite is the red, but it also comes in electric (blue), brown, gray, purple, and sage.
Seen in world: Yes Review Copy: Yes Friends List: No

I thought the Tabitha outfit looked especially cute with these Chloe Sculpted Flats from Lassitude and Ennui. These are a great use of sculptie prims and fit your feet very closely. Each set comes with three different sizes too, so your feet don’t have to be size 0 if you don’t want them to be. They come in 14 colors but I had to have the vamp version, as every woman needs a great pair of red shoes.
Seen in world: Yes Review Copy: No Friends List: No

And last but definitely not least is this adorable choker from Charmed. The Initially Yours Cameo comes with just one necklace which allows you to change the initial on it with a script. Plus, it’s modifiable so you can tint the ribbon to match any outfit you own. I am in love with all the intial items I’m seeing around right now, so I was thrilled to see this item.
Seen in world: Yes Review Copy: Yes Friends List: Yes

Of course there’s more things on SLShopper.com than I could ever list out in one post, so please go over and take a look at all the pretties there.

Second Style Stylecase #2 produced by Tamara Kirshner and Daphne Abernathy is now available for your listening pleasure. You don’t need any special software or an iPod to enjoy these podcasts. Just visit the site and click on the play icon at the top of the post. This week’s topics are “Jewelry Expo in review” and a giant new dress release by Simone Stern. Next week, Daphne and Tamara will be reviewing all of the fabulous new coats that have been popping up around Second Life.

If you enjoyed this episode of Stylecast, make sure you subscribe to the feed in iTunes by using this handy link or whatever podcast software you prefer!

Phew! Real Life was trying to keep this blogroll from being wrangled, but I’ve managed to sneak away long enough to get an update in. First, next week the format will change a little as there are wayyyy too many great designs on the web to limit the “Blog Item of the Week” to one thing. Instead of going out and getting and modeling the items I’ll try and point you to blogs I trip over in my travels.

First though, this week I’m wearing several new things I found on blogs. The top is from Encore and is called Charmed. It comes with a cute pair of belted slacks. The hair is Dirk and is new from Bewitched. The skin is deliciously freckly and called, appropriately enough, OMG-Freckles! and is new from RealSkin. I’m wearing the light skin with natural make-up.

Onto the blog stuff:
I added the following blogs: Lucky By Rikka,
On the SLevel, DollyRock, Skin Flicks Designsand Beautiful Sin.

I started hacking away at the Blogroll and expect to have the time to prune and add more new gems in the next couple of weeks. I updated adam n eve to their new address, and changed Ameshin Yossarian’s link to Curious Kitties I also removed the following dead links: If you have any info on them, like new URLs, give me a holla. (Fashionably Dead), **Redesigns A.D.**, A Work in Progress and I said goodbye to **~~** Soba **~~** as it hadn’t been updated since 12-1-06.

If you have a blog you’d like listed, send me an email or an IM. I’m also always on the hunt for fashion shows and other events to add to our calendar. I’d love to hear from you!

When I was at a rehearsal for the American Cancer Society fashion show last week, I knew that there was something especially captivating about the ETD Sofia hair. It seemed to be everywhere — on my friends, on fellow models, and on shoppers who just happened to wander by as I popped around from store to store.

It seemed to me like Sofia really distills the essence of the fashion Zeitgeist at the end of summer 2007. Sofia, as with all ETD releases, has a completely new texture collection to support it, cloaking it in what remains Second Life’s most alluring and realistic looking hair textures. But it’s more than just how it looks. It’s the design of the style itself.

In May 2006, I saw an article in Cosmopolitan touting the return of the sex kitten hairstyle. Looking back at that article now, I am surprised that it’s taken from then til now for the perfect heiress of the style to emerge in Second Life. It’s not, however, surprising that it was developed by one of the keenest observers and talented creators of hair styles, Elikapeka Tiramisu.

Sofia, then, comes from a root of those incredibly stylish sex-kitten hairs of the late 60s. Think of Brigitte Bardot, the quintessential sixties sex kitten. And although it comes from a vintage origin, it’s still thoroughly modern in execution with the way the bangs are styled in the front and the pulled under, perfectly straight long pony in the back.

It’s chic and formal enough for a wedding gown, but still sultry enough to go perfectly with the new lingerie release from Insolence. And even in between the bedroom and the bridal suite, it’s casual and cute enough to go with your favorite baby doll dress. It is a hair for all seasons and styles, in scarlet, ebony, cotton candy pink, blonde or deep brunette. Sofia is fashion lightning in a bottle — all of these things at the same time: retro, modern, sultry and chic. It’s a hair that will be on my avatar’s head (perhaps with a swan and perhaps without) for a long time this fall.

Thanks to my Sofia photo conspirators: Graciana McMillan (the bride of Sofia and my original inspiration for this post), Violet Xingjian, Aradia Dielli, and Anessa Stine. Top photo, skin is “Old Hollywood” by Minnu Model. Outfit is Autumn by Veschi. Entranced jewelry by Illusions.

Sofia is available on ETD Isle (134, 128, 24).

Seen in world: Yes
Review copy: No
Friends list: No

I’d never even heard of Drawmachine until 3 weeks ago, although creator Armin Wiefel has been active in Second Life for a while. Armin is a RL 3D graphic artist and his expertise definitely shows in his designs — especially the prim work. On the left is the eponymous Race Queen set complete with a totally realistic pair of red leather motorcycle boots, complete with steel ring strap detailing. I also really liked his cropped Speedforce jacket in orange — the color combination and overall design recalling to me a Harley-Davidson motorcycle jacket of recent vintage.

To the left is one of the best designs available at Drawmachine — some of the most touchably textured overknee leather boots (also available in the same red as the motorcycle boots shown above) I’ve seen in Second Life. They look perfect with these sexy racing sets of course and anything else you want to go from 0-60 in a flash — skirts, booty shorts or some wicked lingerie.

Visit Drawmachine at Sc Design (16, 9, 22). Lannah by ETD. Skin is Zoe Original in Nude by Naughty.

Seen in world: Yes
Review copies: Yes
Friends list: No

Mistress of the Sculptieprim Siyu Suen — fresh off her dazzling collections at the Jewelry Expo passed me one of the most amazing hats I’ve seen in Second Life for a while. Not since the epic Chapeau tres Mignon lobster hat have I been so completely bowled over by millinery. This is Gracile (available in black, white, black and white; shown in white and black) which uses incredibly beautiful feather textures by Jen Shikami of Seven’s Selections. It’s such a flight of inspired fantasy, but still grounded in the serenity of a swan perched on top of your head. If only real life swans were so tranquil and docile! This hat is now available at Illusions for L$525.

And it’s almost October, and everyone knows that’s the month all of the witches show off in Second Life. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more stylish hat/jewelry (and coming soon — matching boots!) combination. This hat is called Minerva and the matching jewelry set is just called “Witch’s” (available in sterling, gold, tarnished — very spooky!; shown in antiqued.) Siyu has two other witch hat designs for you to check out — Elphaba and Kiki. (Every hat named for a famous movie witch — IM Siyu if you know the sources for the names.) Pricing wasn’t quite settled on these items yet, but Siyu will have them out for sale within the next several hours, she tells me.

Siyu also has another very very fun witch’s accessory coming soon — flying brooms with a built in AO! Definitely the crowning touch for your witch costume this Halloween.

Shop for these items at Illusions, Carnivale (207, 91, 33). Witch Kate by Rebel Hope. Sofia and Aveda Short Crop 2 by ETD. Skin is “Fit” Very Dark by Pixel Deep.

Seen in world: Yes
Review copies: Yes
Friends list: Yes

Well, Celebrity did an excellent job of introducing my new job here at Second Style Fashionista, so I just thought I might come by and introduce myself a bit as well. Hi there, I’m Madison Carnot.

I’ve been around SL for almost two years now, and have been an avid shopper for most of that time. Just this year I really started to get involved in the wonderful world of fashion and found myself haunting blogs just like this one here. After meeting and getting to know Celebrity, I suppose she decided I must have just a little taste after all, because here I am!

I’m a pretty approachable sort of gal, so if you see me around (shopping, most likely) feel free to say hello. Otherwise I’ll definitely see you here once a week for the SLShopper.com roundup.

I’d like to welcome Madison Carnot as the newest writer to join Fashionista. Madison’s regular duty is to post a weekly round up of her favorite things as seen over on SLShopper.com, a completely free uber classifieds system run by snapshot baron Cristiano Midnight. If you loved browsing the old classifieds forum at secondlife.com, you’ll also love slshopper.com — which has all of the nice benefits of the forums, with tons more features – a huge one being that you don’t need to be logged into your SL account to use it!

One of my favorite things about the system is that it lets you subscribe to your favorite designer’s releases using RSS. As new items are added to the system, the site will automatically generate an update to your favorite RSS reader. (What’s an RSS Reader?) There’s some really neat things that Cristiano has planned for SLShopper over time and I hope that more content creators will sign up and use it.

Welcome to Fashionista Madison! I’m glad you’re joining our team.

This week’s Reader Style is by Lilly Loll. It was not really difficult to pick one this time as this entry really stands out in all possible ways. An original outfit and a lovely photo.

This is what  Lilly writes:

I had such fun putting this together Skin – RAC Lily, Eyes – Soda green eyes, Lashes – Minnu, Hair – Creamshop Poncho – Creamshop, Belt and Bracelet- Kana-Na, Tattoo – Kana-Na, Jeans – Dutch Touch, Shooz – Boing Fromage.

Thanks for participating Lilly!!!