I read Piers’ blog about the 20 Rules of Being a Classy Avatar last month with a mix of amusement.I have some response and some additional remarks, all of them regarding Second Life. (I am hoping users from other platforms will chime in with their responses.. I need some help!)
Keep away from Orientation Islands (Pier)
I used to hang out at Help Island at times because I was a Mentor in SL. There is nothing wrong with this. Certainly a certain kind of group hangs at the Orientation areas, but many can be very nice. And helping newbies is a laudable venture, especially when they are putty in your classy, elegant hands. Think of it this way: you are propagating good taste to the rest of the grid by capturing them when they are young and teaching them the right way to dress. Clearly this.. uh person.. needs help.
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The holidays are quickly approaching.. what most ladies like to wear is something fantastic, something beautiful, something sparkling, something classy. Whether it be a cocktail Christmas party, a Hanukkah gathering, a Kwanza celebration, or a New Year’s Eve fete.
First the fantastic:
Raven Pennyfeather’s dress is a wonder of airiness and beauty, especially this version, which includes an incredible silver bodice.
With it’s exquisite textures backless bodice, Nicky Ree’s absolutely stunning snowflake-embroidered dress crosses over from Ice Queen to a warm and sexy queen. The headpiece almost looks like an ushanka, made of snowflakes instead of fur. The glorious cape completes the look.
Or you can go for truly elegant:
Nardya Rousselot’s gorgeous dress, suitable for tango or flamenco, will take you from Christmas to New Year’s with it’s full filigreed skirt complete with train, slit up one side, and beautifully embroidered bodice, all in a deep red.
Elettra Gausman’s elegant and theatrical tiger-striped gown will suit the provocateur. With it’s tight slim skirt leading to a flounced, silver-hemmed skirt and its dangerous back with provocative end point, this dress oozes sensuality.
Shiryu Musashi’s brocaded midnight blue evening gown is, then, a perfect choice for me. With its rich draping fabric, carefully constructed prim skirt, elegant wrapped sash, and opera gloves, it’s an evening gown for a lady of mystery.
This long, elegant dress from Sparkle Skye is perfect for the princess off to a night of magic and wonder on New Year’s Eve. This particular gown comes with a short option, a semi-sheer and a non-sparkling or sparkling skirt. With its understated elegant lines, it suits a woman of sophistication.
What about the woman who wants a something a little less formal? We don’t all go to balls for the holidays. I have flirty, fun, and sophisticated for you….
This dress from Ivey Deschanel would be ideal for more informal parties. With its full and flirty blue satin skirt and sequined spaghetti strap top, it fits the bill. What really pushes it from girly dress to a more elegant look, however, is the scarf and fishnet tights Ivey includes.
This dress from Vitabela Dubrovna is another great choice. Based on her real life designs, Vita’s dresses are beautiful, imaginative, and couture. This lovely dress will take me to several parties, both day and night, with its lovely laces and beading on the bodice and full graceful skirt.
Running along a more vintage line is this sleek couture dress from Raven Pennyfeather. With its feathered decolletage, tweed pattern and three-quarter length cuffed sleeves, it’s sophistication unparalleled. A tortured prim collar surrounds the neck like a piece of constructed fluffery with a well-chosen sculpty belt around the waist. A dramatic (but not overdone) feather hat tops the ensemble. The system skirt is tight and sexy with a brilliant pleated flexi attached, and Raven’s characteristic textured stockings complete the outfit. This truly is high fashion—unique, artistic, designed well. It shows how Raven continues to push herself artistically and technically.
Finally we have a short little number from Kuranosuke Kamachi. A marvelous fluff of stiff satin, this dress is understated enough to stand with more elaborate accessories (such as the shoes I am wearing from 2408 Alekseev. This is formality with a bit of fun.
Hair brings one's self-image into focus; it is vanity's proving ground. Hair is terribly personal, a tangle of mysterious prejudices.
~Shana Alexander
Every morning when I wake up in SL, I am faced with the prospect of what my hair will look like. In my real life, I am pretty much limited to the hair I have, as messy or incalcitrant as it will be. In SL or IMVU, I have the choice of just about any hair I would want.
As Shana Alexander suggests, hair is the headliner, the opening statement, the engine to the whole train wreck.
What is amazing is that it is one of the least expensive ways to completely change one’s look in either world. Both mediums offer a variety of hairstyles for women (though the complaint in SL is that not enough are offered for men).
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For fashionistas across the worlds, seemingly trivial things become incredibly important. Like where to get the very best shoes.
Why shoes? They are the punctuation on an ensemble. They set the tone for the entire outfit and show the wearer’s expertise with the finer details of accoutrement. The shoes alone can tell a whole story—are they scuffed boots, fresh from role playing in a gritty urban scene, or pristine stilettos on long legs, full of sex appeal and class or sweet flats, perfect for a “day off”?
Both Second Life and IMVU offer users the ability to enjoy their shoe fetish and secretly indulge in Imelda Marcos’ extravagances without breaking the bank or building a new closet on to the house.
Shoes are also incredibly important in both words because the feet in both are dreadfully unattractive.
Across the virtual worlds--especially in Second Life and IMVU—the avatar is made in a way that layers of graphics go over a computer-calculated mesh. Both worlds allow residents to create skins and bring them in world.
This is all a fancy way of saying we can make our faces and bodies kind of look the way we want. However, if we are not pros in Photoshop or 3ds Max, we need to live with the skins given us or purchase them from content creators in our respective worlds. Imagine me without a skin. This photo could not exist…
The skins are the most human elements of the avatar, besides the mesh shapes and animations, for avatars. They mark the difference between being a generic body and an individual persona and skin makers do fine business in both worlds. The skins create the base of the being that we inhibit in avatars and bring the poignancy of our humanness to our interactions. They make the 3D we engage in much more meaningful.
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Winter is coming upon us. We are on the verge of the holiday season where we dream of twinkling lights reflected in a glittering snow, a warm bright room with a cozy fire in the fireplace.
I put together two looks from two different worlds to get a feel for the holiday season.
In this case, the person is me, so you are subject to my whims and tastes. However, my choices range across a broad swath. I like anything imaginative, artistic, elegant, fun, well-crafted, and/or evocative.
I will be exploring the worlds of Second Life, Frenzoo and IMVU. You will probably see more of Second Life here as I am an established resident there, and frankly, the tools for wearing, exploring, capturing images of, and making fashion seem a lot easier. That doesn’t mean IMVU and Frenzoo don’t have a lot going on and coming up. IMVU has a very lively avatar enhancement scene. Frenzoo puts a big focus on fashion. Let’s see what they have!
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