Ophelia's Gaze: My Top Ten Picks For Hair That Cares

Exclusive to NWN, Iris Ophelia's ongoing showcase of all things stylish in SL

Hair Fair is sponsored by Rezzable (the amazing development group responsible for Greenies and Black Swan, and a partner of NWN), who provided four sprawling sims of shopping heaven.  While the surface appeal is the dozens of designers who have saved up new releases and exclusive content just for this event, Hair Fair is also an example of the Second Life community making a significant contribution to charity.  In this case, a portion of Fair sales are converted to US$ and donated to Locks of Love, a non-profit that buys wigs for children undergoing treatment for cancer or or illnesses associated with hair loss.  Events like this provide a great opportunity to buy excellent products, and make a positive real-world impact at the same time.

Read on for my favorite ten Fair-styles, all of which directly benefit Locks of Love (while you look foxy in the process.) 

Rei Gully of Zero Style caught my attention immediately with Artemis, a very full and tousled style. While I don't normally like big hair, I really admire the wild shapes Rei uses in his styles. Artemis being no exception, I expect this style to catch on because of it's wind-mussed look, a bit more practical and less dramatic and than Aden Breyer's Windblown (a photographer favourite). It's wild, fluffy, and fun, done with Rei's usual clean and glossy textures.

Hair with built-on hats are an unignorable trend at the Fair. In most cases I don't mind the hat, but the Hunting Chiffon Curl style by Rika Oyen of Argrace I would absolutely kill for versions with and without the sculpted cap. Don't get me wrong, it is a fabulous little hat, but the hairstyle alone is stunning. The ends have a gradually waved tecture of excellent quality. It's the kind of hair texture that looks as great in-world as in snapshots, and I hope Rika will carry this style into future releases.

Asuka Martin, fresh off the teen grid, brought a store packed with high-end skins, hair, and clothes. Dernier Cri's original products (and cleverly scripted hair-colouring system) hit the fashion community (and my L$ balance) like a leather purse full of cinder blocks. Asuka's contributions to the Hair Fair do not disappoint, including this loose chignon, Natasha. Sculpted prims can make a hairstyle look significantly more natural... or significantly less, but Asuka absolutely gets an A+ for her sculptie technique.

I struggle a little with hair from Eat Rice by Ellie Celt. I'm wild about the style and themes of Ellie's products, but sometimes the textures look a little bit dry compared to others. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, it can have an impact on the kinds of skins and outfits the hair can be successfully worn with. However, I was willing to through all my nitpicking out the window for Kyandii, which features an irresistible headdress of a spilled candy jar and a rather guilty looking little doll who moves her head coyly. The Harajuku influence is alive and well at Eat Rice!

Speaking of Harajuku, RuRu Nagy's shop LALA Moon hit my Achilles high-heel with Alice, a messy and tangled design with an optional gothic lolita headpiece. The style works perfectly well without it of course, but the headpiece is one of the better built ones I've come across in SL, down to a dainty ribbon under the chin. I am a little sore at the price, however. It's the most expensive style on my list, especially considering that each pack only contains one colour. It's still worth it, considering that half that price is going to charity.

One of the most important traditions of Hair Fair is Bandana Day, this year on September 7th. On Bandana Day you can show your support for Locks of Love by wearing one of many designer bandanas created for the fair. My favourite one by far is Damien Fate's Men's Bandana from Laqroki. I'm not sure why this is called Men's Bandana, since bandanas are a pretty unisex accessory, and this one in particular is guaranteed to look great no matter who wears it. This is something you could easily wear after September 7th, so at L$50 it's an outstanding investment.

I literally flipped a coin to choose between featuring Ingenue or Le Salon. Both contributed beautifully flowing retro hairstyles for the Fair, but Le Salon by Moire Georgette won in the end, with her tightly coiled style Mitzi. The past year has seen a revival of retro style in real life as well as Second Life, and both stores exemplify that style. Moire has recently rebranded her shop, Comme il Faut, and created several new and striking hairstyles in the hair branch of her store. I really appreciate styles like Mitzi because they're gorgeously original, and nearly impossible to find anywhere else in SL. Mitzi gets bonus points for its assymetry, and the delicate shaping of every curl. 

I have long, straight hair in reality, and I'm always hungry for similar styles in SL. Straight hair looks deceptively easy to make, but texturing and movement are huge obstacles. Yasmin, by Onyx LeShelle of Maitreya, has produced an ideal straight-hair style in my opinion. The length of the hair is seperated in to sleek, flexible pieces that move in a remarkably natural-looking way (without breaking up the textures). The tips are also a mix of solid and alpha textures, which also looks more natural and helps avoid that icicle-tipped look a lot of lower-quality straight hairstyles have. I know I'll be wearing this for quite awhile.

I had to include something little more costumy for the eccentric side of fashion. Lady of the Bugs was a natural choice, by Helena Stringer of The Stringer Shrine. At first I liked the lace and feather touches a bit more than the colour-changing ladybugs, but the shiny little creations have grown on me. There's a flavour of whimsy and innocence in them that reminds me of the more creative turn-of-the-century jewelry designs. It's another example of a sense of fun that a designer who enjoys what they're doing can imbue in their creations-- there is absolutely no way to wear this style and be in a bad mood!

Torrid Midnight's hairstyles came completely out of left field, and managed to be one of the highlights of the entire Fair. Fedorable Loveless from TorridWear is a gigantic leap ahead from Torrid's earlier hairstyles (if you're not familiar, take a look at Hamlet's head for one), with almost no public build-up in the time in between. These days she's more known as a pose-maker than a designer, which may make this hairstyle even more shocking for newer fashionistas. Either way, she's made a breathtakingly stylish debut, and I can't wait to see what's next from her.

Don't hesitate, teleport to Hair Fair 2008 before it all ends on September 7th! It's great hair for an even greater cause.

Iris Ophelia has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.

 

 

Comments

[Efemera Bisiani]

Just as an FYI, all of the bandana's are "made" by Damien Fate, who kindly donated his time to sculpt the base kits (in two sizes for Men and Women), which were then distributed to Hair Fair participants and other creatively minded folks to personalise. So all of the many, many styles of bandana will show Damien as the creator when you check properties, but they've all been decorated by different people. In the case of Laqroki, presumably Mallory Cowen.

[Veeyawn Spoonhammer]

Why no guy hair?

[Truthseeker]

/me puts on his best Tom-Hanks-as-Drunken-Team-Manager voice and gets all up in Veeyawn's face..."Are you a GUY?!? There's no GUYS at HAIR FAIR!!"

[Iris Ophelia]

Thanks for pointing that out Efemera!
And Veeyawn, there's TOOOOONS of guy hair at Hair Fair '08, but the styles I chose to show are all the ones that split proceeds between the creator and Locks of Love. There were relatively few male styles that fit that category, so I decided to just pick what leaped out at me instead. ^^;

[anon]

wow Ophelia, what a fantastic job you've done in identifying trends and spectacular new styles. It took me 3 days to get thru the fair and I missed some of these too. I am still unpacking the freebies--the generous designers loaded us up with some exquisite freebies including a hair style called Adam and Eve complete with serpent and apple with hair texture and color change hud that makes it hard to compute the hundreds (?) of combos possible.
This Hair Fair was one of best Big Events I've attended in couple years of SL. Only one more day, so don't miss it.