Ophelia's Gaze: Hot Tips For Halloween in Second Life

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

It's not the first time that I've said this, and it definitely won't be the last, but Halloween is definitely the fashionista's holiday. In particular though, it's the weird fashionista's holiday, since it's a good opportunity to show off your most unique looks. I've picked six of my favorite special outfits for Halloween, and while most of them aren't all that scary, I think they're all frightfully fashionable!

Mermaids are a tried and true favourite of mine. I spent a lot of time as a mermaid when I was brand new to Second Life, because there's something very freeing about swimming and something very enchanting about the image of a mermaid in the water. Needless to say I have my fair share of mermaid tails and accessories, but this outfit, Anemone by Azaiya Aeon of NiXiE [SLURL], is probably one of my favourites. While it comes with a nice AO, if your Halloween party is on land, I recommend picking up the Mermaid AO by Pandora Wrigglesworth of Curio Obscura [SLURL], which has a mermaid-on-land animation set. I completed this outfit with Kin Keiko's Bria hair from Kin [SLURL] (originally green but tinted pink to get that nice rosy grey tone), the Klee Dot lashes from Detour [SLURL], Atomic's Grace skin in Daring Black Stripe by Ivy Graves [SLURL], and strings of pearls by Sissi String for Glitteratti [SLURL].

I've never really been one for fairy outfits, but I do have a solid appreciation for Disney characters, so I was drawn to Surreal LeShelle's store, Deviance [SLURL], for her Tinkerbell-inspired costume, as well as a spot-on Snow White dress that she's also made. The whole outfit includes different wand, wing, slipper and skirt variations, and while I paired it with Truth Hawks' new Cameron hairstyle from Truth [SLURL], but for a little more accuracy Truth's Tanya might be a better fit. As for skin, something sweet with minimal makeup is ideal, so I chose the Kawaii Lychee skin by Uri Collas of Sweets Party [SLURL].

Zombies are a huge costume trend right now. Between "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and SL's very own Zombiefest, we can't seem to get enough of the walking undead. This Zombie Avatar is a freebie for Halloween from Dernier Cri [SLURL] by Asuka Martin, who is also offering her Halloween freebie from last year (a tarty little bumble bee costume) right next to it. This costume is a great value, in particular because it comes with a nice fluffy hairstyle, a pair of sculpted loose boots, and 3 really well-detailed skins, representing the look of a zombie at 3 different stages of infection (stage 1 and stage 3 are shown above). Another good option for zombie skins is Chai [SLURL] by Launa Fauna, who made some vampire and zombie skins recently and has set them on sale for 50% off for the lead-up to Halloween.

I originally made this very disproportionate shape to celebrate a certain Mattel lawsuit last year. When I joined SL, there was a bit of a subculture among fashionistas who styled themselves to look like Bratz dolls, and while it may not be as overt anymore, we've probably all run into a couple female avatars with bizarrely large lips and disproportionately tiny figures. This costume is probably perfect if you have a rather stylish avatar and you want to poke fun at yourself, and it's pretty quick to make. You'll want to edit your shape in Appearance Mode to decrease your height, the size of your chest and hips, the thickness of your body and neck, and then increase the size of your head, eyes, lips, and feet as much as you can. For a bit of extra emphasis, try pairing your doll shape with a skin that has rather large lips on its own, like Dutch Touch [SLURL] by Iki Ikarus (pictured) or Vive9 [discount warehouse SLURL] by BluAbyss Denimore. Then, just make sure you can stretch your hair and shoes enough to fit your oversized head and feet, throw on a stylish ensemble, and you're ready for the shelf!

Devil costumes are pretty standard Halloween fare, but the heavily embellished Burn Victim skin (which comes in both male and female versions) from Ryker Beck's Halloween hunt at Exodi [SLURL] (which also has male and female Dr. Manhattan themed skins on offer as well) inspired me to try a different angle. I added the Tether Camisk by Talyn Barrett of Analise [SLURL] (all of her orange clothes are currently 50% of before Halloween), as well as gold cuffs by Kuranosuke Kamachi of DeLa [SLURL], Madelaine Delec's decorative Chained Horns (which only seem to be available on XStreet), and the phenomenally firey FLM800 hairstyle by boo Nakamura of booN [SLURL].

I suppose there's nothing really special about wearing an animal avatar in itself in SL, but I happened to stop by Grendel's Children [SLURL] for the first time in awhile, and when I saw the Avarian Deer by Flea Bussy I was totally struck and knew that I had to mention it. While I find this deer fairly bulky and likely not the deer avatar of my dreams (believe it or not a dainty little deer avatar is something I've been wanting for a long time), it comes with a HUD full of features and several different pelt options, all without even breaking L$200 (which is always the true beauty of Grendel's Children). I recognize that my costumes are very fashionable-female-centric, but there's so much more to having fun with your avatar in Second Life on any occasion than being humanoid. If you want a slightly more animalistic costume Grendel's Children would be worse a trip, and if your a fan of cartoonish non-human tinies, try Loco Pocos [SLURL] and even Casa Del Shai [SLURL], as Shai Delacroix has recently released a series of cute little voodoo doll avatars.

I can admit that there's one big flaw in my list... I didn't really help out the guys (deer and Dr. Manhattan aside)! So boys, what will you be wearing this Saturday?

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

[Madame Maracas]

Munchflower Zaius of Nomine has done INCREDIBLE zombie skins, 4 stages of decay, as well as Vampire and other incredibly rendered yet scary skins!

Pulaski Fizz of Avi Puli has made a wonderful Zombie AO that covers all the motion basics.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

If your everyday avatar in SL is a vampire ninja bunny with uzis, what do you dress up for on Halloween? Bob from Accounting?

[Lalo Telling]

Madame: Does that AO include a brain-eating animation?

Arcadia: Yes. ;)

Iris: As a boy (and a furry one at that), I've decided to go with the holiday color scheme, rather than a costume. So I'll be seen as an all-black cat (last year's Hallowe'en release from Lost Furest) dressed in black and glowy orange rave gear.