Ophelia's Gaze: Fashion in the Home

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

Fashion’s not limited to what you can wear. Decorating and interior design are ruled as much by style and creativity as any little black dress. While there are almost innumerable writers covering the wearable art that is Second Life fashion, there are only a handful covering decorative elements for our virtual homes. While my passion obviously lies more with the avatar than the apartment, I thought it would be nice to take a little break to talk about the fashioniable second home.

Above is a shot of my current workspace, minus the Photosphere and the N30 Modeling Studio which usually crowd it. It’s a slightly butchered version of Toby1 Idler’s NY Skybox, which is wildly popular. Normally the New York skyline would be visible through that massive window, but I opted to lop that out in anticipation of the glorious return of Windlight. While I really do feel that prefabs are the way to go (unless you’re really willing to commit to building yourself) I’m also completely against  no-mod prefbs. Just like jewelry, hair, and shapes, you should be able to tweak your home to fit you. But all that being said, I’ve worked out of that skybox for months now and I’m ready to move into something a little more refined...

Ingrid Ingersoll’s Homestore is a favorite of mine when it comes to prefabricated buildings. She has an appreciation of the cozy and the kitsch, but with a very classy edge. Her Garden District Townhouse is exactly what I would call a fashionable house. It’s not massive and sprawling, but it doesn’t need to be. Ingrid has great attention to detail that many prefab designers lack, which can mean the difference between a house and a furnished cube.

It’s appropriate that I mention Barnesworth Anubis after Ingrid Ingersoll, since they’re well-known collaborators. Barnesworth (of BAPFH) also has a penchant for prefabs, but I find what I admire most from him is the complete “look” he assembles with a building and its furnishings. Shown is the Agadir set, not shown are the diaphanous drapes that frame this room on two sides, which give the whole thing a very exotic and alluring feeling. Please notice the drop shadows on the furniture as well. I consider drop shadows on prim furniture to be the equivalent of glitchpants under a skirt: a community breakthrough that no product should now be without. Period.

You’ll also notice drop shadows on the work of Fastrak Creeley of Trak’s, whose sofas and living room sets have recently captured my heart. The Comfy Living Room Set shown is one of the more sedated designs in this store, but very sleek and mature looking. I’ll admit, however, that the equally well-made brown leather couch with giant lipstick kiss-mark at Trak’s is a little more my style. Fastrak’s work is a very good indication of what a tremendous gift sculptie prims have been for those of us living our second lives in style.

SAZAE Yoshikawa also gets points for her use of sculpties, but for a far bolder and more unique product. Her wall-mounted buck is a little bit lumpy, and I can never find anywhere to put it, but it’s something that people with an interest in the off-beat will find irresistible. In fact, that’s true of most things that SAZAE sells at Creamshop, which specializes more in clothing and hair than decor. It isn’t uncommon to find this buck peering back at you on the walls of more than a few hangouts in Japanese sims. The backing of the wall mount changes textures for those with a very specific colour palette in mind, and the flamingo lights are sold seperately.

luly Lulu is another Japanese resident more known for her fashion than her furnishings. I’ll admit I’m a bit of a sucker for decorative dressforms and mannequins, which luly’s done in a somewhat prim-heavy form with a matching stool. luly, like most of the designers on this list, has a very unique perspective on what she creates, leading to pieces which are both well made and completely unconventional.

I’m always wary of buying prim paintings and artwork. Yard sales and malls are full of art pasted onto a prim, selling for pennies, and obviously not for sale by anyone who owns the rights to the image. As much as I don’t want to support thieves, I love the look of paintings and posters on my walls, and it’s nearly impossible to know who is legitimate and who isn’t. However, I have found a couple who seem to be original artists. Miki Morigi and SALA Loon sell artwork at Shop SALA, for the most part focussing on flowers, women, and really vivid colours, executed by very talented and consistent hands.

I’m also quite fond of the artwork of Mina Jun, though she doesn’t exactly sell it. Many items art her shop, Minajunk, are packaged in prim paintings, complete with canvas stretchers visible on the back. I’m a big fan of her work in fashion as well as her art, both of which show a really lush but laid-back vision of femininity. It’s natural that her chandelier (built of flat textured prims crossed together) is another favourite of mine. While it’s not perfect, it makes a very romantic and enchanting addition to a room.

Just as enchanting, though far less romantic, is Eva Wyler’s Magic Mirror (which can be found in Wizard’s Alley, not in her store, Liquid Designs). As a decor element, it pretty much clashes with everything, but it’s definitely a conversation piece. After setting the colour of the flame backdrop, the sound levels, and whether you would like to be addressed as Master or Mistress, the mirror will answer your yes or no questions with a very ominous voice. That’s all well and good, but what does it have to do with living fashionably? I know a lot of women, myself included, have a bit of a princess complex, maybe even an evil queen complex. This is something worth tucking discretely behind a bookcase or false wall to give your home a bit of an interactive twist.

Back on the more conventional side of home decorating, something that is done often but rarely done well in SL are candles. Actually, candle, pillows, and vases, all fall in that category, and Mike’s Studio has each of them in a variety of forms, all exquisite down to the last pixel. The candle display in particular caught my eye, and I have to give Michaelangelo David kudos for both a clever name and exceptional execution of simple home accents.

The last item is a suitable one. A perfect home definitely benefits from a little plant life on the exterior, even if it’s just for show. Kriss Lehmann has made himself a decorating staple with Straylight, which features some of the most stunningly well-crafted and photogenic trees on the grid. Shown are a few holiday-friendly trees, a but more understated than the typical Christmas tree, and still one of the most beautiful ones I’ve seen.

Furniture and home decor can be a little bit overwhelming for those of us who only dabble in it every few months. Build a nice little inventory of items before you try to piece anything together, then approach it like you’d approach putting together an outfit. You might not want to match everything exactly, so try pieces that are complimentary to each other. Most importantly, don’t go too wild. Sometimes less really is more.

Iris Ophelia covers and creates metaverse style for New World Notes.  Visit her blog for a view at the source.

Comments

[DeltaDharmaDawn Aubret]

Nice to read this. I too have been contemplating why there seems to be so little written about the architectural/content creation in SL.

[Ross Daniels]

Nice work. I'd like to see more of this sort of thing as well.

[Delilah Karas]

Check out Rustica for some lovely home decorating items also, I'm a fan

[thaumata]

This is a great article. I'm surprised you chose to feature Mike's candles instead of his cushions, which are SO amazing and such a steal for the box of copyable ones. Also, I think Barnesworth and Xenius Revere are collaborating on furniture now - I recently got a set of sculpty couch and chairs that is so heartwrenchingly beautiful that I almost feel bad putting it out next to my other (beautiful in it's own rights) furniture, because it puts it all to shame.

And I am TOTALLY with you on the prefabs being mod, and I think they should be COPY as well. I won't say who made it, but I bought an exquisite brick prefab from a very well-known designer a few months back for something crazy like 20k lindens. (I really loved it.) I soon got that stupid bug where some floor prims were acting phantom, and couldn't even rez a second copy of the house to remedy it. I ended up putting invisible prims over them so I would stop falling through, but that's ridiculous.

I have a well-known treehouse that is no-mod, also. It's a shame, because I'd love it a lot more if I could expand it a little bit.

Hi, I just wrote a novel.

[Anon]

Enjoyed this article, lots of great finds to shop for! And finding genuine art isn't easy, agreed, but allow me to add one I am certain of! Check out the wonderful work of RL oil painter Golam Amadeus. He has some of his creations rezzed (and for sale) at Kumarajiva.