I've had a pair of virtual glasses on my avatar's head for about as long as the pair on my actual face, but they went out of style a lot sooner. Shortly after I started reporting from within Second Life in 2003, an old-timer named Dave Zeeman built a pair for me-- see inset thumbnail pic, and May 27, 2003's old archived post. He basically took a picture of a real pair of glasses, turned it into a texture, and slapped it onto a couple prims; a good solution for 2003, but metaverse fashion technology for eyewear has taken several leaps and bounds since then. (Sorry, Dave!) Here's my new pair from Role Optic, a really impressive eyeglass store with a blog, an in-world group for product announcements, and a store with a chic, clean layout that could easily be the prototype for a real boutique store. It makes me curious how quickly other styles and accessories become obsolete, but I'm the worst person to ask. I put it to my fashionaista readers: What's the oldest item you still wear on a regular basis?
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Excepting my shape I suppose that the oldest item I regularly wore (until a recent upgrade) was my marionette cross; a wooden apparatus that floats above my head and streams Lockmeister particles to my limbs as strings if I want it to. Such a thing seems backward to the point of uselessness other than as a statement of what I am here, but it's dear to me. I saw fit to make my own recently, in greater fitting with my Extropian surroundings. Yay for glowy, shiny, new puppet strings. ^_^
Posted by: Vidal Tripsa | Tuesday, July 01, 2008 at 01:28 PM
Yeah, with minor mods, my shape is my oldest item too. I don't really wear *anything* on a regular basis, but I'm blessed with a couple of old Dazzle outfits that were gifted me by a friend that I'm just in awe of. Guess it's the fashionista equivalent to the Starax wand, at least for me.
Posted by: Efemera Bisiani | Tuesday, July 01, 2008 at 03:51 PM
I've been wearing my little shoulder penguin since late October 2006. He's gone through some enhancements over time (i.e. a talk script, vairous "outfits" for Christmas or formals), but the original design by Todd Borst (who both the penguin and myself have had the good fortune to meet) remains the same.
Posted by: Alex Lapointe | Tuesday, July 01, 2008 at 03:59 PM
I also wear glasses in SL. Have for half my life! Not sure why; I'm 20/20 in RL. Guess my poor avatar is nearsighted.
The longest-term item is probably one or the other of the Hawaiian fishhooks I sell. They were the first thing I looked for in-world. Didn't find them, so I made them.
Posted by: Rusalka Writer | Tuesday, July 01, 2008 at 08:55 PM
Now, Hamlet, it's time for a new suit, too. Don't you think?
I guess my oldest wearable items are a pair of high top black boots Digital Dharma gave me. And I wear those very often.
Posted by: Laetizia Coronet | Wednesday, July 02, 2008 at 12:11 AM
My shoes - it took forever to find a nice low prim set of sling-backs that I like, and they pretty much go with 95% of my wardrobe. Bought back in 2006 as modify, they've been tweaked like crazy to fit my shape. I probably change the body shape (I rotate around three with subtle changes) more than the shoes.
Posted by: Cardie Mahoney | Wednesday, July 02, 2008 at 02:13 AM
Good quality fashion never goes out of style. Just ask Audrey Hepburn or Jackie Onassis; people are still copying them after years. Just develop your own style, and let the doyens/doyennes of fashion that decree what's "the new black" every six months go fold it five ways.
BTW, Ham, Laetizia has a point; you need to loosen up (grin). Get a good pair of jeans or chinos, and I'll send you a T-shirt. (Of course, it'll be advertising my store, but [grin]....)
Posted by: Harper Ganesvoort | Wednesday, July 02, 2008 at 06:59 AM
It's actually a set of collared short sleeve shirts I bought at Barnes Boutique within a month of joining SL in 2006. They still look quite nice.
Posted by: Gahum Riptide | Wednesday, July 02, 2008 at 10:15 AM
"Now, Hamlet, it's time for a new suit, too."
Hey, I got it from stampshady Grimm in like, 2005, so it's practically new!
I am actually looking to upgrade soon...
Posted by: Hamlet Au | Wednesday, July 02, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Hamlet, you'll need a khaki sleeveless jacket with lots of pockets - the type men use on fishing trips or reporters use in underdeveloped and/or disaster areas. To wear under it a blue shirt of the kind worn in offices all over the world, and dark chino's. Then you're ready to share a splitscreen with Anderson Cooper on CNN...
Posted by: Laetizia Coronet | Wednesday, July 02, 2008 at 11:12 PM
Talking of obsolete...a new skin and prim hair would significantly update your look; it seems a bit pointless to give attention to small details like better eyeglasses when you're still wandering the grid in a 2003-standard avatar with a default skin and system hair. (And with the range of options available out there now, that should be fairly easy to do while still having the same generaly look, only improved.)
Posted by: Vivienne Graves | Thursday, July 03, 2008 at 04:08 PM
/me is amused that half the comments here are fashion tips for Hamlet . . .
I suppose my oldest clothing items (outside of the freebies I picked up that turned out to be older than I was) would be my first clumsy attempts at self-made clothing when I was still figuring out This Here Second Life Thing.
My first purchased fashion item is in fact something I still wear these days--the Deviant Kitties hair that Miles Montgolfier coaxed me into purchasing. (It's the hair I'm wearing on the female half of my SL profile pic.) That was the hair that sent me down the slope of spending money to make myself look good.
Posted by: CyFishy Traveler | Monday, July 07, 2008 at 06:39 AM
The oldest item on my avvie is also my glasses. They were old when I first bought them, within days of my account's creation. I've seen other glasses out there that I've liked -- but I always go back to the same old. I wish the seller was still inworld, so I could get some back-ups, just in case. Maybe someday I'll just up an make some new ones, but these have lasted me so long that its hard to think of replacing them.
Posted by: Marianne McCann | Monday, July 07, 2008 at 06:41 AM
You know, it would be a fun story for you to go through a makeover. Maybe a joint thing with one of the men's fashion bloggers. And if your averse to spending L$, believe me, they can point you at some freebies that are much better than what you have now.
I'm sure you have your reasons for the early-SL look, but please, for God's sake, please. I cringed when I looked at the picture for this post.
Posted by: Garth Goode | Monday, July 07, 2008 at 03:40 PM
Well, there's Meta Makeover, so I wonder is there an avatar makeover show? If not, Hamlet could be the first guest :).
Posted by: Gahum Riptide | Tuesday, July 08, 2008 at 12:42 AM
I appreciate the suggestions, but a certain Style Correspondent already offered to give me a makeover. Ahem.
Posted by: Hamlet Au | Tuesday, July 08, 2008 at 12:52 AM
Like Cyfishy, my oldest item is also some Deviant Kitties' hair! I wear other styles but I keep coming back to this bright yellow, cute and punky hair from DK that is still fresh and unique to this day.
Posted by: Faerie | Monday, July 14, 2008 at 08:40 PM