Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of virtual world and MMO fashion
Last night's episode of TLC's hit show What Not to Wear had SL fashionistas in a tizzy. Though Second Life was slightly shrouded under the fabricated name of "Planet Stiletto", it was immediately recognizable as SL to anyone in the know. But the reality of Second Life isn't very far from the made-for-reality-TV Planet Stiletto. It's a playground for the style-savvy to express themselves-- a world where utterly flawless fashion is attainable for a few dollars during a lazy Saturday afternoon at home. Of course there is a LOT more to Second Life than just fashion, but if you're going to go exploring you might as well do it in style!
So I've got a few shopping tips for anyone looking to get started in Planet Stiletto -- I mean, Second Life -- especially if you're a virtual world newbie. Keep reading to find out how!
Skin from LAQ [In-World only]
First thing's first, your body in Second Life is made up of a skin and a shape. While you can make a shape on your own or use a premade one, skins are a far less DIY item for most of us. Skins have almost all of the details of your body painted on them, so a good skin can be the difference between diva and disaster. They're also usually the most expensive part of an outfit, but as you know if you're a regular viewer of What Not to Wear, sometimes you need to be willing to invest in a couple good, versatile pieces to pull everything else together. That's exactly the case with skins.
The skin I'm wearing is called Imani2 from LAQ, a brand that I chose because they come with a variety of options in terms of makeup (meaning that your skin will be more versatile in the long run), and also because LAQ sells skins of virtually every ethnicity, as well as male skins. Just remember to always try on a demo whenever one is offered-- this will let you test an item without actually committing to buy it, so if it doesn't look good on you, you're not stuck with it!
Eyes from Insufferable Dastard [In-World or on the Marketplace]
A good pair of eyes can bring a lot of life and soul to your avatar, and can go a long way to making them look less cartoonish. I picked a set of eyes from Insufferable Dastard, a popular brand that specializes in eyes and is very well priced. While I was at their shop I also swung next door and picked up a Pinup-inspired red lipstick tattoo from the makeup store Redbird, something which can be used with any skin to tweak and alter the look of your makeup.
Hair from Elikatira [In-World or on the Marketplace]
Elikatira is another well-respected brand with tons of super-cute hairstyles to suit almost everyone's tastes. My favourite thing about this store is that they sell a pack with a variety of different hair colours in it-- a couple blondes, reds, browns and more-- so if you're not really sure which hue you like best, you can have a little bit of everything instead! This style is one of their latest releases from Hair Fair 2012 (check out my write up about the event here) called Flattery.
Dress from coldLogic [In-World or on the Marketplace]
This is a newer release from the brand that Stacy London herself hand picked for her virtual outfit on last night's show, one of the most popular clothing brands in SL, so it almost goes without saying that what they produce is almost universally fabulous. There's a variety of clothing at coldLogic ranging from smart and sophisticated to fun and flirty, with carefully crafted little details like the amazing double belt on this dress, named Hathaway. Fans of What Not to Wear's chic aesthetic will be right at home here!
Shoes by *GField* [In-World only]
This brand is run by a japanese designer who is known both for the high quality of her items and the number of options she usually provides. Clicking on the Alex strap shoes I'm wearing, for example, lets me change the colour of the shoe, the sole, and the buckle, as well as offering me a number of different ways to wear the straps. It's one pair of shoes with almost endless possibilities, and the perfect foundation piece for a virtual wardrobe.
The best advice, of course, is to explore. Find unknown little shops with amazing sales and deals, meet kindred spirits with among your fellow fashionistas, try on demos and ask for help when you need it, and have fun in one of the most exciting and open-ended style sandboxes that you could ever hope for!
Tweet Iris Ophelia (Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.
Not a bad skin to see you use there. Its looks more like a deep tan on a Caucasian than some other ethnic group - but that is probably the shape and hair talking. Thought the highlights around the blush also lend to that impression. It is nonetheless visually nice.
Skin makers are usually working with a small list of base files, that they alter and recolor for effect. As a result you kind of have to pick one for the ethnicity they specialize in. I wouldn't shop at 'LS Store' for a Caucasian skin, even though he offers them, for reasons similar to why I might not go to LAQ for an African, South East Asian, or Native American look (the skin screenshotted above -almost- seems Thai or Burmese due to the shape, but the blush then becomes an issue again).
- You've got to hit every layer and adjust highlights, shadows, and placement of things like lips in order to go from one ethnic look to another for a skin. If you just recolor the major layers, you end up with something like the blush issue above.
coldLogic is popular, and I buy a lot there - but its about 2 to 3 times more expensive than much of its equally well done competition... If someone were getting started, I'd send them to JANE right next door first.
As a Neko, I can't speak for shoes. I've got claws going.
Posted by: Pussycat Catnap | Thursday, July 19, 2012 at 11:52 AM
Hair:
For hair I would send someone looking for an African look to Discord Designs. All Mod and super low price. Plenty of Caucasian looks as well. Only a few new mesh offerings- but these are the ONLY mesh hairs for Africans in SL at this point that I have found.
Hair Studio One's offering at Hair Fair is also good, but you can't remove the script all the way (the touch script stays even after deletion of the rest), and its super pricey. The African hairs sold at Hair Fair are -not- offered in the regular shop.
For a Native American look, .EMO - also good for fantasy and Caucasian / Asian. But at that point there might be mesh options elsewhere that are better. I don't know.
Posted by: Pussycat Catnap | Thursday, July 19, 2012 at 11:58 AM
Discord is for all:) Im very blonde and loed the phoenix;)
But don't forget to check wasabi shop at the Hair fair as well as Vanity:)
(hehehe i got quite a few mesh hair now)!
As skins, Laq is as always, q very safe choice, same with Beleza, Redgrave and more, still I's a Gala Phoenix user since i can remember;)
Shoes is a diff thing, i just care for 1 thing when buying shoes (and thats why yesterday i spent 580L on a single pair of sneakers!).
Can i make them unscripted?
No matter how good or how many fucntions they allow, if scripts can't be removed, then the shoes are not worth a single L!
Posted by: foneco zuzu | Friday, July 20, 2012 at 07:12 AM