Turn Heads Tonight With Chic Mesh Dresses from Talented (and even Templated) SL Designers

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

New Years Eve is always a great time to be a fashionista in either world because it's a great excuse to get dressed up. Glitz and glamour go hand in hand with this holiday, so even though I plan to spend midnight offline I can't help but dress my avatar up for the occasion anyway.

Earlier today I mentioned a dress from Maitreya that offers a more traditional New Years look, but I couldn't leave it at that. If you want something just as chic but a little more unique, this champagne-colored number from Leverocci [SLURL] [SL Marketplace] might be just what you need. It's called Elizabeth Ca 1932 and it's from their most recent line, labelled Belgravia. This picture is definitely worth enlarging to see the detailed texturing designer Jin Elfan has worked into this item. If you do wear this dress, take my advice and don't over-accessorize it. The striking blue gems around the neck will only get lost with any busy necklaces or voluminous hair over them, so stick with clutches, rings, and maybe a pair of sapphire pumps to make sure that you're not overdoing it.

If this slick look from Leverocci's not your taste, keep reading for something closer to the adorable end of the style spectrum!

I know for a fact that many people will turn their nose up at the Marla dress from *Les Petits Details* [SLURL] [SL Marketplace]. This dress is a little rough around the edges, and in some areas the painted textured just aren't as clean as they could be, but a far worse sin in the eyes of many is that this dress is made from a mesh template. It may even be near-blasphemous that I would feature such a dress directly after praising the original and immaculate mesh of Leverocci, but to me this dress is an example of how more designers should be using templates.

The underlying mesh here is a sleeveless halter-neck dress, but designer Nevery Lorakeet has made the halter section transparent as well as added puffed prim sleeves and a shirt/jacket layer to change the neckline and overall silhouette of the dress dramatically. This isn't a simple recolor made to dupe ignorant consumers out of their money; this is a designer designing, using all the tools available to them including mesh templates. So no, this dress isn't perfect, and the source isn't 100% original, but it's a cute design and a very clever use of materials that I'm proud to put it on my av. Here's hoping that more template-users follow Nevery's example in 2013!

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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.

Comments

[Pussycat Catnap]

I seriously love the look of the dress in the screenshot...

Going to have to check this one out.

[mousebi]

i support original design !!
i think template designers are sucks.. they steal the originla design form the mesh desiger and work the SAME design with different "colours' or texture all around the grid.
it kills the creativity of a dsigner n i don't like seeing ALL same dress in different colours, i prefer DIFFERENT deisgnand forms and shape..
it sucks!
I don't have any interest to buy the same dress over and oer and over again , just with different texture!! it is BORING.
and eg. the trench coat template , almost everyhsop has that design . .IT JUST BORE seoncd life fashion industry..
it is NO morefun shopping for clothes, with all things look similar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!