New World Notes

Parthenoid 2.0: A Fascinating & Insightful Fashion Blog for Trans Avatars

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Parthenoid 2. 0 is a blog by Sian who focuses on cyber-fashion for trans avatars. Sian’s most recent post “xx:xy tryouts” is a fascinating and insightful exploration of how Second Life offers freedom of exploration to individuals. They write, “one of the unexpected, unintended niches of Second Life has been its use as a testing ground for trans identity, for the sexuality of unaccustomed bodies, a relief from a dysphoria we might not even have known we had. We wanted to investigate another possibility of who we were, tried on gender in the cheaper off-the-rack way, the better to know what worked and what didn't.”

The fashion is interesting in its exploration of cyberkink, but secondary to the intriguing and deeply introspective writing as Sian explores trans identity in their first and Second Life. I particularly loved Sian’s plea for acceptance of making mistakes: 

“Whoever we are, however we are, we have to be allowed to trial who we are without harming anyone, with full consent, as messy and transgressive as that might be, because for many of us, in the worlds we live in, in the closets we inhabit, so often padlocked on the outside, a trial is the best we might get.”

• r2 a/d/e asanagi top, sasa gloves by Rei2 Aya
• out of order 80s geo earrings by DonnaCasta

For a meditation on baldness, click here:

SL Fashion Shopping Tips from Brandi Monroe

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Brandi Monroe’s ‘Oh Look! It’s a Blog!” recently featured this post “Concealed Identity” and I just love the picture so much. It is all so very mysterious and regal. I can almost hear the tattoo of dancing feet and a flamenco guitar strumming Romance Anonimo. 

• Hair: tram K0525 hair @ Collabor88
• Headpiece: – shanghai – Divine Headdress Black @ Collabor88
• Fan: .random.Matter. – The Countess Hand Fan @ Collabor88

For something to wear on a warm summer day, click here:

Just in Time for Tokyo, Dive and Compete in the Really Olympic Swimming Pool -- With Wet Hair, Skin, and Clothing When You Get Out of the Water!

The Really Olympic Swimming Pool is a new product from New World Notes sponsor Really Needy HUD, which turns activity in Second Life into a fun Sims-like roleplaying game. As you probably guessed, any swimming in the pool is tracked as exercise on the Really Needy HUD. As creator Grace7 Ling explains, you just need to click on the pool’s life buoy, to get started:   

“By clicking the Swim HUD it will auto attach as a temporary attachment, and your avatar can swim forward, back, up, down, and also make a jump dive. It also tracks how long you are in the pool’s mesh/prim water and communicates to the Fitness script in the Really Needy HUD”. 

As befitting style-conscious SL users, the pool also enables users to look wet, when they get out:

SL Fashion Shopping Tips from Blogger Kyoka Jun

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I had to check out this post from Kyoka Jun on her blog, or should I say blogs? She lets her readers filter her content. It’s a unique approach that some readers might appreciate. The post is titled “Sealed Kisses” and I love seeing a gown. Sometimes it feels like nobody blogs clothes anymore, just lingerie and swimwear. That’s not true, of course, but it can feel like a treasure hunt at times. 

I was also incredibly curious about the giant lipstick she was sitting on. Sadly, that was not answered by her post, of course, it could be part of a background somewhere. I am always a bit disappointed when the reason I click through is not answered, but I thought her blog was unique and interesting, so I wanted to share it anyway. The pose comes from a pose HUD that was released for Vintage Fair but that closed Sunday, so look in the store. I like that since she did not use all the poses, she posted the vendor ad for the pose hud so her readers could see all the poses. 

• [[PS]]Noctis Gown<teal green> @ SL18B 
• pose - :studiOneiro: Dixie BENTO set /poses/ HUD

For a pick from another genre, click here:

SL Fashion Blogger Friday: Style & Houseware Shopping Tips from Dama

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Dama is a lovely blog from Damatjo Magic. I love her Sunny Afternoon post. The picture is lovely. She used the Rule of Thirds in placing her avatar and it gives the picture such great balance. I love her blouse with the lace on the yoke and sleeves. And who doesn’t love a truck full of flowers. She points out that the braid can be worn on the left or right. I only wish that she told us where to get the blouse.  

• Hair: Holly – Mina Hair @ Uber

For a lovely set piece she blogged, click here:

Weekend Shopping Tips from the My Second Life Style Blog

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I love the details Kira Malien takes care of in her picture for “Lonely Night,” a recent post featuring leather, city lights, and melancholy. I love that she made the effort to 'shop in her reflection into the picture. The lighting is sumptuous. 

• Outfit: Cynful - Savi Leather Top + Savi Leather Shorts @ Equal10

Her most recent post is after this click. 

Second Life Brands: Here’s Why It’s So Hard to Give You Linden Dollars -- Plus Three Ways to Make it Much Easier (Guest Post)

Whiskey Monday is an acclaimed SL artist; follow her on Twitter @Whiskey_Day 

Dear Makers of Amazing Things in Second Life,

Let me start by saying: I LOVE YOU. I would not be in Second Life without you. I could not do what I do without your inventive, beautiful, well-crafted creations. Thank you for all that you do. I enjoy shopping for and collecting the imaginative items you sell. I want to support your work! 

When I can find you. And when I finally find your store, if I can find the item I’m searching for, even better. Because it’s not that simple, is it? Many of you make it tough to shop in your store. 

Please, please, please – I’m begging you – make it easier to give you my money. 

I keep a notebook of cool things I see, and who created them. If I’m wandering a sim and see a nice plant, I don’t want to leave right that moment to go buy it. So, I inspect it, note the creator (for our purposes here, let’s call the item maker SuperStore69), and then carry on exploring. 

Later, after I’ve been abused over the phone by yet another client who thinks the universe revolves around them (off you fuck, Chad), I want some retail therapy. I flip open my SL notebook and see my note about that plant at SuperStore69 and that’s just the ticket! What could make me feel better? Gimme plant.

Second Life Search is shitty, but it’s still where we start. I open Search in my viewer and look up SuperStore69. Nothing. Nada. Zip. But I want the plant. So I open SL Marketplace in my browser, and I type in SuperStore69. In this case, YAY, there they are! But no plant. 

So I click the link for the in-world Store...

Shopping for SL Male Fashion? Look Inside Taylor Belmont's Dirty Mind

The Dirty Mind blog is by Taker Belmont. I got a kick out of post #41 with the banana swing. The banana outfit is such a clever choice. It has a sort of mod meets camp feeling. The gold pillars are too much which makes them perfectly campy. 

• 055 SumBoss  - [ GUILTY ] Man Cave (exclusive)
• Banana Swing & Tree Light Set - CROWDED ROOM Marketplace

And now for something completely different, click here:

Today's SL Flickr Pick: Sharp Male Fashion Imagery from Alfred Wessex

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I love “To the Moon” from Alfred Wessex. I love how he shows the avatars’ love for each other in such a simple way, how she leans into him, how he rests his arm on her leg. It shows a couple attuned to each other in an ordinary moment enjoying the night sky. I also like the subtle light that illuminates some of the grass but fades quickly outside their magic circle.

Wessex does great fashion shoots; for more, click here:

SL Fashion Friday: Two Stylish Looks from Two Shopping Events

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Chic at Phil’s Place has been keeping us informed of the best in fashion since 2008. As one of the old guard, she has kept going while many others have taken long sabbaticals (ahem, me!) or quit altogether. I love how she focuses on one item in Unseelie, the fabulous foot jewelry from Lassitude & Ennui. 

Lassitude & Ennui’s Unseelie foot jewels are at the Chronicles and Legends event -- click here to teleport. 

For a mod look, click here: