Dia Bonita

I have been a fan of Brazilian music for a while. I am not a heavy-duty fan—just an admirer. From the first time I heard Brazilian music and heard the glint of sun off the water in my mind (don’t ask me how that worked), I have loved the shimmer and tap of the samba and the cooling salve of the music.

This dress from Nicky Ree isn’t exactly Brazilian per se but it reminds me of the inherent happiness in so much of the music. The flowers and lightness of this outfit remind me of the feminine beauty of women’s voices singing in Portugese, that fluid motion of the notes combined with a depth and emotional buoyancy. Nicky wows us again with her facility with textures and color gradients, this time going from sunset into a pretty pinky purple, accompanying it all with a lovely flowy scarf.

I show it with this glowing skin from Tricky Boucher. The dewiness of the face, the gentle light touching the skin, is perfectly revealed in Nicky’s dress. Tricky opted for a younger look with this freckled skin, beautifully framed with gorgeous eyebrows and full lips.

Finally, I show shoes from a new boutique. Made by Chopine Aura, these shoes represent the most mainline of the shoes she offers, many of them historically accurate. I complimented Chopine on the pretty toes and she mentioned that the toenail polishes were based on photos of her own pedicured feet. She then began to cite her sources—Wet n Wild, Revlon, and Cover Girl—and she sent me a photo of her own RL pretty toes to prove it. I had to laugh.

I will say that I struggled with these shoes a bit at first. The HUD is based on choosing a texture and then tinting it, and that always causes me trouble, especially as the retinting is very lagged—it takes a moment to get the whole foot. (I have to say I much prefer the HUDS from Maitreya and Kalnins.) I also had to do a fair amount of resizing of the ankle to make things work together, but once it was done, I was very pleased with the result. I especially like the cork heel (based on a photo of real cork she took because she got frustrated trying to make it in Blender and Poser), and the pretty ribbons around the shoe (with flexi).

Muito linda:

Hair: Gertrude – Copper by Rita Groshomme for Curio

Skin: -Belleza- Alyson SK 6 by Tricky Boucher for Belleza *

Dress: *DNR* Anita Floral Set in Pink by Nicky Ree for Designing Nicky Ree *

Shoes: Chopine’s Dotted Ribbons – Pink – High by Chopine Aura for Chopine’s

Written while listening to Balancê by Sara Tavares (who reminds us that all women in Brazil are gorgeous). Thank you to Carter Denja for the recommendation. And don’t miss Carter’s brilliant set on Monday nights at Madhu’s Cafe.

Hi, Lum!

Cowboy

I found this guy lurking in my subconscious. He’s a little country and a little bit rock n roll. I also think he’s the kind of guy who throws things on in that sort of seeming nonchalant manner (which is really very studied).

Let’s start with the sexy shirt from MarilynMonroe Munro. Marilyn’s business is putting out separates for casual wear—shirts, accessories, headphones, and outfits for women and men. This shirt is sexy—well textured with wrinkles in all the right places and a great versatile color.

The shorts are from Paco Pooley, inexpensive and very well done with a great camouflage texture and cargo bags and ties on the side. A lot of guys complain that there is a lack of manly clothes in SL—these shorts should keep you guys quiet for a day or two. They are just right with a nice uh.. shadowed feature in front.

One important part of completing the look is accessorizing. I think I work harder on accessorizing my male looks than my female looks. I found this brilliant hat on XStreetSL and ended up running over to Jon Ree’s for some great bracelets (do you guys call them that or are they like “European Wrist Decorations”). The wheat I fished out of my inventory.

The handsome face is courtesy of KaoZ Koba. I have noticed more and more men walking around with this devastating look. I am not sure how Pompeja can stand it, looking at this on KaoZ and not jumping through the monitor.

The final accessory are the boots from swaffette Firefly. These are boots for the cowboy who likes his crocodiles on his feet and his buckles around his ankles (and do not ask me about the multiple strange meanings that sentence might spawn). swaffette makes these for both men and women but they seemed more appropriate for my cowboy here.

“Talk low, talk slow, and don’t say too much.” ~ John Wayne

Hair: >TRUTH< Noah – auburn by Truth Hawks for >TRUTH< *

Skin: LaVie Mark Full Beard Normal by KaoZ Koba for LaVie *

Hat: Tidzsi Design stained brown cowboy hat black band copy by Tidzsi Raymaker for Tidzsi Design

Shirt: *Action Mens Slouchy V-Neck – Cocoa by MarilynMonroe Munro for *Action *

Shorts: 22769 Shopping Bag_CamuShorts by Paco Pooley for 22769

Bracelets: Bracelet — Men’s knotted leather and Bracelet — Men’s Domingo silver links by Jon Ree for Mustang Trading Post

Wheat: Wheat by Pepper Finchy sold on XStreetSL

Boots: sf design crocodile dk brown boots by swaffette Firefly for SF Designs *

Written while listening to “Concheperla” by Novalima.

Happy Birthday, Dad!!!! ;) (Yes, my RL dad reads my blog because he’s in Second Life. He follows NONE of my fashion advice, however.)

Blue Belle

I read a most beautiful poem by Richard Wilbur that keeps coming back to mind. It’s a poem about the inevitability of spring and with the windows finally being cracked open every day (despite the chill), I believe spring is finally showing up.

This spring we get the pleasure of seeing more than blossoms bloom. Sissy Pessoa has graced us with a collection of beautiful formal and couture pieces as her response to the spring fashion season. This is the first of several of her innovative pieces I will show. The thing about Sissy is, she has the gown down pat. She can do the textures. She knows style. But she never quite lets herself play it safe. In this case, Sissy makes this beautiful gown with a large sculpty prim. It’s been done before but Sissy seems to have conquered it, making a gown that moves with the avatar without awkwardness while looking magnificent as she stands still. And the colors and textures are rich and vibrant.

I outfit it with an equally rich and beautiful skin from Tuli Asturias. I know I keep showing her Eva skins, but I don’t engage in that sort of grid of skins all at once. Each one is beautiful and serves to make up a part of a whole look. Tuli got the idea right here with a very vibrant eye make up and then a pale neutral lip.

Written while listening to Fall In by Esperanza Spalding repeatedly.

Hair: Exile Emmanuelle violetdawn by Kavar Cleanslate for Exile

Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 4/bl) 06a by Tuli Asturias for Tuli *

Dress: Baiastice_Beaded Organza-blue/purple by Sissy Pessoa for Baiastice *

Sara Smile

Remember the 70s? For me the whole idea of that era smells like the inside of school buses and Bonne Bell Bubble Gum Lip Smackers and Love’s Baby Soft and Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific and wears satin baseball jackets. (I just showed my age card—ugh.) One of the sweetest love songs at the time was “Sara Smile,” which has been recently redone by The Bird and the Bee.

I wrote this while hearing that song and decided that Harper needs to smile. (“Won’t you smile awhile for me, Sara?”) She sure smiles wearing this outfit from monica Outlander. Putting together two separates from her brand spankin’ new store (a building collaboration between monica and Valeries Muircastle), I pair this well drawn tank top with funky harem pants. One thing monica is willing to do is take risks with her fashion, and she succeeds, pairing slim with full, wild with sedate. I look forward to seeing what monica intends to do in her other store—she said it will be avant garde and pret a porter.

Atop my head is another brilliant hit by Lamb Bellic. I think I am becoming a 50L Friday junkie based on Lamb’s hair alone. Her offering is often the most anticipated item for me and always a pleasure. I especially like the platinum blonde of this color. I don’t do blonde often or happily. Yet this one makes me smile.

Finally, LeeZu Baxter and Enktan Gully have teamed up again, this time to make a platform pump for the best fashionistas. With the textured fringy ankle and the high curvy sole and heel, these shoes are funky and fierce all at once and fully in keeping with the LeeZu vision.

When you feel cold, I’ll warm you
And when you feel you can’t go on, I’ll come and hold you
It’s you and me…. forever

Hair: !lamb. Sugarless – Powder by Lamb Bellic for !lamb.

Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 4/li) 05a by Tuli Asturias for Tuli

Top: Miamai_Wool Tank Top Red by monica Outlander for Miamai

Pants: Miamai_Jeunesse Pants Red by monica Outlander for Miamai

Bangles: **DM** Lena Bangles Fire [no transfer] by DarionMonkee Levitt for [MONKEE]

Shoes: .*Courtisane*. La Sauvage – Red by Enktan Gully and LeeZu Baxter for *Courtisane*

Cool But Not Cold

Lately I have been exploring questions of Otherness and identity in my friendships in SL. It’s a long story but one that has found me poking around into putting on other avatars and looks. A friend challenged me to make a man and make the one I would like. Well, truth is that I like lots of types of men. And making men here is not exactly an easy task for me—there is something indefinable about men for me—elusive and mysterious. I always struggle, probably because I am not male.

Check out my guy. I worked hard on him. Are we allowed an alterego? This might be mine. I start with a guayabera shirt. I just have a thing about them—I think they are sort of retro and sexy and Latino-tinged all at once with a casual cool elegance. This one, made by Floatie Hock, is the first one I have found in SL, and it’s all I need. Floatie has a whole treasure trove of vintage and cool clothes in her store, by the way, and she does this white shirt deftly with all the appropriate wrinkles and pockets. (And designing white clothes is no easy task.)

I accompany the guayabera with cool pants from my pal Rob1977 Moonites. I met Rob when he and his partner, Lexie Jansma, double-handedly pulled off the Menswear Fair. Rob had some great designers there but he’s no slouch himself. Rob is a straight-forward guy, and he understands that the typical guy in SL—one who is not into RP or glam, for example—just wants a decent pair of pants. He provides that in these black cords.

The skin is a photorealistic rendering from iLLNiniA Palmer, one of ten male skins she has recently released in her new store in the Wastelands. I was prompted to seek out her skins after I read in plurk that someone felt they were the ugliest skins she had ever seen. In our world of airbrushed cartoon realism, elven ears and sour puss faces, perhaps a real looking male face is kind of startling, but it certainly isn’t ugly. Who hasn’t had a crush on a guy like this at one time or another, zits and all? The guy is, even with his little flaws, cool. Let’s face it. Please note that this skin is worn over my regular male shape—not the one provided with the skin. It still works pretty well.

Hair is from Truth Hawks. I was pretty stuck on this hair but I wanted the hat, so I jammed Maddox DuPont’s hat with hair over the Truth hair and moved prims around to make it all fit together. So, yes inside my head is another whole head of hair. The glasses are a cute color-change pair I received from Posy Trudeau. They include scripts to change the glasses to one of five cool tortoiseshell patterns or several other colors, and they are offered in small or large sizes.

Boy’s got his mojo on:

Hair: >TRUTH< Hank – almond by Truth Hawks for >TRUTH<

Skin: ILLNINIA SKINS-06-JOSHUA-LIGHT NO HAIR by iLLNiniA Palmer for Illninia Skins

Shirt: HB – Juan – guayabera – mexican wedding shirt White by Floatie Hock for Hell Bop

Pants: *FIR* Black Cords by Rob1977 Moonites for *FIR* *

Hat: .::MADesigns HAIR::. ~ CHRIS casual F3 ~ MTBR I by Maddox DuPont for .::MADesigns HAIR::.

Glasses: Homespun Hornrimmed Glasses – LG by Posy Trudeau for Homespun *

Shoes: Shanghai Black/Red by Eponymous Trenchmouth for JC’s

Cigar: (Tableau) Lunar Lounge Cigar by Polyester Partridge for Yummy! (given as a freebie on the Tableau sim a while ago)

Thank you to my buds, Skarat and Erehwon, for reviewing my maleness and giving me approval. And Eshi, darlin, if I were this guy, I would do you too ;)

Goddess

My personal title on my sims is “Goddess.” It’s a sort of ironic title because, while I am owner of the sims, I really am working for my residents. I try my best to accommodate them when I can as a sort of benevolent mistress over the lands. (Aw, who am I kidding? They want a restart, I jump to restart.)

This set of female silks from the premier maker of male silks, Miro Collas, reminded me why I call myself “Goddess.” The silks come with intricately sculpted prims (including a codpiece that was clearly scaled down from his male version) and flowing silks. What is more magical, however, are the particles that come off the silks—a smoky mist and sparkling stars. The particles can be completely turned off by not wearing them or gently encouraging them to sleep with the included HUD. Or else they can be changed in color, acceleration of movement, and intensity of light. This photo was taking after I put the silks on and did no alterations in size or particles whatsoever. Fit like a charm.

I compliment the outfit with the ever-fabulous and angelic hair from Queue Marlowe. One concern about Queue’s hair is the full bright she slaps on some of it. What do you think?

The simplest and most basic meaning of the symbol of the Goddess is the acknowledgment of the legitimacy of female power as a beneficent and independent power. ~ Carol P. Christ

Hair: madison bleached by Queue Marlowe for Analog Dog

Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 3/br) 05a by Tuli Asturias for Tuli *

Silks: Rising SIlks for Her – Mythic by Miro Collas for Animations Rising *

Sriracha Sauce

Today I was thinking about the hot sauce that I see around in restaurants—that thick red sauce in a huge squeeze bottle with the rooster on the front. It’s vaguely Thai or Vietnamese and a little is more than enough.

Vlinder Reitveld, who spends half her life travelling around Asia and the other half bringing it to SL, makes this Vietnamese dress pretty hot with her sparkling red textures and attention to detail. Notice the sculpty mandarin-style collar, the jewels that come off the top of the skirt onto the tummy, and the great prim overlay coming off the halter top (shown below, though not above).

I show the dress with a stunning makeup from Tuli Asturias’ new Eva line and a great ponytail from Falastear Aeon that I have been waiting to use and have finally found the best place.

These great little shoes were one of Vlinder’s offerings for the RFL Clothing Fair. I see she now has them in a Midnight Mania board at her shop—tap that board. I really love their kitten heel silhouette and Asian brocade texture. (Why can’t I find more kitten heels in SL?) I would love to see Vlinder make more colors.

Just a little heat, a little kick:

Hair: LH_hair29_irene_black_dark by Falastear Aeon for Little Heaven

Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 5/bl) 05a by Tuli Asturias for Tuli *

Dress: **Vlintuition My-Duyen Ao Dai Gown – Scarlet Sparkle by Vlinder Reitveld for Vlintuition

Bangles: (Shiny Things) Ruma bangles – silver by Fallingwater Cellardoor for Shiny Things

Shoes: **Vlintuition Chinese Brocade Heels by Vlinder Reitveld for Vlintuition

Poetic Youth

I have written before about the artistry of creators in SL, the overwhelming vastness of talent and vitality present and laid on various prims and shape meshes in the name of commerce or art. What has disappointed me is that artists who choose to sell their work commercially are not acknowledged as such—they are “fashionistas” or “developers” or most crudely, “skin makers.” However, some of the young artists who choose to follow the commercial path are bringing art to the masses and are some of the best the grid has.

LeeZu Baxter is one such artist. I continually see her working over and over her theme of textures and silhouettes, pulling this and that out of previous creations—a texture from a corset she once made, a twisted garter from a piece of lingerie, a colorway from a set of pants and jackets—to make something new and as confounding as the last piece (now what am I going to do with this toplessness?). This is how vision works—it doesn’t run higgledy piggledy from one theme to the next. The artist can only sing her way–her voice comes out clearly in each piece. I see this in LeeZu as I see it in Eshi Otawara’s work. I don’t think I will ever get tired of LeeZu’s pastiche or Eshi’s flowers.

Our skin artist is Korean—Sopha Portal. Her skins at My UglyDorothy challenge the status quo. This one, with orangey freckles and sweet buttoned-up thin lips, is girlish but not girly, pale and pretty with its desexualized strangely pink/orange nipples and odd short penciled eyebrows.

Lamb Bellic keeps wedging herself into my posts. The kids at Tableau have sketched out a vision for an alternative SL universe, one where fashionistas wear sometimes dowdy hair cuts to devastating effects, where glamour emerges from a gawky teenager’s ministrations with her hair rather than from the pages of Vogue, where Tavi Gevinson emerges as the voice of fashion. (Say it ain’t so!)

And then we have our friend flopsie McArdle, who has her own fascinating voice, as shown on her sim Iron Fist. On the other side of her corndog and Atari set, wedged between the BMX and the banana seat bikes, she is selling these cute practical shoes, at once festive with their colored stitching and double buckles, and awkward with their ugly duckling shape. I am a huge fan of flopsie. She evokes something so achingly familiar and humorously nostalgic in her work, from the ennui of flopping backwards on a orange vinyl ottoman to the romance of a walking through an empty subway. (Speaking of corn dogs, I have a huge version from flopsie–I mean freaking huge–on the roof of my own studio. People who notice it are always astounded and then tickled.)

Ah youth!

Hair: !lamb. Bang Bang – Rotten Carrot (sideways bangs) by Lamb Bellic for !lamb

Skin: *MY UGLYDOROTHY -Magaret07(Red) by Sopha Portal for My UglyDorothy

Outfit: [LeeZu!] Pariizian Suit /air by LeeZu Baxter for LeeZu! *

Shoes: SMERSH Those Shoes GREY by flopsie McArdle for SMERSH

Precious

I’m not gonna sit around
And waste
My precious divine energy
Trying to explain
And being ashamed of things
You think are wrong with me

I read an article about Esperanza Spalding this evening and fell in love with a song by her, so this blog, having nothing to do with the song but written while I listened to her, is named “Precious.” It’s a song some women should pay attention to. Frankly, I have no idea how a woman like Esperanza could possibly even come up with these lyrics—she is absolutely amazing. (Please note these lyrics do not apply to my own life, so don’t think too hard about it. My divine energy is rarely wasted ;))

Nicky Ree’s latest little mini, a piece of pure purple and pink perfection, highlights one of Nicky’s “things”—using gradients of lovely harmonizing colors to create a dress that is silky and light seeming. Her flirty and sexy prims do not stray into trampy territory—her ideal woman is sexy and classy at once.

I am wearing the new and beautiful skin by Pompeja Rossini, another woman who doesn’t waste her divine energy. A real life make up artist, Pompeja lends her skills to making a strong and sexy woman through her skins. Pompeja has done the immense work of taking her artistry of working on real life people and translating it through Photoshop to apply on human-form meshes. You can see she has accomplished no small feat when you view her work.

Finally, I donned these sexy shoes from Babette Ultsch. With their sexy high heels, absolutely amazingly gorgeous textures (Babette does the best silver shoe texture, bar none), and usability, these shoes are for the woman who wants pretty pink toes without the high price tag (and fat-looking ankle).

All you got was me/ And that’s all that I can be

Hair: >TRUTH< Brit – mocha by Truth Hawks for >TRUTH< *

Skin: LaVie Michelle V3 004 Tan by Pompeja Rossini for La Vie *

Dress: Nicky Ree – Spring Romance Mini Dress Set (Lavender Rose) by Nicky Ree for Designing Nicky Ree *

Shoes: *KL* Sandals Nadia Silver Satin Display by Babette Ultsch for Kitties Lair

Poses: from the Diva Set by Rogan Diesel for Diesel Works Animations *

In Just Spring

It’s just spring (when the world is mud luscious ;)) and I am so ready to greet the colors and warmth of spring leading up to.. summer. (What? I am already on that?) The bestest part is how spring is the harbinger of new life, new thoughts, new energies.

Ergo it’s time for a new designer. Veronica Composer is just starting out and has opened a new little dress store outside an out-of-the-way club, but it’s promising, especially taking a look at this lovely dress (which was priced at a reasonable 100L). She uses photosourcing for her bodice and pulls it into the skirt, but she has done some really nice work layering a translucent over a solid to make the skirt more like chiffon. It’s sweet and lovely

I styled it with this really cute necklace from Jon Ree that I picked up a couple months ago. He does some really great Western jewelry with turquoise and silver with carnelian or leather. If you’re a cowgirl, go check his stuff out. Heck, check his place out either way.

When the world is puddle-wonderful:

Hair: >TRUTH< Melinda – auburn by Truth Hawks for >TRUTH< *

Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 5/bl) 03a by Tuli Asturias for Tuli *

Dress: VIVID*Lezzal Green BabyDoll Tourquois Dress by Veronica Composer for VIVID

Necklace: Necklace — Two-step turquoise by Jon Ree for Mustang Trading Post

Earrings: ~~Sakka’s Studio~~Pierced earring /  Silver  wing by sakka Flow for Sakka’s Studio

Shoes: * Decoy Shoes: Francisco II Wedges – Aqua by Annette Voight for Decoy

P.S. Thank you, mr cummings, for the poem.