Mesh templates for Second Life fashion

Today's article is about mesh templates and Second Life fashion. It's not a "how to" but more of a "what to look for". We'll start with a fashion shot:
This particular dress is "BD Morgan 10-colors HUD" and I honestly have NO idea where I got it. I think it came from one of the many special SL fashion events I go to (like C88) but who knows? Anywho, I'm sure I didn't pay more than $99L.

The included HUD basically changes out the textures on the dress for 10 color variations of this sort of floral pattern. It is actually quite nice when you look up close. Good detail and there's a shadowing to the flowers that makes them look embroidered or woven-in vs. simply colored.

Want the dress in blue, teal or black? Just click the HUD and the magic happens.

Now for the fun part. Go onto the SL Marketplace and do a simple search for "Morgan Dress" without the quotes. You'll find maybe close to a hundred variations on BD Morgan. Some are sold as single colors, some have different textures for top & bottom, some have HUDs and some even add a fabric neckband. ALL FROM DIFFERENT CREATORS! And all at prices that are all over the block -- from $99L for a HUD-driven 5-color version to single colors for $149 to as much as $399L for yet another 10-color HUD version.

Above is one example of a single color from Black Rose for $99L. The creator has made their own sort of stripey texture and added some banding under the bodice and at the bottom hem.

So how does this happen oh mesh newbie? The answer is templates! And here's the grandmother of all these variations! The seller offers the dress in 5 standard sizes plus fitted sizes for the most popular mesh bodies including Maitreya, Slink, Belleza and TMP. That's a total of 12 meshes in all plus all the UV and Shadow maps and original DAE/OBJ files for popping into a 3D package all for $1300L. Not bad.

Now since the source files are full perms (you actually download them separately outside of SL), it's possible for content like this to get shared (aka ripped off). I have no idea if that's happening with Morgan but it's certainly possible.

The question you may ask though is why use a template? Why don't creators make their own from scratch? Well as a recovering designer myself, I can tell you it's really really really hard to do mesh. OMG. Unless you are super skilled at 3D work (using Blender or Maya or something), your learning curve to do something even as simple looking as Morgan is going to be really steep. It's not at all like making appliers for t-shirts. And then consider that there are 12 meshes for 12 size variations and riggings supplied with Morgan. That means you have to have Slink, Maitreya, TMP, Belleza and the FIVE standard size models in your 3D program to get them tweaked correctly.

So that's why you'll see many designers focusing their skills on texturing and adding value to something like Morgan rather than try to design them from scratch. Now some designers DO make their own meshes. Shoe-oriented companies (like my favorite KC Couture) mostly due their own meshes as do mesh body creators. But others, like another fave of mine, Inga Wind, do some really amazing textures on mesh templates. Often designers like Inga will create an outfit complete with shoes, accessories and jewelry to add value to what starts as a template mesh.

Now as to the HUDs to change colors/textures, those are fairly easy to come by. There are lots of full perms scripted HUDs on SLM that you can buy, load with your own textures (full perms) and target the mesh template. Since many mesh templates have "faces", the HUD can also target a specific part of the mesh to change say the shoestrings or buckles or bows or whatever might be available. Note that this discussion on templates doesn't just apply to fashion. It can be for almost anything rendered in SL including buildings, vehicles, plants, furniture, etc. 

Is this sort of info worthwhile to you or is it too basic? Let me know!

Fun holiday lipsticks from Stix

It's the holidays and what better way to celebrate than with whimsical Candy Stripes lipsticks and eye shadows from Stix (aka Pixy Stix).

$L99 Lips
$L99 Shadows
$L149 Fatpack

SLURL to Stix Main Store: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Glamour%20Isle/96/23/23

Business girl goes cheap! $10L special

Jessie by Licole Fashion

A discussion ensued (like that word??) in the Second Life inworld Maitreya Lara Friends group about business attire. One of the ladies was looking for a professional suit. These used to be fairly easy to find in SL maybe 5 years ago but with the advent of mesh bodies and changing tastes, they are kind of hard to find. A few options came up including a $599L full outfit from Bella Moda which, at least from the Marketplace photos, looks stunning. (Not sure if the person who was hunting for an outfit bought it or not. It is pricey.)

ANYWAY, that lead me to do my own little search on SLM and UGGGH! Still lots of paint-on system clothes for standard avatars. But there just isn't much in the way of mesh -- especially not outfits designed for Maitreya's Lara body (or for that matter Belleza or Slink).

Then I thought maybe I can make a standard mesh outfit work. And, tah-dah, with a little work on the alphas, I present to you Jessie from Licole fashion. Comes in the standard 5 sizes and as long as your shape isn't too far off, it's wearable with most mesh bodies. The cool part? It was only $10L.

The one drawback is the jacket texture (it's all one mesh) is really dark. While the detail is good, you have to be in bright light to appreciate it. My photo here shows how it actually looks under standard mid-day lighting. Enlarge, zoom in and see for yourself.

Heels are Sensure in black by Beck for mid feet ($50L) but you could get the original full perms template version for only $99L and make your own in any color for Slink, Maitreya or Belleza. They're sold as DX001 Firefly Shoes on SLM. Really, they're quite nice. I wish more shoe designers would make mid feet compatible shoes -- it's just so much more natural looking than high. Oh well. Personal annoyance of mine.

SLM link to outfit: Jessie Business Suit by Licole

Shoe Alert! Found my Mary Janes for Maitreya!!

Those who know me know how much I love cosplay outfits in Second Life. Everything from cutesy Power Puff Girls stuff to Marvel comics to manga -- SL provides such an amazing array of things to wear. So what cosplay wardrobe would be complete without a pair of  platform Mary Janes and ankle socks? Answer? NONE! You have to have them!

Bella Jane Heels by Pacagaia Creations

The problem has been finding some that work with my (totally awesome) Maitreya Lara mesh body. I've got several pairs of system Mary Janes with my favorites being a pair I picked up at Sarah Nerd's for like $1L millions of years ago. They were perfect with that chunky look that graces the feet of anime stars worldwide. (So to speak.) But alas, system shoes don't work on mesh bods so I've been on the hunt for months now.

Anyway, here they are, Bella Jane Heels by Pacagaia Creations (PC). Now they aren't perfect -- the ankle sock detail around the top is a little klutzy but the rest is purrrrfect. (And how often is someone zooming in on your shoooz anyway? From normal viewing they look fantastic.) I just love the little hearts outlining the shoe top! Sorry about the lighting in my photo studio -- the detail gets a little washed out but trust me, the lace shows up under normal SL conditions.

What's even more amazing is that they are HUD driven so ALL the colors are separately modable including the socks and hearts! BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! (Hee hee.) They are ONLY $99L on the SL Marketplace.

Now if ONLY I could get some with chunky heels instead of stilettos. Hint hint!

Link to items on SLM: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/PC-Bella-Jane-Heels-wear-to-unpack/9777527

Tonight's Halloween costume - Ms. Marvel

Yeah I know whoever made it is probably in violation of the DMCA but I think it looks rather fetching. :)

Omega appliers on Maitreya Lara body.

Anime / transformer Halloween costume

I'm not going to bother with a fancy studio shot of this one so here's a live shot of me at a Blackhearts wearing Bare Rose's Psyvine Lady. It's sort of a cross between Transformers and Anime with a hint of "Tron" thrown in. The glowy neon colors are changeable via a HUD and it's scripted to make the glow alternate between dim and bright. It really is amazing up close.

Works with standard avatars and there are versions available with appliers for a few popular mesh bodies. Shown here on my Maitreya Lara body. Price is $249L last I checked.

SLURL to Bare Rose for Maitreya:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Black%20Cat/191/70/21

Space, the final fashion frontier

Odyssey - Front View

Well dear followers, tis' been awhile since I've posted anything new here. Sorry 'bout that. Real life has been just a bit too consuming lately. Anywayyyyyyyy. I've got a few new things to share so expect them over the next few weeks. (I hope.)

Here's the first. A sexxxxii (R-rated) space costume from a store I've never heard of called "Shady Gear". Just in time for Halloween or your next futuristic cosplay venture,"Odyssey" is very well done with details rarely seen in something that's only $150L.

While not designed for mesh bodies, it comes with appliers for Maitreya, Omega and TMP. That's simply for the plastic under layer. The rest of the outfit is made of mesh wearable pieces that are very well done -- right down to the LED/neon glow of the parts. And woo hoo, they all fit!

I'm using my Maitreya Lara mesh body here in the photo with size L parts and everything fits perfectly. Just a little tweaking needed on the boot alphas but nothing major. The white highlights can look a teensy bit fake from certain angles but that's a really minor complaint.

No photoshop in these pics. Straight from the SL clicker!

Overall, I give this costume a 9 out of 10 candy bars! As usual, you can click on the images for full size versions.

Available on SL Marketplace for standard and some mesh avatars. Shown with Lumae Eirtae skin & Truth Roxanna skin.

Link to SLM: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Odyssey/9611044

Odyssey - Back View

New mesh cuteness from Inga Wind

Inga Wind "Ansley" Mesh outfit

I am so glad that Inga Wind has finally figured out mesh bodies and appliers because she is truly amazing at texturing. Like most designers these days, the underlying mesh clothing bases at IW are mostly templates. What sets her outfits apart is how much attention to detail goes into the texturing, accessories and making everything work together. Case in point today is "Ansley" -- an amazing short and crop top outfit that is absolutely stunning. For most designers, this sort of outfit is almost a throwaway. Do some applier jeans shorts, add a mesh top and call it a day. Not for Wind.

Just look at the close-up photos of the shorts and shoes below. These are completely un-retouched. I've got lots of mesh outfits for my Maitreya Lara bod and few have this level of detail in them.

So you get everything shown in Slink, Fitmesh, Maitreya, Belleza and standard XXS - L mesh sizes. Four colors are available including the coral shown plus blue, brown & khaki.

Price? I have no idea since she didn't include it with the sample. I'll update my bloggie as soon as I find out. UPDATE - Ansley is $280L. Here is an LM to Wind: Inga Wind Clothing

Anyway, other details are Lumae Eirtae Freckled Skin Nutmeg, Roxana hair by Truth and my own custom shape.

As always, to check out full size image, click on it.

Closeup of shorts

Cloesup of shoes

Hair Fair 2016 - The 80's Want Their Styles Back

Allanah Currie

I want to like Hair Fair, I really do! It's for a good cause (Wigs for Kids) and all, but the styles the designers chose to show off generally just leave me flat. Last year I complained about all the mesh hair that looked and moved like it had 5 lbs of gel in it.

The stiff look of mesh hair hasn't changed, but this time around, I'm seeing lots of asymmetric "shave head" styles that bring to mind that awful period in the mid-80's where punk & new wave merged to the frustration of all us young girls who didn't have perfect faces. Think Allanah Currie of Thompson Twins or Grace Jones or Robert Smith (Cure) and you sorta get the idea.

I suppose with Second Life, you CAN have that perfect face to frame the "look". But in all honesty, when you actually try it, the shave head side generally looks painted on (as it is) while the hair looks like you've attached a small furry creature to your head. There's never a smooth blend into the head. The result generally looks better in the package photos (often Photoshopped) than it does for real in SL. Yes there are lots of "normal" alternatives at Hair Fair but it seems the 80's asymmetric look is "in".

Guys, are pretty much limited to the shave-head with random furry critter on top look period (with maybe two exceptions). If you like it, rock it. But it's a bit too "precious" and hipster for me. Ink (below) is a good example of the styles men are likely to find.

3 styles by Ink

Vapor by Stealhic

I did my due diligence however and demo'd a number of hairs before visiting the Fair. Here are a few I would consider for purchase:

Vapor by Stealthic

This is fairly close to how the hair actually looks although the scalp blend has been touched up a bit in the photo. On the right head, you'll get that serious Megyn Kelly anchorwoman look. 

Odyle from Mina

Here you can rock the CNN Christiane Amanpour look (at least when she was a lot younger). Well done hair with nice details and it comes in Materials and non-Materials versions.

I didn't buy this one because I already have a similar non-mesh look-alike from ETD that still looks very good. But Odyle is definitely worth a look.

Odyle by Mina

F516 by Tram

F517 by Tram

F516 & F517 by Tram

Next up are two styles from Tram. These are both super cute but they come at a fairly steep price. $350L for only two colors and honestly, they are somewhat average on the texturing. I love the way the hair is styled but I would like to see more subtleties in the color blending and at that price, how about a HUD for 6 colors? Most Hair Fair vendors offer 6 colors for $250L.

I would like to know where the model got that adorable crop-top! Me want!

Honorable mentions

I'm not in a total short hair mode. There were a few long ones that looked nice but I wish designers would make more hybrids so the hair had movement. Anyway, here are some worth checking out.

Curious Kitties for being as strange as ever. 5 styles as whacked as you'll find anywhere in SL.

Ayashi for all you cosplay kitties out there.

Bold & Beauty has some nice long, wavy styles.

Hair Studio One with well done dreadlock styles (men & women)

Everything else

You can check out all the styles here at the Hair Fair 2016 blog to see for yourself. If you join the inworld group, you can demo almost all of them in advance.

And please ppl, these are my PERSONAL opinions. Don't get all offended if I've dissed your favorite hairstyle or designer. Feel free to comment, just keep it nice. :)

Improving the Second Life avatar mesh

With all the interest in Linden Lab's "Project Bento", which promises a new, more sophisticated avatar skeleton, I st00pidly decided to ask my favorite question the open Project Bento thread in the SL Forums.

"Is anything being done to improve the avatar mesh?"

Of course I clarified a bit by wondering about adding triangles (vertices) or other possibly simple improvements. I also brought up the issue of everyone wearing mesh bodies to overcome the limitations of the base SL mesh and how complex things had become.

I got a smattering of replies ranging from "no it would break existing content" to "well maybe". But the general theme was "Linden Lab doesn't seem to want to." I did get one reply with the comment to the effect that, if mesh bodies are so complicated, why don't we work on improving that ... along with the query "what makes them so complicated?" Which sort of stunned me since the individual is a mesh creator. I was thinking, uh, wow! You don't know?

Anyway, I thought I'd re-post up my response here:

Well let's see. for my Maitreya mesh body, I have to wear:

1. alpha
2. main body
3. hands
4. feet
5. head (optional)
6. HUD to control alphas, layers, nails, blend neck, select foot shape / height
7. HUD to control head and apply layers

Then the steps for wearing clothes could include:

1. Wearing Maitreya compatible clothing HUD to apply texture to clothing layer on mesh body
2. Wearing Omega relay HUD and Omega compatible clothing HUD to apply texture to clothing on mesh body
3. Making sure you buy fitmesh type clothing that is tailored for Maitreya body (vs. Belazza vs. Slink Physique vs. TMP vs. whatever)
4. Making sure attachment points of newly worn things don't interefere with already worn things (add doesn't always work).
5. Animations for HUD for head.

So now let's try to "Save" a complete outfit. You have to make sure you are wearing ALL of the necessary HUDs that would affect any changes to the outfit plus all the necessary parts to the outfit. Assuming you've remembered everything, the next time you "wear" that outfit, you STILL have to apply the textures and operate the HUDs to make sure the right layers are showing, alphas are in place, etc.

I've been in SL since 2007 and have done my fair share of designing clothing. I just started on the mesh body thing about 3 months ago. I'm a fairly smart girl. It has totally been an "OMFG what have I gotten into" experience. I just can't imagine newbies figuring this out. And I really wonder if Linden Lab is doing the servers any favors with all of this extra junk being loaded onto avatars who really really want to look good.

We are already blowing up compatibility with existing content since each outfit has to be tailored for each brand of mesh body.

Anyway, what do you think? Honestly I would prefer a standardized, improved Second Life avatar mesh and more sliders with wider ranges along with Project Bento.  It would much more newb friendly and it would allow content creators to be able to concentrate on actually making clothing and accessories instead of having to worry about UUIDs, texture mapping to 10 different mesh bodies, embedding scripts in everything, programming HUDs etc. And I have to think it would cause much less impact on Linden Lab's servers as well as the user's computer.

Am I wrong about this? Tell me why!

Impossible bikini and impossible boots

One thing I LOVE about Second Life is the imagination creators can show in designing clothing and accessories that would be "impossible" to execute in real life. I'm going to offer up two examples -- an ancient system bikini and a brand new pair of boots from KC Couture.

bikini 1 by SS Designs

I'll start with this ancient system bikini from "SS Designs" called simply, "bikini 1" (circa 2007). I still own it for nostalgia's sake and won a best in bikini contest with it. I think it really illustrates early SL thinking outside confines of gravity, cloth and body parts. :-) This could not exist in real life of course. The top would fall right off and the string bottom would ride up so badly it would hurt. Or something. (Wow that old system shape of mine is sure top heavy.)

Yet, these sorts of outfits are all throughout Second Life. They are made of impossible fabrics, have impossible attachments, wouldn't stay on your body to save your life, come in impossible colors but in SL they exist!

Ivy Boots by KC Couture

Which brings me to the next item, an impossible pair of boots from KC Couture. Now we've come a long way in appearance with 3D mesh adding a degree of realism only dreamed about in 2007. And in the case of "Ivy" boots, while they are virtually as impossible as the blue bikini, they don't LOOK impossible. They just look amazing.

But they are impossible because the lacing would be hugely uncomfortable, the spiral would probably move and it would take you 1/2 hour to put them on (assuming you could). And of course we'd all just LOVE to have HUD driven real life shoes wouldn't we? Need pink tops with purple laces and white soles? Click, click, click done.

Anyway, Ivy is $549 on SL Marketplace and available at a discount for KC group members in world. Have fun being "impossible"!

SLURL to KC Couture: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ominious/64/196/22

I'm really pissed off at Karu Karu

last week I wrote an article complaining about the lack of customer response from Karu Karu over a very nice request of mine to revisit a promo purchase where I was charged $399L instead of $99L that the notice had claimed. Read it here: http://snickitty.blogspot.com/2016/03/today-is-fashion-complaint-day.html

After not getting any response whatsoever, I left the Karu Karu group. However, I saw I was still getting notices from them. Hmmmmmmmm. Sure enough, I reviewed the chat and the notices were coming from an object called KARU KARU FASHION UPDATES. Well excuse me Chane Karu but I did NOT give you permission to subscribe me in the first place AND my leaving your group should have been notice enough to take me off.

First thing I did was head for the KARU KARU main store which was where the subscriber box was located. I figured I'd just mute the damn thing --- or so I thought. After looking at a few obvious possible sender bots and not finding the source, I realized that the notices were coming from 300M ABOVE the store.

KARU KARU Sandbox

OK, no problem, just fly up. Nope. The KARU KARU store is a trap and you can't physically fly out of it. And direct TP is not available because it's all routed to the store lobby. OK, I've done this stupid dance before. I flew up to the ceiling and managed to SIT on the outside edge of the store. From there I was able to fly up to KARU's sandbox in the sky with TWO sender scripts in prims churning away. I muted both of them but that's really the sucky way to deal with this crap.

KARU KARU sender bots

Clearly the bitch has no intention of supporting real unsubscribes since both boxes are owner touch with avatar key lists buried in them.

Thanks for nothing Chane. Maybe this blog post will put some small dent in your sales for being a jerk.

Latif Khalifa has passed away

Latif Khalifa

I was just going through my Twitter feed when I came across a tweet I'd missed from Johann Neddings (https://twitter.com/neddings) announcing that Latif had passed away. For those that don't know, Latif was the heart & soul behind LibOpenMetaverse and the lightweight viewer, Radegast. As a long time user and supporter of Radegast as well as someone who sent Latif ideas and suggestions, I am really saddened by this. He was opinionated and direct, but if you made a good case, willing to listen.

Latif wasn't in the best of health, but the last time I exchanged emails with him, he seemed to be a little better.

Here's hoping some of the devs that recently backed up the source to Radegast will carry on.

To Latif's family and friends in real life and Second Life, my deepest sympathies and condolences.

Today is fashion complaint day

I don't usually complain about things in Second Life. I mean I've been in this silly world since 2007 so I've seen it, done it, bought the shoes, etc. However, just recently two designers have really ticked me off. 

Complaint #1 - Karu Karu - Failure to respond

First up is Karu Karu. Now in case you don't know, Karu Karu is mostly a purveyor of latex and fetish clothing. OK, I'm not really into that stuff BUT, I do like catsuits for my occasional ventures into spy girl roleplay or off-the-wall club contests and the like. Karu Karu makes some fairly nice applier outfits that work well with my Maitreya Lara body. I own maybe 6 or 7 of their outfits.

So I saw a group notice from Karu Karu for a $99L 3-pack ("Popular Pack") of catsuits that I thought would be perfect for my spy girl look! I went to the store, saw the outfit on the wall as a promotion, clicked buy and whoops! It charged me $399L, not $99L. Ick. OK I realized I wasn't wearing my group tag and maybe that did it.

So I immediately sent the creator, Chane Karu, an IM. I asked what happened, could I possibly get a refund on the balance or at least a store credit. 3 days go by and no reply. OK, so I send another IM and I send a very nicely worded notecard since I know store owners often get blasted on IMs.

5 days go by and still no reply. OK, I've designed clothes, owned a store, I still do. I answer all my customer inquiries even if I have to give them bad news (which I rarely do). And I know Chane has been online because I am in her group ya know. But sadly now, not for long.

Vendome by Hypnose

Complaint #2 - Hypnose - Bad Demo 

I've NEVER had a mesh demo outfit crash my viewer and completely blow me out to Windows. But the "Vendome" Maitreya demo from Hypnose did exactly that. I put it on and my usually reliable viewer (Cool VL Viewer) simply disappears and I'm looking at my Windows desktop.

So, after saying WTF to myself, I log back in, put the demo back on and five minutes later, I'm in public naked. WTF seriously? I put it back on and it now it just poofs off immediately. I suspect both the crash and the auto-poofing are due to some sort of auto-detach script in the demo. That is just oh so very uncool to do. No warning, no notecard that says it will happen, the dress just poofs off.

Once it poofs, you can't wear it again. So if I wanted to take some time to adjust my shape to tweak the fit and see how it really works, no chance. It's gone. I'm sorry Hypnose, but five minutes is just about long enough for me to answer an IM and maybe change shoes. It's not long enough for me to see if I really want to buy your st00pid dress based on your st00pid auto-poofing demo. I would much rather wear a "DEMO" sign over my head or deal with DEMO across the textures than this idiocy. "Warning, dress falls off in 5 minutes. Prepare to be nakey."

Finally, for $399, I expect a mesh dress to be rigged. But Vendome is not so your legs just walk right through it when you move. That looks horrible with this style. So at least I got to wear the demo on long enough to know that I wouldn't buy it anyway due to that.

OK that's the end of my whining for the day.

Midnight Madness Find from Salt & Pepper

I haven't been out on a Midnight Madness event in like forever so when my friend (and queen of our Tiny Empires realm, Hirilorn), Aabbi Rhode, mentioned that she was staying up late for a MM freebie event, I thought hmmmmmm. She almost NEVER stays up late so they must have some good stuff.

After looking at the previews, I immediately totally wanted a particular mesh outfit from Salt & Pepper and WTG me! I scored both the "Midnight" and "Dawn" versions of Audrey!

So here's the "Dawn" color way on my Maitreya Lara body. Audrey sort of has a bit of a 1930's feel to it and evokes a sparkly, sequined look which is hard to do in Second Life due to all the texture stretching that goes on.

This is all one mesh (no separate top/bottom) and the Maitreya version does the auto-alpha thing appropriately. No random spots showing through.

Excellence in a freebie and well worth staying up past my bedtime too! I got a few other goodies too that I'll try to post when I get the time.

While Midnight Madness is over, here's the SLURL to Salt & Pepper's store:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sand%20Dunes/106/188/24

Amazing heels from KC & retro-cuteness from PIXY

It's been awhile since I've had the chance to blog. Did you miss me? Probably not but oh well. Here goes today's finds.

First up are Boston Heels from -KC- Couture. I can't stress how freaking AMAZING these look. Even up close they look completely realistic have that "wow" factor that leaves me almost speechless! Shown here with Maitreya Lara high feet & Lumae Amelia skin. I really tried with local lighting in SL to capture how these really look. No photoshopping here.

The incredible thing is that KC offered these up on the SL Marketplace for only $79L. I have no idea what the price will be afterwards but I snapped them up the moment I saw the photo. These come in versions for SLINK, Belleza, TMP, Maitreya and Eve and they are HUD driven so you can change strap, base & other colors.

Here's the linkie to Boston Heels on SLM. Only 100 pairs will be available here so when they are gone, they go to full price.

Next up on the list is Forever Yours from PIXY. It's a cute semi-retro look dress that comes in 10 color ways. I say semi-retro because the bottoms of your girls do show a bit. Shown here is Pink Kitten. Available as system outfit with mesh panel and as Omega and TMP appliers.

The full fat pack is $599 while each color is $99L. Available for a limited time at Bewbalapooza.

SLURL to KC inworld.

SLURL to PIXY inworld.

Chrome re-bar stilettos

I don't know what to make of these. I was shopping at Tres Chic today and saw these for sale. Stiletto sandals with chrome re-bar looking heels and puff-balls over the arch. Hmmmmm. Not my style. Maybe for a fashion show at your local construction site? Doesn't say what sort of feet they fit but a demo is available. The photo is taken from the display picture.

SuperModel Kendel from BSD DesignStudio. $288L.

SLURL to venue: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Frederika/67/65/2502

"Skinclinging" dress for mesh bodies from Vale Koer

Hello again! It's been over a month since my last bloggie (I've been super busy in RL) so I finally sat my tush down to write this one.

First, "Skinclinging" really is the name of this dress from Vale Koer (or is it VALEKOER?). Awkward to say but the dress is not awkward in the least. In fact, it is amazing and my photo doesn't do it justice. It's 100% glam with just the right touch of slutty. Perfect for wearing to the Grammy's! (Anyone have an invite? I'll cling to you.)

Skinclinging dress from VALE KOER

I first heard about the dress via the Maitreya Lara Friends group in SL. There was lots of buzz about it since it was being featured at Kustom9 for only $249L. Naturally I had to check it out since I love a bargain. Since K9 is usually packed, you can either shop off-hours or you can TP to TMD (The Men's Department) in the next sim over and shop using your camera (constraints off).

And OMG, Skinclinging is exactly how mesh on mesh should look. Folds are really folds and not just painted on and everything form fits right down to your last little or big curve. Yes it still has that elastic look when you move but unless dresses and SL get sophisticated enough to constrain your movement to the dress shell, that will never change.

I picked out the yellow/gold color but it also comes in several others including black, red, blue & dark pink. You get three forms, one for Maitreya Lara, one for Slink Physique and one for Slink Hourglass. I have the Lara mesh so that's what you're seeing here. There is a HUD included that lets you change the base texture for the dress to include a more heavily folded look as well as a polkadot version. The HUD also lets you turn various parts of the dress off & on but I'm not sure why you would do this.

You may have to create your own alpha in the Lara HUD (don't know about the Slink versions) from below the breasts to about the knee since there is some bleed through. But other than that, this really is a wonderful outfit.

Complete outfit as shown features skin by Aeva / Amelia - Tone 4 - Summer Days, Anasazi heels from DV8, Svety hair by Damselfly, jewelry by Milady and Bijoux Or plus my own very custom shape. Lara mesh body of course by Maitreya.

SLURL to Kustom9: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/kustom9/115/62/23