Elegance

Maria Gherardi does beautiful things with silk, and Romance at Sunset showcases her talent with the silk texture, as well as her eye for that something extra as the detailing on the waisted belt and asymmetrical semi-transparent additional skirt show. My choice if I had to pick one colour was the olive, although all of the colour tones though are rich and pleasing to the eye. The prim skirt has a gentle flow and hangs well on the body, the length indicative that the dress is designed for a wide range of events, and therefore not destined to sit in the closet waiting for that themed or black tie only event.


When you do dress up, and find with that gorgeous dress you've picked out you need to find a special piece of jewelry, Muse has a considerable range of exquisitely designed finery to complete any outfit. By far the most unique and stunning collection is the Chatelaine Shoulder Brooch and Chain, as it sits unusually around your neck and beautifully highlights the decolletage. This is the most impressive work I've seen as the diamond set in silver wafers, the feather off set, and the large but delicately constructed chain all just appear to be art.

My hair was pulled together by Coif, and if you haven't seen the selection of crazy, elegant, fun, bizarre styles to choose from you're missing out. Disco Goddess was my first investment, and I'm loving every shade of it. Each style comes with all colours, so no more later regret you wish you'd gotten that perfect style with more options. For pure foot pampering, I chose Armidi's Gisaci Vidalia Pump in Turquoise Croc. Don't stop at the shoes there, though. A large street houses many of the departments that Armidi service, hair, accessories, clothing, and cosmetics.


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The List

Skin: Minnu - DarkSkinGloss - Nature Minnu Model Skins

Hair: Coif - Disco Goddess - Brown COIF

Jewellery: Muse - Chatelaine Shoulder Brooch and Chain - Silver Muse

Dress: MG Fashion - Silk Collection - Romance at Sunset - Olive
MG Fashion at Portucalis

Shoes: Armidi Gisaci - Vidalia Pumps - Turquoise Croc Armidi


Accessories: Earrings - Muse - Elle Bead Earrings - Rose Muse

Time Travel to to the fashionable and beyond.

It’s a worry we all have I know I myself was once afraid too however, should you fit yourself falling into a black hole, time vortex or just walk into the wrong sort of phone box (I do it all the time myself almost a daily occurrence) and then find yourself in rather a different time you always want to look your best lets face it a few hundreds years is no excuse you should always be prepared for the worst.

No I’m not going to claim to be the world best authority in historical accuracy so please don’t comment going “OMG I can believe you used those cuffs so not 1830 more 1850 how could you be SOOOOOOOOOOOO wrong”

Anyways I was using a telephone box round the corner from my shop but as soon as I pressed the Dial Tone it felt ever so odd, there was a far off voice quoting film lines too me “I don’t think were in Kansas anymore Toto”. How I managed the power of time travel is still beyond me maybe it was my slightly clichés space age jacket or that fact that I’m clearly wanted in all time zones. We may never know…..

Hair- Armidi the Milano II in orchid
Jacket - Mimikri City Cat Silver Jacket (this designer is a brillant up and comer)
Gloves - TaP
Ring - P.C's limited jewlary expo collection black pearl
Shorts - Candy Apple from G.L.A.M (there old)
Socks- Maitreya
Shoes -Crisis Sculptie pumps
Skin - Loveys peach
(and bedroom lashes by Cake are worn in ALL shoots)

As you can see I landed in ancient Egypt….. and of coarse such savages should be greeted with due care therefore its best to have that “played down” chic. Don’t draw attention to ones self and try and blend in.

This is my somewhat played down outfit

Hair – Amidala Style from Curl Up and Dye
Top (worn tucked in yes they come in all layers which RULES) – Sh*t Happens
Jacket – Part of the Nicky Ree Tang Gold Dress
Skirt- X3d Tulle Gown from the Wicked collection.
Skin- Tap Vivant Feline in almond

Next up I thought id jump a few years to the 17^th century (*ish*, don’t shoot me costume genius’s). It was a cold night so I thought it play up my chic appearance, bright colours are a must rich gold’s and luxurious reds. But seeing as everyone and their mother had them on and I wanted to wow my fans I toned it down. I’ve already had a higher opinion of people who run from the bandwagon screaming and flailing their handbags wildly.

Outfit – the Virgin outfit from wardrobe trunk
Hair- Coif by Paulie (yes its unrealised biatches)
Skin – my favourite skin I own I seriously can’t take it off! Draconic Kiss Theresa
Shoes- X3d Virgin flower shoes

Now to the future because “hey who wants to be soooo last century?!?”

Clearly ruling the catwalk 100 years from now will be Viking space cyborgs, there hot you know you like them :P

I’m actually rather in love with the Prim work on the suit its fairly easy to mod as well so well worth the 1k lidon if you intend to push the boat out with you wardrobe. The fact it was pink was the icing on the mechanical cake.

Hair - BrunHilda by BLEACH
Space Suit The Girl Power 3000 Special Edition "EVE" Mech Suit by Cyberpunk Apocalypse
Skin - MIW Dawn in Pale

Now Children what was the point of this post? In fact any of my blogging? It’s been observed I have a slightly somewhat eccentric fashion sense I’m fond of wearing odd combinations whether they work or not. I cant help but notice one the fashion feed and in world people are clinging far too lovingly to there jeans and sparkly tops now as great as this party classic is don’t you think in a world without rules and fashion boundaries we should ALL be pushing the envelope?

Have fun and burn those party time jeans!

Marni
xxx

Poll: Designing from RL Creation

This poll is mainly talking about a specific RL design that someone in SL creates a direct copy of, by which I mean you wouldn't be able to tell them apart if one wasn't virtual. Do you believe the SL designer owes it to their customers to inform them if their latest release actually existed already? Or perhaps the two realities do not have crossover rights or obligations?

For more information I refer you to a piece on SCD about designing off a well-known creator . Do you also believe all logos are sacred and copyright? Or do you think that aspects of logos in RL are fair game in SL?

New CRAP

Colder weather is coming fast for all you northerners, and while we down below set to fry in the months of spring and summer, many operators are donning their charges in the thick, woolly offerings designers have whipped up for realtime seasonal changes. I tried to resist because just thinking about woolly coat warmness makes me sweat, but Tenshi Vielle had a big surprise for me and once I saw what it was, well sweat be damned.

You may recognize her from such productions as Shopping Cart Disco, and her previous flirtation with design, which I have dubbed That Which Shall Not Be Named, well Tenshi has turned her eye back towards designing clothing and accessories and coats are where it begins baby. Yes, Tenshi's making CRAP. I can safely say that because that is the name of the label, no doubt to start one step ahead of the haters, and to show she's got a funnybone. Also, she's a friend and surely we get the first dibs on messing with that name. Right?



I've taken some hard and fast shots of two coat creations, the one above being the Olive Prim Parka, which is actually spot on because it is olive in colour, yes, but it's also made entirely out of PRIMS. That's right, no jacket layer, no shirt layer, no underwear layer, just prims. And they're copy/mod, so back em up and move em around because although you may be smarter than me, I had to do a bit of a mod effort to get the front bumps covered.



This little beauty is the Plaid Coat, ironically enough, and is also a set entirely created with prims. I love the shade of the pattern, but once again lil old me had to take 5 minutes to get the front to sit right on me, without modding my shape. You be the judge if I pulled it off or not.

There's more in store, this is just the beginning of madames' grande plan, and I should tell you that prices will be very reasonable, as nothing will be over 125L. The coats will be available for 100L each and you can expect some avant garde and just plain cute fun from Tenshi soon. If you happen to be near Mischief Cove, you may decide to wander of the pier and down to a cute bazaar off the beaten track. You may soon see a storefront there, and that's all I'm saying.

And excuse to Take arty photos

Now some may say these are more Flckr territoriy but a) iv forgoten all of my sign in details and b) Im promoting the use of arty photos in blogging today.

Without further ado


They original piont of this post was about me turning my SL hair colour to ETD's nickel but it sort of got lost, ill do the intelligent post tommorw!

Marni
xx

Old Gravy Review!

A few of you will have noticed that I have said before I will accept review copies, and some vendors have taken notice although I takes a lot for me to blog something. So dont be affended if i dont, also i WILL be honest if your seems dont match i'l say, or post yet another badly spelt blog entry telling readers so send at your own risk.......

Old gravy is a brand I knew about a long time ago and ill honestly say iv not been there for a while, my style changed and iv grown out of quirky punk clothes. I was pleasantly pleased on a re-visit though.

Now I picked one of the outfits to blog in all honestly the other one wasn’t my cup of tea. This pop it outfit has some really cute qualitys, I also bought hair and a pose from old gravy for the blog.

The Pop it outfit comes with jeans and a nice slightly cropped blue jumper with hood. The cherries on it are rather cute and the bright colours fun. It’s a shame there’s not slightly more detail on the top. The jeans textures are rather rocking and the seems match so it defiantly ticks most of those requirements.

I rather liked the hair they sell there this is the saltine style in blonde. With the retro bandana (the hair has a tone o colours and is so worth it)

My favourite thing about this gem of a shop is the poses! When I first knew about the shop they didn’t do poses but I fell in love all over again once I found them. A much less known alterative to Reel Movement poses (which are rather over used).

Defiantly worth a stop by.

Marni xxx

Anorexia in a world without food

Anyone who familiar with my last posts will probably look at this and think why is the girl who writes the puff pieces that have me laughing into my earl grey tackling this?

It’s a subject that’s rather close to home actually for me I believe the best way to start this post is to tell you all in RL I am a recovering eating disorder patient I wont go into the full details. Hearing my Sap story isn’t what this is about.

Second style recently published a blog on the shape of avis in SL, the majority of metaverse residents are 6 ft about a size –2 and blonde. Healthy.

http://blog.secondstyle.com/2007/09/no-anorexia-second-life.html

I cant go on other people accounts and I doubt second life had a lot to do with the beginning of my illness but I do think that seeing my avi (we all now she used to need fairly good meal) is highly likely to have no helped. Seeing an entire race of people who its and oddity to be short, or unfounded to be anything over a UK size 10.

I don’t know were we can go from here I do know that all our avis need to start having a more healthy image, id love to think in a few months time we’d have a more open minded grid with someone like swirly cyclone leading a “ Prim Food for all” campaign.

You might call me a hypocrite my avi is still very thin, but you would be amazed at how many people are affected by something like an eating disorder in there lives. I’m thin I’ve always been thin. Even now the validation from typing that gives me a buzz. How ever that hasn’t stopped me from putting myself and my loved ones through hell.

The RL fashion industry is far too big to tackle the issue in second life we have created the fashion industry its not to late to change peoples outlooks. We need and industry that’s about clothes and how when you put on a certain outfit you become who you want to be, not about looking ill, And I honestly don’t know who’s brave enough to make the first move towards it.

Marni

xx

SHOCK HORROR

You’re probably thinking, we haven’t heard any updates on my shopping hiatus, well bloggers and readers, ladies and flamboyant gays. I have to admit something to you. This is hard to say but its official I’m not perfect: P. Difficult to come to terms with I know, but take a deep breath and take a few minutes to read through and re affirm yourself with all that is good!

I made a promise not to shop for a month, this was a plan that reached about 2 weeks (a long time for me might I say I did hold through about 5 ETD updates, several fashions shows and new line of nylon skins) how ever when I won part of the shockwaves water fight prize my err balance slipped. Slipped and few thousand in the general down direction, the drug found me again on a cold cold night. I was depressed I was low what was a girl to do. With no one online to hold me back my right mouse button clicked to that pie chart menu and I could hear the ca-ching sound. And a magic blue box saying things we delivered. It was like being reborn. Angels are less euphoric.

Anyways I’m sure the shopping economy will be back to normal by now, I only stopped briefly in order to work out if there a single shop in SL iv not been to, simple answer is not that I know of.

*Coming soon to a blog feed near you, the aftermath of binge shopping the dread inventory sort!*

Bombshell

While I experiment and lately seem to be on a dirtier kind of style binge, it's been nice to slip back into a polished look every now and then. Cleaner lines, subtler colours, maybe even more photorealistic styles just make me feel happy when the blend of an excellent texture and craftsmanship lifts something from 'pretty' to 'stunning'. I've found a couple of items that fit that category the last few days, and would like to share them with you.

The title is exactly how I would describe this hairstyle, and funnily enough is the name of it, from Armidi. Seeing the coverage on SCD I had to check out the sim myself, and was directed to a small piece of land with this hair available with a few others, which they had debuted at the Hair Fair 2007. Looking closely at the textures involved, I'm in pure amazement at the quality, it looks almost like each prim piece was uniquely highlighted, and the thickness of the hair gives it the realistic appearance of depth and weight. They have been hyped since the building of the store began, with more exposure probably about to bombard the feeds, but this is completely warranted. They rival ETD in quality, sheer value for money and colour tones available.

It so happened I was looking for a darker skin tone to play with, and the mocha tones of the hair motivated me to find some demo's, through which I decided to get a fatpack from Minnu. While I have some of the paler tones , and love them, once I tried on the darks I got that little rush, where I think i should be ashamed I feel so alive just by shopping, but the skin was so well highlighted and the makeup so well drawn I got shivers. The last time that happened was when I finally came across Lovey's. Although Minnu is not cheap, at 1150L per skin it's definitely worth the indulgence and i would recommend if you like one, to splurge and get a fatpack. Anyone who makes skin gets my utmost respect.

While I was buying the hair, I noticed the Elephant Outfitters had a sale there also. I picked up the Preppy Polkies set from a section by Rummage for 90L, thats full price as it is new stock, which seems very cheap. You can split up the sweater and top, or wear them together, they all come on the jacket layer. You may also notice I'm wearing the Karamia shorts again, I can't find too many shorts that I want to wear everywhere, but these and Savvy's Lucas shorts are just my cup of tea.



Not so secret but awesome to behold are shoe creations by Maitreya, noticeably the Enchant Leopard selection I couldn't walk away from. Take a look at the heel shapes and tell me they aren't the most well-crafted shoes you've ever seen. The pattern makes more sense close up, where I would assume the work was painstaking, because it looks seamless and has a real kind of suede fabric appearance.

Also worth mentioning are the Heart Shell Screens by Corduroy. The team behind the name have created some wonderful clothing and furniture items, including this screen and more to choose from.

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Peek In The Closet

Finally getting some time to relax and explore, I found the lilolOops store at Reigner, which, as well as having excellent store build and layout, has a fantastic collection of colourful and well-crafted clothes, shoes and accessories. You can also find tattoos and skins available, and I picked up a pair of these Purple Pea Leggings, as well as all the other colours and styles available.



While also on my travels I happened by Hubby's Boutique, where I came upon this grey corseted dress. The texture and drawing skills are very promising, and for a system skirt the seams at the waist blend incredibly well into the top. Distraction its what it's all about when it comes to system skirt waist seams, and Jessie Gervasi did an excellent job with this dress. It reminds me of a Last Call style, elegant but not boring.

Hair style was an easy choice, this long style by Kin is my favourite. It's a relatively simple design, but the huge choppy fringe was really appealing and Kin's textures are have a subtle depth to them. I've had these Misfit chucks from Old Gravy for a long time, and there is nothing they don't go with. They're chucks, wear em with anything!

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The List:

Hair: Kin - Emi - Black

Skin: Celestial City - Vogue Skin- Champagne - Fall - 4

Tattoo: Aitui Tattoo - Fallen

Dress: Hubby's Boutique - Nadia

Leggings: LilolOops - Purple Pea leggings

Shoes: Old Gravy - Misfit Chucks

Your votes

Congrats to Marni, who proved she has the inventory and just plain skankiness to win your votes as Trashiest Betch. The baby's due any day now but will that stop her from boozing it up at all hours at the local to find her baby a new daddy? Not likely.

Also congrats to Azar Kazan, who topped the list of reader entries with the all-too-familiar bling and bikini ensemble. She wins 1000L cash and her picture posted here as an advisory to others.



We will be having another theme off in a few weeks, we have a list up our sleeves but if you have any nutso ideas you'd really like to see, we're obviously not above shedding our dignity so email either Marni or myself.