Fashion Review — Jordanna Magic, WickedKisses (updated)

I was pleased to get my first request for a fashion review the other day from Jordanna Magic, owner of WickedKisses.  Jordanna is starting up her business, and she offered me a few things to take a look at.  (There was a set of sex straps also in the package that I don’t touch on here; but you should find them in Jordanna’s store.)

1.  First is a babydoll with flowered bodice and hem.  This is perhaps my favorite out of the batch; I like the patterning of the bodice and the crossover strap.  The skirt is flexiprims, and there might be a little problem with show-through that I noted in the back, but some adjustment should solve that quickly.

2.  This bikini is based on the babydoll, and it’s daring ; not for the top, which is a variation on the top for the dress, but because of the thong brief.  When I put this on, I was surprised.  But it wears well, and isn’t too bad to look at.  I don’t have a decent picture of the brief — the poses I chose didn’t give me a look at the front of my hips.  It’s a good look, though.

3 and 4.  WickedKisses also does skins, and Jordanna’s offering to me was Raina, in what she described as “light tan w/ heavy makeup.”  I’m not so sure about the tan here; it’s not as pale as some Asian or goth skins I’ve seen, which are almost grey to milk white.  But the tan is very light, as you can see if you compare it with my “normal” GemCorp skin.  For those looking for just a touch of tan, this might be your ticket.

I’ve visited Jordanna’s store, and she’s basically starting out, so contents at any given time may vary.  I’d say it’s worth a drop-in to see what’s available.  The stock may have changed since I was in there, and one side (plain vs. sex wear) may be emphasized instead of the other.  Good beginnings for a first collection!

• Teleport directly to store

Other items in this article:

• Shoes:  Armidi Dhali Bow platforms (silver)
• Gold earrings:  Anchor by yoona Mayo (available only on OnRez, from the looks)
• Green paisley bikini by Relika
• Shape:  Alady Jane Seymour
• Skin and hair (normal):  GemCorp Wendy

You can see four additional photos of the bikini at my Flickr photo stream.

I’m In With the In Crowd

Well, so to speak….

The other night, I was prepping to do some shopping when good friend Gidge Uriza invited me to help out with a photo shoot she and Cajsa Lilliehook (another good friend) were doing for their joint blog, It’s Only Fashion.  Get a chance to be a fashion model?  Do I want to join them?  Does a lion live on the savanna?

Three minutes later, after a change of clothes at the store they were featuring, and a change of hair, I was posing alongside these two fashion powerhouses.  You can see Gidge’s writeup of the session and several photos at their blog — along with some witty comments.  The entire shoot is available at Gidge’s Flickr stream.

Apocalypto

I’m plotting a review of Hair Fair 2008 — my first Hair Fair, it should be noted — for a future article.  For now, though, I’m looking at some pieces that I bought before I started slogging through the treacle fudge of the Rezzable sims (grin).

Specifically, this:

(There are three more pictures, including the entire outfit I created, at my Flickr stream.)

The story behind this:  I first spotted the wig on the head of Bettina Tizzy in her own stream.  If you haven’t learned how much I love spiraly, spiky, massive hair that’s bigger than a Baltimore B-52 and Not Possible in Real Life, read this old article (whose offer is no longer in effect, as Sinnocent’s dog is all better [grin]).  So you can guess that I just had to turn my nose up at this design (bigger laugh).

However, the hair is not a separate (unless we can bug the designer enough; then maybe he’ll consider!).  It comes as part of a post-apocalypse package called Survivor from AVZ, and this is what the rest of the costume looks like:

I especially like the breastplates made out of cogwheels (grin).  I’d actually have no problems wearing this if I was running around the Junkyard — very Tina Turner out of Mad Max:  Beyond Thunderdome — but I just didn’t feel like this at the moment.  So it became mashup time.  For more and better picturs of the final results, see my Flickr set; the details are:

• Shape/skin:  Issigoni (Ayumi)
• Hair, beads, and the bracer on the left wrist:  AVZ Survivor (from the full costume; not available as a separate)
• Eyes:  Gaslights Emporium (jade green)
• Corset:  Last Call (Milena) (no longer available)
• Shorts:  DnG black leather
• Boots:  DollyRock — the tallest boots I’ve found yet in the uppers!  (Not inside the main store; shoes are in an outlier storefront on the property)
• Duster:  TorkTastic simple leather coat

Better running around in than a steel bikini, wouldn’t you say?

Frankly, as you can see from the last picture in the set — I finally found some good light for a closeup this morning — this is a hairstyle that you could study for an hour.  AVZ spent a lot of time (and prims) constructing this wig, and it has all sorts of goodies in it, from the network of steel rods to the little baubles that decorate it.

Two Benefit Packages at My Store

A fast plug before I crash for the night. I normally don’t plug my store on this blog too much, but I have two boxes of prints on sale at Harper’s Fine Art and Photographs right in my door, the full proceeds of which go to benefit Phoenix Psaltery. One is my current full collection of Twenties prints for L$1,000, a nearly L$500 savings — and you’re helping a good man while you’re purchasing. The other is five of the sci-fi posters in my skybox Sci-Fi Gallery, normally L$700, going for L$500.

Come on by and be generous, folks!

A Quick Rant

I hate auto-play blog goodies.

Someone had plugged a slideshow into their blog article, and it had a soundtrack underneath it.  A one-song soundtrack.  And I didn’t know that it was the blog article playing the one song — over and Over and OVER!  I had Firefox open to the wordpress.com tag-surfer page, and that was playing while I was in Second Life.  I was asking my friends in the Fashion Emergency group what was going on, and they were suggesting a script crash.

Well, now you know.  And I’d like to genteely shoot whoever had that slideshow in their blog!

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There, I feel better now.

Benefit Auction for Phoenix Psaltery

This is a copy of a notecard sent to me by Malburns Writer, who received it from Crap Mariner.  I’m reproducing it verbatim:

Bloggers, SL Music Fans, and Friends you can help us make a difference in someone’s Real Life!

Phoenix Psaltery and his SL/RL wife Sansarya Caligari are both long-time, well known residents in SL. He owns part of one of the oldest SL newspapers, The Metaverse Messenger, and Sans blogs about her passionate love for SL fashion. They are both very supportive of the Live music scene in SL as well.

Just a few days ago, Phoenix went into complete renal failure and has ended up in intensive care at a hospital away from his home town, with a shunt for dialysis. Unfortunately, there are other complications as well, including pneumonia.  Finances have gotten dire for them as Sans has to stay at a hotel while he’s in ICU, not to mention other expenses that are incurred and with children left at home in the care of relatives.

So their SL friends have joined together to help them! We are putting on an all day auction and live DJ event. Many people have donated items such as transferable Dazzle dresses, and merchants such as myself have made limited editions for sale at this auction only.

Here’s the LM to the event as well as some details and pics:

The event starts Saturday August 23 at 10AM SLT, with a fabulous DJ line up.
Cylindrian Rutabaga performing live 9-10 AM
10 AM till Noon Siggy Romulus
Noon till 2 PM aEoLuS Waves
2 PM till 4 PM Esma/Io
4 PM till 6 PM Lucifer Baphomet
6 PM till 8 PM Lecktor Hannibal
8 PM till 10 PM Vivianne Draper
10 pm till Midnight Augustus Bainbridge

And here’s a taste of what’s for auction:

* Limited Edition Purple Latex Kimono by Zorena Deckard (Ookami Ningen)

* RL original oil painting by Jen (from Jen) SL name Schechinah Enoch (title: Currents Oil on Canvas 2004 20″x24″) Free shipping is included if it gets a price of $250USD or more.
This is a minimum so the auction should start at that price for this item.
The pic can be seen here: http://secondsurvivor.com/SecondSurv…&postcount=111
* 1k gift card to Blaze (from Susanne Pascale)
* 2 years of ad rotation in SLTrivia (from FlipperPA Peregrine)
* 1/2 black & white page ad in special print SLCC edition (worth $467 USD) (from Katt Kongo)
* Metric ton of clothing from Dazzle and Last Call (from various donators)
* Original one of a kind outfit from A2NZ “P2″ Rubber cloak
* A lot of stuff from Aeolous’ store. I have never been to his store so I’m not sure what that is but whatever it is the auction gets five of everything.
* Limited release outfit from 2006 from Pixel Dolls (donated by a buyer not Neph)
* Fat pack of Full line of Elegance hats (from Morrigan)
* Full set Fat Little Sofa, Fat Little Chair, and Fat Little Ottoman from Relic
* Not yet released AMBIANCE Henna Collection Living Room Set by Desiree
* ‘Very Large Domed Tent – Brown- Gypsy Tent from Osprey Therian
* ‘Very Large Domed Tent – Buff – Gypsy Tent from Osprey Therian
* ‘Very Large Domed Tent – Purple – Gypsy Tent from Osprey Therian
* ‘Giant Potato on flatcar with sign’ by Osprey Therian

I’m also setting out a special edition dress for sale during the event at both the auction and my store.

I hope you can blog about this wonderful gathering of support.  Please feel free to display part or all of the information I’ve provided.

Zorena Deckard (Ookami Ningen Fur Cloaks and Japanese Fashion)

Let’s see if we can break open our purses enough to help out a couple who’ve done so much for us with their publications

Summon the Heroes

Revised August 20, 10:00 p.m. local:

I’m an Olympic Games fan; have been since about 1984, and the Sarajevo Winter Games, as a matter of fact. I’ve always preferred the Winter Games, but the Summer Games are good as well, and many of the events (Michael Phelps, of course, and the women’s gymnastics) caught my attention this time around. The politics of the Chinese regime are deplorable, and I do not support them in any way — but they know how to throw a hell of a Games.

I bit the bullet the other night, and bought a CD from 2000 of music composed or suggested for the Olympics, including three of John Williams’ major works: Olympic Fanfare and Theme, The Olympic Spirit — and Summon the Heroes. I was going to embed a video here of someone playing it, but the versions I found just didn’t catch my interest — including the Opening Ceremonies in which it was debuted! Probably because I have the full version of the music on that CD. But you’ve almost certainly heard at least part of it at some point if you’ve seen a Games since Atlanta 1996. Williams has mastered the composition of triumphant fanfares, creating uplifting numbers that stir the blood and call the listener to heed and celebrate.

While playing this, I had an idea for a great machinima come to me, one that would be perfect for an Olympic Games. Sadly, I can’t seem to shoot movies worth crap in SL (I have to study Torley’s or someone’s tutorial, ’cause I can’t get the thing to save a file or something); it would take a cast of dozens, if not hundreds of avatars; and it wouldn’t be ready until the next Games. (It could be filmed and released between the main and Paralympic Games in Beijing, but there would still be the problem of logistics and cast to pull together. Now I know how they feel when they’re trying to pull together a movie in pre-production in Hollywood!) So I release the concept into the Void by Creative Commons; and, if someone can actually film the thing by London 2012, please give me a role and a credit (and 2% of the gross, if any [grin]).

As for sets, there are plenty of builds across the Grid that could fit the need of the concept; the only one I could think of needing to be built would be a classical-type arena. (I’ve looked at the Gladiatorial Arena in Roma; besides the bloodstains on the floor, the build is over ornate for what I picture. Something more classical Grecian is in my mind, or at least similar; I’d prefer a look that wasn’t necessarily identifiable to any particular culture. Perhaps if something like an oval-shaped Greco-Roman amphitheatre could be done! But I doubt you could really get away from the Grecian elements and make it “universal”; the results would be too bland.)

Read the “concept pitch” following the break….

I’ve Obviously Been in SL Too Long

…because I’m BEYOND guilty of #9 on Fifi’s list.  (You just know someone had to come up with one of these for SL eventually.)

Events on the Grid

Shuffling through blogs this morning, I came across a pair of art items, one quite a nice opportunity, and the other almost sure to generate controversy in light of previous happenings.

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First, the easy. Prim Perfect magazine and blog have joined with the Orange Island community to sponsor a fashion photography contest, which will run across five days during the week of August 25. Competitors must shoot to a different theme each day, at a location specified by the judges, for daily prizes. There will also be a Grand Prix for the Most Consistent team, available only to those who participate across all five days.

For more details, you can read at the Orange Fashion Photo Contest blog, or on page 48 of Prim Perfect’s issue 11. Get yourself warmed up, get a good model (or spruce up your own avatar), and go for it!

Thanks to Maggie Mahoney of Runway magazine.

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And now, the rough.

The word has gone out on the Big Blog.  Volunteers are being solicited for this year’s Burning Life Festival, the in-world equivalent of the famous Burning Man art festival in the Real World.  It’s said that Philip Rosedale got his idea for Linden World, the predecessor of Second Life, from attending Burning Man in 1999.  (That may be, but there must be a dollop of Neal Stephenson in here somewhere, too….)

So what’s the problem?  They’ve done this for several years now, with no complaints from anybody.  Well, Ari Blackthorne examines the festival in light of Linden Lab’s apparent current policy of sanitizing — some would say “Disneyfying,” as Manhattan did to a good deal of Times Square — the Grid.  Remember that Burning Life emulates Burning Man in many ways; and one of them has been a general casualness about clothing.  Ari is suspicious about what will happen to Burning Life if the Lab decides to go after the exposure factor, as it did with ageplay and other matters during the planning for the recent SL5B celebration.  Ari notes:

No one twisted anybody’s arm to go running around to the pr0n clubs, or to put their money into these banks, or any of all that other crap, yet it was the shrill vocal minority that whined about it all. And remember, the alleged trading of RL photographs of child porn in the sensational news story that seemed to be the catalyst for all the bad press about Second Life is alleged. The last word from Linden Lab is that they have not been able to find these assets in the system, thus the media company fanning those flames may also have been blowing smoke up Linden Lab’s ass - just to ‘validate’ the sensationalism of their so-called news story.

If this is the case, then the funky lab on Linden Street, where you could get away with about anything in its virtual world, is definitely adopting a policy of reaction to bad press similar to many normal businesses.  To borrow from an old television program, the new management is getting measured for a team jacket, size 54 extra-uptight.  Virtual nudity isn’t particularly my thing — I ran off last night from someone who was pretending to be a body model at Alady Island and asked me if I’d like to have some fun — but that kind of trolling insanity does not happen routinely in Second Life, despite what the press has to say.

Burning Life doesn’t fall under the canopy of “what you do in the privacy of your home is your affair,” but my understanding is that it’s usually been clean, safe and fun.  It isn’t a mass meet-for-meat market, but a place to display your creativity, just like the celebration of artists in RL; and what is SL but a whole mess of artists at one point or another, shaping a new world for research and enjoyment?  I think the festival should come under the rubric of “If it doesn’t hurt your neighbor or yourself, go ahead and do it,” advocated by such as the ever-lovin’ Spider Robinson in Callahan’s Lady.

The question is, will the new Linden Lab mentality allow that this year and in future?

Fashionable Friends

I’m at loose ends for a topic for myself, and I was going through my tag-surfing routine as usual, when I came across a pair of articles from It’s Only Fashion, a blog co-written by Cajsa Lilliehook of MDR Photography and Gidge Uriza of Don’t Ask. These two have superb taste for outfits and mix-n-match, and I’d recommend their blog to anyone who is looking for good fashion suggestions, or who just enjoys reading about fashion and admiring pictures.

This time around, the pair came up with some real winners. In Gidge’s case, it was a definite winner: she got the messenger bag in her outfit from a lucky chair at Sn@tch! The pantsuit comes from a name I’m just learning about, Kunglers, which looks to be an up and coming source for great clothes; I just stumbled onto their company blog the other day.

Cajsa, on the other hand, in a sense went retro with a vengeance. Indeed, the first picture in her article made me start pinching myself to see if I was having a flashback (I’m old enough!). All she needs are the granny glasses or Ben Franklins, and she could pass for a Seventies hippie mom — aside from those J’s wedgies on her feet. (A true hippie wouldn’t be caught dead in anything other than Earth Shoes or Birkies.) The peasant-style skirt goes with a layered top, the vest being possibly suede; wooden jewels and a chain belt complete the bohemian look.