Well there won’t be no stars
Coming out in the sky
Tonight when my baby walks by
Oh they know that they can’t hold a
Candle to the look in his eyes
— “French Waltz,” performed by Nicolette Larson; written by Adam Mitchell; from the album Nicolette
I haven’t been to Heth Haute Couture for a while, but I’m glad I stopped in recently for the current collection. Hethwen Collinwood has put forth several fantastic pieces; both myself and Jem stocked up while we were there, in part for a storyboard series I’m working on. There was also a men’s formal suit, so I sweet-talked Conan into posing with me when I learned of an upcoming event, and how I could put the gown to a second, better use.
I learned of this event while flipping through Facebook. Blue Heart supports autism awareness, and seeks money to help fund work with the autistic. Having known two young men on the spectrum for several years, and their needs, I can encourage you to support this group and its goals. The Event itself will be held from May 17-22; there is also a party on Sunday, April 20, and a fashion show on Saturday, May 19, both at noon SLT.
Flickr group — take your photos of you in blue fashion and add them to this group
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The details:
Harper (as “Keiko”) wears:
Head: Akeruka Nami
Body and feet: Maitreya Lara V4.1
Eyes: IKON Sovereign eyes (Emerald)
Hair: Letituier Tamara
Gown: Heth Haute Couture Tryska
Shoes: KC Couture Faith
Pantyhose: Bebe Risque applier (Nude)
Accessories: Zenith Vintage Leather Clutch (Black); L’Emporio long bento gloves; Heth Haute Couture Galaxy crown; Chop Zuey The Girl from Mekong suite (bracelets, earrings, necklace and brooch)
It was a Saturday evening, two nights before the official public première of The Land of Fantasy’s new revue, which Lady Ariel Sherman and her writers had christened Nights of Fantasy. Newsstream writers, critics and celebrities from across several stellar cubes of planetary sectors had been invited to a preview of the show, and an after-party to celebrate. And the mood of the people milling through Sherman Mansion at that party, hosted by herself and her husband, Lord Adam Sandhara, gave Ariel every encouragement that the reviews soon to be written and off-hand interviews to be given would be strongly in the positive. Her smile gleamed almost as much as the sheen of the garden lights from her golden integument as she moved through the crowd of information-hungry reporters and celebrities who toasted her with sparkling etrinya wine and air-kissed her when they saw her.
Four years ago, such an event hadn’t been needed. The news coverage of the freeing of over 700 citizens of the Limlight Republic from bondage, following their near-total conversion into cyborg “pleasure workers,” had still been fresh in the public’s mind when the original version of Ariel’s revue premiered. Now, Nights of Fantasy needed to compete in the market alongside the other entertainments on the pleasure planet Videra, and that meant publicity. Ariel had set the marketing group her theatre always used to work on it, and that included Dara Furtano, the young woman who had arranged and masterminded this party.
Young indeed, Ariel thought as she spotted Dara under a wooden gazebo in the garden and went over to speak with her. Figuratively, Dara was less than a year old, though she had been born over twenty years before. Dara had requested that Ariel provide the means to convert her into a ‘borg herself, for reasons that still mystified Ariel in some ways. Ariel had resisted every request — until an accident at the theatre had almost killed her and her daughter, Zana. Dara, nearby at the time, had saved them, which placed Ariel in lifedebt to Dara; and, after more discussion, had agreed reluctantly to the conversion. She had found no cause to regret that concession; indeed, Dara, already an excellent publicist and marketing executive, had grown even better with her now total recall of needed data, as well as the ability to synthesize solutions on the fly. And her already present beauty had been intensified by her conversion into a silvery cyborg.
“Dara, if I had to give the night a review, I’d say you’re what they used to call a boffo success,” Ariel smiled as she stepped under the gazebo. “Thank you so much for what you’ve done for us. And you are as charming as could be in that gown! I thought it would look good on you.”
Dara smiled back, if shyly, and dipped a small curtsey to her host, the fuchsia folds of her dress billowing about her in the bob. “Thank you back, lady. The same could be said about you, how well the show went off; it was fantastic! And your dress is lovely, too.”
“Something I pulled out of my closet; I hadn’t had a decent place to wear it until tonight, and I don’t think you can find it anywhere now. Who knows, but it may come back into style after tonight.”
Accessories:Adam n Eve Opera Gloves for SLINK Hands (Black); Anachron group gift cigarette holder; Chop ZueyFrench Kiss suite (bracelet, earrings, ring, necklace) and Lala in Love wedding suite; Heth Haute CoutureRoyal Star brooch (you’ll find this on the men’s side; I’ve borrowed it for Ariel’s Republican Order brooch)
Well, I never was one to turn down a challenge, and I’ve been picking up formal wear lately, partly for me, partly for Harper’s storyboarding. Here’s my own portrait, taken at the site of The Spoils of Annwn. Harper plans to hang all three portraits on our office wall; one of us will probably photograph it and write it up when she gets it done. (I’m wearing Balen by Heth Haute Couture, for those who are going shopping.)
I love doing “duet” sessions with Conan when he gets the chance. He cleans up nicely, and he’s gradually getting even better looking as time goes on. Here, we’re at part of the current exhibit in LEA25, which has a few spots we can work with. A good thing on the last, as scripts are disabled there; neither of us were able to use AnyPose for smiles or eye movement, even when we added it off sim and jumped back in. But we’re adaptable, if nothing else.
Outside the rain begins
And it may never end
So cry no more, on the shore a dream
Will take us out to sea
Forevermore, forevermore
Conan is in a very nice formal suit from Prism for Men, on the same sim as the women’s store. A HUD gives you two shirt colors and for different tie patterns. As for me, I’m in a dress I discovered from ArisAris on the Marketplace, also HUD driven, with Zuri jewelry (currently new, and so available to members for 25% off), and a pair of half-length gloves from Valentina E. exclusively for Maitreya Lara. These are just one set in an extremely fair gacha at the current round of Whimsical; and, while not perfect — the hand is very rigid looking — the colors are excellent for all types. I put together the whole collection with very little “investment” in duplicates.
Close your eyes and dream
And you can be with me
‘Neath the waves, through the cave of hours
Long forgotten now
We’re all alone, we’re all alone
Close the window, calm the light
And it will be all right
No need to bother now
Let it out, let it all begin
Learn how to pretend
Love in the shadows — a wonderful thing.
Once a story’s told
It can’t help but grow old
Roses do, lovers too, so cast
Your seasons to the wind
And hold me dear, oh, hold me dear
So much for stargazing…because you are all the stars in the sky for me.
Close the window, calm the light
And it will be all right
No need to bother now
Let it out, let it all begin
All’s forgotten now
We’re all alone, all alone
Scroll on down for a live performance of “We’re All Alone” by the songwriter and original singer, Boz Scaggs.
Close the window, calm the light
And it will be all right
No need to bother now
Let it out, let it all begin
Owe it to the wind, my love
Accessories: Valentina E. Garbo gloves (Midlength Gold) (gacha, Maitreya only item, L$50/play at Whimsical event through September 8); Zuri Rayna Serpo suite (earrings, bracelets, ring and necklace (Antique Gold)
Makeup:GlamorizeDrama eyeshadow (Black – Black/Purple); *BOOM* Liquid Glaze liner (yellow) (vintage); Glamorize On Point lipstick (Warm Brown); FATElashes v2.0
None of us have put anything up for days, so I figured I’d add some of my storyboarding sessions from “Thief In the Night,” the story I’m working on in dribs and drabs. It’s not moving incredibly well in the writing department, partly because of time constraints, partly because of Second Life, and partly because I’ve never written scenes where two women are arguing over a man before. You’ll see below, in the photos for the “confrontation” section. As I think I’ve said before, I like to use SL as a platform to work out scenes and dress my characters visually. It makes it easier to imagine and portray what they look like in any scene when I have an actual visual reference. So far, the dress designers of Second Life haven’t let me down, or I’ve worked something up into a more futuristic appearance (or at least more glitzy).
Warning: From here on, it’s graphics intensive, about 15 photos. I’ve saved them in JPG and shrunk them down, but it will probably still take a bit to load them all, and I’m not really thrilled whenever I use the gallery feature in WordPress (just because I want it all out in the open). So if you have a slow connection, here be dragons from this point on.
Second Life® with Harper, Conan, Jem, Diana and Morgan
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