As I've said before, the Genre theme this month is Rockabilly - and this month is continuing for another couple of days, until the twelfth, so you have time to get your country on! I went for super saturated color and blown out highlights for this set of pictures - it seemed to fit the comic book sensibilities of my DRBC dress, now available at Genre. The dress itself comes with a ton of textures, but the second I saw this one, I knew what I wanted to wear! Look elsewhere for your vibrant red and blue, or your stylish black and white poodle skirt - I'm bringing pulp fiction to the grid! The bright colors of my skirt really stand out against the black base dress, a few white polka dots here and there to cut up the darkness. The cap sleeves of the blouse are cut and rigged well - I have a very wriggly animation set, but the sleeves always stayed in place and moved naturally. The scoop neckline is mirrored front and back, the perfect setting for a variety of necklaces, though here I selected a collar from Enfant Terrible, available as part of the TAG! Gacha event, which echoes the polka dots and brings in some stripes. The DRBC dress' skirt has nice, large folds which make it adaptable across a variety of poses; I'm always watchful for what happens to a skirt when legs cross or move together, and in this case the folds bunch naturally with very little of the "cutting" which can occur when a skirt isn't rigged as well.
I kept with the 1950s theme with with hairstyle by Anachron which combines the best parts of Rosie the Riveter's kerchief practicality with a forward bang curl and a long chignon over the back of the head. Much to my glee, the entire hairstyle is editable - both all of it and in pieces - which means I was able to modify it to fit over and around my larger-than-average ears! It's always a blessing when a hairstyle lets me shift it around in the small ways necessary for a non-standard avatar, and in this case it was a breeze to make everything fit. Like my DRBC dress, this hair from Anachron is re-texturable via a HUD, and the kerchief has a variety of patterns; here I selected a bright red and skull pattern to match my monstrous skirts. The skulls make a subtle polka dot design, which holds the whole outfit together, even the final matching pieces - my shoes and glasses from Eclectica. Both are re-texturable via blue touch menu, but as an added bonus they are also editable - meaning I could custom tint the bow and trim on my shoes to draw out the colors of my skirt - in this case bright red and orange with a slightly duller teal. I love how Eclectica always gives options for individualization of her creations so I can add touches like this; the look would work without it, but I think it adds a bit more polish to subtly echo colors in multiple places. They're fit for medium SLink feet and available in a bunch of other polka dot colors.
To finish out my look I wanted to keep the theme of historical monsters and the bright colors without introducing alpha which might conflict with the alpha of my glasses. To that end, I went with demon wings - in this case a set of chibi demon wings I picked up from Illusions a long time ago at Halloween. These have a wonderful shape and fit beautifully above the scoop neckline of my DRBC dress. I also pulled out one of the dragons from Avatar Bizarre to perch on my shoulder and add some green to my brightly colored mix. I picked up a whole bunch of these at Fantasy Faire and I'm looking forward to pairing them with a bunch of outfits! The tail and head curve are particularly fun, offering up a sense of personality and interacting in an interesting manner with the rest of my look.
The lighting was an experiment, playing with bright and shadows in a more extreme manner than I usually do. I think the effect was wonderful especially using some of the more interestingly shaped items around France Portnawak. One of the blessings and curses of photographing in the wild is a basic lack of control - it offers up chances for serendipity, like the star I found in the top picture, or the pinup pictures below. It's always an adventure on the grid!
