Fantasy Faire: San Mora

The transition between Kakushi Pasu and San Mora is abrupt and startling. On one side: calm and natural glory. On the other: post-modern destruction decorated with trash bags. Death Row Designs always does something post-apocalyptic (whether modern of medieval) and San Mora is an exemplar of the style. You can pick up a free gas mask from DRD (San Mora) at the entrance, and I recommend doing so.... just in case. Much of what you can purchase here is similarly modern and dystopic - and it's a good reminder, to me in particular, of what an enormous umbrella Fantasy is! I'm more of a sparkles and sunshine kind of girl, but the dark and rusted fantasies other people create are no less valid even if they aren't candy colored. Fantasy Faire always challenges me to get out of my preferred areas and into something different, and I'm deeply grateful for the yearly wake-up call.

Genre: Apocalyptic Sunday

I have become, by way of accident, a tertiary fan of various works. I couldn't read more than the first half of A Game of Thrones, and have little to no interest in the television show, but I adore retellings of it - mostly about the quirky women who run the world - and the items inspired by it. Likewise, my love for apocalyptic matters is largely second or third removed, and often in the form of something I can wear.

Enter Genre.

The apocalypse is an often dark and gritty place, but sartorial glory can be found even there, and Genre is bringing that this time around.

First my hairstyle from Adoness is a rooster-comb of hair over a shaved base with patterns shorn in the length.I'm using the white hairbase tinted a soft gold and despite it not being my usual style at all, I rather like the effect; it feels a bit like I'm dragging out the Androgyny genre with my manliest look yet!

When I saw the clothing available for this round of Genre, I was powerfully reminded of the anime and manga series Trigun, and it's goofy main character Vash the Stampede - a humanoid natural disaster. Vash is one of those interesting, multifaceted characters who strides across stories and into the hearts and imaginations of those who encounter him. My trench coat might not be crimson, nor bullet-scarred, but it is a lovely offering from 14 FL OZ, fit to hold off the stinging sand in any post-apocalyptic wasteland and to impress even my enemies. It comes with a tank top, a pair of shorts and boots I'm not showing, but which are similarly well made. I love the design of this - the wide V at the top with the answering V to show off lets, boots, and whatever might be used as prosthesis in the hereafter. I'm wearing the jacket entirely without an invisible layer, though one is included, and I'd imagine it would work well over mesh as well as over the textured top and jeans I'm wearing in this picture - that makes it wonderfully useful in terms of outwear wear for a variety of looks - even ones out of the desert! Speaking of prosthetics, I simply couldn't resist the lure of a do-it-yourself stick leg made up of a bat and several extraneous weapons - or used to hold those weapons? - attached around the edges. This Death Row Designs special comes with a boot for the off leg, which I'm wearing here as well. It comes in two pieces and is modifiable, which means there's a lot of room for making it larger or smaller as needed. I find it incredibly charming - quirky and fun and dangerous.

With all of this flash and style showing up in my clothes and person, I needed truly over-the-top accessories. My eyes are decorated with two different effects - firstly a simple shadow from #adored which tints around the eyes, and then a facial tattoo lining under the eyes, from NOX. The latter has a lovely feathery effect over my cheeks. The combination is striking but subtle, and a little bit of color in an otherwise brown and tan presentation - a hope of things to come. A similar tint is in the gas mask from :{MV}:, though that is largely black. I like that it's little hints of hope hidden amongst an otherwise unremarkable look - that seems to fit well into both the post apocalyptic genre, and the western genres I'm referencing here. I finished the whole look off with a gold and black flask from Squishy Fluff, which seemed necessary since the end of the world would drive one to drink! It's editable, which is nice since I was able to resize the band to fit around my trench-coated arm. The final touch of verisimilitude were these dirty nails from A:S:S with a variety of hues to match anyone's skins. One can wash one's hands, but somehow a little cruft always seems to lurk beneath the nails!

Seeking the Depths of Sundarya Lahari

It's not always easy to combine fashion photography and art sims, but I do my best - though it does result in a lot more distance images than my usual. In this case, I thought the effect of shadows, lights, and some sincerely bizarre backgrounds as I explored the The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari and plumb the depths of its unusual story. I dressed appropriately for exploring a strange and ever-changing land - spike heels and a slashed micro-mini. Isn't that what everyone wears for a hike among vines and pentacled cephalopods? My dress is from Asteria Creations, and while it isn't my usual style, I simply couldn't resist it. I'm an enormous fan of cutouts, and this dress was covered in them while still mostly maintaining my dignity. It's an amazing, smooth curve on the hips, and a lovely fall of ribbon at the shoulder. It also moves well, especially for something which has so many gaps. The spike heels to go with it are a recent release from Felicity with some lovely rings which go down the front of the foot. I went with a contrasting color, bright and shiny yellow, setting off the rich dark blue of my dress.

My hair was a present from a dear friend, a gacha prize from EMO-tions which combines a hairbase and a lovely and simple hairstyle, decorated by narrow braids over the shoulders and from the hair pulled back on the sides. This is actually very like a style I used to wear offline, sleek and simple and sweet. The fade into the hairbase is a little rocky, but that's pretty standard for combining mesh and texture bases, and the hairbase makes it that much more realistic in appearance. I added enormous steampunk wings to finish the look, also gacha prizes, these come from Death Row Designs and combine a common - the large wing with the chain and bolts - and a smaller "flutter" wing which can move. In some shots I have it stab;e, and it others I let it go so I could play catch-the-perfect-shot. I wanted something heavy and metallic to balance out the rest of my look and offer up contrast, like the contrast of the large, strange creature in The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari and the enormous metal frame allowing her to continue to have children even after her death.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: EMO-tions, Legolan
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Mock, Gunpowder Indifference
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Mock, Glasside Lip
Wings: Death Row Designs, Steamflutters
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Elephante, Ice
Dress: Asteria Creations, Niege Mesh Mini
Bracelet: Earthstones, Flower for Sway
Shoes: Felicity, Whitney  Stilettos

Pose: Grafica

Location: The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari
Light Settings: TOR, MIIDDAY Why So Blue
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Unexpected Transmission

Futurewave finished in February, before I got this look together and photographed, but it was an amazing first, sci-fi focused event with the distinction of being completely non-fandom, which I thought was rather a nice touch and brought a lot more interesting things to the table. This amazing, spiky hair from Underscore which wasn't part of the event, but it seemed absolutely perfect when I got it. Underscore sells hair types with a HUD to change the colors, and this is one of the gray/silver versions of this hair - an unusual color for me, but perfectly fitting my poor, lost TechAngel. The silver array around my neck is from Spyralle, and unfortunately it is not (yet?) available at her store. It's a really, really unique design, and I particularly like how it frames around my head with the movements of lights up to the tips. I'd love to see it in more colors; Spyralle is known for her bright, amazing textures, and I could see those really being an asset with a variety of Fashion Arrays. The eyebanding is from Pin Me Down and is a really amazing effect that reminds me of the checkerboard effect from A Game of You by Neil Gaiman; it's available at the mainstore in an entire panoply of colors. My lipstick is from Beautiful Freak, and is an astonishingly liquid and shiny design that I really love. I picked it up in the more unusual colors, and got a chance to pull out this incandescent teal for my TechAngel, to reflect my tainted wings. This is also available in the mainstore, kind of tucked back from the front door.

My wings are from Death Row Designs, and they are astonishing. They don't physically move with a script; instead they are a selection of wings which appear and disappear when one flaps, with a final "up" position when they're off. My one complaint is that there is no way to freeze at the different levels, so I had to time my snaps very carefully to get the wing effects I wanted - for example, the top shot was a matter of second counting so that I could capture the down-and-back effect. I have no idea how difficult it would be to program that in, but I would love to be able to "freeze" the wings in each of the forms I doubt anyone but a photographer would want it, though, so maybe it's a lot of effort for not much payoff. The wings are available at the Death Row Designs store not only in the blue-and-teal I picked up at Futurewave, but in light, dark, and the special pack, which has wings like the one I'm wearing here. Finally, my dress - this amazing, amazing gown - is from MetaTheodora and is also available at the mainstore. I have such mixed feelings about this dress. I love the idea - the silhouette is so unique, and I adore the effect of the wires standing out from the body. I love how the sleeves and collar loop out at the ends, and the shape and form of the corset is amazing and unusual, especially how it looks machined and robotic - it struck me the moment I saw it even though I tend toward more organic designs in general. On the other hand, the shape and rigging of the skirt seemed really problematic to me. First of all, since I'm short, the folds bend oddly in response to that and look crumpled; this is a somewhat cool effect, since it looks like I'm wearing my stolen big sister's dress, but I don't think it's intentional. Second of all, the skirt is extremely flat. I've angled these pictures to minimize the effect, but the fall of skirt below is almost exactly vertical with minimal horizontal movement, and while it's not an issue from a front or back view, from the side it looks extremely odd. I'd love to see it a bit floofier and rounder in general to reflect the round of the corset-level, maybe even with some of the outflow of the arms. None of this changes how much I adore this dress, however; the ideas behind it are so fun and I am really drawn to unique and unusual designs. The texturing of it - which I didn't get into before - is also quite good. I love the metallic quality of the texturing, and the color choices - especially of the more flamboyant gowns, though the subtle effects are amazing on this monotone one - like this fawn-dapple on my butt, making me look like my dress is made out of melted aluminum that pockmarked during the drying stage.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Underscore, Lyon
Array: Spyralle, Sensory Array Mode 24P2
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Mock, Pantone Fall eShadow
Eyebanding: Pin Me Down, One 1
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Beautiful Freak, Liquid Metal Lipstck
Wings: Death Row Designs, Devine Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: By Snow, Carbon Manicure
Dress: MetaTheodora, Star of Venus

Pose: aDORKable

Location: Siden V3 Survival horror - Elven/Pirate RPG
Light Settings: TOR, DUSK Fairytale Glow
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only