Twisted Color Challenge: Week 9 - Lyndhurst Plum

I'm squeaking in under the wire for Lyndhurst Plum, a color which I really struggled to set up a look for until I finally searched through my sorted clothing for this very old dress from The Crystal Queendom (currently closed). I still don't think it's exactly right - the blue is too bright, the purple too shiny - but it's close enough for government work, and I was getting work out! The twisted challenge is definitely a lot harder than just a single color; usually I could match a color pretty well, but sometimes I simply can't find the two different ones in clothing which can be combined. I'm hampered by the fact that I tend to wear full outfits, not separates. It adds a whole different challenge to the whole thing! I paired the dress with a casual new style from Wasabi Pills, showing some of her new curls and little wisps around the ears. I'm really liking the looser style of this new hair; it will be interesting to see how far she takes the curls. The bracelets are an old purchase from Digital Eyes, and they really fit the casual, flirty style I'm working on. I really know that store more for her fans, but these were perfect to step up my look and ad a bit of color to my hands.

I ended up running over to the LEA sims to try to catch Amelia Is Missing before it closed - isn't it amazing how quickly six months has gone? I didn't manage to get as far on my LEA goal of tracking each sim as I'd like, but I get another chance soon! In the mean time, I really enjoyed following the red thread to try to find Amelia through a wistful, sometimes disturbing landscape. The amount of subtle interactivity was fun, too! While sitting on things didn't accomplish much, I did spend entirely too long chasing eeping boxes around a giant room, and I discovered I could - with care - walk on the thread at least part of the way. The light I ended up using was really different from the default windlight, but I think it suits the sim by highlighting the red threads that ran all the way through. My one complaint about the threads would be how difficult it was to follow them; one problem of the camera is that it's relatively difficult to look down as one goes - there were times I got very lost and hat to spend a lot of time panning down to find my way again. That might have been part of the point, though - Amelia is lost, and it will take some effort to track through the clues to the end.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 04-A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, A Little Drama - blue / lilac
Eyeliner: cheLLe, Cleo Called Navy
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Coral Tree
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Ivette (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Dress: The Crystal Queendom, Bombay Belle
Bracelets: Digital Eyes, Plastic Bracelets Purple
Shoes: G Field, Ribbon Slingback Shoes

Poses: !bang

Location: LEA: Amelia Is Missing by Cica Ghost
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI Gimler gromchi
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Color Challenge: Week Thirty-eight - Patriarch

This week is Patriarch, which is a rather troublingly named color. I'm not a fan of the patriarchy, which seems to injure so many people. The color is a quite pretty one, though!


I went back to the Haven of Rogues and Mer Sanctuary for some more pictures and ended up wandering in completely different area - even headed into the second sim. Even tinting it pink, I ended up with some really fantastic color contrasts that really set off the gorgeous dress from Kouse's Sanctum. I don't even remember when I got this - but the color seemed perfect. Initially I was doing a color combination for the dress - drawing together Evie's Closet and Kouse's Sanctum - but the more I looked at the total look in different lights, the more dissatisfied I was with it. I ended up switching entirely over to the Kouse's Sanctum dress and really enjoying the flow of the maple leaves down the layered skirt.

The hair was a recent purchase from Majika, who is getting rid of a bunch of her older hairs for cheap. Awesome chance to pick up some excellent hair - her new stuff is even butter, but her old stuff is still worth the Linden! The hairband is color change on touch, and I love the curves of the hair; the back is very unusual and I really like the curves even though it's much shorter than my usual hairstyles! The skin is from De La Soul - violet stripe. It was one of her hunt prizes, so I'm not sure it's still available - but you can get others of the Charlie skins in her store. The collar, from Plastik, is a fantastic accessory that is full modify, which means I could multi-tint to match the different colors of purple in the dress. The bracelets are simple plastic ones from Digital Eyes - I really like how the colors are off-set from each other.


It's been a very difficult week - mostly via work, but a bit outside of it, too. One the one hand, I glory in my weekends, but on the other they bring their own kind of pressure to accomplish things, to respond to things, to listen and sympathize, two write things up and get things settled. I'm surrounded by plants these days - inside and outside - so there's some shiny watering in my future and a kitty cat to snuggle.

Gender, gender expression, sexism, and identity have been on my mind a lot recently. Despite the internet being "anonymous", being female on the internet can be a pain in the ass. Being female alone can be a pain in the ass. Patriarchal values, being rigid and inflexible, aren't good for anyone, but women are usually caught in a serious of double binds, where there is no way to win. For example - motherhood is held up as the ideal a woman can be, and single women are pressured to marry and then to become pregnant as part of fulfilling that purpose. However, once a woman is a mother she is singularly blamed for everything involved with her children, she is expected to keep them under control constantly, be ever vigilant, if anything goes wrong it is her fault, and even years later her children can blame her for all of their problems and be widely accepted as speaking the truth.

There is no win.


Likewise, women can't win in terms of protecting our own safety. If anything goes wrong - be it domestic abuse or rape - we are blamed for it. We should have seen, we should have taken extra precautions, we shouldn't have trusted the people we trusted or valued the people we valued (especially if they're male, because "you know how men are", and "boys will be boys"). However, in anything short of being beaten or raped, we need to trust the men around us, never behave as if they should hurt us, certainly never imply by word or deed that they might be a threat or might actually hit or rape us. If we take logical, rational precautions to protect ourselves we are man-hating shrews who assume all men are evil and live constantly in fear. Even if we live in fear, if we get hurt it's our fault.

Ironically, it's bad for the men, too. When they aren't incapable of controlling themselves due to being overcome by lust upon the sight of any bare female skin, they are psyching themselves up to prove to other men how masculine they are, or being portrayed as mindless forces of violence who must be protected from themselves by women. See the catch-22 for women above.

Patriarchy is bad for men. It's worse for women.


( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Charlie VioletStripe - Cream (with blond brows)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Hair: Magika, Mary Cherry - Golden Blond
Collar: Plastik, Recluse Collar - Bound
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Bracelets: Digital Eyes, Plactic Bracelet Purple
Dress: Kouse's Sanctum, Cristina Deux - Twilight
Shoes: G Field, Bow Strap Shoes "Kate" - white

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Haven of Rogues and Mer Sanctuary
Light Settings: TOR, HORROR - Rancid Milk
Water Settings: TOR, Waterslides (tinted pink)

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only