Fit for a Princess: Modern Girl

Fit for a Princess has begun again, this time with a theme of Modern Princess - which means sleeker silhouettes and a bit more skin for our modern rulers. I'm wearing a brief, sleek outfit from Sew Chic, a new-to-me store, with a high waisted skirt and a bandeau top. It runs a bit large - I usually wear a medium, maybe a small, but in this I'm wearing extra small - and depending on the size there might be a gap between the top of the skirt and the bottom of the bandeau. I found I rather liked that sliver of skin as an effect, so instead of using the included invisilayer (which occludes it), I wore my smaller shape and modified it to fit (mostly in the bust). It's well rigged along the bottom of the skirt, meaning it works well even with some bent-leg poses, which can be a challenge for short skirts. I also quite liked the soft texturing of the bandeau, like a soft edged lace. I paired the dress with a lovely set of jewelry from Cae, set in a bow style with sleek attachments to the head and neck. I would have totally adored bracelets to match - I know, I'm a greedy cuss - but it does come with cute rings, pre-set for either standard or SLink hands. The fact that the gems and metal are both color change via a HUD (10 gems and 2 metals) makes me extremely happy, and makes this a lot of fun to match up to an outfit. It In this case, I went with silver and gold to pull together my shoes and the dress. The final piece from Fit for a Princess are these amazing poses from An Lar which are in a modest and direct style, with a little bit of sweet floatyness.

I wanted a simple hair to fit with the pretty bow Cae gave me, and I ended up finding this lovely, simple and sleek style from Underscore with a lovely, add-on braid. Since the braid is rigged separately, it can be easily removed, but I liked it as a bit of embellishment, and the bands are color changeable as well, which adds a bit of color to your hair. You can also tint it separately using the hair color HUD, though I didn't in this case, which adds some room for personalization. My shoes were an old 21 Shoe purchase from Hucci, though similar shoes can still be found at her store; it's a sexy open lacework shoe style in a shiny gold color with a light wood wedge heel. Into the shoes I tucked bright pink nails on my hands and feet, all from Orc Inc - I decided to go for a "pop" of color, as I believe it is call in the industry - which match up to my shiny hot pink lips courtesy of Adore & Abhor layered under a Mock gloss. I love how cosmetics can be combined; Mock is particularly good for layering over other lipsticks, as it has a rare transparency that adds gleam and glow and tints of shine. The dark gunmetal gray around the eyes - also courtesy of Mock - might be a little over the top, but I felt it was warranted. I'm really looking forward to continuing to explore what it means to be a Modern Princess, and I hope you'll come along for the ride.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Sparkles: Folly, Rainbow Sheen
Hair: Underscore, Sidhion
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Gunpowder Indifference
Lipstick 1: Adore & Abhor, Shreveport Lips
Lipstick 2: Mock, Lucir Lipcolor
Wings: Deviance, Seelie
Hands & Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands & feet
Nails: Orc Inc, Dark
Clothing: Sew Chic, Pink Summer Vintage (Fit for a Princess)
Jewelry: Cae, Alice (Fit for a Princess Event)
Shoes: Hucci, Benton Harbor Sandal

Poses: An Lar (Fit for a Princess Event)

Location: BaC Conflict Management
Light Settings: Sim Default
Water Settings: Sim Default

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 52 - Deck the Halls

This is the last twisted color challenge - Deck the Halls - and I think I've come up with something rather delicious to round out the year. I've started playing around a bit with the expressions in Second Life, and it gives a little more life to otherwise doll-like inexpressiveness of my avatar. Up close the expression changes are cartoonishly enormous, but at a distance the hard edges are softened into moods and manner - sly smiles, bored expressions, a moment of laughter. I wish there was a smoother set of expressions - its one of the aspects of the Second Life avatars which is an artifact of how old they are, and the low bar they set for appearance. I keep wondering if down the pike some new avatar meshes are coming out way - after all of the mesh add-ons, the hands and feet I'm displaying in these images, for example, which greatly improve on the basic avatar, but which have seems and additional restrictions which can be challenging.

It's interesting to think about how minimally important the initial creators of Second Life found the avatars - just stand-ins for themselves, often unchanging for years - along with how baffled they were by how much people wanted to recreate the world of cars and houses that exists outside of the virtual world. Second Life is a world of imagination, but imagination is not as unmoored from reality as I think people often believe; we get our inspiration from the world around us, our life experiences, and the things which are important to us. One of the fascinating things about a low-investment thing like Second Life fashion, where high fashion can be purchased for under five dollars, is how varied and interesting peoples' fashion senses are. In a world without accidents, where bodies can be augmented and can fit the most demanding or extreme style of body - from the thinnest, to the most voluptuous, personal style becomes not just the meeting point of bodies and cloth, but also a fully realized dream of what we could be if only we could chose everything.

My dress is from LivGlam, and was - if I recall correctly - part of one of her holiday hunts. She does completely dreamtastic hunts; I think my favorite part is the enormous images of every possible prize, so if one has an inventory the size of mine, one can pick and chose what works without having to pick up and try everything. If one doesn't have an overflowing inventory, though, or one seeks to expand into new areas of style, one can pick up everything and have an awesome working wardrobe right out of the gate. Her store is worth a good look, too; in addition to taking part in half a dozen weekly events, her prices for just her standard clothing are such that there's little guilt in picking up a few "must have" items. In this case, this is outside of my usual style but actually reminds me strongly of a shirt I had - and loved - with the flower-and-animal-print motif. It's subtle enough to not be overpowering, and the rich red color was perfect for Deck the Halls.

The rich, tomato red was echoed in my nails - from the always exemplary Orc Inc - and in my lipstick - from one of my go-to brands, Adore & Abhor. To balance out the black of the bodice (check out that awesome open back, too) I added a necklace I simply couldn't resist picking up from Cyrious, and which came with three other colors bundled with the same style. I love the shape of it, like little faerie wings holding the dust in the vial. My shoes also managed to match, a recent collabor88 purchase from Hucci. From the top they seem like a single lacy style; it isn't until you're diving into the river that you realize the red can be overpowering. The notes of pale, yellowish green are much more subtle; I tinted my amazing wings from Deviance just slightly enough for the green to stand out from the other iridescence, and I pulled on these amazing tights from Cannibelle, with tiny, perfect angel wings on the calves. Both they and the shoes are SLink ready, which is really a blessing in this day and age; one of the major bonuses of SLink is how smoothly they cap a look - so smoothly you hardly notice them. Finally, as I flitted around the grid, it quickly became obvious I was going to flash everyone, tights or no tights, and so my darling katat0nik came to my rescue with a cute set of green panties. You can see them in a shot or two, so I figured they were worth a shout-out even if you weren't really supposed to be able to see them.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Emily
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Adore & Abhor, Mono V2 3
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Shreveport Lips
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Necklace: Cyrious, Fairy Dust Vial
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Orc Inc, Rich Darks
Dress: Liv Glam, Boutique - You Send Me Flying
Panties: katat0nik, Holiday
Stockings: Cannibelle, Angel Wing Tights
Shoes: Hucci, Kasos

Poses: Flowey

Location: <a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Vana/200/100/32">Vana</a>
Light Settings: Phototools, Dead End Sky
Water Settings: TOR, Impure

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only