It's that time of year, when things grow cold and I wear short skirts and hang around in rivers! This is a decidedly spring-like look, from the gorgeous mesh flowers by Sweet Lies, to the crinkly dress from LeeZu. I put on a brightly hued updo from Analog Dog, who does some of my favorite ombre shades, and finished the whole look with rings from Eclectica and shoes from Hilly Haalan. It's also what I call an inventory look, meaning the majority of it were things I picked up while I was out across the grid, and then I threw the look together while sorting things out of my main inventory folders - liking different pieces so much I wanted to photograph them before I sorted.
The LeeZu dress is one I've been eyeing for a while and picked up during her recent sale; I love an unusual silhouette, and LeeZu does amazing, angled, crinkly silhouettes. I also really liked the texturing, from the band down the center to the thin, contrasting colored shapes that reminded me of medallions on Indian carpets and fabrics. It's a delicate spaghetti strap top, a wonder mesh has given us which I will always cherish, and the colors are clear but muted, a tone which would determine the rest of my look. The Sweet Lies flowers, put on soon after, were a purchase from the last iteration of the Fantasy Room - to give you a sense of what a mess my inventory is - and they are a wonderful set of simple flowers in a muted but diverse palette.
The shoes were the hardest part, but I had happened by some Hilly Haalan shoes recently and they were floating near the top. One of the wonderful things about SLink feet is that it allows for many more open sided and open toed shoes, even for people who have difficulty making feet! In this case, the open lacework of the shoes was a perfect and simple counterpoint to a much more fluffy and fussy look above, and the silver echoed the whites elsewhere without becoming too sucked in. Finally, I had the great luck of seeing these rings, Eclectica's new release for the Jewelry and Accessory Expo. They are gacha prizes, a veritable slew of rings, all of which are lovely. I went with a different color on each hand, one to echo the golds of the medallions on the fabric of my dress, and the other to catch the hues of the flowers I'm wearing and my hair. The final touch were my nails - a textured ombre from Devae that I picked up ages ago but return to over and over again. That's also the only bit of purple in my look, completing my somewhat inverted rainbow nicely and settling us firmly in the realm of spring shades and pastel hues.
It's interesting to see where I fall in step with the prevailing north Northern Hemisphere cold and snow, where I react to my local weather which is not at all and where I push back against that, clinging to the timeless and spacelessness of Second Life. The biggest strength and weakness of this world we create together is that it is the sum total of our imaginations. We bring in our own experiences, assumptions, biases, and prejudices and then build a world that replicates the ones in our own minds. I don't think there's any way we can actually know why people bring what they bring - so much of what can be made is as much a product of our subconscious expectations and values as anything consciously held. I think about that sometimes, looking back at a history of images bright and dark from the last five years - the times when I dressed in bright and cheerful clothes when I was feeling sad or upset; the times I threw on whatever and tossed it into the world; my own quiet jealousies and envies, sublimated into a sort of frenetic energy with no outlet.
Winter is a time for drawing in, self-reflection, and facing hard truths about ourselves in harsh environments. Spring is about growth and optimism, and the eternal promise that This Too Shall Pass. I feel like I'm in a swirl of energy, chasing my own tail to avoid my greatest fears about myself. There's a strong temptation to skate over the darkness, to stick to pastels and sweetness and kind words; I have no way to judge if that impulse is a kindness, or an ultimate cruelty.
