Genre: Burlesque - Over-Run

The new Genre is Burlesque, and all the sexiest outfits and accessories have come out to play. My enormous fans and the poses which make such good use of them are from {NANTRA}, and they're redolent of the 1930s when it became a popular addition to erotic dance. The dance poses hint at the peek-a-boo nature of this burlesque classic, the large fans concealing and revealing in turn. {NANTRA}'s fans themselves are color change via touch and have white, black, and pink options, so they're easy to pair with just about any outfit... or lack thereof. I went with an outfit, selecting this purple and black number from Anachron. The corset with it's tuxedo tail is rigged mesh and comes with standard sizes as well as fitted to Bellezza, Maitreya, and Slink. I love the haltar top with it's bow behind the neck, detailed enough to stand on it's own while simple enough to work with accessories. The panties can be either a texture layer or applied using all of those plus the Omega system. There are five colors for sale, from soft shades for a classy joint to the brightest scarlet. It moves very well; I went the Slink route and no matter how I was animated, there wasn't any clipping and the panty layer was smooth and believable. The fascinator comes with it, a mesh hat with a veil that is editable and adaptable; fitting it was a breeze and I could make minor adjustments to the veil so it didn't clip my hair.

Genre: Polynesia - In the Wilds

I'm all decked out for Polynesia, this month's Genre theme. The US has two named territories here - one is the state of Hawai'i, known for it's laid back nature and rich heritage, and the other is American Samoa, an unincorporated protectorate that is largely unknown to most USAns. Both are island chains grouped in with the rest of Polynesia, enjoying tropical weather. American Samoa, along with a lot of Polynesia, was annexed by other countries during the continuing colonization of the late eighteen hundreds, finally ending up under US. The President of the US remains the Head of State, though American Samoa also has it's own Constitution and elected government separate from that of the US, and they send a non-voting delegate to the US House of Representatives. Culturally, American Samoa and Hawai'i have many similarities through their mutual connection with the US despite having different original cultures. Also, most residents of American Samoa are Samoan, while a lot of Hawai'i is Asian immigrants with the native population greatly diminished and their cultural heritage interrupted by laws denying them their language and practices until very recently. I can't imagine what it would be like to be denied your past only to have people transform it into something for sale - part of me wonders at putting on the colors and dress of a place that is still here but so separate from me, but I can't deny the beauty of the islands and an attraction to cultures of respect and mutuality.

Fit for a Princess: The Dragon's Gate

In my search for a place for pictures of this modified, Japanese-style princess, I stumbled across a rather fun hunt / game, with an interactive component and a battle at the end (which I utterly failed to figure out) called Shadow House 3. The hunt starts on Virtual Ryukyu, and costs 10$L. It's charming, and funny, and takes you through a number of lovely vistas and buildings, with a veritable slew of prizes along the way. I highly recommend doing it for the fun story, at the very least; it runs through the end of October. If you want to dress in style to match - this lovely, miniskirt-kimono is at Fit for a Princess, and is from Greymoon. There are seven total colors, all of them fairly muted and reminiscent of autumn, with one brilliant splash of scarlet as memorial for the dying leaves. The sleeves and collar in particular are excellent - moving well around the edges and with good elbows. I also quite liked the bust line, the first break from a traditional kimono shape, which is followed up by a narrow waist and beautiful obi. The bow in the back of the obi is wonderful as well, small but well-shaped. The skirt is a true mini as well - even showing a little belly and cutting in close to the legs. The final fun addition to the silhouette is a train, which is rigged closely to the legs; it cuts a little close in some poses, but it's so fun I don't mind working around that at all.

My bright orange shoes are also from Fit for a Princess - a variation on one I showed before from Stargazer Creations, only this time without the flower accessory attached. Up close, you can see the delicate detailing of the front strap. I also love how slim it is - a narrow shape that stands as elegant support for all sorts of outfits. The last Princess-like aspect of my look is my poses - three poses with accompanying fans from Uncertain Smile. I adore the included fans, sweet and simple, with a cherry blossom motif. The poses are also quite unique, various flashes of face behind the fans a delight, and they would work with most small, hand-held fans. To finish the look I had to step out from under the Fit for a Princess parasol, though. First, my hair is a very old release from Asset which has lingered in my blogger folder waiting for the perfect outfit - and I think it adds a severe edge which fits the modern lines of a mini kimono. It's a very full queue style with bits of loose hair here and there, adding verisimilitude. Although I believe this is traditionally a men's style, I thought with the number of traditions I was bucking with this particular look, that gender-bending wasn't really beyond the pale. Finally, my earrings are from Lassitude & Ennui, and are being released at the Jewelry Faire and will be available there through this Sunday, the 28th. They are a layered, angel-wing style earring with enough simplicity that they work with any number of styles, and are available in several colors including this rather cunning black. Definitely make your way there and check out their other offerings as well!

Fit for a Princess: Sakura in the Weeds

This is my first post on my new computer, and it's amazing the amount of things I had to do to get things pulled together. Somewhere in this apartment is a box with Photoshop in it - but it's no where near findable, and so I cut my teeth, and my photos, on Gimp. I can run shadows much more easily on this new setup, which made taking pictures a dream. I've also not had much in terms of crashes despite running very high graphics so far, which makes things a lot more fun. Having an all but naked computer is always interesting in terms of deciding what one needs for day to day running, and one remains on the archival hard drive, and also seeing what a new setup with different costs in the build period has in store for me. So far I've installed a bunch of other games, a bunch of free programs, and Second Life - and all of them are running splendidly, often at the same time. I've also been in a state of bliss from being able to type exclamation points again; for the past nine months I've had to cut & paste several symbols and numbers, which was tolerable most of the time, but I lamented the loss of my favorite punctuation.

I'm happy to show off this sweet pink look, though I can only hope I got all of the settings correct - apologies for any errors! I'm decked out in things from the latest Fit for a Princess from literal crown to toes, which is always a fun way to show off the sheer variety and ingenuity in Second Life. My starting point was this adorable dress from Nomi which comes with black and white banding on the bodice, underskirt, and lacing, and a variety of sweet pastel colors for brightness. I went with pink and black, but the purple and white was a very close thing! The narrow ribbon over the shoulders is a delicately sweet touch, and one which highlights the advantage of mesh. The textured equivalent never looked good, cutting jaggedly across the shoulders even int he hands of the best creators. Mesh allows for a smooth line, though, with a delicate bow at the top of the bodice. It's rigged well, keeping close to the body, and the skirt itself only goes a little jagged around the edges with some of the more energetic leg poses.

It was the hair - an adorable bow style from Sweet Thing - that cemented the pink. I bought the blond set and it came with pastel tipped edges, the pink already in place; I was in love in seconds. There are tiny tendrils along the back of the neck which add verisimilitude, and the curve of the hair around the temples is lovely. It isn't editable, but the included editing script allows for single axis adjustment as well as more universal resizing - useful for me, as my head is wider than most. I perched a delicate crown from Krystal on top of my head, and I haven't loved a tiny crown so much since Kyccie's was open. It's from a gacha, as is the lovely not matching but equally lovely armband, and both the price (25$L) and the variety (at least twenty shades of gem, all set in platinum) made it fun to try to get a matching opal set. I have a few more sets, and may very well go back and try to capture a ton more jewel shades simply because I adore the crown so much. The final touch were these adorable pump shoes from Stargazer Creations, also a gacha prize but again a quite reasonable one. It also had the bonus of giving me a wide variety pretty quickly and easily, including both the black and white ones - which means I'll be able to use them with a bunch of different looks. The flowers are separate from the shoes, so you can wear them either with a simpler band or with a more complicated clip-on; fantastic versatility.