Sn@tch~Slick Leggings

So it all started with the leggings.

It had to start with something, right? So basically, it came down to the fact that I just wanted to rawk something awful. Lots of coffee maybe. I don't know. Every once in a while I come onto SL with just WAYYY too much energy and I load the IPod with lots and lots of rawk. Then, naturally I attack my inventory, looking for just that right thing. Wow, look at that! Slick Leggings from Sn@tch and Ivey Deschanel. Awesome. Bring it on.

Hmmm... what else... well, okay, put on my Dark Drow skin from Snowflake, and of course THAT skin just goes so well with my neko ears and tail, which go awesome with the Kagami hairstyle (including cap) that I blogged the other day. Well, this outfit sort of builds itself, huh? Hmmm... what else? Ohhh, of course my fave belt at the moment which ALSO happens to be from Sn@tch, the Oblivion Bondage belt and then let's add the Evangeline choker and some bracers from Cipher. Hmmm, oh! Black Bolt halter from Renegade and let's go!!

Sn@tch's Slick leggings are just that, Slick. Slick sexy and slick cool. Love them, and ooo an excuse to put on my Dirty Ego shorts from Sn@tch too. Geez, there's actually a lot from there...

Ivey's new leggings are lovely, with some nice hand drawn details texturing the leather and zippers, and the prim flares are easy to mod.

So yah, Sn@tch rawks. Check it out.

Sn@tch Slick Leather Leggings and Oblivion Bondage Belt

[Renegade] Black Bolt Halter

Snowflake Skins Dark Drow

Sadistic Hacker Kagami (purple/black)

.+*Cipher*+. Strap Choker++Evangeline++ (black)

Sadistic Hacker~Kagami

Ugh, my brain's been blocked lately. The whole thing. I'd call it 'writer's block' but that's not really appropriate. It's not that I didn't have anything to write about or anything. Well, actually, I don't usually start a post until I've done some photography, so maybe that's what the problem is. I mean, I've been having trouble getting photos done the last few days. I can't blame ALL of it on Second Life, but the truth is, it's been a horrible lagfest for me the last couple days (at least, I HOPE it's SL and NOT my computer). I still have to take a lot of the blame myself. I dunno, there's no shortage of stuff to blog, I just wasn't feeling it maybe.

I wasn't, that is, until I decided to pop over to Sadistic Hacker.

Now, here's the thing with me and hair in SL. I'm addicted. Hairs in SL are the first things to make me go spending irresponsibly and endlessly play with looks, colors, whatever. I have a few fave hairmakers, you've seen some of them featured here, and I like to pop by every once in a while to see if there's anything new up. Honestly, Sadistic Hacker doesn't have the largest selection yet, and I wasn't actually expecting to see anything new hanging on the wall. Then... oooo, Kagami!


I love hairs... I love hairs with hats. What bothers me most sometimes is that so many hairmakers will make the hair with the hat but not a version without it. What if you want to take your hat off I wonder?

Oh, too immersive? Whatever, call it a personal thing. In real life, hair isn't the same static thing it is in SL. It has a life of it's own, and we color it, style it, tie it back, make it straight, or adorn it however the mood goes. Of course, SL has all sorts of restrictions, not the least important of course is that it's not actually real, so we miss some of those fun (ha!) bits of RL translating into everyone's favorite metaverse. Hats, well, they're usually a pain, just because there's only X number of attachment points and how much patience do I honestly need to fit everything on perfectly?

Sadistic Hacker at least offers a few options. Kagami is a long, straight style that comes with a 'naked' version and and one with a lovely knitted cap. Oh yah, and it's texture change; the simple little menu gives you six texture options along with resizing script for the whole head or just individual prims. Kagami works well with or without the hat, and along with some standard colors there's some fun punky styles like black/purple.

In short, awesome, cute and versatile... at least enough to pop me out of this funk I've been under the last couple days.

As promised, more Snow Rabbit skins, which I think is my new favorite for clean, cute and quite realistic styles.

Snow Rabbit medium beige skin purple-pink

Sadistic Hacker Kagami (Moca and Black-Purple)

Elixir~Latex Dress Uniform

Minx fun fact: I'm kind of a movie freak.

I mean, probably not as big a freak as some people; but, my room mate and I like to sometimes have movie nights and invite a ton of people over. Y'know, margaritas in the blender. Popcorn. Snacks. The whole thing. We like to watch a pretty wide range of genres too: scary movies, comedy, science fiction, even kung-fu stuff sometimes. We'll do subtitles even, but we usually avoid really sad dramas and serious ones. I like them, and so does my room mate, but those we'll watch usually with a smaller crowd. It's a party, right?

So, yah.. movies. I like to compare Second Life to movies sometimes, it's a pretty short jump really. The whole visual narrative thing I guess. While, yes, sometimes SL can be almost a bad porno, there's plenty of room for space opera too. That's what jumped in my head when I saw Elixir's latex 'Dress Uniform'.

These are really my favorite types of outfits to blog. Costumes, looks that put you someplace else... looks that conjur up worlds and fantasies. Looks that make a story. Khorus Magne's latest does just that, and does it well. The latex texture is lovely, but the real star of this one is the cool epaulets and sashes that really make this something interesting to play in. There's optional particle effects for the shoulder attachments too, so you can get a real glowing sci-fi thing going on too. It's awesome. I mean, I don't know what it's for exactly, but who cares! It's still a lot of fun.

So suit up and go explore that alien planet. Make sure to watch out for the carnivorous plants and the mysterious indigenous lifeforms.

I'll make the popcorn.


Elixir Dress Uniform

*Snowflake Skin* Ebony-Burgundy

Sadistic Hacker Ciel (Gold)

[Gauze] Stained

I just realized it's been almost an entire week since the season premiere of America's Next Top Model (Cycle 12) and I haven't used it once in a post! Not that it's an addiction I'm proud of. I mean, admitting to watching reality TV at all is enough of a stigma I'm sure I've lost all kinds of credibility already. Seriously. Look away, I'm ashamed... okay?

Of course, it IS an excuse to mix some margaritas every Wednesday night and pop some popcorn... maybe have a few friends over and spend an hour watching Tyra's celebration of herself over 12 or 13 model hopefuls in their caricaturish drama blowups. It's an homage to vanity, seriously. Sooo, why do I watch it?

Oh, I know, because every 'cycle' there's at least one or two girls that really stand out. It's all editing, I'm sure, but there's always your 'queen bitch's' presented for your booing and hissing pleasure (don't spill your margarita!) and then there's the cool girls. There's always at least one. It can change too (editing again!); you can start out just hating one girl and by the end of the season you finally get her. It goes both ways of course, someone you love week one can show her 'true' colors eventually and you end up screaming at the screen throwing pillows while lime sour, triple sec and tequila squirt out your nose. Oh, it's happened (I'm looking at YOU cycle 11 season finale).

ANYWAY, I've got an early favorite this season, which is rare. I usually wait a week or two to decide, but week 1 winner Allison is ohhh so interesting. It's been the thing the last few ANTM cycles to have at least one or two gimmick contestants. We've got our 'plus-size' models (which seriously, is totally ridiculous. Have you SEEN these girls? 'Plus-size' to ANTM is like an 8, gawd) and there's been an Asperger's model (Heather Kuzmich, my FAVE from cycle 9). We've seen homeless model's and legally blind models... whatever. ALLISON is different. ALLISON likes blood. Totally awesome. I mean, I like blood. We're not talking liking blood in a cutter way or anything, but wow... Allison's a girl with a dark side. And, she's totally gorgeous with her pixie shape and huge Christina Ricci-ish eyes... I'm probably going to take a stab (HA!) at making a shape of her...

Anyway, she's a girl after my own heart. It's an edge, and I LIKE edges. Yukio Ida understands; he's on the edge. Oh wait, I guess I should mention... Yuki's been putting his Illuminati store through a little bit of a rebranding lately. Soo, apparently while his unique and artful skins will still be Illuminati, his clothes are now going under the name Gauze. Still a work in progress, and the climax I guess will be the grand opening of his new mainstore once the Sn@tch City sim is complete; updates to follow, I'm sure.

So, new from Gauze is Stained: a very simple, sexy halter with matching gloves. Yuki's always done some of my favorite texture work in SL, and it's really amazing to see how much he's done with so little; the more than appropriate gauzey material looks so real, and the cut is daring and sexy. The colors are deep and beautiful, and there's a whole range to choose from; ivory, black, red (shown), purple and more.

It's gorgeous, it's dark, fun, sexy... it's all sorts of things. Love it.

Worn:

Top:
Illuminati [Gauze] Stained Halter and Gloves
Hair:
Sadistic Hacker Corvus (Deep Red)
Skin:
[Curio] Lumine (Rosette)

Ideal Illusion~Elegance

Story has always been something I've tried to talk about when it comes to fashion. It's important. Story is mood, style, attitude, character... all that stuff. They're all parts of any kind of story: love, horror, science fiction, quasi-politico victorian melodrama, whatever. There are a lot of these kinds of stories in Second Life too, and it's the designers and artists that help us make up our own.

What's fun is when a certain look or a certain designer shows me something that just totally clicks, there are looks that just create their own story really. That's what happened when I saw Satori Triellis's 'Elegance' outfit from Ideal Illusion Sexy, gothic and very cool, Elegance somes with vest, prim collar, tails and buckles, and matching skin tight velvet leggings with some very lovely textured patterns and a strappy effect that works very well. Satori does some really nice work in her prims and everything is very easy to mod.

So, yah, that was the first part of the story... I added Illuminati Designs 'Eclipse' boots just because they matched the strappy effect on Elegance so perfectly, and of course Sadistic Hacker had the perfect jrock/cyberpunk style Vermillion to complete the look. The skin, naturally, is Nightshade Designs 'Emilie Autumn', which I just LOVE TO DEATH.

So there it was, a story. Look, setting, mood... all there. Designer not only as clothesmaker but as a storyteller. It's what we're all here for anyway, isn't it?

Satori doesn't have a huge selection in her shop, but what's there is just gorgeous. I'd check it out.

Stories are important in Second Life... if you're interested as well, I've started a Flickr group dedicated to the art of story in SL. Join here.

Worn:

Outfit:

Ideal Illusion Elegance for her (black)

Boots:

*Illuminati* Designs Eclipse Boots

Skin:

Nightshade Designs Emilie Autumn

Hair:

Sadistic Hacker Vermillion (spider black)