~*{The Black Canary}*~ The Iris (Tomoyuki)

[Ugh, WHY DO I HAVE TO DO THIS? This blog is in NO WAY affiliated with the RunwaySL blog or magazine. So I've got to put up this disclaimer, because RunwaySL continues to repost my blog putting themselves as the author. Oh, and they won't respond to my emails. Whatever, property of Minx Arashi. grrrr]

Ok... on to the post:

they're like dreams but they're not dreams they're real ya know you feel as though you're alive when you're dreaming, you think you're alive when you're dreaming~Dream Song, Ministry.

I wonder what someone from 100 years ago would think of places like Second Life. What will people 100 years from now think about it? What if you were suddenly whirled back in time by some weird whatever time *thing* in the universe and you found yourself in some early 20th century town and for whatever reason you're trying to explain Second Life to them? Wow, how do you even start?

I'd skip over the whole 'internet' and 'wireless' thing, personally. Easier to start with what a thing is than have to explain the rest of the century to them. Of course, you might explain it differently, but I personally lean toward a little more wordy and misty eyed approach to things. The first thing I'd have to compare Second Life to though is a dream. Kind of a shared dream, really, but still pretty much a dream. Lucid, definitely, if you're looking for a definition.

Everyone LOVES to talk about their dreams. Admit it, you do it. You've had that thing with that guy dancing at that place with the elephants and fuzzy alligators. You wake up, totally confused, and latch onto your roommate to tell them about that insane dream you just had. Yeah, me too.

Anyway, I find that when I'm doing compositions for the blog or just for fun, most of my location choices end up being very strange, dreamy places. The lighting is a lot of fun there usually too. I like the idea of Second Life as a dreamworld, some of its most beautiful places are fantastic, glowy, moody places. I love doing photography there, and I love when a designer shows me something that let's me do that.

Morrigan Denimore's The Iris is a gorgeous, dreamy short kimono style dress with some lovely texture work. Seriously, the artwork on the obi and bow are really fun to look at. The Iris comes with a matching set of boots and the whole look is a lot of fun. It's a lovely profile and some lovely prim work overall. The monochrome patterns made me think of mysterious, misty Japanese forests, so I had to find one.

Anyway, really gorgeous, and a lovely piece from The Black Canary.


~*{The Black Canary}*~

.+*Cipher*+. Prayer Shrug and Zip Up Skirt

So it starts like this. I went to this shop with awesome prim jewelry I don't know how long ago. I don't even remember going there, right? So I'm hanging out with a friend of mine the other day and suddenly I'm like "wow, I really love that vest" or something. Not a direct quote, but you know, your friend shows up in something really hot and you MUST KNOW IMMEDIATELY where it came from.

Cipher, she says, I told you about it months ago. Hmmm, so I forgot about that I guess. Anyway, I apologize for the whole forgetting thing and then pop offline for whatever RL thing I had to do. So of course, whenever I get back online I decide to go check it out, I mean, the vest was REALLY COOL after all, right?

Wait a minute! There IS a .+*Cipher*+. LM in my inventory. How did that get there? Whoa, I've got jewelry from there already? Nothing, no recollection whatsoever. So, anyway, I TP over there and went a little nutz with my $L.

Okay, so really really nicely textured leather, we'll start with that. From the shrug jacket to the zip up leather skirt, there's a lovely muted texture that works nicely in any light. The chrome on the belt and the eyelets on the shrug collar are just gorgeous.

Now, as for the skirts, well, couple things there. First, I love them, the attention to detail on the zips and the leather are very nicely done. There's no glitch pants, so most skirts come with an underwear warning if you don't want to flash everyone the next time you're out clubbing. Skirts are a single attachment, so I did find that my AO would sometimes make my let cut through the sides sometimes, but the belt attachment did help cover that sometimes and it may not affect you depending on your AO. I did try playing with just some other glitch pants I had in my inventory to minimize it and that helped too. It's a minor annoyance from an otherwise gorgeous piece of design I'll totally forgive.

Anyway, if YOUR friend hasn't told you to visit .+*Cipher*+. yet, I'm telling you now. There's a lot of awesome primmy goodness to choose from.

Worn:

Skin: Tainted Innocence

Hair: [Detour] Placebo D. White Mix

Top: .+*Cipher*+. Shrugs Jacket ++Prayer++ Black

Skirt/Belt: .+*Cipher*+. ++Zip Up++ & ++Rad++ Type 2

Boots: [Gauze] Eclipse Boots

House of Nyla~Miss Burlesque Sets

I wasn't sure where to start this post. I mean, usually it's a pretty straightforward process. There's an outfit, and it makes me think of something. Then I write it out and submit for your approval. Boom. That's it.

Oh, I can find a lot to say usually, I mean, good design should generate that. Beauty is rarely just a surface thing. A lot of designs are beautiful not just because they are, but because of the story behind the design, where it comes from. I like to look at things and find out about them, or dream up stories to go along with them.

House of Nyla has a great story. Nyla Cheeky's Second Life project is fairly unique, actually. With designs ranging from the truly avant garde to something like today's Miss Burlesque sets, House of Nyla has some of the most interesting and colorful costumes, masks, and lingerie in Second Life. There's a twist though! Nyla's first life persona sells them too! Really interesting, like I said.

So, you can visit Nyla's inworld from the landmark below, or, if you like, you can go here for a first life look at her selection on real world models. One of my favorite questions to ask designers and artists in SL is if they have the same sort of job otherwise. Usually, well, it's no. Oh, they might be a clothes maker in SL but a graphic artist or something RL, but I've only met one or two who is doing the exact same thing in both worlds.

Not that they need to, really, I mean, I've met so many people who have found talents they never knew they had in our virtual world. I've discovered a few things about myself even. Nyla Cheeky's SL experiment shows that talents can be shared between both worlds, and that's something to think about.

Nyla's Miss Burlesque sets are just the latest gorgeous example of her tastes for colorful and theatrical style. Perfect for a show! Fun, sexy and so well made, Miss Burlesque comes in 8 colors (Purple Haze and Miss Bee shown). Each set comes with three tophat variations, along with stockings, panties, bra, garters and corset. Nyla also has some matching crocodile skin heels if you're looking to accessorize more. Each piece is very well made, the textures are nicely detailed and brightly colored. Loving these, so different.

House of Nyla deserves a visit definitely, there's a huge range of fun and sexy designs to choose from.


House of Nyla

Boingo! Nightsong Latin Dress

So, summer is coming up soon, and I can't wait.

Yah, I know, we've talked about it. My favorite of the four seasons; sunshine and warm long days. I love it.

I love it for other reasons too though.

Ok, so I've got a little confession to make: I'm kind of a reality show addict. I mean, I don't watch ALL of them, ugh... I'm an addict with some standards I guess. It's not those '11 strangers in a house' type reality show either; nope, strictly competition stuff. Love it. America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, and of course, So You Think You Can Dance sorts of shows.

SYTYCD only comes on in the summer though. I wait all year for it. It's a really fun show with awesome music, the costumes, wow awesome choreography, and gorgeous people. Oh, and don't try to push that Dancing with the Stars show on me. Yawn. All fake, and really really tacky. Seriously, it's annoying.

Anyway, it's so awesome I Jeela Juran of Boingo! just released her Nightsong Latin Dress. Inspired by those sexy sexy cut dresses the professionals get to play in, Nightsong is perfect for that tango, rumba, or paso doble under the stars on a warm summer night. Hawt! The cut is dead on, and the texturing is lovely. A really nice release from Jeela Juran.

Oh, and rumor has it Jeela's considering a line of these dresses, so keep an eye out for more.


Boingo Headquarters

[Gauze] *Illuminati* Ganguro Skins

I have a list of places I'd love to visit before I die. Well, before I get too old I guess; there's no point in going someplace if you can't have a little fun there, right? Oh, I've done Cancun, so that's off the list. Brazil looks like a lot of fun. I'm sure I need to see Australia too. Europe, of course...um, specifically Greece and Ireland. Spain too I guess. First though, I've always wanted to visit Japan.

Oh, there's that whole rich history thing. Geishas, smoky temples, samurais and weird haunted forests... I've GOT to see that. Of course, there's the cities too. Every time I see a picture of someplace like Tokyo it just looks so cool. All the lights, all that neon, it's like something out of science fiction. There's so much of the new mixed with the old. It's weird and beautiful, totally exotic but with something just soooo familiar. Zen Buddhists compete on bizarre game shows. Robots are replacing fashion models and learning to read minds. Where else IS any of this? Nowhere. Sure it's been imported in diluted form over to the West. We copy the game shows, Gwen Stefani carts over her Harajuku Girls (of course, I LOVE Gwen, don't get me wrong!), we remake their movies into something less.

Whatever. It's a strange place, with a whole history of discipline and regiment but still at the same time a free craziness that's just colorful and full of life. Maybe it comes from seeing the end of the world and coming through it. I don't know.

Anyway, it's gorgeous, and Japanese art and culture has been Yukio Ida of Gauze's inspiration since he first set up shop in SL as Illuminati Designs. His latest skin releases are gorgeous Ganguro skins inspired by one of the more beautifully weird subcultures in Japan. Manba, Banba and Ganguro are the first in a total revamp Yuki's been doing on his skin line, and absolutely I love the choices here. The makeups are perfectly ganguro and all those little bits like anatomy and shading are VERY well done on these hand drawn skins. I love these to pieces!


Shown (clockwise from top left):

[Gauze]
*Illuminati* Female-Dusk-Ganguro
[Gauze]
*Illuminati* Female-Ginger-Manba
[Gauze]
*Illuminati* Female-Peach Banba

Nightshade Designs Blacklist~Drusilla

Moods are funny sometimes. Musical tastes, those midnight snacky cravings, a Friday night cocktail, well, they're all sort of moody decisions. I might want to listen to Her Space Holiday one day and Mindless Self Indulgence the next. Maybe I want a shot of something fruity tonight or maybe it's just perfect for wine. Whatever, it depends on my mood, right?

Same thing with finding what I want to wear today in Second Life. I've got LOTS of jeans, but there's also a ton of cute looks, interesting designs and fun hairstyles I could put together too. Lots of possibilities. Of course, all I'm doing is picking a look for myself.

Designers know all about mood too, most shops and sims are just dripping with it. You've got your Rodeo-Drivesque shopping strips and sci fi marketplaces, gothic castles with wares hanging from the walls and medieval storefronts filled with chainmail and weapons. Even more, most designers have their own definite feel as far as what's offered for sale. That doesn't mean it's all the same though, and that doesn't mean there aren't little moodswings now and then.

When a designer has a moodswing, well, something new pops up. Maybe it's a one-off, a fluke, a random interest that creates something just a little different and surprising. Sometimes though, it's almost a redefining moment. It doesn't have to be completely different, of course, but sometimes a designer approaches their usual looks with just a slightly different point of view.

Belladonna Mureaux's Blacklist line from Nightshade Designs is like that. Yes, it's still some of the very gothy sexy looks we've come to expect, but it's a more focused point of view. Focused enough to deserve it's own subtitle anyway. Drusilla is the latest from the Blacklist line, and this is my favorite so far. Belladonna has gone for latex this time and it works really well in this sexy, lowcut long gown. Latex is usually hit or miss in SL, it's a hard texture to get right in a world where there aren't really any reflections, sometimes latex can be disastrous. Drusilla is really nicely done though, and I hope we'll see more latex from Belladonna in the future. There are some really beautiful lines in this curve-hugging, evilly sexy dress, and the matching gloves are perfect for completing the look.

Soooo, light some candles, put on some suitably sexy mood music, and slip into something dark and lovely from Nightshade's Blacklist.

Nightshade Designs

~{The Black Canary}~Charisma

Okay, so I know it's not really like this, but I sometimes like to imagine SL designers sort of Leonardi Da Vinci style hunched over some huge canvas creating their designs by candlelight. Of course there's a big quill dipped in ink. Of course there's the soothing sounds of some minstrel playing some tune. Well, maybe not all designers; I mean, there's your create it and shuffle it off to the vendor types out there just copying copies of earlier works: sometimes their own, sometimes someone elses, but whatever.

I like to imagine designers working that way just because sometimes there's so much real art in what they're doing. Da Vinci was a scientist, engineer, biologist and all that stuff, but his drawings and designs were a little more interesting to look at than say... well, your laptop owner's manual for example.
I think what it comes down to really is love.

We're lucky to have designers who love their creations; I think the good ones love them more than we do. It's their love and our chance to celebrate it. It has to be love, especially when something appears that's so well crafted, so interesting to look at, and so fresh and original.

Morrigan Denimore of ~{The Black Canary}~ I think has a lot of love to share. There's a consistency in his work; but also an evolution. Evolution is another side effect of love; taking the best of what was and reworking it into something new. Morrigan's new release, Charisma, has all that. Not only is this a meticulously crafted look, I personally think it's the best I've seen from TBC so far.

From the gorgeous textures on the cute short jacket and prim sash to the really nicely done prim collar and flowers, not to mention the lovely translucent bloomers, Charisma has everything we've come to look for from Mr. Denimore.

So, maybe there's no candle burning computerside (who wants to clean all that wax off your mouse anyway?) but I still like to think there's a notebook someplace filled with scribbles and sketches not only for that whole technical angle, but also a sort of love letter or blueprint to art in SL. We still have that flickering halflight from the monitor, and there's still that mad designer working, creating and evolving most importantly. It IS art, it IS fashion, but this is something so fun and well made... well. Whatever.

Purely Visual is MY love letter to design in SL, and I'm happy to be able to share this with you.

XOXOXO

~{The Black Canary}~ Charisma

Tukinowaguma Hair Styles Spiria B