A Little Sample

Sometimes when you model you fall in love with the outfit you're given, then modeling is the best job in the world! RedDawn Blade couldn't say enough about this one. This is a little sample from the last MODA Fashion Showcase.

I modeled several interesting outfits and avatars from Isis Desmoulins of Pleiades Design the other day. This outfit is called Dark Angel and consists of two prim attachments that wrap the body and flex and flow with the slightest movement or breeze. It has a very etheral feel that I fell in love with - if only I had more places to wear something so 'light' yet so beautiful.



Outfit: Dark Angel - Pleiades Designs
Hair: Morgan - Gurl 6
Skin: PJ-1 - Second Skin Labs

Fashion Show - Rodeo Drive - June 26

The red carpet has been laid on Rodeo Dr. The buzz is that the MODA models are set to splash down in the middle of this fashion sim on Tuesday, June 26 at the Euro friendly time of 4:00 am SL time. We're bringing the excitement to the people! Be there!

The list is still being finalized, but expect to see outfits by:

Isis Desmoulin
AmySue Shirakawa (Adored Clothing)
Honeydew Hilite (Diva Style)
Nyte Vargas (Innocently Evil)
Palen
Crucial Creations
Ambergris Baphomet
Chez Gabriel

Can't wait!

Beach Day

This post comes from Jujudoll Dancer, CEO of the MODA Modeling School. Normally Juju's working with designers, setting up classes or scouting locations, but even a busy CEO has to relax some time!

I've been needing a Beach Day lately. You know, just one of those days when all you have to do is decide what kind of fun to have. I was recently reminded of that a few days ago when a friend introduced me to surfing in SL. We had a blast, and I would love to find time to go back, but for the first time in SL, I was also having a wardrobe crisis. I realized that I own 1 fabulous bikini to wear on the beach, and really nothing to wear to the beach. (Everyone knows we can't just run around in our bikini's, right?) It's a girl thing.

I fell in love with this dress immediately when I found Julex at closeout sale. I guess when a designer has a closeout sale, she really means it because the creator of the Julex line seems to have left SL. Still, I love colors and fun textures and this simple sundress is so very … Summer. To give it the full Beach Day look though, I needed to find the perfect beach hat, which actually required some serious shopping. While there are quite a few new hat designers, now that sculpties are here, but this one came from Tesla, and it's the perfect hat. What I love most about this hat is that no matter how I resize it, it always seems to be a perfect fit. Thank you SL for Sculpties! The Swank beach bag has color-change petals in case I need to put it with another outfit. The shoes were harder to find. So many of the straw and wood textures end up being too bright to really accentuate anything but themselves. Shiny Things, once again, has saved the day with these cute little Cool Summer Wedges in white. And they match!

For the jewelry, I was unsuccessful at finding a matching set of anything fabulous with daisies. So as usual, I mixed and made them work. The Aquamarine Gold Flower Bracelet is from Elexor Matador Jewelry, the White Gold & Aqua Flower Necklace is a treasure from A Fantasy Emporium and the earrings are made by me our of frustration and lack of better options for purchase.

With this ensemble, I am now officially ready for the beach! Ok, maybe not any beach, it has to have shopping on it ;)

Outfit
Shoes: Shiny Things "Cool Summer Wedges"
Jewelry: Elexor Matador Jewelry "Aquamarine Gold Flower Bracelet"
A Fantasy Emporium "White Gold & Aqua Flower Necklace"
Hat: Tesla "Straw Hat"
Dress: Julex (Discontinued)

Not Just a T-Shirt!

Bayley Boucher and I met again at a Wings training session. I LOVED her outfit and told her so. I think you will love it too.

I am a model in Second Life and models get a lot of free clothes. However, the ones I write about in this blog will be, for the most part, ones I have purchased for myself. (I will tell you if I write about something that was a freebie.)

When shopping for clothes, I love to mix things up a bit. For instance, I like to mix opposites: old and new; vintage and mod; formal and casual and I especially like to mix silver and gold.

I fell in love with the Celebrity t-shirt outfits over at Glow Designs one day last week and I have been wearing my new outfit all around Second Life ever since.

These t-shirts, with detachable collars and rolled up sleeves, have famous faces on the front and back and a simply adorable fancy flexi skirt to go with.

There are many celebs to choose from: Johnny Depp, Sean Connery, the rock band Queen, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Luciano Pavarotti....even the governator, "Arnold"! I chose the Christopher Walken one and I just love it. I take Chris with me everywhere. (Afterall, he is running for President.) And, yes, ladies...the boobs add a certain 3-d effect to the image...lol! (Oh...I shouldn't have said that...that's naughty.) Heeheee!

You can wear the t-shirt with shorts or jeans also, of course...but I just have too much fun wearing that bouncy skirt! In these photos I have worn the outfit with some La Parisienne gold glitchie pants. (Love that gold with silver!)

The only thing that could make this outfit better is if I could wear it in rl. Oh, well...you can't have everything. At least, somebody told me that once....would love to prove them wrong!

Later,
Bayley

p.s.: Be sure to visit the designer's Formal Wear and Limited Edition Fashions building also. She is famous for her fancy duds and they are wonderful.

Outfit: Christopher Walken "t-shirt and Flexi skirt" - Glow
Designs/TanyA Wakaonna, designer.
La Parisienne "gold glitchie pants"

Hakuna Matata Glow Designs Marke
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Oriental%20Express/67/70/26/

Hakuna Matata Illumesin Shop
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Oriental%20Express/100/227/25/

Hat As Sculpture

Cyanide Seelowe has a little more than her fair share of creativity. Her whole idea of going wild with hats was such fun and uniquely SL. Wear one of these babies and I guarantee you'll turn virtual heads!

When I go about brainstorming what to exhibit at the Virtual Artist Alliance Gallery (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chiaksan/23/151/86/), it's usually a quick, dirty, and extremely accidental process. It's a dusty light bulb that turns on in my head with much the same impact that an atomic bomb would have, and the process that goes into gathering works for the shows is often last-minute and chaotic. In fact, the Awesome Hat Show started a few months back when I was constructing a freebie box with some of my members, and it ended up being nothing but silly and creative hats.

This got me to thinking about the Hat's role in society as a garment, as a status symbol and as a practical item to use in everyday tasks. It is often an extremely overlooked garment in Second Life because hats are no more useful than chairs or beds. This is a striking fact to me because fashion is a necessity in Second Life- the uses of chairs and beds do not translate to the virtual world because no one needs to sit or sleep, but nakedness does need to be covered because it is still considered taboo in public. Because of this, I decided to introduce the hat to Second Life not as a garment to proclaim status or to protect our eyes from the virtual sun, but as a piece of sculpture that uses the avatar as a vehicle for exposure- in other words, the hats in this exhibit wear the avatars, not the other way around.

I gave the artists one month to do their research and build their hats, and the results were phenomenal! I was pleased to find out that most of the hats could only be created and worn in Second Life, and others bent the rules on what the definition of what the “hat” was- in real life, it's a garment for the head that includes a brim, but in Second Life, it seems to be simply something that is worn on or floats above the head. Other artists stuck with the conventional definition of “hat” while stretching their imaginations as far out as they could, reaching for the strangest, most fantastic aesthetics that would make anyone the center of attention if they wore them in public.

Not all of the hats have been set for sale for the exhibit, but I would recommend contacting the artists to see if they'll sell their pieces to you or make you a custom piece- many of them would be more than pleased to accept commissions.

For more info about what's going on at the Virtual Artist Alliance Gallery, please join our group in-world and keep an eye on our newsblog at virtualartistsalliance.blogspot.com. We always welcome new members with new ideas, so don't hesitate to join us!

Sincerity

If I had to pick a single word to describe Chase Palen, it would be sincere. He's a wonderful friend who is equally at home designing clothes and walking the runway.

What I like about this outfit is its versatility: it's a little bit casual, a little bit dressy, just the sort of thing to wear when I'm not sure about the occasion.

Outfit
Shirt: Palen Inc. "Preppy Diamond Shirt"
Pants: Palen Inc. "Preppy Diamond Pants"
Jewelry: Mad About "Spiral Torque, Gold"
Shoes: Palatino Replace "Tan Canvas Shoes"
Hair: Calico Creations "Calum Obsidian Silver"

Designers - Please!

To all those wonderful, creative people who make the clothes we model, a vote of THANKS! But please, please realize that things go wrong at fashion shows. People don't show up. Something is wrong in an outfit. Pieces go missing. Permissions are set wrong. There are always last minute adjustments to be made.

So please come early to fashion shows where you are on display. If you can't be there, send someone who has full rights to your work. If you think about it, there are a million ways things can go wrong, but only one way for them to go right. Cut down the odds by making sure the last minute changes can be made. Everyone will thank you!

Ahh, BOHO

Jujudoll Dancer owns the MODA Modeling School. She is a warm hearted perfectionist who repeats classes as often as necessary for us students to get it. I caught up with her this week and asked her if she would share her favorite outfit with the blog . . .

It would be impossible to show you my favorite outfit. There are so many that I love, and each one that I've put together has a special place in my closet. Dressing myself is based on my mood and the situation, but for everyday wear, this one is colorful and slinky and just plain comfortable. Just looking at it makes me want to take a walk around Manhattan – and shop!

What I'm wearing is not one designer, but rather a blend of popular designers modified to look like something I would love to own. This outfit gets a lot of mileage for its versatility and simple style.

The dress is called CMFF Patchwork Dress by Chip Midnight. It's just a top and skirt but the details, the fit and vibrant coloring give me the feeling that I don't really need anything more, even though I did. I added a lot actually. The beaded necklace is by Lost Thereian of Naughty, worn with Dragonfly Earrings from Earthtones. The earrings don't match the rest of the outfit but they match me and I love them. On one arm I wear a turquoise silver bracelet by Ambyance2 Anubis that I found at Naughty, and some wood and metal textured bangles from Earthtones on the other. Some of these bangles are stackable so I can wear a lot of them at a time. That option makes dressing so much more fun when I can do it the way I want to. The Beaded Cloche is from House of Nyla, and so is the hair (Gurl 6 Destiny). It just ads a sexy bohemian look to the whole outfit, in my opinion. The sandals are the best part of this whole ensemble, truly they are, and here's why: They're free! Yup, F-r-e-e YAY! I love fabulous free stuff. These are the Lassitude & Ennui Signature Sandals that I found at the main store.

My theme is always style over comfort, we have to look good, don't we? There is no reason why we can't have both and thanks to some really talented designers, that reality is closer to the truth.

P.S. In my ignorance, I asked Juju what BOHO means. She answered that it's Bohemian Chic, similar to the hippie look: long flowing or tiered skirts, ethnic touches like tunics or wood jewelry, embellishment with beading or spangles, fringed handbags, jewelled or embellished flat sandals. The look is often layered and colorful. Ahh, I said, knowingly.

Jujudoll's Outfit
Dress: Chip Midnight "CMFF Patchwork Dress"
Necklace: Lost Thereian of Naughty "Beaded Necklace"
Jewelry: Earthtones "Dragonfly Earrings", "Metal Textured Bangles"
Ambyance2 Anubis of Naughty "Turquoise Silver Bracelet"
Hair: Gurl6 "Destiny"
Hat: House of Nyla "Beaded Cloche"
Shoes: Lassitude & Ennui "Signature Sandals"

Hockey 'n RocknRoll

OK, OK - it isn't haute couture, but this is the playoffs! A bunch of Canadians got together by Lord Stanley's Cup courtesy of RocknRoll Heaven. If you want a t-shirt of your favorite rock star or an avatar from an old TV show or a pithy saying when you want to make a statement, I can't think of a better place!

Go Senators!

Pssssssst!

Rumor has it that MODA Modeling School is doing a fashion show in the next 30 days, pass it along!

Ready for Play

Bayley Boucher has to be one of the happiest people I know. She makes outfits positively glow. Don't ask me how she does it. Her personality just shines through the pixels.

Wow...what a hectic week I've had. Modeling, writing, teaching, learning, building, shows to go to, places to be, things to do....

I was in serious need of some downtime....I needed to play.

Fortunately, I found just the perfect outfit for it.

I happend upon a new shop (new to me, anyway)
in Alhena named Adored Clothing.

When you teleport there, you land in a grassy courtyard surrounded by four categories of Adored shopping: 1) Casual, 2) Formal, 3) Bridal and 4) Hair. They have everything from shortie nighties to that very special little black cocktail dress you've been searching everywhere for.

Being new to Adored, I selected one outfit to try out. It is this 'adorable' play suit called "Mabel". The cutest flexi flair long shorts with pockets and trim, front and back and a top in two lengths to coordinate.

Mabel comes in 4 color cominations and there is a price break if you purchase all four. Next to the Mabel poster, conveniently, there are Mabel Color Changing Shoes with a seperate color changing bow in back. (I had to get those also, of course.....) I even had fun tinting the ribbon in my hair to match the outfit. So, now I'm all set for a relaxing afternoon off and some much needed gardening.

(If only I could figure out how to take that "IM" key off the hook!) Well....guess it's time for the Busy Button.

Later....

Bayley

Outfit: AmySue Shirakawa "Adored's Mabel"
Shoes: AmySue Shirakawa "Adored's Mabel Color Changing Shoes"
Hair: Tami McCoy's "Kate".
Skin: Bare-Minimum "Alady"
Bracelet: Bayley Boucher

When wearing a skirt or dress reduce your butt size to complement the outfit. Go to Appearance and SAVE AS under a different name like My Skirt Shape. Go to the LEGS > Legs and select BUTT size and SADDLE size and reduce them to 0 or a size that complements your outfit. After all, you paid big Lindens to look good in that outfit. (Thank you to Honeydew Hillite of Diva Style Couture for this tip. For newbies, Honeydew gives classes on Makeovers so check her out.)

Makeda's Clothes

Dress: Kalley Koala of Ink Slingers, "Trippy Retro"

The Skin I'm In

At modeling school Makeda Cole was full of surprises. It wasn't just that she had a large clothes wardrobe, it was also the way her whole look expressed her mood. She was the first one of us to get a professional gig, the first (as far as I know) to sign with an agency. She's going places! But in this post, she talks about how she started.

The Skin I'm In…

Well, here I am, my first day in SL working hard on creating my character. Finally, I am presentable to enter this SL world I heard so much about from friends in TSO (The SimsOnline). Venturing out, I roamed the land. One day, standing clueless as I did so well, this avatar landed in front of me. Wow, what a fine specimen!

I pushed myself into him trying to get a good look. I was drooling under his shadow in awe of his good looks. Then suddenly, he teleports his woman between us and she is impeccable as well. She is very friendly and they both offer me friendship. He instructs her to give me some education and leaves us to girly talk. She is curvaceous and well endowed. She had it all --the hair, the attitude, the booty, curves in all the right places and the dark skin. Man! I was identifying. She tossed me some clothes and a skin called Malibu. We part and I immediately go to work on my body to acquire that well endowed curvaceous body.

Now I am really looking good until I step in a store. Confusion set in. I had a difficult time deciding what would look good on my avie. I couldn't get past the pencil thin models. They just didn't look like me. Determined, I shopped till that last right click says no more funds and headed back to give my partner a show. The clothes didn't look right on me and the colors were wrong. Well, he loves my full curves, but the outfits he hated and he announces my skin was not what it should be –dark. He knows how I angst over the right skin tone and not being pencil thin or too big. He took a photo of me nude. I gasp and he give me this big ass grin. Just like a man! He is bias! I go into a slump, a identify crisis. He listens and sighs. Tirelessly I hit the stores again. I don't want to be just a clone; I am on a mission to find ME. 2 years later and an inventory full of shapes and skins, I am happy in my body and enjoy dressing it. I have found the middle ground and a nice booty.

I am sure the above is a scenario all too familiar with many first starting out in SL. I have observed avies in various shapes, sizes and skin tones. All are an expression of themselves whether it is fantasy, an imitation of themselves in RL or just the desire to create their own identify. I love it when I see that avie with the thighs, booty has the right amount of curve, full lips with an attitude and dressed to play it all off. I smile and think YOU GO GURL!!

(visit Makeda Cole at http://makedacole.blogspot.com/ or in game at Cole Photography Studio)

Makeda's Clothes

Jewelry: Kitten's Kreations "Diamond Studded Bracelets"

Hair: Calico Creations "Liz"

Shoes: Kitten's Kreations "Double Paw Buckle Boots"

Outfit: Mischief Designs "**Mis** Late for Class"