Well Made Shoes

In all my years of RL modeling, I have come up with a personal motto regarding shoes: "If it isn't made well, it isn't worth spending money on." In RL that's easy enough to quantify. If it falls apart for any reason, it isn't made well. My original Fleuvogs are still with me. Well worn for more the 10 years and still with me, possible for life. Clearly those don't go with everything, as I tend to wear a lot of business suits, therefore I have a collection of classic pumps in my wardrobe that just won't leave me alone. While the trendy styles of fashion come and go, I still am always on the hunt for new classic pumps and have yet to find a close contender to Stuart Weizman and Prada. What makes them great? Well, they don't fall apart, they don't look like they're going to fall apart, they are classic styles and comfort that can take me just about anywhere, and they fit.

In Second Life we have some serious issues with shoes too… only maybe not quite the same. In SL our shoes don't actually wear out, they just don't go with everything. They don't always copy and sometimes they just plain get lost in the shuffle, and I have yet to find the perfect match for me but I've come close.

Park West makes pretty a classic pump. This is a designer who doesn't get enough publicity. I bought this "Cosmopolitan Pump" in black and found out just how scripted they are. They click! While great fun for shopping and power-strutting, we just can't have that on the runway. I love the heel, love the style, love the polished kidskin look, and the shoe base is actually named "[PW] Park West - Cosmopolitan Pumps Base." Yes! The shoe base is no copy, though, so I have to go searching through and inventory of over 70,000 items to find it if I want to wear them.These sculpty shoes from Tesla are fabulous. They fit well, they look amazing and they give my legs a nice, sexy shape. They look so real, too! The shoe base is appropriately named and both shoes and base are no copy/no mod, which makes them inconvenient to wear with every suit I own, but at least they both share the same permissions so I don't confused and have to go looking. I'll buy more, that's ok.I just couldn't help myself at Armani. Even though you can buy Armani pretty much everywhere, in just about every shopping mall in RL, I couldn't help but hope for the best in SL when he made his handsome, toothy splash here recently. Of the 16 items in his store, I splurged and bought the shoes… had to, HAD to, and, here they are in all their glory! They came in a folder named "Object." They are copy and mod, just no transfer so I can't share them with anyone. Sorry gals, you'll have to buy your own, or just look at mine.
I found these shoes literally in a fashion emergency. With a fabulous dress to model and no appropriate shoes, I was in a bit of a panic. They are sculpty, they are scripted to change colors, they are copy (even the shoe base), and they will change to any color I want! If the color I want is not in the menu, I can add the exact color by typing in the HTML color code and Voila! There is even an option for a snakeskin pattern in several different colors. Just when I thought life couldn't get any better…Thank you, Tekilah Elytis for thinking of the models this time.Minx makes the pumps I first fell in love with. The heel is just high enough, no platform and they have a classy rise. The texture looks like a soft, sculpted suede, which is fine, and they are versatile. Another detail that I look for is the way they shape my legs. These shoes give my legs a nice, smooth line all the way up. No swollen ankles, no piano-leg shins, no sharp edges. It's a detail that shoe designers too often leave out. What I wish for with these is that the buckle would have a silver option (I would buy both, actually) I also wish that the shoe base had copy permissions, and be named "MINX Adina Shoe Base" instead of "shoe base." I've already lost the shoe base for all colors but one and while the pumps are copy (thank you) the "shoe base" is not.
While I'm still searching for the perfect pair of shoes, I'm also hoping that this will help you in your search, and if you find the perfect pair, will you please let me know?

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)