Mix and Match 3

Sometimes inspiration strikes from any old place. I was out and about furniture shopping and came across a sign in the store with a picture of a dress I really thought was pretty. I IM’d the store owner to ask what is was and she kindly told me. It was called The Bridal Gown from Dead Dollz, and what particularly appealed to me was the lace overdress. So I bought the dress and took that part and start building around it.

As being all lace it was already see through, and rather revealing at the top, I add a set of flower modesty covers for top and bottom, also from Dead Dollz, which matched the lace overdress pattern nicely. To this I added a set of flexi sleeves from one of my favorite gowns, the Bianca from FlowerDreams.

  • Pose: The Finnley Series – Four by An Lar

Rounding it out was a pair of nice lace applier gloves and of course my favorite boots, the Gothic Lolita’s from Candy Kitten.

So let your inspiration soar – be inspired by something in your inventory and start mixing it up with other bits and pieces and see what you can create! Cheers!


Moon Dancer

Sometimes one needs to look outside the box to get an interesting look. As my followers know, I am fond of mixing and matching components: a top from here, a thong from over there… and soon you have a new, and unique, look that isn’t just bought off the store rack or MP listing.

In this brief entry today let me show you one such outfit. As is often the case for me the spark was one outfit, or more specifically parts of an outfit. Here it was Moon Dancer from May’s Soul, a gacha seller of fun and cute products. I bought most of the parts of Moon Dancer last year but it took some time to see how best to use it, as it was not fit mesh or Maitreya-sized though it can be resized. So I put on my thinking cap.

The Moon Dancer parts I had were a thong, wrist bracelets with little wings, and little shoulder wings. I knew I had a set of blue and white big wings to match, from Ramp’s Rosemary outfit. So I started pulling in more parts: a feather collar from The Forge, along with their Valkryie feathered headpiece. I wasn’t happy with the feathered boots I was finding, so I used another set of those same Valkyrie wings and adapted to my fave Gothic Lolita boots from Candy Kitten. Finally to tie it all together I tossed in the Baika outfit I highlighted last week, from r2 Fashion.

The result is a winged and feathered outfit that is now more than just what each of the parts were. So with a little creative thinking, you can extend the possibilities already in your inventory.

  • Moon Dancer Feather Harness white, Right and Left cuff white, Thong white by May’s Soul (not currently available but May’s Soul items are sold here)
  • Outfit: Baika by r2 Fashion
  • Feather Collar and Valkyrie ears (head and boots) by The Forge
  • Armlets: Fawn by KC
  • Bracelets: Azalea by Elle Boutique
  • Boots: Gothic Lolita Boots by Candy Kitten
  • Wings: Rosemary outfit by Ramp
  • Hair: Misaki by Argrace
  • Pose: Liquid Hater 36 by Bauhaus Movement

Come fly with my sweet friends! Cheers!


Mix and Match with Meli

A long time Second Life staple is Meli Imako, a purveyor of full perm clothing items. Most often their products are used as the base for other creators to produce ensemble outfits, adding and changing textures. While that is still their strong suit, recently Meli has been including some pretty decent textures in some of the models as well, allowing them to be used as-is for those so inclined. A very good example of the latter is the Vixen dress, a wonderfully frilly confection:

Vixen is available in five mesh sizes as well as Fit Mesh for all the major mesh bodies, with the hat available separately. Note the Meli Imako does not have an in-world store so all of their products can be found on the Marketplace.

Another good outfit right out of the box is the High Seas Pirate Corset, which is equally at home as a Gothic style Lolita dress. Here is an example of the dress with one of the three included textures, the black:

To add to the atmosphere on this one, I mixed in a chiffon dress held aloft by ravens, from The Dark Swamp. The Meli corset dress is available in five Fitmesh Sizes plus fits for all major mesh bodies and three included textures. And true to the premise that Meli supplies meshes for other creators to adapt, I know that this dress is available in pre-made sets from at least two other vendors: Sn@ocks in five separate colors; and Adris King Designer in an eleven-color HUD. Both use the same basic pattern that comes with the texture set with a few modifications.

Now just because other vendors mod these items doesn’t mean you can’t as well. Here is the same dress with colors I changed using Photoshop and uploading the texture back into Second Life, this time on the happy side of the Disney aisle as Snow White. I added some mesh bows, one for the front and one in my hair, and found nice boots and stockings to go with.

And finally, to show that sometimes just a little bit of modification can give you just what you are looking for, here is the Women’s Cravat Blouse and Corset skirt. I wanted a librarian sort of outfit but one with a little sexy appeal; so I was able to adjust the transparency on the top and add a lacy bra underneath. The outfit is available in five mesh model sizes (not Fit Mesh).

Ready to do a little custom modifications, my sweet friends? Cheers!


Leader of the Band

Well, I have been told I beat to the sound of my own drum…

Today let me show you some cute fantasy outfits with wonderful detailing. Often it is those mesh details that really sell an outfit and make it unique. First up is a great little uniform outfit from Cureless called Rose Duelist, which gives new meaning to the term hourglass figure. In addition to its cute shape, it includes nifty pauldrons with looped cords and a HUD with seven colors for the jacket and separate color options for the collar frill, jacket borders, pocket, underskirt, lapel rose, jewels, cuff base, cuff frills, cuff borders, pauldron jewels, pauldron braids, and the included shorts. Goodness that is a lot of options!

I’ve paired the outfit with a highly detailed pair of boots from C & S called Rubby, which come with a 40-color HUD, along with five metal options. The laces can also be in any of the 40 colors. The boots can be worn as thigh-high as shown here, or the top portion can be removed for a mid-calf look. (I should note that the mesh for this boot is not exclusive to C&S; if you are particularly interested in black, I found a pair of the same boots from Ghee, with a more limited HUD of six colors but a much richer looking leather texture to them.)

  • Outfit: Rose Duelist Uniform by Cureless
  • Boots: Rubby Boots by C&S
  • Hair: Haku by Argrace
  • Pose: The Bella Series – Three by an lar

When it comes to detailing, one of the absolute best is Zenith, who have created a spectacular steampunk ensemble in eight colors. The leggings with the belt-purse are available from their main store; the corset top was a recent event release at We Love Role Play and is not yet in the store but hopefully soon! The perfect matching boots for this outfit were my favorite Xulia’s from FashionNatic.

  • Outfit: Steampunk Corset Armor and Steampunk Waist Pack with Leggings by Zenith
  • Gloves: Criminal Police by Zenith (a gacha item)
  • Boots: Xulia Boots by FashionNatic
  • Hair: Haku by Argrace
  • Jewelry: Ladies Key by Earthstones
  • Pose: Candy Pose 1 by K&S

This last outfit is another extremely versatile dress, which was released by Eliavah for an event and has not yet made it into her in-world or Marketplace stores but is worth waiting for when she does. Everbloom is a sweet corset-style dress  with two HUDs having 33 colors plus 8 metallic shades, with separate color sections for the shirt, corset, skirt top, skirt bottom, and ribbons. I’ve matched it with the Candy Lolita Boots from Candy Kitten which comes in twelve colors via a HUD with separate color sections for the boots, bows, laces, socks, and garters.

Let’s go marching together, my sweet friends! Cheers!