3. Spend Smart

(Pic lovingly retouched by Launa Fauna)

Second Life is getting pretty expensive for the fashion-minded. L$1000 used to be the upper limit of pricing for a single skin, now that's a median point. More people are coming into the SL design community with more sophisticated training (sometimes) and price tags that match. The prices in the market creep up, and it get's easier and easier to spend hundreds of dollars a week on what some would consider Barbie clothes (some, not me). It's not easy for a hardcore fashionista to scale back the spending, but in light of the current economic recession, it's not a bad idea to learn how.

Realistically, you don't need a fatpack of every colour of the new ETD hair, you don't need every style from Stiletto Moody, you don't need every Minnu makeup. Be aware of similar things that you have already, what you don't have, what you use most, and what you legitimately adore, and let that guide your shopping. If you're not sure if you really need something, take a picture of the vendor or ad and save it to your desktop (I have a big folder of them) and wait a week. If you still want it after that week then go for it, but if the novelty/lust for it is gone, you're no worse off.

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2. Be Style Savvy

Did that get your attention?

I don't mean style as in fashion exactly, but rather style as in technique. Not all avatar items are created the same style. Some designers opt for a very handpainted look (consider brands like Nylon Outfitters, Paper Couture...), while others go for a more photorealistic style (like Redgrave, Nicky Ree...), and others are somewhere in between. While these items can be mixed with nice results, I think it's important to think of an avatar like a complete package. No matter what your personal fashion is, the more consistently all the pieces fit together, the better the result. It's a lot harder to complete an oil painting with watercolours, right?

This doesn't mean one style is better than the other of course, or that they should never ever be mixed, just that it is something for every SL fashionista to be aware of.

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A quick plug

Today I posted the second part of my list of the 10 Hottest Male Avatars in SL ( and part one last week). It's not over yet, though. Next week I will be announcing the People's Choice, 3 hot guy finalists who got the most reader votes, along with a surprise (and no I'm not going to give any hints here... Probably). Following that, I will be posting about the most valuable items in SL, based on a few different criteria beyond just the price. Like the hot top 10, this will be primarily based on your nominations, and there's still time, so please add your suggestions to the open forum post ASAP!

1. Demos are Your Friends

This is the first thing I want you to know. While it is very important, I've ranked it as the least important item on my list because... well... I hope almost everyone has embraced the demo, though that being said, I almost never try demos for things like shoes or hair with modifiable prims because I know some editing is usually necessary. However, I will never buy a new skin without trying a demo (I'm notoriously picky about the shape of the lips in particular). Yes, you are spending L$1 for something you will probably throw away within the hour, but it's worth it to avoid spending L$1000 (or much higher) on something that looks utterly horrible on your shape(s). 90% of the skins out there aren't transferrable either, which also usually means no refunds. Of course, the designers are not horrible people for not refunding someone for a skin they don't like, that's why the demos are there.

If the idea of wasting that L$1 for a demo is still offputting, remember that L$1 is currently equal to approximately 1/25th of a U.S. penny.

... If my math is right. ^^;

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The Thirty Things I Want You to Know

Okay so allow me to say, first of all, that averaging one blog post a month is pretty abysmal, especially for someone who styles themselves as a writer. 2008 has not been the best year of my life (trips to NYC and Paris aside), and in particular this semester in school has been beyond deadly. To give just a brief glimpse of how bad (since I don't care to get into details of things like this on my blog anymore)... Between the last week on November and this first week of December, I've had/will have 7 essays, 2 presentations, a midterm, a translation assignment, and part one of a Canadian bilingual certification test, while working on applications for Teacher's College, my job which consumes the majority of my weekends, and managing all my Second Life things. It's a good thing that sleep went out of style with crocs, right? Anyway, personal updates and occasional pictures make themselves onto Plurk for the curious, and none of this is why I'm posting.

I'm incredibly removed from the blogging scene in SL. I'm not a very dedicated blogger by any stretch, but I know I didn't ever intend for my blog to just be links to my latest pieces and projects. So what did I intend?

While I'm known for my work in Second Life's fashion journalism scene, I never wanted or tried to make this blog a review blog. Lord knows I have adequate room for that sort of thing between NWN and Second Style, and both of those forums have larger audiences anyway. Furthermore, there are sooo many fashion blogs these days, there's no need for me to dilute the kool-aid any more. Simply put, I only ever intended to talk, to ask, maybe even evangelize a little... To write, damn it.

With this in mind, I've decided to try something very different for me and for this blog. Every day this month, I will post. Specifically, I will be posting The 30 Things I Want You to Know (About Second Life), from fashion to friendship to inventory management, one tip a day which I've sorted in order of importance (more or less), so the best will be saved for last.

I invite other Second Life bloggers to join me and share what they would like others to know in this vein as well. If you do, please drop me a comment or an email and I'll link to your post(s)! They may be long or short, we'll see what we come up with. ^^

There's change in the winds...

Which means I made a new blog layout... And it's autumn. You can get excited about whichever of the two you like most. ^^ The picture is from a recent surge of Flickr uploads I made recently. Haven't had a chance to title properly, and all the newest stuff got pushed behind the old stuff. I suppose that's what I get for photo-hoarding, right?

Speaking of photos, I hope you'll be interested in my latest piece for New World Notes, on how to use the new lip sync beta feature to boost avatar emotiveness in your snapshots. It's subtle, but I can't wait to see what people do with it.


If you're in the mood for feedback-giving, please vote for round 1 of the semi-finalists for the Top 10 hot male avatars in SL, and don't forget to put in your two cents about whether or not Hamlet should do a female version of the top 10.

All the pretty little boyses

So last year, my list of Hottest Male Avatars of 2007 caused a little bit of a stir. There were many who agreed with my choices (who had all been nominated, in many cases multiple times, either via comment, IM, or email) and many who did not. Too young, too similar, some even said too white. Well, we're taking nominations for round two until Friday, and following that we will be taking a closer look at selected nominees leading up to the final list. Nominate while you can, and if you can't, you will have 3 other chances to have your say before it's final!

P.S. Much love to Vasean for as usual being the most convenient and cooperative model ever, and for not making fun of the... escortlicious... AO I was wearing.

Also on NWN since my last update, a look at Hair Fair styles that benefit Locks of Love (which won't due anyone much good at this point, but it's fun to look at right?) and my favourite fashions from Passions of Black Swan (there's still time-- go, shop!)

Four months. Really?

Even I'm disappointed in me! Really, I should stop making promises all together.

Four months since my last post. Even after I bought IrisOphelia.com! That's just shameful, Miss Iris, shameful. More posts and a new layout coming soon. I hope. ^^;

Well at the risk of overwhelming everyone (TGFTB- Thank God for tabbed browsing!), let's do the briefest of recaps of my activity since April. On the professional side of things, my first step after speaking in New York was to rearrange my presentation as a more accessible article, A Beginner's Guide to SL Fashion. This is a valuable read for anyone familiar with virtual worlds and fashion, but less familiar with how the two can be combined.

I followed that with a short article on accessorizing with kanzashi, and my second summer style piece for New World Notes. I discussed the ups and downs of an aged avatar, what to expect if you're trying to get into the modeling game, how we determine the value of virtual merchandise, and the tricks to getting a natural full-figured feminine shape. I also did two pieces for SL's freebie-hunter fashionistas... or three if you include my most recent article about the Creator Stamp Rally. Finally I lent my looks to Hamlet for a dissection of a beautiful avatar-- no surgery involved, but the prim counting took awhile. ^^

As for fun, I was lucky enough to go to France in July. I do apologize for the flood of RL in my Flickr stream, I am hoping to get a backlog of SL things there soon, but if you're interested, I've created a set of all 890 pictures and 6 movies from my time in Paris and Nice. And no, I haven't touched film in years, it's so 20th century. ^_~

And on a final fun note, here's the latest addition to my Apple collection, affectionately referred to as the Abomination.