Saturday, May 29, 2010

Makeover For the Undead


Jane Doe, Before ... well, after life but before the makeover.

Jane Doe came to me with a problem: her afterlife wasn't all she wanted it to be. She just wasn't getting the attention she wanted from others in the Differently Alive community. Was it her breath? No, darling, although it is pretty vile, it's not much different from any other zombie. It's your style - or lack of it, for that matter. Just look at this poor thing! That dress. Those shoes. And that hair! It was obvious Jane needed the sort of help that only I, as the virtual world's only fashion maven for the undead, could provide. First of all, that dress had to go. All of this, by the way, was free.

Jane liked this dress, but if she wanted real pizzaz in her afterlife, she needed something that made a statement.

I chose for her this fabulous vintage freebie from Fandango, a 70s disco dress with go-go boots. This freebie is a bargain beyond pareil. It comes in many colors and a variation with pants with frills as well as disco jewelry. Boy, it takes me back to when I was alive in the 70s! This outfit is so retro-chic, it almost makes her hair look good - but we still have to do something about that.

To go with the disco outfit I chose a vintage 'do from Vignette, where the hair, vintage and otherwise, is free. Can you say, "Fabboo!"? Next we need some sexier skin. We tried a couple before we came up with the gnarly Halloween skin from Skullfuct:

It's just a shame that it doesn't come with a cleavage option. I should have a word with the artist at Skullfuct about that (not that poor Jane has any cleavage at this point - which is a caution to us to not give up on supportive foundations just because we're dead).
The only things remaining were minor finishing touches, a manicure and some eyelashes from MADesigns.

Now, look at the difference (just scroll up and look)!

In a matter of minutes, with just a few changes, we have gone from dull to darling! Who would not be proud to stalk the discos of the virtual world with this living, erm, sort-of-living doll? We have put glamor and style back into her, for lack of a better word, life!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Undead And Not the Least Bit Sari


Mashooka isn't just Indian fashion. I wasn't too keen on the skirt that came with this argyle pattern sweater, but loved the sweater! I might have to tinker with Lludmila's bottom to wear the skirt; the only problem was the fit. The burgundy jeans were nice.

These outfits were from Mashooka's recent "hunt" for 21 gifts strewn in the paths. I haven't included everything that was great. It's pretty time-consuming to take pictures of 21 outfits/accessories, edit them, post them, and then have no one read the blog (heh!). Not many prissy undeads out there, I guess. Anyway, this gown was lovely - and the Indian red-gold parure went nicely with it.

One of the saris among the gifts had to be included here - and I put paid to the assertion that little green Lludmila does not look good in red. Slap some gold on her and a coy pose and the result is not a watered-down Christmas ornament. :) I have quite a few saris and salwar kameez (freebie!) outfits from Yak & Yeti in my inventory that aren't as revealing as the ones from Mashooka, but, well ... what the heck?

I'm not sure what it says about me that this was my favorite outfit from that group of gifts. The description of it said it was "black" - but it looks like a silver and burgundy print to me! Thank you, Mashooka, for avoiding the gemstone colors that have started annoying me.
The hair is Chau with Sea bangs (in this last photo) from Analog Dog. "A sweater, a sarong, and a peek-a-boo bang." Can you tell me where that comes from? Full points for the political references: Sweater = ______; sarong = _______; peek-a-boo bang = __________ .

Just a Quickie




I already had a green version of this that I thought was too fabulous for words and then discovered that a black version of the Doris outfit was going for just 5L for a short time! The Doris ensemble came with the tights, the belt, and matching jewelry. This is more like it! This is what I want to be caught undead in! Dang, I'd wear this in RL, too! Coincidentally, I had green and black cowlneck sweaters a long time ago. OMG, I did wear this in RL!

The matching tweed flats were also just 5L and then I saw a (slightly primmy) country house upstairs and some nice four-posters ... and, and, and ... Made in France, what can I say?

Hair by SyDS, comme d'habitude!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Vintage Undead



Many years ago, perhaps three (three years is a long time in the Virtual World. Marriages only last a week here), I finally found an outfit for Lludmila that I liked. It was this Victorian Sailor Dress that came from Ivalde, a generous and worthwhile provider of Vintage Clothing. Lludmila wore this all the time. Recently, there was a "Come As You Were" party at TX950, the roving club for librarians, and, after absolutely tearing up my inventory, I finally found this ancient relic. I wore it with an even more antiquated freebie skin (not pictured, from the Gnubie Store and made by Eloh Eliot) and the system shoes. Everyone remembered the dress. I must have never taken it off.

Later I put my zombie skin back on, but left the hair, which was the first prim hair I bought, for about 15L from Mae Best. [You can still find textures by Mae at Knot Mae's Best (ha ha!) Where there is a poofer poster showing another version of the hair.] The hair as pictured only shows the system hair part. There was an elaborate prim bun on the back and some optional prim finger curls that pointed downward, stiff as daggers. I was thrilled with the look at the time. Just goes to show ... something, I dunno.

Surprisingly, I still have a group membership to Ivalde. It comes in dead handy in December when there's a daily advent calendar gift for group members, if you can live through the lag of other group members materializing to get the goodies.

And, of course, there are regular gifts to members, that you have to brave the lag at the store caused by Lucky Chair stalkers to pick up. Sometimes I look at the promotional picture and decide it isn't worth it, but this month was different.

Ha! This is just the ticket for the Vintage Undead! And what a versatile outfit Yelena is! The top has that lovely retro neckline (that actually ends not that far from the neck - say, above the nipples), the high waist, and three bottoms: the standard prim skirt, a system skirt with ruffle that matches the top, and the tight capris that show how black really does make your butt not look so big! Or perhaps that's because I cut down on Lludmila's bottom for the Sailor Dress at top so that the cheeks didn't stick out from the skirt. I hate it when that happens, but I am the one that made her so ... cheeky.
The hair is WWII Romance in Bombshell (Blonde) by JetDoll. The shoes are some great Balmoral pumps that came in about eight colors from Truth Fashion.

Imagine my delight to discover (or perhaps rediscover) the Ivalde Discount Store right nextdoor! Items ranged from 10L to 150L and I found this great little dress for 10L! Grey is my next favorite color to purple. I've added some shoes that were the first shoes that made me so happy I didn't want to take them off. Grizzy will remember - I kept pointing them out to everyone at her club, Grizzy's Cafe. It's a great spot for friends and dancing and something is happening there every night.
Hair is Claire by ChiChickie, I found the shop during a hunt and stayed to try on hair.

Oh look! A close-up of the shooooooes! Sure, everyone else might have had prim shoes with even more amazing details, but these were my first fancy shoes. Cut me some slack! They are called Snowflake, in Winter White Velvet by Ztique.

OMG - A Gift!


A new month and a new gifty from AQUA. Bless'em, bless'em. The first one I uncorked was the men's black tie and tails outfit, which I could have used in that last post, but then came the women's gift. One hates to look a gift horse in the ... in the ... [becomes distracted]. If it's not a neckline anymore, what do we call it? A pubeline?

Well, first of all, it's too long. Heh! Fortunately, this comes with an extra underwear for modesty in the front (because, believe you me, it shows any fuzz that your skin might possess (that even Zombies have). Unfortunately, it's a thong and the floss shows in the back, where there is an equivalent plunge. Note that Lludmila will only wear this outfit in the privacy of her skybox ... but she has the sense to accessorize it with that lovely clunky jewelry from GaNKed and what is probably a decommissioned updo from ETD.

Kathy is a little more brazen than Lludmila, so she tried on the same outfit. Her currently favored skin provider, Heartsick, provides some pubic hair on the skins, so she had to opt for the "modesty thong" (if that isn't an oxymoron). I was beginning to think GaNKed should have included a belly jewel with the parure Kathy is wearing, even though I hardly ever wear those, and then AQUA kindly sent along two parures including a very long necklace to fill in the display area ... or, perhaps, draw attention to it. I'm not going to bother to take any more pictures of an outfit that ... I just can't wear. I mean, a plungling pubeline and butt cleavage ?... it's slutty.

Even though Kathy seems to think the neck is too tight, I have nothing bad at all to say about the men's formal suit with the black tie and tails (although I thought it was supposed to be "white tie and tails" - what do I know?). It's quite handsome, even on Kathy. I don't care for the rumpled prim lower pantlegs that AQUA seems to favor, but the pants themselves are modifiable, so I just leave off the rumply prims and lengthen the pants. Rumpled prim lower pantlegs on a formal suit? No, no, crisp creases! Looking at the collar again, I start to make a moue - it doesn't match up perfectly with the shirt, but when do they ever? But I really mean it when I say I don't have anything bad to say about this outfit - or at least the outfit after I tinkered with it.
Hair is Kyrie in Cafe from SyDS. Skin is Serenity : Bliss : Morningstar. Heartsick skins are great because you have a choice of cleavage (great for the plunging pubeline above) or no cleavage, freckles or no.