The Unofficial Second Life® Fashion and Shopping Blog

I find it *profoundly* screwy that up until this entry we didn’t have a category for “Fun.” Given the amount of fun I have with this blog and the amount of fun in my inventory, the absence of a category for giggles and smirks simply does not compute. I am attempting to console myself this merely implies that playing virtual paper dolls on a regular basis takes the “fun” part for granted, but I’m not ruling out the fact that I may, in fact, be a an aging fuddy duddy two steps from howling on my front porch for those damn kids to keep down the racket (and if that ball lands in my yard one more time, I’m keeping it!).

Wait. Seriously, I’m reviewing something.

Peter Stindberg has released his beloved “Plywood Man” out into the community for general consumption. And, honestly, you have to have one. They are just the most adorable avatars ever.

Peter’s note for review included this charming little promo clip, which I can’t help but share:

“Whenever I wore Plywood Man in the past, it brought a smile on resident’s faces around me. I even won two costume contests with it.

He goes on to explain that the Plywood Man is not only visually fun, but also fully operational in that you can use your regular A/Os, dances, and other animations. Peter compares it to a Pinocchio marionette and vintage Sci-Fi robots which is surprisingly accurate considering how different the images those two ideas conjure.

It is also full-mod which means if you are possessed of two X chromosomes in your virtual incarnation, you can make yourself a Plywood Woman by tagging on a pair of spheres.

My only beef is that the avatar is mod/no copy/transfer. I would much prefer mod/copy/no transfer so that I could edit textures and have some fun while safely maintaining my back-up. But as beefs go, it’s a tiny one compared to how fun this is to have lurking in your inventory for parties.

In fact, at 20 prims for the entire outfit (far less than the average hairstyle), I think we should make them mandatory for lag-tastic events like fashion shows and ETD hair sales (visualizes armies of Plywood Women oohing and ahhing over virtual couture). Who’s with me?

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Our original plan was to put out Jack in a Box, a freebie male avatar shape, skin, hair and clothing starter kit, the day after Jill in a Box. Wow did that not work - because let me tell you: decent freebies for boys are thin on the grid. So it took an extra day, but it’s now out and set for sale at $0L.

The basic problem is that while there are 30 million freebie t-shirts out there, they are all on the shirt layer and because of the way the mesh works, that sucks. Shirts only reach the top of the hips, and for boys this is bad because it means a choice between high-waisted trousers that meet the shirt so you look like a complete geek, or low-waisted trousers and a bare belly so you look like an escapee from The Village People. Neither is a good look.

The solution is shirts on the longer jacket layer, but there are very few of the freebie variety out there. However, we’ve come up with three outfits, plus underwear, plus hair and shoes for men, all in one copy/transfer box so you can freely hand it out:

On the left is your basic underwear, with boxers raided from the Library. I have no guilt about this because I suspect that men don’t rummage through the Library folders in nearly the same depth women do, and I’m willing to bet 90% of the guys on the grid have never seen 99% of their Library items. Which is fine, as some of that stuff is terrifying and we don’t want them wearing it anyway.

We do however want them to wear the very cool rugby shirt (jacket layer!) you can find in there, as well as the rather rad black jeans unearthed from another folder. The shoes are no-mod Doc style lace-ups in black. They also go well with the really, really nice faded bluejeans and very metro brown corduroy jacket. Accessories like sunglasses and hats are included.

Also included are a pair of orange and blue running shoes, and an utterly brilliant pair of painter jeans:

They’re shown with some of the sweaters and henley t-shirts in the box. There honestly just were not enough acceptable jacket layer tops out there, so I ended up making this jacket layer jumper and a tintable henley shirt for underneath. (The one on the left was shot before I got really ambitious and added buttons.) I know the red and orange combination is like a female fantasy of what colours men would actually dare to wear, but there are plenty of pre-tinted blues and greys in there and hey, a girl can dream.

The funky new Linden newbie skin is not as refined as it’s female counterpart, but overall we are very happy with the starter items in this box. However, my single greatest contribution to SL may be the creation of a freebie male shape that does not resemble the love child of Tarzan and GI Joe, so I’m pretty happy about that.

And a tip to the chicks: there are some fun clothes in the Jack box, so it’s worth it to pick one up:

All the jeans are really good, although you will have to adjust the fit in the sliders. Actually, since I have no idea how men prefer to wear their pants, boys may well have to do that too. But whatever your gender, who doesn’t want a free cowboy hat?

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UPDATE: The box has been corrected and all items are now copy/transfer so you can keep one in inventory and pass out unlimited copies. Please pick up an updated V2 box, which also includes a pair of green eyes now, too! Sorry about the confusion.

Like any long-time residents, both Salome and I have been collecting freebies for approximately forever. We always intended to do something with them, but having YAFFB (Yeat Another Freakin’ Freebie Box) just seemed sort of, well, lame.

However, that changed a few months ago. I don’t know when the last time you signed up for an alt account was, but there is a new default Newbie skin designed by Munchflower Zaius available at sign-up, and it is SO MUCH BETTER than the original Ruth Linden skin. It’s not shown to it’s best advantage straight out of inventory, but you can really work some magic with those sliders. It is a very tintable, facially modifiable skin with a lot of cosmetics potential. That is what finally got us excited about putting together a freebie box again, because with a load of help from the gals at Calla Hair, we can finally deliver what we always wanted to: a complete starter avatar in a box.

We’ve put together a free pack with three complete outfits, skin, avatar shape, shoes and accessories. The box and all items in it are full perms so you can give it out to your friends, or just throw it at desperate newbies at random. There are also three hair styles from Calla Hair in four colours each, and they’re free too, although you have to get them seperately as they are copy/mod/no transfer.

For the dressier look, there’s a print dress, neck scarf, color change espadrille shoes, and a matching handbag. This is the I’m So Preddy v2 hair, a short bob with full bangs shown in brunette.

There’s also underwear and two bikinis, because obviously you can’t run around SL if you’re not willing to run around half-naked. The black cherries bikini not shown also has a matching sun hat. The hair is Preddy 1 and 2 in black and red.

For a casual look there’s a tintable tank top with tintable linen trousers and a matching hand bag and flip-flops. There’s also a sheer cami and a pair of jeans, and some system trainers that actually do not suck. The hair is Preddy 2 and 3 in blonde and brunette.

Also included are diamond solitaire earrings, an animation override with a walk and six stands, and a hug attachment because the Calla girls made us include one. (They’re just really friendly like that. It’s so revolting. Please don’t hug me.)

These are not fabulous designer group freebie clothes (though the hair is indeed fabulous). I am allowed to say that because I made some of this stuff myself, with sliders and no transaprencies - because guess what? I cannot make clothes! (This explains why I am not selling clothes, either.)

Anyway, this stuff is intended to allow new players to go shopping not looking like they just fell out of the apple tree, and to learn how to use sliders, shapes, hair and attachments. But you can buy at any age for $0L, so grab a box, have a rummage, and chuck it on any newbies you see who need a little fashion encouragement.

And yes, there is a boy box, and we’ll do that tomorrow. After all, all’s fair in love and shopping.

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Although I do not get and therefore do not dress up in furry garb, I must admit that, from time to time, some of them are pretty damn cute. In fact, one of my earliest SL memories is of Bri explaining to me that I couldn’t have a pretty pony because it wasn’t an object, but, in fact, a player in a pony avatar. There was a lot of pouting.

At any rate, when Iliyana started wearing her little ferret pets around, oh, daily, I finally gave in and asked “okay where’d you get the vermin?”

In response she took me to ExtroVirtual with its hobbit-rounded doorways, playful ambiance and high quality critters.

Yes, they are just that damn cute. Blinking eyes, little flexi tails that sway as you walk around with them, and the ones crafted for the crook of your arm come with the animation built in. They are 91 prims each, however, so if you wear one (or more) to the Hair Fair, I’m pretty sure we’re allowed to beat you with sticks. But I digress… in a “best of both worlds” moment of SL clarity, you get all the ferret cuteness without the “I smell like pee” part of holding a ferret (ferret lovers, you can belay those “no they don’t” emails - ferrets always smell like pee - it is a constant of the universe).

And just because it’s been a crazy kinda day, while researching the cost and shop location of the little buggers, I happened upon a ferret tiny avatar. I liked the silver ferret and I am just flippin’ adorable while wearing it. Due to some bizarre changes in perspective and movement ability, however, I could only wear my tiny for about 20 minutes before needing a Dramamine. Which is fine because I was having a hell of a time finding ferret sized glasses. For those 20 minutes, however, I was so cute I couldn’t stop playing with myself (and not in the DiVinyls way, you perverts).

So, pet or tiny avatar - the ferrets were a fun romp and we like them, yes we do. Should ferrets not be your thing due to a childhood ferret trauma or something, never fear - there is a huge selection of tiny avies and pets at ExtroVirtual to choose from and there is bound to be something to tickle your fancy.

Oh - and by the way - if you understand the title of this entry *before* Googling — seek help

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