Recently, while scrolling through Second Life YouTube videos looking for saints know what, my friend, Grace McDunnough, happened upon this:
Virtual Wardrobe - Second Life Tutorial
My initial reaction to anything that promises to help me get control of my inventory was complete and rapt attention with a high probability of glee. But then, I watched the video. From what I can tell, this device is actually more of a texture browser / photo album with HUD display function and handy categorization tools. That, in itself would be helpful in many instances.
But for the limitations.
Unfortunately due to SL system restrictions (which I’m sure make sense in some far off galaxy), all the photos used for HUDs like this tool need to be FULL PERM. Most designers limit the perms on their display/promotion photos included with their items (again, for reasons that probably make sense in some far-off galaxy). So that means in order for this tool to be effective, you’d have to take the time to document and photograph each item in your inventory that you wanted to include. I’m not sure about anyone else, but I’d sooner be able to win an Oscar than find the time to do this.
Something like this WOULD be highly effective if there was a movement to ask designers to include full-perm display photos with their merchandise. I cannot think of a reason they would object, but I’m interested in hearing what others think. As far as I can tell, an item like the Virtual Wardrobe would help us sort through fashion and belongings effectively and it would serve as the keeper of all those extra reference photos in our inventory - lightening up our inventory numbers.
So - would you use an object like this, or do you already?
Can you think of any negative side effect of trying to motivate designers to please include full-perm display photos with their items?
Lemme know what ya’ll think.
I hope you can scrape together enough money to take yourself shopping this week. Trust me, you’ll want to shell out a lot. And it’ll be SL’s designers raking it in!
Designing Nicky Ree’s Florence Gown Collection will allow her to live high on the hog, while making you look like a cloud. You won’t pinch pennies when you see Blaze Columbia’s Arioso dress. Just in time for summer, Adam’n'Eve’s Sachi Vixen’s done a cute, colorful sundress, Vertical. If you feel like breaking the bank, Ravenlynn Templar’s Liquid Velvet Studios & Co. Dollhouse has a scrumptious dollie dress, Phoebe’s Love.
Neferia Abel, Ivalde, must want all our money, she keeps coming up with must-have outfits. Her haute couture gown, Gylfir, is a dream. Lucas Lameth, Earthtones Boutique, made some wonderful Hawaiian inspired jewelry sets, Kau’i, tempered metal discs, but not coins.
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? Don’t have to, cause Fallingwater Cellardoor’s, Shiny Things, new Skyliner heels have the tall buildings right on them! But it works and looks marvelous. Collaboration makes money for all parties, and Gabriel LeShelle, Carnal Lingerie, and Alienbear Gupte, Alienbear Jewelry,have designed complementing luscious lingerie and gorgeous gems.
I wonder if Maria Gherardi, MG Fashions, has a layaway plan. Her huge new release has something for everyone,and you just may want every one! I’ve always loved Angel Food Cake, and Miko Omegamu, Icing, has fixed it so I can wear it, too. Her new vintage bathing suit/dress combo takes the cake for sure, and there’s also another bikini with coverup for those more daring.
I missed this post from a new designer, Kellie Iwish, Elate. But I wanted to share the darling mini Felicity, whose flexis truly do not show your butt. For those who like to carry their cash in a handbag, Siddean Munro, SLink, has some great sculpted ones for us.
Signing out for now, I’m…
“Oooh those young whippersnappers! Too smart for their own good.” I’ve caught myself muttering this under my breath far too often recently. Why? No, it’s not because I’m trying out to be a villain in a Scooby Doo cartoon. It’s because I recently had the pleasure of shopping at Dernier Cri, a new store that really isn’t a new store, by a new Resident who really isn’t new either.
Confused yet? I was at first. Owner Asuka Martin just opened Dernier Cri on the grid, but the store is far too polished for something so new. Turns out Asuka has been on the Teen Grid since 2005, and operated Dernier Cri there until she recently “graduated” to the Main Grid, bringing her store with her. Dernier Cri is chock full of all sorts of items, ranging from skins to clothes to shoes to hair. Oh, and what hair!
This is a style by Dernier Cri called Sarah. I don’t know why, but I’ve been wearing a lot of shorter hair recently in Second Life, and this one has gone into the heavy rotation. Can you blame me? There are just enough prims out of place to give the style a tousled look, and the jagged cut is very chic and playful.
But there’s one thing that sets Dernier Cri’s hair apart from anything else I’ve found on the grid, and that’s the color. Well, not the shades themselves - though those are really great too. It’s the way the color happens. When you buy a hair from the vendor, it arrives in your inventory… completely colorless. You actually add the color to the style yourself, using an ingenious color menu that attaches to your HUD.
Now, stick with me here, I promise you this is worth it. After you buy, you wear the blank hair and attach the color picker HUD. You then select from the 90 shades available (90!!) which one you want, and then sit back and watch as your hair changes to that color, prim by prim. I’ve tried to capture the process below.
Once you color the hair, that’s it. You can’t change the color again, it’s just like any other hairstyle. (There is a demo of each style available that allows unlimited color changes, so you can pick your favorite.)
The reason I’m in awe of this system, other than the fact that I’m completely clueless how it works (my current theory is elves), is that it eliminates something I generally hate about buying hair. I cannot stand it when I have to buy a pack of four or five haircolors to get one that I really want, because the designer has decided not to sell individual colors. With Dernier Cri, I can buy one blank, or a pack of three or five, and color them however I want.
Okay, I’ll get back to the hairstyles themselves. This is Jenna, a cute chin-length flip. Asuka asked me to note that this was designed by a friend of hers on the Teen Grid, Anna Normandy, who agreed to let Dernier Cri bring it over to the Main Grid. I wish I could tell you what shade I’m wearing like I normally do in my reviews, but because of the coloring system the shades don’t have specific names, so I can’t. I think it’s one of the darker shades under the “Salmon” column.
I’ll leave you with Susanna, a high ponytail with sideswept bangs that just screams to be worn in blonde. So, that’s what color I dyed it - just because I could! If you’re a blondie in SL, you’ve probably been frustrated by stores where your hair color choices are limited to either platinum or honey blonde. Well, you’re going to love the choices Dernier Cri’s color HUD gives you; there are several blonde tones ranging from warm to cool, and within each tone, there are several shades ranging from dark to light. I believe I dyed the Susanna with a color from the “Warm” column, one of the lighter shades.
Overall, I really want to commend Asuka for her innovative work; the hairstyles themselves are great, but what really puts this into squee-worthy territory is the dyeing system. It’s an interesting, customer-friendly feature that I wouldn’t be surprised to see more hair designers begin to adopt.
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If you are a regular viewer of SLCN’s Meta Makeover program then you may have already caught this week’s episode where I had the delightful opportunity to make over a London townhouse rented by a sweet girl, Elizabetta Westland with some of my decor items from Facade Furnishings.
The first part of the program showcases the wonderful London SIMs (Chelsea in particular where this makeover took place) and the second segment is where you get to see my pixels and listen to the “real” me (yes, I promise I’ll work on my inclination to giggle and babble on mic). Tragically, my high-heeled boots from SLink don’t really rez properly so it looks like I’m wearing big white sculpties for most the show, but c’est la vie. Hopefully, you all know me better 
One small point of clarification regarding something Timber comments on while he’s discussing textures. In fact, most of the textures I use at Esprit Decor and Facade Furnishings are *not* 256×256. We were talking about so many things over the course of the make-over regarding optimization that a miscommunication was bound to happen. What I actually explained was that, with very few exceptions, all of the textures I sell and employ are a maximum of 512×512 with many of my tiling decor textures being 256×256 whenever possible. Almost all of the textures on Facade items are made “to scale” with the largest side being a maximum of 512.
This was an overwhelmingly positive experience, even though I missed the studio taping and was unable to join the gang for the opening segment (giving them all the chance to get a word in edgewise). If you have a virtual space that needs making-over, then I hope you’ll consider submitting to the show. Hey - you never know who your designer could be
