look of the day: baggy pants!

I think we’ve all seen the ugly baggy pants around SL, and yeah I’m not afraid to call them out for what they are: UGLY! Stacked torus prims do not make for nice baggy pants!

One of the things I picked up at Bare Rose on my recent spree (yes, I went a little spend-happy there, hence three BR posts in a row :p ) were the lowrise heavy cargo pants set. I actually saw one of my friends wearing them and I had to have them! They’re mostly sculpts, with lots of pockets that have buttons and zippers, and flexi straps and a belt. You get black, blue, brown, green, and pink pants, plus there are a few cropped tank tops included.

You can click on the image to see a larger version on flickr:

As always, Bare Rose prims are No Copy, so exercise care when editing. I found that I had to do very minimal editing; most of my editing work centered around the belt.

Here are a couple of closer looks at the prim details on the belt and pockets:

If you like the baggy pants look, then another store that has some nice ones I’ve seen is [ JP ]:dsg (JP Design), owned by Jasper Potez. I haven’t picked those up yet, but I probably will; they’re scripted with texture change and the belt has a cute little iPod-ish prim attached to it. I think it’d look cute and sassy with a bikini top!

Btw, I was camping for fun stuff like gas masks and machine guns at Sick when I took these pictures, and used a Sine Wave dance animation.  I like how the Stephanie hair from Truth moves.  🙂 Truth is a lean, mean, hair-making machine!!! I’m guessing most people already know this, but just in case you don’t, get thee on the Truth subscribo, now. His hair’s too good to miss.

Credits…
Skin – Laqroki Kira
Tattoo – Garden of Ku, A Night in Kandahar (one of my favorite tats, ever)
Hair – Truth Stephanie
Shoes – UBU Drunks
Aviators – Nea-ban
Navel piercing – Mela’s by Vivienne Graves

bare rose’s silent heart

I haven’t been to Bare Rose in a long time because, frankly, my old laptop did NOT like that sim.  I’m happy to report that’s changed 😀

I went there to go pick up some cargo pants I saw on a friend, by my attention was quickly diverted by all the playful cyberpunk, goth, and fantasy outfits.  You know, as much as I love the great textures on mainstream clothes that we can find in SL, sometimes it gets boring and I want to play with looks I’d not wear in RL.  I forgot just how MUCH Bare Rose offers, and in so many colors, for so little L$!  I’m not sure that there’s any outfits there that costs more than L$200, so it’s easy to get carried away in there if you’re not careful.

I picked up an outfit called Silent Heart and I looooooove it, I don’t want to take it off:

There are a lot of prims and it’s all No Copy, so be sure to hop on a posestand and take your time with editing them to fit. Here’s what’s under the flowing prim skirt:

The outfit actually does not come with the fishnet parts and nipple tape.  The nipple tape is from some old store that has been closed for a long time, now, but I believe that Dark Eden has some, as well as Juicy.  The fishnet comes from an outfit called Belted that I got from Winter Moon quite a while back, too, so I’m not sure if that’s still available.  I wore the outfit without those items in the last pic; be prepared to have at least some of your nipples bared if you choose to wear the outfit without anything underneath.

I think the mouth covering mask is one of my favorite parts, hehe.  The sculpted part around the collar also emphasizes your avi’s neck; it looked great paired up with my new Grazia hair in the night color from Truth.

Silent Heart was less than L$200, and for your money you get the outfit in black, red, and pink.  ^_^

Credits:
Hair – Stringer Mausoleum
Skin & Boots – Laqroki
Eyes – The Body Politik
Piercings – Mela’s (my store :p )

Laqroki knee high boots

Note:  All images are straight out of SL, except for cropping.  I loooooooove Windlight!!!!!

Winter DiPrima of Laqroki recently released some new knee-high boots, and I’m loving the look of them!  I’ve had them for a few days and I’m already getting some pretty good mileage out of them.

I realize the picture above isn’t the greatest for showing off the boots, but I couldn’t not show this because the beige ones go really nicely with the Last Call Dominica outfit and it’s signature Last Call decolletage. Yay for equestrienne sexiness!

But okay, here are some pics that are more close-up, and as always, you can click the images for larger versions on my flickr page:

These boots are a little different from most other boots I’ve seen in SL, because the boot itself is in one piece (not one prim! lol sorry), so you don’t have that odd joint issue at the ankle, which I think may have been necessary given the placement of the buckle and strap on this design. As far as texturing and shape goes, I think these pictures speak for themselves; they look beautiful and realistic.

The boots are sold with Copy/Mod permissions, which is really awesome for getting a good perfect fit. I did a little bit of editing to fit the boots to my shape, and I think it took me maybe 2 or three minutes to do both sides. I actually forgot to show one more color in the shot above; in addition to silver, black, red, white, and beige, the boots also come in brown.

These boots are located in Laqroki’s Apparel department.

Credits:

Skin – Yabusaka metallic skin (old freebie)
Glasses – PrimOptic
Outfit – Bare Rose
Guns – C-Tech Redemption

Hijacking the Airwaves

Psst… is Melanie gone?

Hey everyone. It’s Whit Korobase. You probably don’t know me but, yeah, I am actually supposed to be here. 🙂 I work at a design shop called Shelf Life Media in world and we’re helping bring a RL dressmaker’s designs and vision to Second Life.

What does that have to do with Grid Expectations, you say? Well, I’m pleased to announce Shelf Life and Mela’s will be forming a business partnership and we’ll be moving our work space to the new Mela’s Main Store in Lo Lo.

But before we move, we’re selling our main parcel in Hattori and wanted to get the word out in case you or a friend were looking to buy a lovely, quiet parcel of PG mainland.

Beautiful sim. Great neighbors.

Take a look at the pics of Hattori here. It’s 6144 m2 and holds 1406 prims. It also has a nice view of the beach and ocean.

We hate leaving Hattori, for sure, but are quite excited about joining with Mela’s soon.

P.S. We’re not totally leaving Hattori, as we still have an unattached parcel we’re using as a work space. It’s 3072 m2 with 703 prims and we’d entertain an offer for that, too. 😉

“quietly informing” is not a solution

The opinions expressed in this post are solely mines and are not a reflection of anyone else’s opinions, including anyone who may be associated with me in any manner.

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“quietly informing” is not a solution

A somewhat emotional and thought-provoking open letter to designers has been posted by Sasy Scarborough, Ryker Beck, and Whimsy Winx on their own respective blogs.  Let me preface this by saying I have the utmost respect for these ladies — they are one of the many tireless bloggers who invest so much time, effort, energy, and very often their own money into blogging the latest in the Second Life fashion scene.

Blogs are important.  They are THE place to go when you want to be in the know about the latest and hottest  designs, and they fulfill a role that no monthly publication can ever hope to touch:  blogs serve up content that won’t hit the magazine kiosks for at least a month, if not two.  There is absolutely no doubt that blogs play a crucial role in making Second Life fashion what it is today.

Bloggers take pride in their work.  I have firsthand knowledge of this:  I’ve indulged in a bit of fashion blogging in the past and it was something I took seriously, discussing details in texturing and even shooting short videoclips of select items.  And as I mentioned a few paragraphs up, the majority of what most bloggers cover is paid for out of their own pockets.  For most, blogging about fashion is a labor of love.

It is therefore entirely reasonable for any blogger to be somewhat mortified when confronted with evidence that s/he has given blog coverage to items that may be infringing upon a third party’s copyright.  Their blog is basically their baby, after all.

But I digress… anyone who pays any attention at all to the Fashion Planet feed will have witnessed events today (Sunday) that have acted as a catalyst for this open letter to designers, which I will quote in part here:

“… We completely understand the need for silence when dealing with said issues. However, one thing that has consequentially occured from doing so is that many, many bloggers are continuing to post on items they are unaware may turn out to be stolen. This is painful in the end for not just the designer – and we totally share your pain in this – but also for the many bloggers who have showcased/reviewed the products, filling their blogs with praise for the items, only to feel let down in the end and ultimately have their own values questioned. …”

The open letter then goes on to propose a solution:

“… Second Life fashion bloggers are valued and sought after to showcase items for many designers, but that is where the respect seems to end. We hold designers in such high regard. If we were told via IM or notecard that something was amiss with the content of one creator over another, we would be perfectly capable of keeping that to ourselves should you request that. Naturally, further blogging on the items in question would cease to occur. We understand that designers dealing with the trauma of having their work stolen may not have considered alerting the bloggers as a course of action in the past, but now is when it is crucial to stand united in this and feel more like a community than ever before. …”

And further down:

“… We hope that people will help us in the future by letting us know, privately and anonymously if necessary, that there is questionable content making its way around the blogosphere. …”

Hrm.  If only it were that easy.

The fashion blogging community is a complex one, due mainly to the fact that so many of it’s participants have crossover interests:  It is not uncommon for a blogger to be employed by a designer, run a fashion-related business such as a modeling agency, or own a sim that depends on the success of it’s commercial fashion renters.  We even have designers turned bloggers, and bloggers turned designers.  I personally think it’s only natural for bloggers to eventually have multiple fashion-related stakes in SL; if you love fashion then it is practically a given that you will be drawn to the various activities/industries that surround it.

As a result of this, our community is sometimes prone to outbursts of what some like to label as “drama”.  There have been numerous occasions on which I have seen allegations of copyright infringement end up being construed by some as nothing more than “smear campaigns” maliciously orchestrated to “ruin” the accused.

And while I personally would like to believe that most of us will act in an ethical manner when we learn of instances of infringement, the cold hard truth of the matter is that there are times when some (not all, only some) individuals will choose to conduct themseves in a way that serves their own interests instead.  This is not something I’m making up; I have heard of many instances where a deaf ear and a blind eye have been deliberately turned towards designers who took the time to point out the likeliness of theft, or worse yet, have had the tables turned on them and wound up finding themselves accused of acting out of jealousy and spite.

There is, too, the matter of the possibly unscrupulous designer who WOULD take advantage of such an arrangement with bloggers to stick it to their competition.  How on earth is a blogger supposed to differentiate between the legitimate concerns and the ones intended to hurt another designer?  Are bloggers now to serve as judge and jury?  That is a role even Linden Lab won’t take on.

And then we have the matter of appropriate timing.  Exactly when IS it a good time for a designer to notify bloggers?  What is fair?

Should a designer notify bloggers while the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) notice is still being worked on (i.e., paperwork still being filled out but not yet turned in, or already filed but pending action by Linden Lab)?

Should a designer notify bloggers immediately after a DMCA takedown has occurred?

Should a designer wait until the party they’ve successfully filed against has had ample time to file a counter-claim?

It should be noted that a DMCA takedown in and of itself is not a ruling; Linden Lab makes it abundantly clear that they do not adjudicate.  A takedown simply means that they have received the paperwork and are now acting to comply with the law.

This is the dilemma that faces any designer who finds that their work has been infringed upon.  It is unfortunate that the act of protecting your copyright should come with so many complications, but this is how it is.  Designers need to balance their desire to protect their work with the need to protect the brand name and reputation that they have worked so hard to cultivate and nurture.  When viewed in this light it is understandable why some designers choose to deal with such issues in a quiet manner, and will take it to a more public arena only after repeated attempts to quietly do so fails to produce the desired results.

Again, I understand that bloggers who find that they have praised items that turned out to be less than legitimate might be “devastated”, as one person put it.  I hope that bloggers realize, however, that no sane person would ever fault them for reviewing items that they bought/received in good faith or contend that they were part of the problem.

So please, don’t let something like this “devastate” you or give you reason for too long a pause.  Process it, learn from it, and then shake the dust off your feet and move on.  I say that there are far too many great fashion items by legitimate and talented designers out there that deserve your attention for you to dwell on this too long.  ❤

Cool New Casuals at Laqroki!

(Before I start, full disclosure: I work at Laqroki [customer service]. I chose to apply for work there [back when it was RaC] because I love their skins. When I finally made it into Second Life roughly a year and a half ago, I spent two weeks searching for my perfect skin. It took me that long to find the right skin because in addition to wanting something that had a light, fresh look without heavy makeup, I also wanted a darker skintone that befitted my Filipino, Chinese, and Spanish ethnic mix. I’d found RaC very early, and after looking at countless demos after two weeks my choice was clear. ^_^)

The talented graphic designers behind the Laqroki brand, Mallory Cowen and Winter DiPrima, have opened the doors to their new apparel shop, something I’ve been looking forward to for a while now! I’m usually somewhat prone to writing a lot but this time I will try to let the pictures do most of the talking. 🙂 Speaking of pix, if you are on my flickr contacts list then you should be able to view the large versions of these images (they are kinda big lol).

❤ the sculpted collar on the trench jacket!

I am a suckah for anything with a boatneck cut at the neckline.  Seriously.  (That, and 3/4 sleeves are hawt.)

And the ever important jeans question:  will your ass look good in these?  Yes, it will :p  One of the things I always notice about jeans and pants in SL is whether the back pockets sit on your rump where they are supposed to, or if they’re kind of melting off your behind and onto the backs of your thighs.  I’m happy to report that the pockets on these are placed where they ought to be 😀

And men, you have definitely not been left out of the party.  There’s a really nice selection of men’s clothing and accessories ^_^

Visit Laqroki to check all the new casual clothing goodies!  Laqroki 228, 147, 65

Other credits:  All skins, manicures, prim lashes by Laqroki; hairs by Laqroki, Mela’s, Muism, MMS, and Truth; Shoes by Juicy, Detour, D2K, and Maitreya; Glasses by Nea-Ban; Bag by Celestial Studios; all poses by Mela’s.