You know how sometimes when you purchase an outfit or two, the store owner might happen to be online and send you a thank you IM and even, sometimes, drop you a freebie?  Well, that happened late last night while I was shopping at Azul. Mami Jewell of Azul sent me a thank you IM and then dropped this dress on me as a gift – not a freebie, but one she said would go on sale soon, on Sunday evening.  She didn’t do this because I have a fashion blog – she didn’t know that – but simply because of the lucky happenstance that she was online while I was shopping  past the midnight hour.  I decided that if I like it, I would blog it today. I went home, put it on and almost swooned.

Well, I didn’t just like it. I love it. Velvet textures are hard to get right and these are perfect, deep, rich and lustrous. The narrow skirt widening to a short mermaid style train is made with 3 prims, 2 leg attachments and a skirt prim. With glitch pants and a system skirt, you’re covered for a wide range of movement despite the narrow skirt. The halter bodice rises gracefully, a perfect setting for dramatic and bold jewelry or the classic simplicity of pearls. Then there is the back…oh my, the back.

The elegant simplicity of the front is a perfect couterpoint to the swooping plunge of the back. This view also shows the immaculate construction of the skirt and train prims. There’s no troublesome flat triangle projecting uncooperatively as you move. The skirt prims flawlessly meld with the system pieces and needed no little tint of gray to photograph at the same level. The elegant black gloves come with the dress and are textured beautifully. This dress was so well-constructed it was a dream to photograph.

With the classic lines of the dress, I went for the most classic jewelry of all time, the pearl necklace. Of course, for me, that meant Muse. I wore the Margaux Draped Pearl Necklace, the Celine drop earrings and bangle, all with the findings in silver.  I chose an updo from Tukinogama. revealing the lovely lines of the bodice and showing off the earrings. Aphrodite Creations Dark Blue Serenity pumps completed the outfit, one of the few pumps that have this rich, deep midnight blue color.  There are more pictures on my Flickr – lol, lots more, this dress was so fun to shoot.

• Meilli2 shape by hatchy mills
• Laqroki Amy 06 Portrait Skin
• IC-Eyes Soulful Hazel
• Tukinowaguma Nadeshiko Red3
• azul Gown#9 Sharon Blue
• Aphrodite Creations Serenity Dark Blue Shoes
• Muse Margaux Draped Pearl Necklace White and Silver
• Muse Celine Pearl Drop Earrings and Bracelet (Silver and White)