My favorite thing about the DSN network is when I find a new store I really like. That happened when this adorable dress from Tasty fell on me the other night. The minute I put it on I have to check out the store, too, and found gorgeous and hotter than hot 60’s style dresses that I expect you will see more of as people find their way to Tasty. What a well named store because these are tasty little dresses. And don’t these shoes from R2 just work perfectly?
I found the cutest shoes the other day while wandering looking at some shops. They are Sugar Skull Chucks from Naith Smith Design. Inspired by Day of the Dead skeleton cookies and candies, they are adorably macabre and had me reaching for this casual look from MichaMi. I am wearing one of my new shapes for Sui Generis. This is Linna and she will debut at the Skin/Shape Expo this coming weekend. She’s 5’10” which makes her petite by SL standards, though not too short unless you stand next to a 7’6″ avatar. Oh my!
This shape is based on a family photo. Most of the family is blonde and the resemblance is strong enough that I had to add blonde hair, like this Pine style from 69 because my usual red looked wrong with this face – one I am used to seeing on my blonde, blonde niece. The skin from La Sylphide adds to the resemblance.
Like all Sui Generis shapes, Linna comes in three moods In the picture above, you can see the moods she comes with – from the subtle smile on the left, the basic look in the center and the melancholy mood on the right. All Sui Generis shapes come with these three mood shapes plus a skirt shape.
Rebranding is fairly common in Second Life – Genesis becomes Exodi, Fleur becomes 5th & Oxford and in this case, FreeSoul became DeeTaleZ. Generally speaking, I think rebranding is going to be more successful if people can remember how to spell your new name. I guess I am a fuddy duddy in this case. I don’t want to spell Details as DeeTaleZ and I struggle remembering how to spell the store name correctly. But, I don’t have to struggle with the clothing and I have no difficulty remembering the good quality and innovative work.
This chic ensemble is one of the expansive galaxy of options available when you buy the Rebel Hope Tuxedo – available at Rebel Hope Designs. Yesterday, Rebel Hope was the target of the most brazen content theft I have ever seen. It has been well-covered in Shopping Cart Disco here and here and my goal is not to cover the incident but suggest a way we as a community can show solidarity with the creators and combat content theft.
I am asking fellow bloggers to showcase some of the wonderful Rebel Hope content – gorgeous clothing like this or the homes and furniture and to educate their readers to the fact that content theft hurts all of us. We all reach different readers, so the more that take a few paragraphs to educate their readers, the broader the outreach. Normally I would insert a cut here to shorten the length of this post on the feed. Please indulge my longer post on the feed for this important issue.
The Juliet Boots from A-Bomb are smoking hot with the lovely tuxedo. I could have worn pants...but honestly, is this not the hottest tux in the West?
Content theft is a constant worry for SL creators whose defensive tactics are constantly trumped by new viewers and stratagems for copying content. Thankfully, many SL residents are sympathetic and disapprove of content theft and actively help by alerting creators to incidents of theft they encounter. Sadly, though, some residents just see it as an opportunity to enjoy free or cheap content and brazenly wear their stolen content or add anti-inspect shields to hide their shame. What they fail to understand is that stolen content affects us all negatively – that those bargains have a cost they do not perceive.
The hair is from Elle F - by Launa Fauna, who makes Chai skins. It's the perfect tuxedo hair.
What are the costs? Here’s just a few.
Dutch Touch CLeO - what a gorgeous face!!!
So, now that we acknowledge that we all pay a price for content theft, what can we do to stop it. First, we can never buy stolen content. Of course, it’s hard to know sometimes if something is stolen, but there’s one neon-bright clue we can follow. If the prices are unrealistic and too good to be true, it’s probably stolen. If someone hands you a free box of hundreds of high quality, contemporary hair styles, it’s probably stolen. Don’t accept it, don’t buy it. Secondly, many newcomers and folks who don’t read blogs are unaware of the problem, so we can tell our friends. If you see someone wearing stolen content, let them know – but in a respectful, nonjudgmental way. Assume they purchased it in innocence and judge their complicity by their reaction to your information. Third, if you see stolen content, send a snapshot and slurl to the creator of the original content so s/he can address it. Sometimes what may appear to be stolen is not, so I would not rush to announce it from the hilltops and instead leave it to the creator to lead the charge. The biggest thing we can do though, is be responsible for our own actions and not wear stolen content.
Sui Generis Mari shape shown in three moods.
Last but not least, we can all take a strong step against this sort of brazen and shameless theft that was done solely to inflict personal harm by each and everyone of us making a purchase of the real thing and going to Wildwood and supporting Rebel Hope and RH Engel. This might help sustain them while the recover their business and build new content and also lift their spirits which have taken a hard blow.
***STYLE NOTES******
Promotional Copies are denoted by a Bold R
I love the cool light of the moon illuminating my shots and frequently shoot in the moonlight. Nonetheless, while shooting this fabulous outfit from Dutch Touch, the song running through my head was Goodnight Moon, the anthem of the scared-of-the-dark crowd. Perhaps it’s because of the Kill Bill 2 soundtrack. The strong look of the dress, the options of black, red or gray (shown) and the tough girl look of the dress have just a bit of the edge that might have someone sleeping with guns, a blade by the bed and a phone in hand.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRqUONe_aAI]
Well goodnight moon
I want the sun
If its not here soon
I might be done
No it wont be too soon til I say
Goodnight moon
I realized it’s been awhile since I have posted a reminder about the SLurls Directory. While I began the SLurls Directory, it is a community project – jointly maintained by volunteers. Some volunteers like Achariya Maktoum and Lizzie Lexington have done a lot of work updating store locations and adding new stores. The Directory lists designer and fashion blogs, store SLurls and online store URLs. Bloggers are encouraged to either link to the Slurls Directory or to copy and paste into a directory on their own site if they prefer.
Volunteers Needed: The Directory really needs some volunteers who are willing to take on the specialized listings of Skin Stores, Hair Stores and so on. If you would like to tackle that, please volunteer. Someone who would like to expand the blogroll would also be a great addition.
Designers: Please check that your store, store blog and online (XStreet) listings are posted and the locations are up to date. If not, please ask to be added and post any corrections or updates.
Fashion Bloggers: There’s a blogroll, so please ask if you would like to be added to that as well and seriously consider volunteering.
Sometimes we get requests to add other kinds of stores. I hope someone will take on the gargantuan task of indexing all the stores, but that is far beyond the scope of this project. Just fashion-related businesses is overwhelming as it is.
Zaara! Zaara Kohime has released statement necklaces that coordinate with her previous releases of earrings and bracelets and they were so worth the wait. When I put on this dress (Josh) from Dutch Touch with its elegant silvery blue-gray, I immediately thought of the new shell necklace from Zaara and sure enough, they are perfect complements to each other. With the dress, you have the option of sheer lace or lace over fabric on the torso. It also comes with a white tee you can wear under it. In September’s Vogue they did a spread on Charlize Theron who wore luscious ballgowns and cocktail dresses, all with a white shirt underneath – for a look that was both high concept and intriguing. This shirt with the tee reminded me of that.
There’s a lot of gray on the grid today as people show solidarity with an effort raise awareness of brain cancer by wearing gray for the day. Cancer is an invidious and heartbreaking disease that can best be defeated by increased awareness which often leads to early detection. Too many of us ignore warning signs and for some, that delay is deadly. I lost my brother to lung cancer in July. Like so many who lose the battle with cancer, he ignored warning signs and dismissed symptoms with mundane explanations – never considering the possibility that it could be cancer until it was so advanced as to be untreatable. America lost Sen. Kennedy to brain cancer last month and we are poorer for it. I doubt any of us have lived lives untouched by cancer. I am happy to lend my support to this worthy cause as well.
I don’t know if a dress as gorgeous as this should count toward that effort, however, since it’s one dress I would happily wear any day of the year. The lovely Mimikri Seduction Dress in gray is just achingly beautiful. It’s a lovely silvery gray lace over a satin sheath with an extravagant lace bow in the back. The sheath is opaque over the torso and hips and becomes increasingly sheer as the skirt moves from the hips to mid-thigh. It comes with a prim sash as well, but I preferred how it looks without the sash.
Whilst wandering around some of the new shopping sims I found BeetleBones – a fun little clothing store where I picked up this love dark blue leopard print dress with the best name ever for a leopard print anything. It’s called “I Ate Tarzan!” How perfect is that. Such wit and humor must be rewarded so I picked up the adorable little dress – a strapless shirtwaist that I paired with another of those lovely shrugs from BOOM – the Wrong Size Cardigan.
I am not going to jump too quickly into fall and the coming seven months of non-ending clouds, mist and rain. I am going to hang onto summer by the fingernails and drag every bit of sunny weather out of it that I can. So…even in celebration of the glorious sun that is shining today…shining in Oregon in September…I am wearing this lovely bright floral dress from Bijou and pretending it’s June and there’s still months of dry weather ahead.