I headed back to LEA29 to see the completed art exhibit by FreeWee Ling before it disappears. You should go quickly. Set your graphics to high with the shadows turned to Sun, Moon & Projectors – as most of the exhibit is an exploration of projectors and the light and shadows they cast.
While I focused on the black and white elements, there is a lot of color in the installation – particularly from light projectors.
The post title has no relationship with my photos, but it seemed a good companion to Gidge’s post today. There’s a song called House Without a Door, a jazz instrumental, but the mood of this song is more in sync with Pharrell’s Happy.
My dress today needed a stunning setting, so I headed over the The Chamber Society’s new dance club, The Sable Club. In keeping with the rest of the village, it’s a Jazz Age venue rich with period detail. My dress is more modern, in particular when seen from behind where its dangerously low back is revealed.
The dress is from Delirium Style – a special release for The Style Icon, a fashion fair organized by Legal Insanity honoring the icons of fashion past and present. I am looking forward to seeing who inspired the designers and how they interpret and reimagine their inspiration.
I went to the Isle of Mousai to shoot the pictures for my last blog post. It is a live music venue and also a brilliant setting for photography. Billing itself as a place for music and romance, I can definitely see its appeal as a fun and funky place to go. I think my biggest complaint was the left/right distribution of the tables on the sidewalk here – which meant I had to meander from left to right to walk by them. No problem on a quiet sim, but I wonder how easy it is when the sim is full of music lovers.
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I generally don’t wear clothing that is super revealing, but I just loved this Spiky Fur top from Gizza – even with all the side boob and boy, oh boy, is there side boob. I had to wear it a couple sizes smaller than usual to keep it from revealing more than just the side. But isn’t it fun? and sexy? and irresistible? I had to wear it. It comes in black and white and I am sure you will be seeing the black one sooner or later. It comes in two pieces, the tank which is kept from blowing in the wind by a thin tie along the sides – so if you fit it right, it will be secure. The second piece is the fabulously wild shoulder spikes. I imagine you could wear the black spies with the white top and vice versa for even more flexibility.
While some prints will cover every square inch of fabric, particularly if they are printed instead of woven prints, other prints will end near the selvage leaving a border of the background fabric. This gives the designer the option of using the selvage end as a border. You can see that technique in this dress from DCNY where the print ends slightly above the hem. It’s an easy and clever way to add a design detail to your dress – though sometimes it does end up using more fabric for the entire dress because you cannot minimize wastage by cutting the skirt in opposite directions. I think it’s worth it, though, for the added element it brings.
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On Project Runway All-Stars this season, Viktor was warned away from his green dress by mentor Zanna Roberts Rassi who told him you never see green on magazine covers because it doesn’t sell. Awww.Poor Viktor only has green so he’s sunk. Green is my favorite color so I had to wonder about that. I realize it is not the easiest color to wear. If your skin has yellow undertones, some greens can make you look jaundiced. Still, it’s just a matter of seeing how you look in the particular shade, a bit of trial and error, and anyone can wear green in one of its many hues. This mint is fresh and springlike, full of new life and optimism. I added a fur wrap from Bliss Couture which is still going out of business. I know it’s been a long closing sale, but on the off chance she shuts the doors soon, you will want to stock up on her fur accents and hats before they are gone forever.
Jazz and blues music have long been popular in Japan where Japanese musicians have worked hard to transform and adapt these uniquely American musical forms into something new. Jazz musicians do not want to be the Japanese version of Sonny Rollins or John Coltrane, but find their own unique language of jazz. For example, Ryochi Hattori the rhythms and harmonies of jazz with the pentatonic scales and folk melodies of Japan. So it’s a pleasure to find a lovely Tokyo little blues club in Second Life. Thanks for the tip, Whimsy!
When I saw Gidge had blogged this dress, I probably should have changed into another outfit. However, I think that if something is really great, it is natural that a lot of people will want to wear it and blog it. We participated in the Same Damn Thing Challenge twice – supporting the assertion that even if people wear the same damn thing, they often wear it differently. Well, I guess the big difference is Gidge wore the purse and I did not. But I am wearing shoes! For all you know, Gidge could be barefoot.
I am not all of sudden adopting a new slang vernacular. Instead, I want to alert you to a stunning jazz album from Roberto Fonseca. The album is called Yo! and fittingly is an exploration of Fonseca’s roots and inspirations. It’s one of my favorite albums of 2013. I hope you take the time to listen. I am certain you will enjoy it.
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I wonder if the artists of Second Life® are chagrined to see their creative impulses and efforts reduced to a background for a fashion blogger’s photos. I also wonder about the relative support for art in SL. For retail events like Collabor88, there usually is a horde of people waiting for the clock to tick over to midnight, a collective “Open! Open! Open! Open! Open! Open!” prayer offered up to Commerce, the god of Second Life. Has anyone been unable to teleport into an art exhibit because the sim is full?
But Second Life is no different than real life. For many people, their choices in fashion and home decor are their forms of artistic expression and appreciation. Art for art’s sake is often a luxury – one that is disappearing from our schools and our cities. So, I do wonder about art in SL and the artists and how they feel. Is it wrong to use a piece of art as a backdrop? I don’t know. It might get people to go see the art, to appreciate the effort, the imagination, the inventiveness. Or maybe it just gets more people to go pose in front of it. Who knows?
I frequently check out all the LEA sims – one after another – to see what is new. I was struck by the constructs at LEA29 and how the lighting makes the visitor part of the art. This is not the best example, but for some reason every time I tried to take a picture from the other angle, I crashed. After three crashes, I decided that you all just need to go see for yourselves.
These pictures are from the central gallery. Asked about her exhibit, the artist FreeWee Ling said, “The central part of the sim is more or less a gallery space, but the rest is for a sort of uneasy paranoid landscape with the occasional alien showing up here and there. Like the little mobile cafe is currently manned by an alien chef bot.” The exhibit is not completely finished. She has a couple more days of work before it’s done, but you should go and soon because she only has the sim for the month of January. Don’t delay and miss this wonderful interplay of light, shadow and form.