I am feeling celebratory today and what better color for a happy mood that purple – or more specifically mulberry. Gizza recently released this military coat. The military inspiration is shown not only in the rows of shining buttons on the wide lapel and the trim fit in the waist. I paired it with gorgeous winter weight dress pants from Baiastice and a top from Sakide.
The worst thing about events is that they close and I always feel that I have not seen enough, highlighted enough or done enough to share the great variety of creations at the event. That’s certainly true of Chic2 which closes today and of SL9B. The entertainment ends today but the exhibits will remain until the 27th. You should definitely go exploring and if you’re a freebie hunter, this is prime territory for freebies. Today I am wearing Tare, a new dress released by MiaMai with a summery pop art print in several colors. I chose orange because I picked up some orange shoes at Collabor88 that I wanted to wear.
But first take a look at this gorgeous tree from New Trails. It’s only 100 lindens at the moment – part of the Spruce Up Your Space event. It’s at New Trail right by the landing point. And then there are those logs on the floor with the moss and bracken. They also come with big mushrooms, but I edited them out since they were more fantasy than I wanted for this. It’s from Gallimaufry and free at their SL9B just two parcels down from the Blogger Carnival. There are six poses in the log, but they were laying down and sitting poses that didn’t work with this skirt and the handbag.
John Donne wrote some of the most powerful words on community in the English language. He was recovering from a serious, near-fatal illness and wrote Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, Number XVII in his Book of Meditations. I have loved John Donne since I was a teenager and was introduced to his poetry, but his powerful prose trumps poetry in this essay. This is only a small portion of this wonderful essay, but most of you will recognize it.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you’re at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you’re at!
I love the bold, color-blocking in Appolonia Criss’s new dress called City Chic. She takes a very mod style and updates it with a blouson top and short, very modern sleeves.
I decided to note the military-inspird sleeves by adding the gauntlets from Nzuri, though most gauntlets don’t have adorable bows at the wrist.
This brilliant and bold color got me looking for a brilliant and bold place to shoot and that led me to the Labyrinth of Absurdity.
Continue reading
Sometimes I have my pictures shot and everything ready to post and I paste in the bit of code from Flickr® for my first picture and come to a dead stop, tripped up by lack of a title or any sort of idea for the post. It’s then that I envy those bloggers who started out numbering their posts. I could just call this 1643 and be done with it. Instead, though, I resorted to that best of all places for help, advice and suggestions, the much-maligned world of Plurk. Within minutes I had plenty of ideas. I think the first idea was to let my cat choose my title.
Plurk is sort of like Twitter in that it is based on 140 character plurks of information, but unlike twitter, all responses hang into a single plurk drop-down window on your timeline. It has a large contingent of Second Life users and unlike so many other social media, embraces Second Life exuberantly. You can have your pseudonymous avatar account, no questions asked. You can even list your home as Second Life and Second Life has its own special front page. Because it has such a large cross-section of Second Life, it brings people from many different walks of SLife together. Anytime you have lots of people in the public square, folks will bump shoulders and have a dispute here and there. That’s human nature and is not caused by Plurk, but by the gravitational pull of the numbers of participants. However, Plurk provides all the tools we need to avoid conflict. It’s just that we choose not to mute, block and disregard. As Cassius said, “The fault, Dear Brutus, is not in the stars. But in ourselves…” Plurk is what you make it and I have found it a wonderful community of brave, bold and creative people.
Continue reading
I fell in love with the rich textures in this outfit the minute it came out on the runway at Modavia Fashion Week. I oohed so loudly my cat thought it was his lunchtime. That rosy brown plaid is stunning and one of the see-it-to-believe it pieces that walked those runways. There’s something rugged and wild about it that made me hop over to Dire Marsh to shoot it. It is such an evocative sim.
Did I mention that Ava and Barbara Kungler frequently take their inspiration from their native Brazil, drawing color, form and substance from the flora and fauna. This gown from their fall collection released at Modavia Fashion Week yesterday is a perfect example of that. Using a bird and foliage print could so very easily look old-fashioned and kitsch, but not with the modern sensibility of Kunglers.
One of the reasons I love Kunglers is their use of bold prints and the way they incorporate the organic inspirations of their Brazil into their designs. Their fall collection for Modavia Fashion Week is true to their history while remaining fresh by incorporating new silhouettes. It’s a fabulous collection of separates and signature pieces such as this stunning coat – which I wore as a coat dress. While this is gold, not green the color of hope, for some reason it made me think of a favorite song a former colleague used to play a lot – Spyro Gyro by Jorge Ben Jor. I think it is the vegetal inspiration that brought zygotes and gametes to mind.
There’s something so summery and fun about a shift dress and the ones at Coco are amazing. This Red Art Print version is fun and vibrant. The picture print is so whimsical and then adding the big flowers, you end up with something that makes me smile.
Continue reading