Swiss Miss the Office Vamp

I've had a sort of "Office Vamp" outfit sitting in inventory that I hadn't taken pictures of, it's not anything special, reminds me a bit of the old ICING Puma Jie..except with massive decolletage:

A friend of mine called the ensemble Tirolian, made her think of "Swiss Miss", which I thought it could be, then I realized I was wearing Swiss Dot hosiery with my "Swiss Miss" ensemble.

Yes, a cheesecake shot with the Belleza Betty Cleavage Enhancer on.  Got a sort of Christina Hendricks in RL thing going on with that cleavage.  Va va voom indeed.

SLURLS:

Dress: AV VLODOVIC Office Dress

Hair [e] AKA ETD Details, her store is shut down...sigh.

Skin Belleza Betty Pale

Jewellery: Caroline Apollo, Kennedy Pearls

Hosiery: Mstyle Dotz tights

Shoes: G Field Eve Pumps

Inspired by Mad Men's Betty Draper's Italy Look

You're probably thinking:

What?  CC is doing one of Betty's looks?  But she's a Joan Girl all the way!"

The story starts with a hair, Truth "January" hair, which was a group gift in limited colors... I liked it enough that I got it in my reds.  I've assumed that the hair was named after January Jones because it resembles the Hairstyle Betty wore in Season 3 of AMC's Mad Men when Don took her to Italy on a business trip to meet up with the loveably wacky curmudgeonly Mad Men version of Conrad Hilton.  While in Rome, Don goes off with Conrad and Betty goes into the Salon and transforms herself into this VISION

Now "Betts" is usually little miss perfect upper middle class Grace Kelly-ish WASP princess...but that, that was amazing.  Betty is Sexy!  She's Sultry. She can speak Italian!  The Un-Betty Makeup!  The Hair! She's flirting with Don!  And even better, the only thing that really dates that look is the hair, change that hair and you could rock that look now for an evening out.

So I was all over that..but never got around to duplicating the look...until yesterday I realized I had a Sonatta Morales Mesh dress that came pretty close..though it's 20's inspired.

That's the "Sweetie" Mesh dress fron Sonatta Morales

That's Belleza Betty Pale 3 skin with the Shyla/Betty #7 lipstick tattoo layered over it.  Beetlebones mesh lashes.  Yummy Tiffany jewellery set.

SLURLS

Sonatta Morales

Truth

Belleza

Yummy

G Field

Heels and Red Lipstick

Recently Modern day Burlesque Goddess, Miss Dita Von Teese, was quoted in the New York Times as saying:

Heels and red lipstick will put the fear of God into people. 

I might not put it that way, but there IS something about Heels and Red Lipstick that most people find attractive and alluring. You may not feel the fear of God, but to paraphrase a favorite film quote:

"On this pose stand....I AM a Goddess."

Well perhaps not a Goddess but I do look good in a retro burlesque-esque way I think.  The Ensemble is one of the mesh corsets that Boudoir has released in the past few months as part of their series of Burlesque-wear.  This one comes with the fans, a hat and boots I'm not wearing,  and a fan dance attachment.

Hair: Tuty Romantic in Mahogany

Skin: Belleza Pale Betty 1

Lashes: Beetlebones mesh lashes

Eyes: IKON Lucid eyes in Glade

Ensemble: Gogolita Burlesque from Vita's Boudoir

Shoes: G Field Eve Pumps.

Another post about Image...with Feeling!

I do one of these every now and then a post about "image".  Meaning how we see ourselves in SL and how others see us, which might not be the same way.  So this post isn't really about fashion so I'm not going to put SLURL's in today, I'm being a bit lazy, but I'll try to give enough info for you to find things.

For example, how do you see me, the avatar CC Creeggan.  Well some of you might not know me from Torley, but those who do might see me like this:

There she is, "Classic CC", retro-CC with her 50's black full skirted dress, dainty little pumps, snug perfect little updo, perfect little pearls and her red lips.  Oh so lovely, but not necessarily appealing to most people even with the decolletage.  Dress is Kianna from Ivalde (still on marketplace) Insolence hosiery, Baby Monkey  Lola shoes, ETD (aka Elikatira) Rhythm updo, Belleza Betty skin (I'm wearing Belleza Betty in all pictures)

Or you might think of this:

"Contessa CC", with her long black formal hollywood style gown, perfect little gloves, oh so dainty clutch, yet another piled up updo and tiara.  Hollywood Glam gown From Vita's Boudoir, it's hybrid mesh/prim/system.  Native Visions jewelry that i've mentioned before, Truth January hair.

I am using the above image as my profile picture, i think it's lovely, but does the avatar look approachable or does she look like she's watched Breakfast at Tiffany's a few too many times for her own good.

That is what I am wondering and I'm wondering why I dress the way I do in SL since so few others do.  You can probably guess the words often used to describe my avatar:  elegant, aristocratic, classy, sophisticated, lovely, etc etc.

I've been thinking about this lately because I've been "lonely" in SL.  Yeah I know, a bajillion people in my friends list and I am "lonely".  I want someone I can spend time with, to hang out with... I want that thing I can't have in RL...I want Romance.  Silly, right.  Talking about "feelings" on a blog that is mostly about the virtual, but SL makes me "feel" and it keeps me from crying my eyes out.  It keeps the RL "darkness" at bay.

Well, some days ago I was bored and looking at the destination guide and saw a location called France3D.  Well being a fashionista I have an "ideal image" of france:  Lovely well dressed young women carrying home baguettes, couples holding hands by the SEine, heck even La Vie en Rose being played on a concertina/accordion.   Well I wasn't going to step one foot in virtualized france without being VERY well dressed.  I wanted to come across the the French SL residents as someone with style, class and respect.  So I, googled Carine Roitfeld, the former editor of French Vogue, and tried to see what she wore in her street looks.

I decided to pull out a stable of  my wardrobe, the Maitreya Nolita, I paired it with my GOS Equestrian boots, a Miel scarf, Dela Amanda hair, a faux birkin bag from VG on marketplace, Jewelry from Sax Shepherd and the old "Heiress" sunglasses from Paper Couture.   I think I looked "nice"..."daytime elegant"

Well I click the link, and I did not find the France/Paris of my imagination.  There were no perfectly dressed women sitting at virtual cafe's, there were no women holding hands with their paramour in flirty little dresses and heels.  It looked like the rest of SL.

I was actually disappointed, I don't really know why, I should have expected it.  Then I started thinking, I dressed up for something and the "dressing up" meant something to me, and I was reminded of something I have done in RL:

I don't feel comfortable shopping in nicer department stores/boutiques like MAC/Sephora unless I match or exceed the SA/MA's dressyness level.  meaning a skirt or dress, heels, makeup.   And if you were to take me to some place like Sak's or Neiman Marcus, I would want to shop beforehand for a proper outfit to shop there.  I'd want my outfit to look like I "belong" and "deserve" to shop there before I stepped one foot in there.

I'm blue collar you see, and well I've felt the disdain of SA's in department stores.  I once was at Bergners (that's a midwest chain) looking at the Clinique and Estee Lauder displays and saw this oh so perfect looking SA giving me one of the worst looks I have ever received... it felt like a "Get out of here, you don't beling here you horrible little goblin of a man, this isn't for you, what a laugh that you think you deserve to use our glorious beautifying products."

What's worse, is that I wanted to look like her.  She was beautiful in a severe sort of way, perfect little updo, perfect little white MA jacket over a simple black dress.  Everything I wanted to be.  I just wanted to say to her "Please don't look at me like that, I know I'm ugly, but I'm one of you, really.  Please, I want to be pretty like you...just once.  I've wanted that my whole life.  Just please please don't look at me like that any more."

There was an old TV movie back in the late 70's early 80's a scene in the movie struck a chord with young me, the little boy that wanted to be a girl...it was the makeover scene that drives the plot.  The makeup artist said this:

"Makeup, it takes believing in. Like a magic carpet, it's belief that makes it fly. Otherwise, it's just a rug.  If you believe in it, makeup has a magic all it's own. Of course, makeup is only dime-store magic. But it works well enough, when it's used properly.",

I've used that (and parts of it) as my femme nick e-mail signature for years.  Makeup is magic for me, though it's magic doesn't work very well for me anymore not even as well as it used to.

I am a person who doesn't like mirrors.... I hate them..I avoid looking in them even when I clean them, I want to smash them all.  They make me want to cry.  Yes, I know what that sounds like.. and it is, it's Body Dymorphic Disorder.  I am very shy, I takes every bit of will I have to look at other people in the face when I talk to them.

It's one reason I like working overnights... I don't have to talk to people much.  It's safer that way... and I don't have to worry about the thing I hate that I shouldn't hate:  the leaking.

The leaking is the leaking of gender.  It's the thing that makes your family tell you that you're doing it and that they're worried.  It's the thing that makes you stop doing the things you like to do, because you don't want to cause problems and are scared.  It's the thing that made my sister crush my heart when I was young when she said:  "You clap like a girl, stop doing that and stop talking with your hands like a girl"  It's the thing that made people beat me up for being sensitive, a crybaby or a sissy.   And then I repressed it, so it doesn't feel natural anymore.  I feel so disconnected from my body.  I can't dance I walk so stiffly,   I feel so "ogrish" now, so ugly and alone.  Well not exactly an ogre... a tasloi...(which is a gollum-ish creature)

So, I think I dress the way I do in SL to try to be "perfect" and "inoffensive".  I KNOW how some people feel about the born male people who have female avatars...even those of us who are transgendered in RL.   So I became prim and proper ladylike CC, perfect...the one that no one would ever suspect had a born male operator because her skirts reached her knees, her shoes were classic her boob sliders weren't at 100, and she behaved like a "lady".....unless I talked too much about nerd things, or admit to running Linux or mention being transgendered in my Profile.

I think I've been playing it "safe" with SL fashion.  Not dressing too sexy most of the time (though I finally did start buying pretty lingerie that no one sees).  Not dressing "too young" (which are both accusations often leveled at RL male to female transfolk).

But in some ways I do want to be the hot club girl, the sexiest mom in the cul-de-sac, the sexy desirable femme in the Lesbian lounge.  And in SL, I can do that, but I haven't....I think in some ways I've been afraid to.  Well, I shouldn't be afraid... and I'm going to try to mix things up a bit more than I am.  It's not that I'm going to stop being Audrey Hepburn worshiping CC in a pretty little suit or daytime dress, but I am going to try to experiment a little more.

This outfit is LaDonna Upshaw inspired.

When I saw this outfit on LDO, I described it as "The hot mom in the cul-de-sac"  She paired it with a NICER jacket pack from Ricielli that I can't acquire because it was TDR only!  I dislike event only items.  Those Mesh leather leggins are from Maitreya, and those are the Celoe Zoe shoes I've worn before.  The bodysuit underneath the jacket is a staple from Epoque.  Jewelry is from Sax Shepherd, the hair is DeLa Evita


I saw this on Izzie Button at Skin Fair preview and I just had to have it.  I don't know why, I usually don't like dresses this short which is why I don't buy much from Coldlogic even if I like the basic styles.  But for some reason I knew I would look pretty good in this, and I think I do.  As an aside, I tried her skin demos and they qualify as "CC approves +10" ...they're just a little too young looking for me, so I'm not going to purchase I think, but they are VERY nice...and have redhead options.

Coldlogic dress, Izzie's closet tights, G Field Alex shoes (Izzie was wearing a gorgeous sequined pump instead), Dela Amanda hair, bag is the Girl Briefcase from the secret Store.

The following outfit is similar.  It and the above were described to me as "What the hot mom of SL wears after she drops the kids off at SL daycare and heads to work.  She can wear it in SL because unlike RL, she's always young and gorgeous."  It is also from Coldlogic the Carries Ash dress/cardiagn combo, Ankle boots from GOS (don't have the fatpack ety)  And yes you CAN wear the Cardigan without the dress.

The following is a sort of cocktails or dinner out look (with a nod to Harper Beresford).  Cleavage-y hybrid mesh dress from Milk Motion I got at TDR. (I don't have the other colors)   That clutch is from SF Designs Mimi suit, Truth Devina hair, those classic Icing Princess Pearls, No. 9 stockings, and G Field Eve pumps.  The dress does come with "appliers" for those....shudder... Mesh boobs.   I do not ever intend on wearing mesh boobs.

And here's a club appropriate look (with Props to Harper Beresford again).  I even put on the cleavage enhancer for my skin.

Ensemble is from Sassy, separates I purchased at the Whore Couture event, Hair is Wasabi Pills Giselle, Side gartered stockings are from League.  I'm wearing my GOS boots. 


So if anyone sees me in something I wouldn't usually wear, it's still me, I haven't gone any more crazy than I already am.

Shout-Out to Superflufee

Just a little shout-out to superflufee.  You will be missed.

His own videos are at:

Superflufee's videos on Youtube

Friendly advice on Invisaprim shoes for designers.

Hello designers, some of you make shoes, very nice shoes.  Mesh shoes, alpha shoes...shooes CC LOVE.

But some of you still have your old invisiprim shoes on the market, sometimes even still for full price next to mesh/alpha shoes.  This makes CC (and others) sad.

Suggestions:

1. Take the invisiprim shoes of the market.  For one, there are those who simply don't buy such shoes anymore they've been passed up by new and better SL shoe technology that makes shoes pretty!

2. Leave them on the market but heavily discount them and put them for cheap on marketplace.  Keeping them on marketplace is fine...but invisiprim shoes don't belong in your stores right next to your awesome meshy shoes.

With Luv, CC. (though it was someone else who mentioned this issue to me)

Marketplace Search, boy is it quirky with a capital Q.

You know my rant about naming I did in my last post.  Well some of us (Hi Eclectic and Sasy) were discussing it, and some said they didn't know that connected/concatenated words were treated as one.

And in my head I was like:  "What, people don't know that?"

Then I realized, I'm a frickin nerd and stuff like that sticks out to me and I'm more likely to find it.  So in other words,people don't know that dotted names aren't marketplace search friendly.  So I was wrong to say "bad designer" in that instance.

Here's some quick notes;

1. Marketplace search in the past seemed to be case sensitive, but now it seems it isn't...most of the time.  That caused me problems with searches for items that used capitalization in the past:  For example if If I made a hair called say "CCwear Torley"  and I searched for "ccwear torley"  the search wouldn't have found it, even if I knew it was there.   But now it does, thank goodness, but to be safe, try to stick to lowercase... just in case.

2.  Marketplace search does not get along with special characters.  For example if my store name is CCwear and I put it (or the item name) in brackets or greater than or less than symbols " < >" or other characters, search won't find it.  Which  is contrary to how inventory search works.  Inventory search uses a "contains" type search and Marketplace seems to not do so, it's more literal.   So if I have a skirt named: "CCwear.classic.pencil.skirt.black or "CCwear_classic_pencil_skirt_black"  Marketplace treats that as one word.  So a search for CCwear pencil skirt wouldn't find it.   So if  you have special characters in your item names in inventory, they're not marketplace friendly.  Which is counter-intuitive.  So try to stick with spaces in store and item names.

3. As far as I can tell market place doesn't support boolean operations.  For example if I was search Marketplace for pencil skirts and didn't want CCwear pencil skirts to show up because I owned them all,  I couldn't use:  "pencil skirt -CCwear"  As far as I can tell it does a simple "AND" search,  In fact is you did use such a search you would ONLY get CCwear pencil skirts.

4. You cannot search within results....sigh.

5. Today I uploaded a couple of things to Marketplace to see the interface and whatnot and noticed things that could be better.  The interface could use some changes and rewording, and it really could use what I call "listing templates"

For example if you make hair, do you want to have to manually type or even past all that stuff in?  No, what you need is a standard template you can assign that you can choose for you uploaded item that has stuff filled in already!  I can see how maintaining and updating Marketplace listings would be a lot of work.

Another idea I had was for LL to create a "custmer service person" or "sales associate" role for marketplace.  So that a creator could assign a trusted person with limits on what they can do, to handle grunt work without fear of something bad happening.  It's probably not workable but something to think about.

If any reader has any Marketplace tricks or tips, let me know!

Return to Celoe, the Great...and not so great

By happenstance, I was in Sonatta Morales shopping (and buying my first Sonatta Morales...which is another story) where I ran into a friend of mine who was wearing a fantastic looking Jacket, skirt and shoooes.  I immediately IM'd her and asked where she acquired it, because as I said:  "CC Needs That"

She told me: Celoe, and my immediate "Need" was reduced somewhat because of the previous experience   I had in trying to shop at the Mayfair region that contains Celoe.  But I am nothing if not willing to give second chances, so I did.  And had the exact same experience.  This time I had enough time to spare to do a bit of troubleshooting and thought to check my debug settings, specifically "MeshMaxCurrentRequests".  I vaguely remembered turning it up just after mesh was released in the viewer on someone's recommendation.  I checked the default and it was half that, so I turned it down to 32 and restarted the viewer and returned to Celoe.  This time...everything loaded...slowly, but everything did rez.  Yay!  So I walked in and found the stuffs I wanted, the Maru coat/jacket, Nikka skirt and Zoe pumps.

Makes a very nice professional suit doesn't it.  Very nice looking.  Just look at the skirt hemline.

Almost a peplum effect there, going on with that jacket.  Just look at it, the mesh actually looks like a nice weighty wool!

The Jacket and skirt come in more colors, I love the red.  too bad they don't come in the "same" colors.  The blacks are the only good matches.  For example the skirt does not come in the red the jacket does.

There is also a long coat/dress version, which while nice isn't quite as awesome as the separates.  Its quality is good, but the style is a touch "dowdy"  could be the silhouette or length  needs a touch more tweaking.  It's not horrible by any means though...just means it's more "Matronly Sunday Church Outfit" than I'd prefer.

And here's the Zoe shoes, which I just LOVE and want in RL, though the heel is a touch too high for RL moi.  I wish I could wear that heel in RL but that looks like a 100 or 120mm, and I can handle 85mm at best.  Love the little bow. and the texture is fantastic.   Doesn't come in enough colors though and the color names could use some work.  "Elephant" really isn't a descriptive name for a color.  This black is called "gondola" what is up with that.  (The jacket, skirt and coatdress have similar issues with names)

I have some quibble about the prices.  The prices for the separates are a touch higher than I'd like for separates and I paid more for the shoes that I'd usually do, being spoiled by G Field.  Shoes are one of the most commonly overpriced t hings in SL.  And there's no "Willow Packs" so no fatpack discount.

Another not so great thing about Celoe is the choice to use the RL style vendors which are as the trope says: "Awesome but impractical" for SL.  For example the coatdress vendors are boxes lying flat so that the coatdress picutres are SIDEWAYS like this and also small.

The alpha'd hanger vendors for the skirts don't give you a good view of the skirt at all.   The shoe vendor pics are also small, but at least they're oriented properly.  I have always been of the opinion that in SL displays, simpler is better.  Yes, simple wall prims aren't all twee and artsy and RL-looking, but they work better for consumers and that's what matters.

The store is also still laggy and even after I fixed the debug setting I crashed there, twice.  Once when trying to get a picture of the vendors.  I'd recommend shopping via Marketplace because of the effect all those twee mon-tissu style alpha'd vendors have.

But Celoe's marketplace shop has other issues.  For one, the selecton doesn't include all the stuff in the store, and Celoe doesn't understand product naming so that the names are things like:

celoe.maru.coat.blood

Which makes it impossible to search for them because the Marketplace search treats that as all one word because of the periods as far as I can tell.  So if you search for "celoe nikka skirt" on Marketplace you get zero results.  Bad Designer, BAD BAD! 

So Celoe earns a mark of "Shows promise but needs improvement" before I can truly recommend shopping in-store, sad to say.  Nice stuff though, as I said.  One final note, Celoe LM's say only "Mayfair" instead of "Celoe Main Store at Mayfair" which would be better.  Bad Designer Decision!  Bad BAD!

Celoe is at the Mayfair region
Elikatira, AKA ETD hair
Belleza Betty Pale skin
Insolence hosiery.
ICING Princess Pearls Jewellery

CC the Second Life Gaussian Girl

You all know the trope:

TV Tropes: Gaussian Girl

It seems to be rather prevalent on SL fashion blogs these days many of which more "glamour blogs: than review blogs, and that's not necessarily a good thing.  SL consumers need good reviews.  It helps consumers make good choices if they can see the details of the lovely ensembles better before they make their purchases.

So if you're a pale blonde with a while/cream outfit, try to turn the gauss and glow down a tad, and perhaps not use a pale background that your ensemble blends with.  Say it with me: Contrast!  And don't overuse depth of field effects.  That is if you're trying to show the actual gorgeous outfits.  I'd not be complaining about the SL Gaussian Girls if there were more review blogs and somewhat fewer Glamour Blogs.

Truth Sam Hair
Belleza Betty Pale skin #3
G Field Eve Pumps
Luxuria Alicia Lingerie (Roslin Petion)

Hemlines and Heel Heights.

It all started with LDO (LaDonna Upshaw), as it often does these days, who told me about a Maitreya VIP dress that was to die for.   So I went to Maitreya, dropped an inactive non-fashion group so I could join the Maitreya group. Bye Byem Caledon Oxbridge Fencing, Fashion takes Precedence as it is Written in CC Rule #1! As an aside I hate it when social locales ask me to to join a group upon teleporting in.  I'm a fashionista, my group slots are valuable because I'm always maxxed out.

So I got the dress...and then I needed different boots than what I had, for the dress... which leads to the heel issue I will speak of in a bit.  Then I needed some hair...and LDO made a suggestion.   So here's the ensemble that fashion enabler LDO "enabled" me to buy:

Maitreya Long Jersey Dress, which is available...for now...in only that color.   CC NEEDS it in more colors.  Onyx describes it as a "cousin" dress to the Nolita, which is a good thing since i just love the Nolita.  Yes, the dress is mesh, and it has a low scoop neckline in back.  It's very "Young Fashionista in Winter doing some upscale shopping, before meeting her girlfriend for dinner" sort of dress.  Or "Macy's/Von Maurde jewellery/purse/makeup department SA dress"  Reminds me of some of the Duchess of Cambridge's Issa dresses too!

LDO suggested that hair for me, while I was looking through my Truth/ETD hair for something to wear.  It's Amanda from DeLa.  It's nice, I like it,  and it's mesh.  However I didn't see much else at DeLa a that appealed to my tastes sad to say, it was mostly long "youthful" hair, like most of Truth's recent stuff.  That's the Poetry necklace for Sax Shepherd's Frills line hiding in there.

 

For boot choices, it was pretty much between the Bax's and these GOS Boots.  I chose these for two reasons.

1. The Bax's are a little bit too much "Pretty woman BEFORE the makeover" boots.  The heel is too high for my taste in a classic dressy boot.

2. These have equestrian touches, that make them more classic even if the heel is a touch higher than I would want.

Which leads to my heel height rant.   I like the Bax boots, and I would have had them already if they came with a "Stuart Weitzman Sensual" heel, rather than the "even higher than the Stuart Weitzman Fever" heel they have.   As it is these GOS's heel is more of a "Fever" aka the "Nuhyper boot" than the lower heel I wanted or to put it another way, I don't always want a 100mm heel I wanted 85mm.  Yes, I know, I'm one of those people who thinks of heel heights in mm even though I live in America.  And Yes, I also know that for most SL residents the higher the heel the better, but that's not "me".

Which leads into another fall/winter dress I saw some time ago, wanted, but didn't buy.  This one, from Coldlogic.

I like the dress, but as you can see from the fact that I'm wearing the demo, I didn't buy it.  Why not?   The hemline is too short for my taste.  It's not that I want it as long as the Jersey dress....I just want it a touch longer.  You see I have this "internal mindset" of what my avatar would wear...and while that dress's basic style somethinhg I would wear...the hemline isn't.  4 more inches. just a touch longer and I'd have got the fatpack.   The same goes for the other fall/winter Coldlogic dress releases.  That dress as it is now would be a 14 or 16 inch hemline in RL and I want the equivalent of an 18 or 20 inch...which would STILL be above the knee.

I'm no prude no matter what some may think, I just want things a touch more "classic"  I like my sexy a touch more elegant.  A subtler sexy.  It's hard to explain.  This Donna Flora Ester dress has a hemline closer (but a touch longer) than what I want in a short sweaterdress for winter.  It's one of my favorite daytime dresses these days, even with the a-line skirt.

SLURLS

Maitreya

DeLa

GOS

Sax Shepherd Designs

Coldlogic

Donna Flora

Mayfair, Mon Tissu and Celoe and my Boycott.

LDO told me about new shoes at Celoe, and said CC would love shoes.

CC always want new shoes so CC want TP, but only the region is listed in search, not the Celoe store.  So I TP to the region, which I've been to before, because of the Mon Tissue move.

The Mayfair region and the Mon Tissu and Celoe stores within, are badly designed.  They're trying to go for that "looks like a RL store look",  with alpha hanger items and whatnot and all that does is slow the loading down.  It's one of the reasons why shopping at the Mon Tissu location in Lula was so annoying.

If we've learned anything from SL it's that simple is better when it comes to store designs, if I can't buy something within 30 seconds of a TP, your store is badly designed.

Bad designers, BAD BAD.  Why do you not learn from others, and your own previous mistakes?  You want shoppers to have a pleasant experience, not a bad one.  This is one reason why some are heavy Marketplace users.  If you want me to shop in your in-world store don't make it a laggy mess for sake of appearances.

Want to know why there are no pics?  28 minutes and I STILL can't see anything to buy!  It's why I get any Mon Tissu from marketplace now...because I can't shop there in-world.

Look, Mon Tissu and Celoe owners, you are so clueless about the reality of an effectrive store design, that you don't deserve my L$.  It's that simple.

And guess, what, trying to TP out of Mayfair caused the client to logout!  That's it, I'm boycotting, Mon Tissu and Celoe until their designers get a clue.  And I'm going to start encouraging others to do the same.

The Contessa and the Avatar as a Whole

 It all started with LaDonna, as it often does.   She was talking about skin demos at a certain store, so I popped in to see her, wearing what I was wearing at the time.  Which happened to be a poofy ball gown...and yes a tiara.  LaDonna saw me and said something akin to:

"A little early for ball gowns isn't it Contessa."

The word, "Contessa" got me thinking, since my avatar has been described as "aristocratic", "elegant", "intimidatingly perfect".  I don't consider myself to be perfect, I just shop...a lot. So eventually with some suggestions from my friend Alastair Whybrow,  I came up with a backstory and some looks for a "Contessa" persona, just for fun, not for actual role-play or anything.

The Contessa! She is aristocratic perfection, charming, elegant, beautiful, and she's not even an actual Contessa, that's just a nickname she picked up at boarding school. Her home country has been a republic for a couple of centuries. She has wealth, intelligence and drive. She even went to finishing school where she was caught necking with a celebutante heiress of some renown. there wasn't even a hint of scandal, because she was even then "The Contessa" She came out as lesbian at university and ended up in the Fashion business... She is feared and loved, like a High Queen in a fantasy story. But she herself doesn't look down on anyone, that would be rude and unbecoming

the Contessa's professionalism, and singlemindedness in what she knows to be right and wrong, can make her appear a blunt instrument if someone transgresses The Laws of Fashion.  But although she can still a transgressor with a raise of a perfectly arched eyebrow, she is always cool and in control. Panic and Drama may sometimes surround her, but the Contessa herself remains an island of aristocratic calm

She dresses VERY well, whether she's just come back from doing autocross in her Aston Martin convertible, with jeans, tunic and wild sexy hair,

or when she's at the office being interrupted by a phone call while deciding to make her new shoe release in Black velvet, black satin, black suede AND black patent and black kid leather, in 4 different heel heights.

Or when she's at a charity ball, alone again... because some think she's an Ice Queen,

But she iis not an Ice Queen, she has a heart of fire for the lady who loves her for who she is... The Contessa, maybe a bit too vain for her own good, maybe too picky and cranky at times... but at her core...good hearted.

I was planning on doing this post alone, but after doing some fashion watching at the ETD sale....Don't look at me that way, it's ETD!  I'm going to hold on calling it ETD till she changes the branding back to it's right and proper form. :-)

So I was fashion watching at ETD  (glares) and noticing that there were avatars who were obviously trying to have a coherent look but failing in some way.

One example I saw was of an avatar whose "orange-y tan" skin let her look down because the pink lipstick shade it  had was all WRONG, notwithstanding the sucky orange part.  A higher quality skin and her overall look would have turned from what some might call "fug" to "California Beach Babe"

Another was of a girl who seemed to do Hogwarts RP, she had age appropriate hair, the uniform, the AO was age appropriate for a Hogwarts student....but the look was failed by the "lemon sucking fish face with too tiny eyes, and hints of IPR" shape, sheer hosiery (she needed opaque tights), and shoes no Hogwarts student of the age she was trying to RP as would wear.  (cute little high heeled oxfords, great if she was RPing a college girl, but not for Hogwarts)

Another was someone trying to do a "Jersey shore sexpot" look but was failed by her cutesy skipping anime-ish AO.

Personally, I see the Avatar as a whole, and everything should work together in a coherent way:  shape, skin, hair, AO, clothing, Accessories...EVERYTHING"  One little thing off, and the coherence isn't there.   So don't ruin your sexy adult look with that Gaeline little girl AO.   Don't dress your avatar with a face that looks like a 12 year old japanese girl in clothes a 23 year old would wear or use a cigarette.  And if your avatar is an adult, don't do knock knee or pigeon toe poses.  It just doesn't work.

Start thinking of your avatar as a "whole" and your avatars appearance should improve, IMHO.  If you see pictures of SL Fashionistas like LaDonna or Gogo, you will notice that they ALWAYS have a coherent look.  The last time I saw LaDonna she had a "Hottest Mom on the Cul de Sac" look going.  Everything she was wearing contributed to that "whole".   Fabulous.

Picture notes:

Zaara Ashima Blouse, Tres Blah JuJu Jeans, Truth Bebe hair, Belleza Pale BEtty skin, G Field Cuff Boots

Donna Flora Helena ensemble, Truth Isla hair, Belleza Betty Pale skin, G Field Eve pumps.

Passion4Fashion formal gown, Truth Jocelyn hair, Belleza Betty Pale skin, Donna Flora Willa jewellery set.

Nylon Outfitter's LBD's at Collabor88.

Nylon Pinkney did a set of 5 similar LBD's in various bodice/neckline styles.  It's Nylon so it's her usual quality stuff, wish they fit just a touch slimmer but that's just me and not a knock on their quality.

From left to right, Strapless, Spaghetti v-neck, one shoulder, scoop and boatneck. The stockings (the weakest part of the ensembles, IMHO) are included  Personally I like the boatneck the best, it's a rare neckline in SL, but I likes them all.  So GO, brave the lag at C88.

SLURL to Collabor88's new location

The folders, however do NOT include an LM to Nylon's Main store, which is in Tableau, of course, can't miss it.

Hair is Truth Penelope (an acquaintance suggested a modern hair)

Skin is a Betty Pale 1 from Belleza.

Pearls are the Kennedy Black Pearl set from Caroline Apollo.

Shoes are The G Field "Eve" Pumps.

CC McCrankypants and the Evil of Jira.

I am VERY cranky today. at both Linden Lab and the SL userbase.

For one, this bug hit me today after a Nvidia driver update:

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-29423

Want to see what it looks like?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBkoUQ9-_7E

It makes SL totally unusable.  Addendum: Also affects Firestorm and a heck of a lot of other 3D applications... so it's an Nvidia thing I think....this time.

And then there's the new inventory copy bug I found in Main Release a few hours before the above hit me.

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-29418

Some of you may be thinking:  "But CC, I thought you used Snowstorm"

I did until these two bugs hit me:

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-29139

That's the gap/line in the neck one, which is anathema to one such as I.  The CC is all about the pretty, and that bug maketh the CC less pretty and it must be destroyed.

And then there was THIS one, which messes up inventory search by preventing scrolling down in results.

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-29358

I rely on inventory search.

All of this makes the CC VERY CRANKY.  Don't the Lindens test this stuff out?  Am I the only person who runs the viewer on Linux that is a fashionista that actually uses the inventory and changes their outfits and takes screenshots?

Really Linden Lab, you ought to offer bounties to people to test stuff out.  Offer various rewards to  people that run Snowstorm, reward people when they find bugs, not just those who fix them.  Can't fix a bug unless someone finds it first.

Now some of you are thinking:  "CC, I run Phoenix, this doesn't matter to me."

Yes it does because you're part of the problem!  Stop using Phoenix!  That old codebase is creaky and un-maintainable long term, that's what  phoenix devs say themselves.  Sooner or later LL WILL cut off V1 codebase viewers, they should have done so long ago.

And again some of you are thinking:  "But CC I hate the V2 UI, that's why I u se Phoenix."

Oh please, you can make Firestorm use V1 UI, if you need to, but I actually prefer V3 UI.  It simply behaves like other applications.  Sure it's got discoverability issues (I have a couple of JIRA's on that too), but it's much more like a "normal" application than the V1 pie mess.  One of the reasons for the V2 UI change was to make SL more "normal", for people coming into SL.  Though the SL userbase being filed with oldbie crankypants, had got used to the quirks old crappy V1, and encouraged some newbies to switch to Phoenix because they didn't know how to use V2 themselves.  BAD Residents...BAD BAD.  Don't encourage viewer fragmentation!

I'm going to say this again.  If you must use a TPV, it should be the latest Firestorm release.

But I have a better idea than that...use Snowstorm instead:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Snowstorm_Project

All SL viewer code is derived from that.  Even Firestorm code is descended from Snowstorm.  You want bugs fixed, start with the grandfather code...in Snowstorm.  And how do we find the bugs so they don't reach main release in either LL's own Main viewer or Firestorm?   We have to USE Snowstorm, it's the only way.  So Please, SL userbase, I'm on my hands and knees begging here...use Snowstorm

A tale of an indigo dress

Recently, a friend pointed out a mesh cowl neck dress to me via Marketplace:

The dress is from ISON by Harry Hyx and it's called "cowl neck dress" in my inventory.  I like a good cowl neck in RL, which is why I got the fatpack because it's a good deal.  However I have one itsy bitsy quibble which will reduce the number of times I wear it......I want it with a longer hemline, more like the Maitreya Nolita

Okay so maybe not that long, but I do wish the ISON dress was closer to knee length than upper thigh. Just above the knee should be just about right. As it is now, it's more of a Romger dress or a Bebe/MAC SA dress.  I don't mind showing cleavage or leg, I just don't often do both at once.  Now in winter I could pair it with opaque tights and boots to tone it down a tad but can't do that now.  Yes, I know, I'm weird that way.  And if it was longer, it would remind me more of those ISSA dresses the Duchess of Cambridge wears in RL, which would be a good thing.

ISON cowl neck dress fatpack on Marketplace

So you Wanna be a virtual fashion model?

When I was young, in the back of Seventeen or YM magazines there were often advertisements for modeling schools.  One in particular that I remember are the Barbizon ads which had the tagline:  "Be a model....or just look like one."

Well my longtime SL friend Alaska Metropolitan has put together a book both in-world, and ebook outside of all the things she learned (and taught others) over the years.  It's called:  "So You Wanna Be A Virtual Super-Model"

To tell the truth, considering how hard it is to find gigs in SL, she could have added the classic "or just look like one" tagline, since her book basically tells you how to look fabulous.  I mean REALLY fabulous.  It has good information about skin choice, shapes, what to do at photo shoots and runway shows, making a portfolio, tweaking your settings...if it's part of making you pretty, it's in there.

The in-world edition which is 124 pages, is best read rezzed, but you can attach it as a HUD.  It's available on Marketplace for L$500.
So You Wanna Be A Virtual Supermodel on Marketplace
The website of the book is:
SLFashionTutorials.com

This is the sort of thing that every person with a female avatar should read. 

Hair: Elikatira Leah in Brown 8 (tinted to get it closer in appearance to a proper ETD Mahogany)

Dress: CeCe dress by Alaska Metropolitan (Not available).  Yes it's named after me.

Skin: 5th & Oxford of course,

Shoes: G Field Eve's, of course.

superflufee in RL

superflufee is mesh avatar who who does adorable and funny videos about SL. superflufee's RL creator has actually had the avatar 3D printed so superflufee is now in RL! Enjoy.

CC McGrumpyPants: Nylon display at C88.

Everyone knows what Collabor88 is right, a place where a bunch of creators can put new stuffs for only 88L$?  You can get some nice deals there...amongst the lag you get from there being a horde of shoppers there.

Well the last time I was there, I was walking around and saw a display that made me have a "What the Hell, Designer" moment.  It was simply put, not a good ad..and it was from a Veteran designer who should have known better....Nylon Pinkney of Nylon Outfitters in...(shudder)....Tableau.

Here's the display:

Bad Ad!  Ad scare CC with lack of contrast!  CC can't read!  Pastel dresses, pastel background, pastel lettering is a bad mix.  Sure, It's Nylon so the dresses are most likely of high quality and easily worth the L$.  Most likely she didn't have a second pair of eyes check it out and has a bad monitor or one that could use some calibration.   And even if that was fixed, the freaky Supermarionation meets "Tableau girl" model is unappealing to me.  Unappealing models means I'm less likely to buy stuff in displays.

 And...I'm less likely to support a designer that I partly blame for the plague of freaky cabbage patch, cowboy legged, hammer pants wearing, oversized glasses overusing, frowny faced, overpierced, cigarette equipped..."tableau girls". I call them that because that is where I first saw them, though they also like LAMB, Mon Tissu, Tres Blah and in the old days, Boing Fromage, besides the usual Fashionably Dead, Nylon Outfitters and Clawtooth  Tell me that this image of Elka and these displays aren't the ancestors and inspiration for the current generation of even MORE exaggerated you-know-whats.

No girls, you are not being indie anymore, in 2006 being a touch cartoony with slightly wider hips, capri pants and oversized glasses was indie compared to the high heels and party dress wearing barbie glamour girls like me, but in 2012 you are a caricature.  Stop it!  If I never see a pair of oversized glasses again.....  Now if they looked like Zooey Deschanel, that would be another story.

Sax Shepherd Jewellery line: Frills

The Blessed Velvet Head, who is otherwise known to people who don't use silly titles as Salome Strangelove, has been encouraging a friend of hers to maketh the jewellery.  This be-eth a good thing, because Salome knows her stuff, and knows the grid could use a good jewellery maker.  Salome also told me she's been telling Sax about former jewellery maker Miriel Enfield and explaining her needs in jewellery.  The new line being from Sax Shepherd Designs and called "Frills"

So, being as I am a former lackey of hers, I was provided with some stuffs to look at.  Chunky beady stuffs  The first set that I caught notice of in my inventory  was the red and black lacquer Poetry set, being intrigued by the name I put it on.

CC loves.  That's basically all I have to say, I'm no jewellery expert, but I know what I love, and I love that.  And if I had seen it while out shopping with L$ in my pocket, it would have ended up in my inventory.  I love it that much.  Comes in other colors too!  And with armbands and anklets.  (I'm not much for ankletts, not even in RL.)  It is also reasonably priced, Salome is training Sax well.

I also tried on the Carbide Pitanga set, nobody does carbide in SL, which is a crying shame.  Which I also liked for it's chunky sort of stripey grayness.

That is also not the only carbide set Sax has done, which is a good thing. 

The sets are scripted with easy to use resize scripts...I had to take them down about 5% for me.  And if this is what Sax has come up with having only started doing jewellery, I can't wait to see what he comes up with once he really gets going.  And thank you, Oh Great Piggie Bunned Salome, for bringing unto me the beady goodness.


SLURL to SSD: Frills at Seven Veils

CC McGrumpyPants: Hamlet Total Fail.

Hamlet is complaining about his technical issues again.

I will say it again, he's wrong to blame LL  The blame should rest on himself, and his inability to recognize that default laptop video drivers often need replacing. 
 LL themselves say that on Windows Vista and 7 you should use the absolute latest drivers.  I've troubleshooted serveral friends SL issues, and I have found that several times, their graphics driver was NOT up to date and sending them to Nvidia/ATI to download the latest driver fixed the problem.

 But let me address those bullet points:

• Buy a better laptop to run SL.  

No, SL is hard on laptops and since most laptops don't have user upgradable graphics cards, you're out of luck if you want to  upgrade.

•  Get a better graphics card to run SL.

Well that 335M should run SL fairly well for what he does. Though turning on Shadows will probably drop his framerate in half.

• Stop using a Dell/Alienware to run SL.

Yes, while Alienware was once a boutique brand the hard-core gamer geeks tend to prefer other brands now.

• Stop using Windows 7 and install Linux OS to run SL.

Yes, he could, I do.  I have minimal issues, I often make jokes about how stable SL is for me compared to others, but SL should run pretty well oh his laptop once he gets his issues fixed.

• Use another third party viewer (made by non-Linden staff) to run SL.

Nope, I always recommend LL viewers, either mainline or Snowstorm if you want to contribute to testing and catching problems before they reach main release

• Stop expecting SL to work like a mainstream product and just learn to run SL.

Yes, SL is not a mainstream product.  Gamer companies PAY nvidia to add profiels for the games to Nvidia's control panel/settings thingy.  They give or supply at reduced cost sofware and games to include WITH video cards.  LL does not do those things.

• Here is a long and detailed technical explanation on how to fix your problem that would be nearly impossible for an average consumer to follow, but you should do so anyway to run SL.

It's no fault but your own, Hamlet, if people tell you how to fix your issues but you refuse to do so and keep on complaining.  I know that if I'm experiencing graphics problems in windows, the first thing I should check is to see if Nvidia released a new driver package version.  Also if I had a hybrid card setup as in some laptops I would check to make certain the crappy Integrated half is disabled and ensure that it ONLY uses the good half with it's own RAM.  Installing a new graphics driver is easy, it's not hardcore nerd work, and everyone should know where to go to get updated video drivers for their computer.  It's kind of like knowing how to check the air in the tires of a car and put air in if needed.

Hamlet, I offer again to fix your problems via remote assistance as I said in a previous post.  I'll even sweeten the offer.  If I can't fix your SL issues in an hour or less, I will pay you L$1000.  I make this offer out of nerd pride and the desire to get you in-world more.  You may not like the fact that I called you on your indirect financial relationhsip with Facebook in regards to your excessive shilling of a Facebook/SL connection, I am truly offering to help

ADDENDUM:  Just had an idea.  Hamlet, since you went all gaga over Philip Rosedales Coffee & Power startup, maybe you could offer up a job there to fix your SL issues remotely....when they're back up running. silly startups, keep your original stuff running until the new stuff is 100% ready, then do the transition.

And Hamlet...neither you or I, are Tom Wolfe.
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