Friday, August 30, 2013

A time to celebrate, II (Warm Animations and Vero Modero)





Vero Modero Severine Gown

The gown as a mini
Continuing the graduation celebration from the last post---after tango, rather than changing into another formal gown, I used the Vero Modero's Severine sans skirt as a mini-dress for romantic evening on a warm Summer night.

Antique Outdoor set from Warm

Warm is offering an Antique Outdoor set at the Designer Warehouse's Cookie Jar event.  At 250L it's half off at this limited time event.  The set has male and female sits, a breakfast setting and, as shown below--red wine for romantic evenings.



The table is to prims as are each of the four chairs though more or fewer can be rezzed.

Taxi to the Cookie Jar


Lillesand set from Warm Animations




And on to the end of a perfect day...

The Lillesand bed set (bench just visible, left) from Warm Animations comes in both PG and Adult versions.  The PG version, reviewed here contains 132 Animations in 66 Couples Poses, 1 Stand Scene, 4 lay scenes and 2 Couples dance.



Lillesand, Norway
The bed evokes the romantic seaside town in Norway which derives it's name from the Norse lillesandr, 'small sandy beach.' 



The Lillesand bad by itself


The Lillesand set comes in Adult Transfer or Copy, and PG Transfer or Copy.  As is standard practice, the copy versions are more expensive than transfer and adult, having more animations, is more expensive than PG.


 Because both the bed set and this blog are PG, this review must end here... ;D


The Morning After






To check script usage, I rezzed a dozen beds and a script counter.  The Lillesand bed weighs in about where one would expect  a bed with this many animations and options but the low script run time indicates it's far better scripted than average.



 In detail:

Warm Animations Antique Outdoor Set***
Warm Animations Lillesand Bed Set (PG)***
Vero Modero, Severine Gown (less skirt)***
Just Designs JD Cruel heels, in black
Swallow Lion Classic Collar
Swallow Lion Earrings
Rose pin in dark red from Rieco Rose

 *** Review Copies











A time to celebrate...




The least episode of this blog left off just before the final exam runway show for the Miss Virtual World Academy's course.  Two days later a notecard arrived from CariLynn saying "THE FOLLOWING STUDENTS HAVE RECEIVED ENOUGH VOTES FROM THE JUDGES TO GRADUATE" and was overjoyed to find my name on the list.  To celebrate, a night out for tango, wine and romance!


Vero Modero Black Pearl Gown

 This black lace creation by Turkish designer Bouquet Babii is appears almost sheer on top with detailed textures.  The elaborate train comes to a tight finish at the skirt's bottom so it is highly danceable without tripping your partner up in silk and skirts.


Vero Modero At Ocho Tango

Ocho Tango is one of the wonders of SL.  The music stream is tango, the windlight custom and amazing (pick up the hud at the entrance) and it's an exquisite build both indoors and in the pampas beyond.

Taxi: Ocho Tango



Elevacion

The ocho in Ocho Tango is a figure 8 traced by the follower's foot as she moves across the floor


In Detail:

Vero Modero Black Pearl Gown***
Swallow Lion Classic Collar
Swallow Lion Earrings
Rose pin in dark red from Rieco Rose

 *** Review Copies



To be continued...

Sunday, August 25, 2013

MVW 105, Day 3







▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ MVW 105/Final Exam, Day 3 ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀

10AM SLT, 25 September, 2013===2AM Tokyo time 26 September, 2013

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The runway event is the culmination of the three day long final exam for the Miss Virtual World Academy's final exam.  The exam, MVW 105, is taught by Frolic Mills and the judges are MVW faculty and/or other experienced models or designers.



This assignment this time: Alexand McQueen 2014 Couture--Elizabethan influenced outfit and a runway walk with 3-5 poses done over 30 seconds.

"Mix match and recreate....If I look at you and it looks like Alexander McQueen designed that...."

The final product:


Alexander McQueen 2014 Couture, Elizabethan-influenced



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▬▶ CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES

The process: Went jumping around to [SyS] men's, NYU for the Ryan jacket demo, Solidea to look at headpieces. Then Boudoir for head pieces and Ricielli for shoes.  Nada.  Looked through my Period/Vintage notecard and also Fantasy/Gor notecards.  Checked Wunderlich for Elizabethan but everything was too historical, not McQueen enough.

Finally searched Marketplace for 'head piece' and discovered the Rho dress Aliza Karu and went to look.  The headpiece was all white but modifiable so had found the first and hardest element.

Used gold leaf texture to mod about 60 prims on the headpiece to the right shades of gold.  And for the inner lining of the headpiece, a white brocade

For the white dress, used 'Lady in White' from Violator:

Photographer and model: Wicca Merlin



And for gold cuffs/bracelets: VIOLATOR 'Just a Formality' Gold bangles



Couldn't find a pleated or brocaded corset I liked to to get a Tudor look, used a gold metal corset from The Plastic  "The Achilles."  Borrowed a brocade effect from the Leda gown from deviousMind and finished with white hose and ankle boots from Bax Coen.



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▬▶ BODY


HAIR
To get the hair, used an unusual hair base from MiaMai which has a nice part and from Amacci, the Betsy hair bun (retinted and resized) to fit up under the headpiece

NAILS
Mesh V5 Nails from Jamman shifted to gold.

SHAPE
Because it is a system skirt, had to shift the butt to size 0 but still ran into a problem with the Achilles Corset from The Plastic.  It's mesh but without an alpha.  To keep the skirt from clipping through, ended up having to set saddle bags to 0 as well. Pushed breast size to 48 to fill the corset.

EYES
'Surprise' bleached white eyes

SKIN
League Isla skin in pale



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POSES

Poses from Manifeste.  The sequence yields a 365 degree turn but at the cost of some clipping through on the brocade, especially on the fourth pose.

Starting: **Manifeste** - Model_187
Pose 1: **Manifeste** - Model_186turn
Pose 2: **Manifeste** - Model_166turn
Pose 3: **Manifeste** - Model_189
Pose 4: **Manifeste** - Model_162


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SCRIPTS:


BAX Ankle Boot White Leather R foot 320kb
BAX Ankle Boot White Leather L  foot 224kb
BAX Ankle Boot White Leather R leg 112kb
BAX Ankle Boot White Leather L leg 112kb
Jamman Nails L 64
Jamman Nails R 64
DV C System HUD 48
Walk replacer 16
Huddles Quick Pose 16

Make a backup copy of the BAXes and then killed the scripts in them.  With just the nails, DV C, Walk Replacer and Huddles, scripts weigh in at just 200kb.


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And done....with 2 hours, 45 minutes to spare.  Time for a cuppa, a relog and deruth and then off to the BOSL Fashion Dome by 2AM.


Saturday, August 24, 2013

MVW 105, Day 2



A cocktail dress....


The styling challenge for day two of the MVW modeling course final exam is a cocktail dress and a short runway pose set.



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In detail:


▬▶ CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES


ISON Flight Bodycon dress in red

Skye-Qi  Reticella Lace Layer, circa 15th017th century, SS, retinted

N-core LULU Group Gift 2013 Heels

Chop Zuey Misery and Oreos set: collar, earrings and bracelet

NYU Minimal Bold Ring, in black
Exclusive at l'accessories

Jamman V5 Ultra Mesh Fingernails

Mock Bella Vetro Gloss in Guardsman red lipstick




▬▶ BODY


Dura Boys&Girls Hair #36 in black

Maitreya Mesh eyelashes

Tuli--Eyelash be gone! alpha

Skin: League Isla Medium natural

Shape: Anne-Made Things

Eyes: IKON 'Surprise' Eyes in White




▬▶ AOs and COMMS

DVC System HUD
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Group-private-chat-DVC-talkie-walkiecommunicator-Hud-for-fashion-shows/2197991

Huddles

Walk Replacer




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POSES


**Manifeste** - Model_206
**Manifeste** - Model_222
**Manifeste** - Model_197
**Manifeste** - Model_222 &**Manifeste** - Model_228 in sequence
**Manifeste** - Model_225


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SCRIPTS:


NYU Minimal Bold Ring 192
N-core LULU heels  128
Misery & Oreos Collar  112kb
Misery & Oreos Bracelet 112
Misery & Oreos Earring 96
Misery & Oreos Earring 64
Dura Hair 64
N-core LULU heels L 64
Wedding Ring 64
Jamman Nails 64
Jamman Nails 64
DV C System HUD 48
Walk replacer 16
Huddles Quick Pose 16

Total 976kb

Scripts won't matter much on Day 2 but for the main event on Day 3, keeping them low is vital to minimizing lag and worse, crashing and coming back ruthed.







MVW 105, Day 1



Assignment: "DRESS YOURSELF AS MODERN, RELEVANT MODEL OF TODAY."

And so the dreaded MVW 105 course begins again....


The three day long culmination of the Miss Virtual World Academy's modeling course.  For the opening day, the assignment is "DRESS YOURSELF AS MODERN, RELEVANT MODEL OF TODAY."  To that end:




Sarah Corset Dress in Red from FasterPussyCat

BSD Design Studio Chic model shoes in orange crocodile (not visible in these photos)

Miamai Latin Lover Gaucho Cream hat

VIOLATOR Leash me up Gold Black Cuffs
VIOLATOR Outrageous White earrings (re-tinted)
VIOLATOR The Gifted lashes

Jamman V5 Ultra Mesh Fingernails

[moushide] Collar

Maitreya Mesh eyelashes

Tuli--Eyelash be gone! alpha


From this angle, Frolic seems so tiny..... ;D





Tomorrow's challenge is a cocktail dress...


Wednesday, August 21, 2013

VIOLATOR: Summer Bouquet and Water Bloom in Red






VIOLATOR: Summer Bouquet skirt and Water Bloom top



It's late hot Summer and VIOLATOR, SL's Extreme Couture, is releasing new skirts, tops and high hotpants to help you catch the heat.  Pictured here are the Summer Bouquet skirt in red matched with the Water Bloom top.

The Bouquet and Bloom garments are new additions to the Pretaporter line at VIOLATOR.  The line offers VIOLATOR's extreme couture at a price that is anything but extreme.   These creations are the product of the mind of Soraya Vaher, a designer who works in the medium of the digital and the real.  For her RL creations, go to Finerblack.com


Finerblack, from the mind of Soraya Vaher




Under heavy development....



Preparing for MVW 105?

The MVW 105 class is the three day final exam for the Miss Virtual World Academy's basic course, which is coming up this weekend.  Is there a better way to prepare than a visit to the Psychiatric Ward?  OK, it's stressful but not *that* bad....

The ward is actually part of INNER Prisons AND ESCAPES, an exhibit at the Art India Gallery.  The Art India Gallery is curated by Quan Lavender who recently blogged my landmarks guide on her own Travelogue.

If you look closely, you can get a peek at two pieces under development at VIOLATER--the Summer Bouquet skirt in red and posture collar with OC scripts.  The skirt is part of a large expansion of the pretaporter collection that is slated for 1 September.  More to come on that....


Chop Zuey has been providing free classes to group members taught by well known and gifted instructors.  I attended October Bettancourt's Basic Photography class and volunteered as the fashion victim she used to illustrate camera angles for inworld photography.



Photograph by October Bettancourt
October took this photo from too low to illustrate a common mistake by beginning photographers.  This angle will elongate the model.


Photograph by October Bettancourt

Too far away and the focus on the model and garment are lost

Photograph by October Bettancourt

Here, the angle is too high which makes the subject look both too short and oddly proportioned because the legs appear so small relative to the rest of the body.  Note also that the composition is off because the Buddha's head is chopped off.


Photograph by October Bettancourt

The Goldilocks angle....not too high, nor too low and the background is coherent.

In detail:

Chop Zuey 'Misery and Oreos' necklace, bracelet and earrings
Jada Humby Couture's Lori Pencil Skirt
Medea blouse from Elesia Carter's Gold in the Night
N-Core FEMME heels in Noir


Chop Zuey's class schedule

October Bettancourt's October Studios Flickr



Thursday, August 8, 2013

VIOLATOR, Downcrossed and Kidnapped




To celebrate VIOLATOR's Fifth Anniversary, Soraya Vaher has released four new group gifts including the Downcross Unisex set in red.



Downcross Jewel in Red 

My friend (and Violator model) Anjelica Carling had the great idea of pairing Downcross with the Kidnapped haute couture piece, sans top.   Risquée but oh my....



Anjelica Carling, Kidnapped and Downcrossed!



I'm trying a variation on Anjelica's idea of using the topless version of Kidnapped but adding Marine Kelley's mesh ropes textured to match VIOLATOR's blood red.  Kidnap and ropes go together like....whips and chains ;D



Just add ropes....




In detail:

VIOLATOR: Downcross in red (New group gift)

VIOLATOR: Kidnapped in blood red (available in store and on Marketplace)


Taxi to VIOLATOR


http://slurl.com/secondlife/Violator%20HQ/128/128/22