Men's Second Style

Posting on a Sunday again. I might have to make this a part of the usual ritual.

This week some counter culture hair and apparel made their way into the retail market, allowing avies to let down or muss up their hair, salvage stuff from the dirty clothes hamper, and adorn themselves in the non-traditional if they so choose. Not everyone wants to look as though they got lost on their way to a Club Monaco photo shoot. SL designers have been great lately in putting out products for residents who want to highlight their non-standard, unusual or just regular down-to-earth features. Aged skin, thinning hair, shapes with wider waistlines and a host of other items for ordinary people.

I’m feeling a little rant moment coming on. I promise it’ll be short. <start rant> Ours is a world where you can choose to be one of a bajillion different types of fantastical creatures – chibi fox, dragon, jogauni, phoenix, sphinx, etc. – but if you wanted to be a Filipino guy in a traditional barong tagalog or a Polynesian guy in a comfortable lavalava you would be faced with severely limited choices. Am I the only one that thinks that’s a little odd?</end rant>

I look forward to the coming weeks and months where we continue to recognize and reflect our diversity in-world. I hope you do too.

Releases at: Cake � [Civvies] Wearables � FNKY! � Gritty Kitty � Million Dollar Skin Lab � Mystikal Hair Designs ? Contest: Skin to win @ Aitui Tattooo & Piercing Read the rest of this entry »

Every once in a while, you see something and think, “I’ve needed that all along–I just didn’t know it!”  My most recent such experience was with these bowling shoes, just released by designer Eponymous Trenchmouth of Jeepers Creepers.  Her new Strike! Bowling Shoes come in two color variations, as seen in the accompanying pictures.  Here you see the “Black and White” version, which is accented by a sharp red stripe.  Both feature realistic leather texture, bright metal grommets, and flexi red laces. Read the rest of this entry »

If you were just sitting around wallowing in the fact that you really need a skin but are seriously short on Lindens, I’ve got great news for you. Jesseitui Petion of ‘Aitui Tattoo & Piercing’ and ‘Renown by Aitui’ is giving one lucky winner an entire set of his new soon-to-be-released ADVANCE photoreal skin line. Be the 400th person to leave a chat message on the laptop in the entrance of the Renown store (click here for an image). If you miss the display you really need to take a trip to your ophthalmologist.

Entry is simple. You click the laptop, follow the prompts and leave a message. If you’re the 400th to do so, huzzah, you’ve just won.

For more information visit the store or join the update group by searching for Aitui Tattoo & Piercing in group search and checking the notices.

@ Aitui (200, 175, 27).

When she’s not keeping readers of the Calla blog up-to-date on new product releases, recounting tales of being hit on by customers or describing the quirks of life in SL and the real world, Tigerlily Koi of Calla is quietly glued to a pose stand primping her new hair creations. Koi and her partner-in-crime, Haedon Quine, met while playing The Sims Online. Their gaming interests took them to several other worlds and eventually led to Second Life where they now own a retail sim dedicated to the craft of coiffe.

After participating in a slew of building instruction classes and trying her hand at creating different items, Tigerlily found that she had a strong penchant for hair design, “I spent weeks upon weeks in Teazers classes trying to figure things out. My shoes were horrible. My furniture was mediocre. My jewelery was not great either. But I was getting the concepts. One day in complete frustration, I went to a sandbox and tried hair. It actually came out decent!”. Read the rest of this entry »

I want to let faithful blog readers know that I’ll be away on vacation for the next couple of weeks.  This will for the most part be a vacation from SL as well, which means…no review posts from me until I get back home!  Actually, if you’re lucky, you might just get one or two from me while I’m gone, depending on how many I have near completion in the pipeline.  Also, Cat will be publishing his weekly men’s fashion digest, as usual, and I heard a rumor that Ben might have something for us as well.  So please do check in regularly–anything can happen!  I’ll be back on 10 May, and at that point things should be more or less “back to normal,” whatever that means around here.  Try not to burn the place down while I’m gone! 

I know, I know–more hair.  Listen, if this style had been out at Hair Fair it would have gone home with me immediately and you’d have seen it in that coverage for sure.  Designer Garbage Prototype of Random just released this new men’s hairstyle called “Ryan” (just a coincidence, as far as I know).  This is is a longer, somewhat shaggy style with flexi sections that give it greater realism.  This is also the first dyeable hair I’ve bought, and just so you’ll be able to derive some benefit from my own tragic experience I’ll confess to you that I managed to screw the whole thing up almost immediately.  My first advice to you:  There’s an instructional notecard included–read it!  And follow the instructions carefully.  Before you even start, it’s important to understand that the hair is dyeable one time only via script.  This is clearly stated on the first line of the notecard, in all caps no less, and still I managed not to grasp the concept.  Read the rest of this entry »

Due to the ton of stuff I had to do all through this week I didn’t really get time to publish this segment yesterday in the regular Saturday slot. If anyone noticed I hope all is forgiven. Maybe the quality of the products seen within will help in melting away any animosity being harbored.

Everything happens for a reason and, from my point-of-view, the delay gives me an opportunity to support my Relay for Life team by announcing the recent release of Last Call’s silent auction item – a one-of-a kind gown to benefit cancer research. Additionally, I’ll give you the rundown on other limited editions designed by team members and supporters of the Shopaholics.

Releases at: The Body Politik � Cake � Digital Dragon Designs � FNKY! � Million Dollar Skin Lab � Yummy Announcement: Shopaholics Relay for Life limited editions Read the rest of this entry »

For some time now, designer Kasi Tandino has been quietly adding quality men’s items to her line of fashions at Symmetry, which originally featured designs for women only.  This week’s new release–the tuxedo you see here–prompted me to get my act together and at long last review her growing collection for men.  “Tuxedo Nights” is available in fourteen colors:  Mauve, Silver, Pink, Purple, Red, Royal, Cobalt (pictured), Emerald, Gold, Lime, Aqua, Baby Blue, Black and Maroon.  The jacket features silk lapels and pocket trim, covered buttons, and a white pocket square. Read the rest of this entry »

Although Cat mentioned these new sneaks by Dragontat Zagato in last week’s new fashion digest, they’re so cool I had to give them some extra play.  I’m a total sucker for casual shoes anyway, so DT pretty much had me at hello.  The new DMC Cruizers come in a positively ridiculous variety of colors and patterns (only a few are pictured here), so you should have no trouble finding a pair that will perfectly express your inner skaterboy.  Go on–you know you want to.  Read the rest of this entry »

Cat can be a tough act to follow.  When a few days ago he showed me some pictures from the sophisticated photo shoot for his review of the new “Antonio” skins from designer Funk Schnook of FNKY!, I thought, “Hmm, these are good.  In fact, they’re so good…that I kind of hate him…just a little…just for a minute.”  Because this is one of those items that neither of us would gracefully concede to the other for review coverage.  Fortunately, we play well together.  My animosity was short-lived, I got over it quickly, I’ve moved on–and I don’t think he even noticed.  ;)

Funk’s new “Antonio” skins comes in three base tones: Pale, Medium, and Tan.  The skin tone can also be adjusted across a wide range via the Appearance sliders.  As Funk told me, you can get a fairly light color even wearing the Medium tone skin.  I am wearing the Pale skin tone in all accompanying pictures, with the color slider set to 25 (the “out of the box” setting is 50, the midpoint).  In this first picture you see the “Baby Face” (clean shaven) facial hair option.  Personally and quite subjectively, I think this might be the most attractive face any skin has ever given my avatar. Read the rest of this entry »