Men's Second Style

Just wanted to let you know that we will be experiencing, not downtime but a brief freeze on new content while our site is being relocated to a new web host.  There will be no new posts after 7pm SLT (Pacific Time) today until we complete the transition.  I’d advise holding off on comments until after we’re live again, as once the site snapshot is taken no changes or additions made from then on will make the trip.  I’ll post here again to let you know when we’re back on the air and back to normal (whatever that means around here).

Thanks for reading!

How do I look as a blond? A redhead? What if my hair was blue?

When I was rezzed, I chose black for a hair color, because in real life, I’ve never dared to dye my hair black. Quickly, though, I fell into the same trap in my Second Life as in my first– I can’t buy any hair other than black, because I can’t justify the expense of so many hairstyles in all the different colors I’d like to try. I was resigned to being stuck with dark colors forever.

Until Cay Trudeau appeared, and introduced me to her magic eLite hair.

Most good hair is heavy with prims. Cay’s is no exception– the Catalpa style, above, has 91 prims, many of them flexi. In the past, any color change scripting would have to be put into each individual prim, ending in hair that might crash a sim. But according to SkyShop’s info card, “Thanks to LL we have to now use only 1 to 10 scripts per hairdo, instead of the old way of having one script per prim!!” Read the rest of this entry »

On my honor, I will do my best:
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law
To help other people at all times
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight

Pfft.

When the other boys were concerned with outdoor activities that would develop teamwork and leadership skills while building self-confidence the Bad Boy Scout was only interested in learning to set bigger, more glorious fires, torturing small animals and fooling around with the girl campers on the other side of the lake. His overzealous parents enrolled him in the character-building organization to set him on a path to Harvard or Yale, instead, he emerges as a seasoned firearms expert and gunsmith, knife thrower and arsenist. Living contrary to the image of the wimpy outdoorsy nerd he steps outside of Scout Law and throws his oath, like caution, to the wind.

To compliment the rascal footwear which was made available in early June, Posy Trudeau has issued her War-Torn shirts this week. Both the boots and shirts are available in female versions in-store. Read the rest of this entry »

For several months now I’ve been following sachi Vixen’s line of skins for men at Adam n Eve.  This new design, named “Luke,” is her first tintable skin.  She explained in her forum announcement, “I thought it was time I made one to satisfy the customers who have asked me for it.  Luke has a modifyable skintone, you can add freckles, you can be darker, lighter, red, blue or green.”  As you can see in this closeup, I’ve tweaked the appropriate slider to give myself a light scattering of freckles.  ”Luke” is available with blond (shown) or dark brow and facial hair options.  As sachi advised me (she knows my preferences so well), on the blond skin you can also adjust ruddiness and other skin tone values to work well for redheads.  I hadn’t realized how accustomed I was to seeing myself with dark eyebrows, even when I was wearing lighter colored hair. Read the rest of this entry »

Designer Pompo Bombacci of SLAB Designs continues his exploration of refined men’s casual wear with his new ensemble, “sKOOp.”  The look is well dressed but not dressed up, comfortable but not too casual–although even on the “untucked” version the shirt is tucked in, the simple checked shirt is unbuttoned at the top and the tie is loosened for after-hours relaxation.  Each set includes tucked and untucked shirt / tie / sweater combinations, a shirt-layer sweater base for wear under the jacket-layer untucked sweater, and coordinating belted pants in either very dark blue or black, depending on the sweater color.  Permissions are no copy / no mod / transfer, but the pants are provided in four fits: tight, loose, baggy, and extra baggy. Read the rest of this entry »

For those who have been hiding under a rock SL turns 4 years old this week. During all of our careers there have been many ups and downs – n’est-ce pas? – as we all go through our own growing pains in this surreal virtual space.

Within this anniversary week so much is in development or has occurred in the realm of culture relating to the Men’s Second Style blog as well as resident lifestyle in general.

Face of Asia Model Competition. Anyone who can coax those sliders in appearance mode to create a beautiful or handsome Asian shape is encouraged to enter this cultural modeling contest brought to us by the Asian Designers Summit. Contest guidelines can be found at the Women’s Second Style blog or by visiting the Men’s Second Style office, Casa Del Shai, Earthtones Boutique, Muse or Nicky Ree’s Boutique in-world. Face of Asia is open to all residents. Round 1 submissions close June 27, 2007 at midnight SLT.

Nora Body Skins by Sezmra Svarog. Since she teased audiences in mid-April with a sneak peak of her new generation of male skins in development I have been eagerly awaiting the release of her skins. This week, Sezmra displayed a more detailed vision of her skins – each appealing to a different segment of skin consumers: the toned “Hunter” and the svelte “David”. Nora is also offering up some SL4B freebies @ her shop and promises a rehaul of her store and sim.

Second Love Magazine. Tya Fallingbridge and Daphne Molinari announce this week the launch of Second Love Magazine on July 1, 2007. Second Love will be monthly PG publication covering a variety of issues affecting straight and gay residents whether in single, coupled or friendship relationships. The magazine will be accessible in-world and online. The launch party is set for July, 1st @ 7 P.M. SLT game time at Schmooze, Pixel Dreams (12, 146, 21).

As a reminder, if you are aware of any new designers or products that you discover during the week and would like to see included in this segment please look me up and IM me in-world.

[�] ACCESSORIES @ bind · Kψoot Army · Mhaijik Things · Philotic Energy · SiniStyle Design
[�] CLOTHING @ Blaze* · Casa Del Shai · [Random]
[�] HAIR @ Aitui · Gritty Kitty · [Random]
[�] SKINS @ Human Anatomy Skin Designs Read the rest of this entry »

I may be woefully behind the times, but I’ve just recently discovered the eyewear creations by designer Fenigan London, of House of London.  The line features highly detailed primwork and dinstinctive styling with influences of Paris and Milan.  A variety of color and tint options are conveniently available for each style via simple touch scripting.  Here you see the “Bella” style, which has low, wide rectagular lenses, rounded top and bottom, thickly framed at the top but otherwise rimless.  A variety of lens tint and frame color options are available for this style; I’m wearing them with black colored frames, at left with dark shaded (not opaque) lenses, at right with the lenses tinted red.  As you can see, the color tints are quite subtle. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s something about the swing era that continues to fascinate. Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington–the names of the giants are still well known today. The songs and tunes are familiar to virtually everyone: “Begin the Beguine,” “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” “And the Angels Sing” (I’m partial to Della Reese’s pre-”Touched by an Angel” cover myself). Designer Versu Richelieu of VR Phlux (currently in transition from the original name, VR Designs) has recently taken inspiration from the era and created several new outfits with vintage styling. We hope you enjoy this joint review–I’m covering three outfits, and Cat is reviewing two others. And don’t dwell on the fact that the location for my pictures is entirely period-inappropriate–that was more for fun than anything.

Read the rest of this entry »

These clothes are good enough to drink in, and so be these boots too. — Twelfth Night, Act 1 Sc. 3

I first found GutterBlood Spoonhammer’s boot collection while exploring the Homicide Designs shop. Now in his own store, amid packing crates and broken concrete walls, GutterBlood has more room to display his line. “I try to make boots that could or look like they have survived war,” he says; the store is an appropriately mangled backdrop for his wares.

The collection encompasses both laced and motorcycle boots. The Terminator Boots, seen right, belong to the second category, with o-rings at the side and thick chunky soles. The metal banding on the top, reminiscent of spacesuit boots, adds a nicely futuristic touch, while the scuffed, worn leather shouts dystopia. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know how many of you are susceptible to summer colds, but I get them and let me tell you–they are miserable.  I’ve had one for the last week and it’s left me like the walking dead…and that’s with medication.  Sadly one side effect of all this has been some neglect of goings-on here at Men’s Second Style, but never fear–I’m getting back in the saddle.  I’m checking in with some new sculptie-accented items by designer Dolce Blackflag (Nephilaine Protagonist) of PixelMen at PixelDolls.  (I see that Cat also highlighted some other just-out PixelMen designs this weekend, so be sure to check them out too.)  Here you see one of the Longsleeve Tees paired with Strap Pocket Jeans.  Both feature sculpted prim attachments that create the appearance of looser, less rigid cuffs than system clothing otherwise allows–they’re kind of “slouchie.”  I’ve seen prim cuffs before that gave a crisp, rolled-up look, but this is an interesting innovation that results in a look that’s really comfortable and casual. Read the rest of this entry »