A return to classicism
It’s official–swaffette has gone a little bit mad.
In the best way possible, I mean. Her new Performance Suit, released earlier this month, may just be the most impressively flexible suit I’ve ever worn. Dozens of pieces provide for what seems like tons of mix-and-match wear options. I tried to count up the possibilities, but I gave up when I lost track and had to start over. Twice. I kid you not.
swaffette’s creation is a classic English three-piece suit, in an attractive slim cut, with two-button jacket. This simple description doesn’t begin to convey the extensive planning and effort that have clearly gone into such a generous “single garment” offering. If that doesn’t signify some kind of madness, I don’t know what does. But you be the judge.
In her announcement notecard, swaffette notes that the Performance Suit is the result of a “long labour.” To this I would add “of love,” because there’s no way on earth that anyone puts this much time and artistry into something just to sell it. There has to be something else, whether a sense of accomplishment, pride taken in the work, or fun had along the way. And of course I am not yet abandoning my madness theory.
I can’t possibly describe all the possible wear options and combinations, but I’ll do my best to give you a good idea of what this suit set offers. Let’s start with the jacket and move on from there. You can wear the jacket sensibly closed, as you see here, or comfortably open. Fabric textures are smoothly detailed, and everything layers and blends quite beautifully. Optional prim buttons for the cuffs are a very nice touch. swaffette’s simple and elegant optional “back flap” allows the jacket to fall smoothly and naturally in back. The vest can be worn layered under the jacket or on its own–it’s conveniently provided both with and without sleeve filler. (I did notice some slight “streaking” in the solo vest’s fabric texture along the shirt-pants border. This is something I’ve seen elsewhere as well, and you may not notice it unless you zoom in. This appears to be a specific problem area on the generally problematic SL avatar.) Pants are understated but quite handsome.  You get one “plain” pair as well as one that includes the vest’s bottom hem, so the vest can appear to fall down past the waistline. The pants also include sculpted cuffs, some of the nicest I’ve seen, crisply turned up and realistically shaped.
But you don’t get just the suit! The set also includes a fully featured dress shirt in beautiful tone-on-tone pinstripe fabric. The shirt is provided on multiple clothing layers, and you can wear it on its own or under the vest and/or jacket, buttoned to the collar or unbuttoned, tucked or untucked. The shirt also includes gorgeous sculpted cuffs that feature original cufflinks by Accacia Brissot. The various prim collars are scripted for automatic resize, but they’re conventionally modabble as well. Necktie options include textured as part of the shirt, for wear with jacket and vest, and prim ties (some with flexi) that can be worn tucked, low and loose, or completely untied.
A red dress shirt set is currently available as a freebie, part of the Make Him Over Hunt. You can find the orange hunt gift giver conveniently located near the Performance Suit vendors.
L$450 each in Charcoal (shown here), Blue, Dark Blue, Grey, Tan and Marble, each with a complementary tie pattern. A version of this suit styled for the ladies is also available. At SF Design (Penryn 88, 103, 36).
I am addicted SF Desgins AND to SL realism-kinda-suits in general. I’m loading up my wallet and heading off to Swaff’s place tonight to get at least one of these suits. Thanks, Ryan. Cheers!
ty Ryan! this must have been a long labour to write all this too!! – the bleeding on the vest is something i must checkout – it does bring up something ive meant to discuss with other designers i wonder if any of your readers can help , Im not sure if this is what you noted. If i make a shirt/tshirt/jacket thats on both pant/underpant layer and shirt layer (this doesnt seem to happen on a jacket layer) there is a couple of noticeable ‘holes’ on the waist /pant join line – for ages i thought it was my textures but the mask would go down as far as it could and ive noticed the same holes on other designer outfits – its only really noticeable if you say wore the item in black on a white skin – the holes are always in the same area -if i remember rightly one on the left hip. If i use the exact same textures for top and lower jacket they look fine – is this a problem with the templates? the av? or just me LOL any help would be appreciated
btw you’re right ive always been a little bit mad
LOL, I knew it! It explains so much.
And yes, I think we’re talking about the same strange symptom. Dan Senyurt and some other designers address this by providing an undershirt-layer item to wear under the shirt, in an effort to minimize the “show-through” streak. This only works if the layers use the same fabric textures, so it won’t help any when the combination is undershirt-layer shirt plus shirt-layer vest.
It does seem to be exaggerated when dark clothing is worn against light skin, as I’ve done here. I think it happens all the time, it’s just less visible when clothing and skin are closer in tone and/or color.
Clearly, LL meant us always to wear full-height pants.
First off I own a lot of SF stuff, most of it among the top of the list items in my inventory, this suit is no exception. I have always admired not only the product quality but the flexibility of what I own. Your bits and pieces are scattered through my outfits, being able to mix and match always brings me back to your store.
Therein lies my complaint. Ignore that I cant take your tie and tweak it for another shirt and save it with that shirt, maybe that’s a bit of cheating and unwarranted complaining ( though it certainly provides you with customer goodwill). There must be 25 or so viable combinations of the pieces in your package (35 or so). Being able to sort them into outfits that I can one click dress with seems almost a necessity. The suit is not as useful as it could be because it takes at least 10 minutes of humming and hawing to put it together.
Its kind of a hollow complaint cause the suit is a gem and I’ll wear it a lot.
Compared to ‘designer suits’ at 3 or 4 times the price …. well there is no comparison.
[...] of wear options and prim components that enhance beauty and realism. (Suits from Musashi-Do, SF Design and Blaze come to mind.) Rest assured; this has not changed. I’m still a huge fan of big, [...]