Men's Second Style

Thanks for the welcome, Nicholas! I’m happy to be joining the staff here at Second Man. As quoted, I’ll be covering some of the less-covered categories here, including Goth, fantasy, and period outfits. But first, I’ll review my favorite SL outfit, the one you are likely to see me wearing if we ever meet in-world.

Recently I spent a great deal of time searching the stores and malls of Second Life looking for a really exceptional black suit. Seems like a simple think to find? It isn’t. There are a lot of mediocre black suits out there, made by designers who simply don’t understand that a 100% black texture, or even 90% black, simply doesn’t look realistic on virtual clothing. There are also a lot of very good Goth outfits out there, and while I don’t mind a dash of Gothic atmosphere now and then, I wasn’t looking for a period suit or a vampire-hunter outfit but something modern and sophisticated. My search came to an end when I walked into the Musashi-Do main store in Anton and discovered the Midnight Rain ensemble.

Shiryu Musashi has created a very detailed and realistic-looking outfit, featuring an overcoat, jacket, shirt (with integral tie), pants, boots, and eyeglasses. The set also includes a women’s shirt (not pictured here). All of the pieces are hand-painted for exceptional realism. The leather overcoat is thigh-length and almost photorealistically wrinkled. The single-breasted jacket is very modern, though it has stylistic echoes of earlier eras, particularly the 1940s; I have worn this suit with a black fedora and felt like something out of a Raymond Chandler novel. The shirt gives the appearance of dark gray silk, and the detailing on the tie and around the collar is impressive. The eyeglasses may be the weak link in this ensemble – there’s nothing wrong with them, but they simply don’t stand out the way the rest of this outfit does, and I don’t usually wear them.

This ensemble is extremely versatile, and could be used for anything from a business suit to a modernist-Goth ensemble – the overcoat in particular has a hint of Gothic styling, without crossing fully into Goth territory. And at only $250L, it’s extremely reasonably priced; in fact, my suit paid for itself within 24 hours when I won a “best in black” contest. It’s become my favorite outfit in Second Life, and I only wish I could afford to purchase something of similar quality and styling in real life.