New skin in progress @ Aitui
November 7th, 2007 at 09:00pm Ryan Darragh
So, I was trolling around on the web recently (I get bored at work sometimes, you know how that is) and came across Jesseaitui Petion’s blog, where he’s beginning to share pictures of the progress he’s making on his new skin, called “Reclaim,” currently in the works. I think it’s great when a designer is not only willing to let us in on designs in development but also interested in feedback along the way. Take a look, see what Jesse’s working on, and give him a little encouragement now and then–I think he’ll be glad to hear from you. He says he’s really taking his time, enjoying the work and loving the new skin. His current plan is to have “Reclaim” ready for release in January or February 2008. In the meantime, you can pick up his current skins, due to be discontinued at the end of November, at great sale prices: L$600 for “Premier,” L$900 for “Advance.”
The skin I’m wearing here is “Advance” in skin tone Pale. Now, if you’re thinking, Hey, I didn’t know Jesse’s skins came in a tone that light, you’re not wrong. The Pale tone started off as kind of an experimental custom commission for me, which Jesse and I were both so happy with that Jesse thought he would prepare the complete range of facial hair options in this lighter tone and make it avaialable for purchase. Unfortunately that never did quite happen, which is why, in spite of the fact that I like the skin a lot, I never reviewed it, in fact you’ve never even seen me wearing it here. It just seemed unfair to showcase something really great that nobody could buy.
Never fear–if you like this lighter skin tone, you’re in luck. Although you still won’t find it in his shop, Jesse will be happy to sell it to you directly if you let him know you’re interested. The “Advance” skins include two levels of definition: Fit, at right, and Cut, at left. No other facial hair options were completed for this skin tone, so the set includes clean-shaven skins in both definition options, bald and with hair, four skins total. Jesse recommends wearing a facial light to get the best possible look, and in fact he includes one free with skin purchases. Drop by Aitui (Aitui 200, 182, 23) to try on a demo and pick up your favorite “Premier” or “Advance” skins while they’re still available and on sale. If you’re interested in the Pale skin tone shown here, drop an IM to Jesse and let him know.
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The jewelry items I’m wearing have no particular connection to Jesse’s skins, but they seemed right for a tropical beach outing, and I thought you might like to have a closer look at them. The “Champagne in Calgary” ring and necklace are new entries in Mhaijik Guillaume’s “organics” series of nature-themed designs. They’re constructed, in Mhaijik’s own words, of “crisp gold and blue diamonds,” an eye-catching combination that really works for me.
The lovely simplicity of the ring contrasts with the more intricate but not overly elaborate detailing of the necklace. The two otherwise quite different pieces are brought together by the icy blue gemstones they share. It’s quite a beautiful pairing.
L$275 for the set at Mhaijik Things (Pheosia 56, 227, 152) and at the Mhaijik Things shop at Second Guy Mall (Sweetgrass 86, 104, 262).
Disclosure: Seen in World: Yes | Review Copy: Skin - No, Jewelry - Yes | Friends List: No
Notes: On Ryan: "Sway" hair by Jesseaitui Petion (Aitui). Rugged Shorts by Chloris Hathor (Indigo). "Champagne in Calgary" necklace and ring by Mhaijik Guillaume (Mhaijik Things).
Entry Filed under: Aitui, Announcements, Jewelry, Mhaijik Things, New Items, Sales, Skins
9 Comments Add your own
1. Randy | November 8th, 2007 at 4:42 am
Hey, great post about Aitui that skin looks great.
It seems like he and the other designers that have been out for ages are the only ones coming out with new stuff though, where are all the up and comers in male fashion?
I haven’t been able to find any new ones in forever it seems….
2. Oscar Page | November 8th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Randy you might want to watch for the Second Guy Clothiers New Designer’s contest that’s going to be finishing up with submissions coming up at the end of this month. That could possibly open some eyes to a few new designers out there.
And also, not to discount any of fantastic work done here, but Ben Vanguard @ SL Men usually covers a lot of newer/lesser known designers.
3. Ryan Darragh | November 8th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
It’s definitely a challenge to strike some kind of balance between established designers with an ongoing commitment to creating new designs for men in SL and newer and/or “smaller” designers (in terms of shop size or extent of line, not quality). I second Oscar’s mention of Ben’s blog as a valuable resource and also suggest Paratge (links to both are in our blogroll, in the right sidebar on the main page). There’s so much going on out there, it’s impossible for any one person or team to cover it all–you’re bound to learn more if you check multiple blogs.
4. Oscar Page | November 9th, 2007 at 1:23 am
Exactly Ryan. I would say it’s also easier for Ben to cover newer designers because he puts together single outfits, whereas a post here tends to be much more in-depth than that. He can find one pair of shoes from one place and add it to his outfit for a new designer. You can only talk about one pair of shoes for so long and doesn’t really make much of an article. I like Dpende’s blog as well. Second Man, SL Men, & Paratge are my trifecta of blogs to watch for new stuff if I don’t happen to stumble upon myself.
5. Ben Vanguard | November 9th, 2007 at 2:01 am
Oscar, Slmen’s posts are so easy to do, I invite you to join!
It takes me only 95% of my SL time to do them, that is probably the reason why I don’t go “in depth”.
6. Randy | November 9th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Typing fast cause I gotta leave for work in like 10 minutes, please excuse any typos:
Irk, I didn’t intend for my post to be seen as a complaint about this blog so much as a lament about SL mens fashion in general lately.
As any male that’s tried to find clothes knows that it’s hard enough to find decient looking clothes in SL for men and even harder when you absolutly refuse to wear preppy outfits. If that was all that was avelable in SL, I’d be learning how to use photoshop.
The reason I read this blog and not the others; the stuff they focus on I can pick up in any mall IRL, but this one likes to go out on the wild side of mens fashion in SL as much as more traditional clothing.
It just seems like other then one exception I found last night (an awesome pair of saggerz) I just can’t seem to locate anything I either don’t already have or haven’t seen in 100+ other shops. Maybe if the silly search feature would stop including the words “female” or “women” in the results when I search for “male” or “men” I’d have better luck.
But, cest la vie…. this is getting too long and I gotta run out the door anyway. Thanks for listening to me vent.
7. Ryan Darragh | November 9th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Randy - I too have pretty much given up on Search as a useful tool for tracking down specific items available for purchase inworld. I think we’re much better off relying on word of mouth, designer or review blogs, and (for physical objects) tracking down the designers and their shops by checking the creator info for items we admire. Search can be useful for broader searches, such as styles of items, i.e. Steampunk, Goth, Victorian…but you can see how useless this would be if you’re looking for casual menswear. Here’s hoping we’ll see improvements in Search over time. Thanks for the feedback! It’s much appreciated.
Ben and I have talked more than once about the amount of time it takes to produce the articles we post, and there’s no way around it–no matter what approach we prefer, it takes a lot of time. You can read a bare outline of my process in this post from last year–it hasn’t changed much along the way. Although they may not look like it (and I hope they do, at least some of the time), I usually put 2-3 hours of work, start to finish, into each of my posts. Some articles–skin reviews, designer overviews, interviews–take longer. I’m sure that Ben or any other fashion blogger would tell you the same.
I’m not trying to get you to feel sorry for me–I do this because it’s fun! But when I miss a day, and I know I do more often these days, it’s not just because I’m lazy. It usually means RL has had to come first, or a post took me longer to finish up than I thought it would, or I took some time to do some exploring or hang with friends in SL, or some combination of all of the above.
8. maddox.dupont | November 20th, 2007 at 9:53 am
I think both SLmen and Men’s Second Style have something good to offer to fashion concious male. To say that it is hard to find new male designers would be unfair to both Ben and Ryan who showcase established and new designers constantly. In fact, it has never been easier. Try looking for clothes about only a year ago. Not only that male fashion was almost non-existant but the blogs such as these that you could use as a reference were very few.
I like that both of these blogs are very different in their style and although Ben’s blog seems to be “brief”, being stylist myself I can tell you that some of the outfits that Ben creates would take hours to complete from start to finish.
Hopefully, places such as KMADD city and Second Guy Mall will allow men in SL to have better places to shop and find styles they are looking for.
9. Feature: Where the Boys A&hellip | January 1st, 2008 at 10:17 pm
[...] + Photos [MSS] [Aitui’s [...]
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