Men's Second Style

“Sweeney Todd meets Artful Dodger meets Vogue. You can wear this Whenever.” So says the notecard included with Raven Pennyfeather’s new extravagant ensemble for men, called “Timeless.” Raven has a veritable gift for creating elaborate themed clothing designs that blur the lines of era, style and gender, so I’m inclined to take her at her word on this.

Part Carpathian warlord, part vintage dandy, part bondage master, “Timeless” is not simply appropriate but de rigeur for any number of pastimes, from arguably innocent to highly questionable. As you put it on, and then begin to take layers back off, your racing mind will no doubt envision multitudinous scenarios in which to explore all it has to offer. It is the perfect expression for your more decadent, lustier side. Come, fall into that pool of hedonism with me.

When you get home and open your shopping bag, you will find a generous selection of clothing items: velvet jacket, pants, socks, heavy woven shirt, and black and silver “lace” undershirts. In addition, you also receive a variety of prim components that add dramatic shape and movement: epaulets, flexi pants and jacket cuffs, and unusual flexi surcoat. You see at right the luxurious velvet jacket with its ornate brocade trim; the detailing on the back is no less beautiful. The pants are richly but roughly woven, the fabric befitting the misty-past era from which this clothing hails–nothing smoothly contemporary here. Unusual button detailing highlights the pants’ lean line and makes it abundantly clear that your wealth and position are such that you can afford and command such impractical decorative work. The jacket has “poet”-style flexi prim cuffs; the pants are similarly although more simply adorned.

A sculpted-prim collar with bow and cascading ribbons irridescent as a butterfly graces the neck, whle velvet-covered epaulets top the shoulders. Like the jacket cuffs, the back-belted flexi surcoat makes use of rounded metallic draperies, some of which resemble tubular bells, or perhaps cutting blades of remarkable design. How do the wizard creators of your wardrobe construct such marvels? None shall know, on pain of death to the one who tells. For more informal occasions, the slate-and-black shirt in crushed velvet will more than suffice in its simple luxury. Lacy undershirts in black and silver are appropriately seductive and revealing for the entertainment of a courtesan, or perhaps a clandestine visit to a less respectable and fastidious but more discreet house of pleasure. Fortunately it’s still possible to secure privacy in one’s personal affairs by judicious application of coin, and if that fails there are still other, more permanent methods of guaranteeing silence.

“Timeless” for men is vailable in Slate and Black, as shown. The ladies also have the choice of a version in colors of the wine-dark sea, so I am painfully jealous. Permissions are Modify / No Copy / Transfer; the jacket is No Modify / No Copy / Transfer.

L$700 at House of RFyre (Isle RFyre 97, 119, 23).

I’ve chosen to pair Raven’s “Timeless” with the new Sanguine Top Hat, by Severina Dollinger. Although Severina’s shop features designs for women, the hat didn’t seem terribly gender-specific, and I think it fits perfectly in this context. The satin-finished sculptie hat is wrapped in ribbons and decorated with buckles, ankh, pentagram and other symbolic medallions. Flexi lace streamers fall from the back. You see it here in Black and Red, but it’s available in a variety of other color combinations as well. Permissions are Modify / Copy / No Transfer.

L$150 at First Flower (Dusk 210, 210, 22).