Ava Lu created her "paper couture" for Black swan's winter magic

There is a lot of talk around about how much of the population of Second Life is very homogenized. In a lot of ways this is true, often I have trouble telling people I don't know very well apart when I have nametags turned off, but then, I have that same problem when I have nametags turned off in real life...A good deal of this criticism comes down to the skin a person wears, some skins are very defining, they wear the shape, rather than the shape wearing the skin, but I think that a bigger part of the problem is that people take themselves, and the clothes they wear far too seriously. There is an innate fear of looking a little bit silly sometimes. And that's a shame, because, goodness me, silly is FUN!
A friend of mine is on a long break from Second Life due to illness, and one of the things I miss most about her are the times when, after a long day of being awesome fashionistas, we'd pull as much random foolish nonsense out of our inventories as we could, get all 'touristed' up, and then quietly inflict ourselves on the public. Demo skins with facial hair painted on them, epic bighair, hats with unicorns on them, clashing colours, wellieboots, all of it beautifully made, but a little outside of the fashionable norm, and without a doubt not intended to all be worn at the same time.
And you know what? Although we'd kill ourselves laughing as we were getting dressed, no-one would bat an eyelid at us while we were out. I'm sure there was some sniggering going on in IMs, but so what? We were having a great time, we knew we looked silly, and it was always really a terribly therapeutic thing to do. If everyone occasionally took some small measure of this to heart, tweaked their shape to be slightly less 'perfect', sought out a lesser-known skin store, experimented with their outfits, Second Life would maybe be a more diversely beautiful place. Or at least a place with more giggling. Happily, the Lu sisters of Paper Couture have long provided a way to try this without having to compromise on style and elegance, now in the shape their Winter Magic Avatar, for Rezzable's Black Swan Winter Magic fashion event.

          Paper Couture
     Winter Magic Avatar

Paper Couture's Winter Magic Avatar features a skin, a gown, hair and antlers. All you have to provide is your shape, eyes, and shoes. The ivory coloured gown is really, genuinely spectacularly beautiful, even if you are intent taking yourself seriously. The strapless bodice is formed of two diagonally overlapping panels, the first of sequinned silk, the second of the most exquisite hand drawn snowflake patterned antique lace, on a golden crème backdrop. At the waist is a black sash, secured with a beautiful jewelled snowflake pendant, and at the neck, an ivory coloured ruffle. The puff skirt is a mass of rumpled stiffened organza, reaching to the floor and spilling out to the sides, and is covered with clever sparkles, which move independently from the main bulk of the skirt and have the rather convincing effect of falling flakes of snow, depending on the angle viewed from.

The included Winter 08 Look skin is made in a hand drawn style, a look I have always had great fondness for, with freckles and light sparkles and features dramatic ice blue and white eye-shadow and pale lips, bright rosy blush, and a rather shiny, rather festively red nose, which you could put down to bracingly cold conditions outside, or...well.... The hair is a rich brown updo, wonderfully low prim, and is accompanied by a set of handsome reindeer antlers, festooned with strings of sparkling jewels, for the more discerning reindeer, completing this fabulous, original avatar.

Paper Couture's Winter Magic Avatar is available at Black Swan's Winter Magic event, together with so many other beautiful, innovative works of fashion art that it makes my head spin just to think about it. Happy Holidays!

Writen by: Nivaya Barbosa
Photography & model:
SerinaJane Loon
Timeless Agency