The other day I was reflecting on how many activities in Second Life revolve around sitting on something. I'd juts purchased a picnic table for my SL garden, and was standing on the roof (yeah, I primarily inhabit a roof, what of it?) talking to some friends, complaining of boredom, as one does in SL. Then the fabulous idea hit me! “Let's all go and sit on the new picnic table” I said. And everyone said “Ooh, okay, let's!”. And we did. And much fun was had, involving a parrot, a squirrel, a dustbin full of atomic bombs, and a duck with an identity crisis (don't ask). All because instead of standing, we had gone to sit on my lovely new picnic table.

The diligent readers among you may have noticed that this particular blog is in fact a team effort, I, Nivaya Barbosa, am your writer, and the gorgeous photography, styling, and modelling in the pictures are provided by the beautiful SerinaJane Loon. For the most part, we're a smashing team, her photo-ing skills far outstripping mine, and my writing containing fewer typos than hers! There do, however, exist some difficulties in this arrangement on occasion, arising mainly from the fact that the stunner in the pictures is not actually me. Allow me to explain. Anyone who has seen Serina and I inworld together will know of the stark contrasts between our appearances, I being a petite, pale skinned, aqua-eyed, occasionally freckled redhead with a taste for the alternative and quirky, and Serina being tall, strong, athletic and dark skinned, and always looking as if she's stepped straight from the impeccable pages of Vogue. In this case, the particular difference is one of skin tone.

I want you to think of something. Think of a goth girl. Do it quickly, don't think of someone specific you know, just in your head invent a girl, who is a goth. I'm guessing she'll look something like this: very thin, alabaster white skin, black (probably dyed) hair, lots of eyeliner, maybe some black lipstick. Am I right? This trick works for a lot of subcultures, for example, hip-hop girl, I'm guessing skin the darker side of tan, be it asian, mediterranean or black, but probably not an fair English Rose sort of complexion, a heart-shaped face and a large behind. Of course, it's not fair to suggest that everyone will see these things, but I'll bet a fair amount of people have visualized the types I described. It's interesting how stereotypes based on a person's interests influence what we expect them to look like, with no regard to what they may have put on, just their shape and colouring, the very things their choices of clothing have no influence over.

Eclectic as I am with my fashion choices in Second Life, there's something I'm a real stickler for, and that's dressing for the season. Never mind the fact that by default the sun always shines in our happy virtual land (charming but laggy snowflake emitters aside), if it's a blazing sunny day outside, I'm not going to put my avatar in a sweater and big boots. In autumn, I'm all about tights, long sleeve tees and cozy hoodies. And by the same logic, throughout winter, my jammed inventory is host to scarves, gloves, and above all, coats. My poor long suffering friends get the worst of it. It's easy to incur my wrath, just wear a cute little summer dress or shorts and sandals in October. “But I live in Florida, it's 90 degrees here!” they say. “That's not the point, you're veering dangerously far from seasonal stereotypes!” I say, and then frown and tap my virtual foot until they don something I deem more appropriate or teleport away in shame.

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!

When I first started in Second Life, a little under two years ago, babydolls were all the rage. They were everywhere, you couldn't get away from them, especially if you happened to be in the financial bracket I was then (*cough*camper*cough*). And I hated them. With a fiery passion. I hated the unflattering way they hung there, all sticking out and and ending at the waist, making even the most expertly crafted avatar look like she was wearing poorly-fitted maternity wear, I hated the way no-one (at least within my price range) seemed to bother shading them, they were just block colours or fussy patterns, and I just...urgh. Hated them. Happily, those dark days are over now, and underbust skirts and loose-fitting top garments in Second Life are experiencing a renaissance of sorts, with elegant empire-waist gowns and sweet smock jackets, all made with carefully trained eyes for style and talented hands. It's really fascinating to see how Second Life fashion evolves over time, to see designs be refined into something beautiful over time.
 

Something that always astounds me about the talent of creators, clothing designers in particular, in Second Life is how they have the power to make you believe. A commonly uttered phrase about SL (admittedly normally about whatever drama is happening on the Grid that day) is “It's just pixels”. True enough, but when the pixels we are treated to daily in SL have been treated with as much love and care as these, who are we to complain? I have no graphical, or mechanical skill whatsoever (when I once tried to play with flexi in Second Life, all I could do was make a scary tentacle, which now proudly terrorizes visitors to my friend's garden), it's really quite shameful, but I really am quite excellent at suspending disbelief when I see something beautiful. A good amount of my friends are technically minded, and when they see something cool in SL, they'll say “I wonder how they did that?”.

You know when sometimes, you see an outfit, and you just want to tackle the person wearing it to the ground, to rip it off their back and have it for yourself? In the course of my wanderings at Crimson Shadow (Rezz there now!) Lokum narrowly escaped this fate, from me.

She was wearing this amazing strapless gown with a stunning tulle skirt, which, without word of a lie, I squealed when I saw. I squealed doubly when I found out that this incredible dress was the work of Alla Ruff, who has worked with Rezzable previously on their Second Life adaptation of Rebecca Edwards' RL rockabilly fashion line at the Cannery (TP there!).