You’re like a knife ’cause your looks could kill.
Hold my breath every time we kiss.
Are you feeling it?
Like I, like I feel it.
This song has been my jam for the past few days. A Nile Rodgers-infused slow funk that’s great to have on a low repeat in the background while you do other stuff, and—having seen the gorgeous red and purple cover art—I got just a teensy little bit inspired and wanted to recreate that colour aesthetic in SL.
And then Dreamcatcher came out with THIS at Men Only Monthly:
Yeah. That’s just ‘woah’. Initially I thought it was a full corset, because the small version of the ad image that I saw on Seraphim was quite dark and I didn’t notice the gap and blood drips. That would have been enough for me, in all honesty, because the corset just leapt out at me and made a grab for my wallet amid all the usual blokey sweatpants and hoodies etc that have become the norm at menswear events. In short: I would have bought it anyway, but after trying the demo and puzzling for a moment over why the ‘mid’ part of the corset wasn’t rezzing, I tickled my Signature’s alpha hud a bit, and then it really was a ‘woah!’ moment.
And then the quest was on to do the damn thing justice, so here’s a little insight into The Mind of Skell when his creativity goes into overdrive and his inventory starts to groan in anticipation (or—more likely—in dread).
I had my colour palette already in mind: red and purple. Any metalwork would need to stand out against that, and—since purple is commonly associated with royalty—gold was the obvious choice, since silver would get a bit lost amid those strong colours.
The Glam Witch Decor from Florix immediately sprang to mind for a backdrop. This is a fabulous set featuring all kinds of lush furniture and decor items. I used two colours of the neon crosses, which are actually on stands, but—I love when creators allow this!—they’re editable, so I set the texture on the stands to 100% transparency and I could then have the crosses as solo floating wall decorations. The rose petals are also from that set, and if you need anything else there’s curtains, candles, couches, and all sorts included. Can’t find it on Marketplace right now (I think I picked it up at an event) so possibly check the mainstore?
Since I’d decided on gold for the metalwork I remembered this Pask Halo from Boys to the Bone. BttB is one of those stores that’s at the nosebleed edge of fashion, and I can guarantee that I’ll find there at least one insanely, intriguingly good item to just finish off an outfit.
And then my inventory exploded.
Okay, well it was my fault that it exploded, but I knew I was going to have to dig deep to find any kind of clothing that would work perfectly for this, so it was time to start unpacking my old archives of clothing layers from Sn@tch. I knew I’d find something in there that I could use with Bakes on Mesh, and—since I have a lot of old stuff from Sn@tch—my inventory screwed up its metaphorical eyeballs and muttered I hate you, Skell…
With Bakes on Mesh, my sartorial darlings, I feel as if my creative world has blown wide open again, but sadly not with new items. I’m lucky that Skell is such an old avatar he still has amazing stuff created back in the late 00’s and early ’10s. Looking back through all of these old Sn@tch items, I found myself getting a bit wistful and pondering about how homogenised much of SL’s fashion has become in recent years. Sure, mesh is amazing, and there’s some incredible stuff out there. But menswear has mostly gone down the pan, with a small handful of notable exceptions, and—due to specific body rigs—there’s precious little from the ladies’ department that I can wear without either breaking out Syd, or breaking out in hives when the gorgeous hairstyle that I adore and want to use only comes with big, built-in boob-bumps.
Bakes on Mesh means I can pick out some of that older stuff that still looks good, and get creative again. Putting this look together last night felt wonderfully good, as opposed to the effort that it can sometimes be to get multiple mesh items to work together well. (Want to wear those gorgeous, butt-enhancing mesh jeans, boys? Better go barefoot, then, because they won’t work with 99% of your footwear, etc.)
Anyhow. Back to the look before I start to sound too whiny. I really did dig deep for this one, finding this amazing old necklace set from Remarkable Oblivion (another standout store that I haven’t seen around for a while. They’re still extant on the grid, but I never see them at events. Time to revisit their mainstore, methinks). Not only was there a gold option that came with additional red sections, but it also had a large wooden cross, which matched the glam, semi-sacrilegiosity thing I had going on.
Hair? By .Shi, of course. Who else has sharp-cut styles that work for more out-there looks? Makeup is part old system and part new BOM. The face tattoo is from The Plastik’s old ‘Soul Ink’ set that I used so many times in the past. They’re tintable and will work with so many looks. I really need to check out the store again, to pick up some more. (They might even be in a discount section by now; who knows? That’s the beauty of Bakes on Mesh!) And the ‘new’ was picked up from this weekend’s Saturday Sale: a BOM set of eyeshadows from Adored. The finishing touches were these gorgeous lashes from Elemental and eyes from Avi-Glam. The skin is from The Plastik’s beautiful ‘Atharne’ set (one of the few skin sets I ever fatpacked, and it contains multiple appliers and—glory be!—system layers).
Credits
Corset: Dreamcatcher – Blood Roses (Gianni, Legacy)
Eyeshadow: Adored – Vibe Shadows (Electric Avenue – BOM)
Tattoo: The Plastik – Soul Ink Reloaded (Opeh)
Halo: Boys to the Bone – Pask Halo (Gold v2)
Top: Sn@tch – Sabrina Brocade Shrug (old system item)
Pants: Sn@tch – Eden Velvet Pants (old system item)
Hair: .Shi – Mod (Reds)
Skin: The Plastik – Atharne (Shizuko – multiple appliers & system)
Piercings: Catwa – Bento Rigged Piercings
Earrings: Artificial Hallucination – Loke Rigged Ear Piercings (Catwa)
Necklace: Remarkable Oblivion – Lilliam Batwing Necklace (Gold)
Eyes: Avi-Glam – Sinister Eyes* (Beast – Catwa, Omega, mesh)
Lashes: Elemental – Treasure Lashes (Catwa)
Decor: Florix – Glam Witch Decor Set
Head: Catwa – Skell* (Bento)
*review copy