Lets not forget...

we all have real life issues going on. All the sods wish our dear friend Lupo the best and offer our condolences.

Now back in the virtual world Lupo had to cut his brilliant set short after some personal issues arose. Slate took over and was doing great right up until I crashed so I'm guessing everyone continued to have fun, whilst sparing a thought for Lupo.

I hate my computer, its typical i miss lots of Soul Mods events and thejn when I finally make it online the bloomin' thing crashes. Never mind Second Life I'm thinking of inventing terminal life for this poxy PC, curse you PC World for replacing my defunct faulty PC with this pile of poo. Ahhhh vent over, so lets see what shall I witter on about. Not much to say really, set cut short at Soul Mods followed  by my crash, and that's about it. Hardly worthy of a blog post but I note I have been a bit tardy of late with the posting so felt compelled to put one up. I was feel slightly '67 mod yesterday so went with a mish mash of items to affect that kind of pop art dandyism sported by the Small Faces and Who amongst others, plenty of ruffles on show.

 The jacket is an old favourite from Meriken, the shirt and ruffles are from the SF Design lord lace in black, the shoes were FREE from Kalin, [I am aware you cant see them but what the feck] and the stripey trousers are new from ,,,hmmmmI forget where but will update this post next time I log on and get the details. Anyway not much of a colour splash just greys and blacks but it still has a very '67 feel at least I think so, style over substance every time, but only in Second Life obviously. Typing this Saturday morning after missing another night at Soul Mods, I miss so much not sure I'm entitled to call myself a sod anymore anyway hope you all had fun at the Slate extravaganza!

Modernist Fashion in SL

During my rooting through the over inflated inventory I found a great FREE shirt I picked up from SF Design, I thought it looked great with the black Meriken Napoleon jacket and the vibrant Armidi trousers. So I figured a green paisley would look even better, heading off to the Marketplace I did a quick search and found that SF Design had four versions of the shirt available. They come in an open shirt and closed shirt option, plus an underwear layer and prim kipper ties, very late sixties early seventies styling but can fit the mod criteria, especially the Carnaby Street styles of the midsixties. At a sharp hundred lindens its a reasonable purchase for anyone seeking to add a bit of classic sixties paisley to their mod inventory.

As it gets harder to find new mod items I have reverted to trawling through my inventory to find half forgotten items that are acceptable as mod stylings. Its amazing what stuff you can find in an inventory bulging with over 50k of items.

Modernist Fashion in SL

Enjoying my Carnaby moment I went delving into my virtual wardrobe to pull out an old favourite that met the pop art Carnaby mod criteria. A nice piece of crafting from Meriken, the "Napoleon" jacket comes with a sharp prim collar, hem and sleeve cuffs. All needed slight adjustments to fit Albion's Hyperion Studio Endymion shape. Its a simplistic design without too many frills but still very sharp and eye catching. The subdued black and subtle tones allow for a splash of colour elsewhere. Therefore, its well suited to the dazzling range of trousers supplied by Armidi. Both the flame orange and vibrant green are able to lift the dull black of the jacket and are a nice match. Worn with a cool mod graphic T-Shirt the Meriken jacket fills the pop art mod niche beautifully. Nice trainers/shoes from J's add to the look whilst the classic Strike bowling shoes [unseen] look as cool as ever.

Alles Klaar

were you Paul Weller in a previous life, perchance?

The T-Shirts from  Action (The Jam) and Juice (the target) help the look achieve a stylish indie Britpop NeonMod style that looks cool and marries sixties fashion classicism with the more gritty indie look of the nineties. The Carnaby Street look popularised in the media is for several the mod look of the sixties, reinforced by the Austin Powers franchise, whilst not classic mod [as seen in Quadrophenia et al] its still a legitimate mod look as its what many sixties mod fashionistas developed as their style and so its suits my NeoMod fashion etiquette sublimely. As mod fashion moved into the brighter pop art period the classicism of the look may have been lost but other fashion possibilities were uncovered, and this is replicated in Second Life. Modernist fashion encompasses much more than drab grey and brown suits, with white shirts and ties; explore the fashion possibilities whilst remaining in the modernist culture and further fashion options become apparent. After all its not real life and we can afford to be far more daring with an avatar than you can with the frail ego of a forty seven year old.

Continuing the rummage through my engorged inventory I discovered other Armidi outfits, including a wonderful NeoMod styled leather jacket that Albion wears with the Armidi green trousers and Strike bowling shoes. Another neat mod visage following more nineties NeoMod design than classic early sixties mod, but nevertheless easily achievable and worth taking on if you're looking to expand your virtual fashion profile.

Was kind of fun rooting through old purchases to see if any would fit the mod style, and talking of fun Soul Mods regular Josie sent me a YouTube link of a great tune, with plenty of old scooter action, and I have been listening to it quite a lot. Check it I'm sure there's plenty of Soul Mods sods who appreciate this kind of tune. So 1..2..3...hit it!!!!

Absolutely top tune, have fun amigos

Modernist Fashion in SL

The Good!

Carnaby Street inspired styling using the "Prince Charming" dress uniform jacket from SF Design's Royal Wedding outfit, with the crazy Union Jack trousers from PXDTOXIC and the red trainers from a fatpack from J's, the new and old merged to create a sharp mid sixties look that grew out of the mod movement. Perhaps a little too bright for many it can be shaded by opting for less pop art trousers but the overall look of military fashion is very mid sixties, possibly derived from the flag fabric jackets of The Who. Anyway its an easily achievable mod style look ideal for the virtual NeoMod looking to catch the eye. Variation are obvious just find the one that suits.

Odd white shades from Cheerno, and my old favourite GL Menace hair style which has served well as a classic mod cut. Not for everyone but in my mind totally mid-sixties mod.

The Bad!

I have seen these suits crop up a few times as I forlornly tap the keys into the Second Life search option, so the suits are listed as Mod suits; but for me they bare no resemblance to anything mod I am aware of. Its because of my extreme negativity towards the suit that I have not blogged it, but as I'm having a jokey post and this fits the second label. Double breasted wide lapels its just so unmod I find myself cringing that anyone could view it as a classic mod suit. Basically its a faux mod suit based on the mid sixties hippy swing of the Austin Powers films, no harm in that but seems a touch disingenious to label it mod. It fits the mid sixties vibe but it can hardly be classed as mod, designers and creators put a lot of effort into their creations so its unpleasant to be critical, hence my bypassing of these item, I still feel bad slagging it; but if you type mod clothing into search this will come up, however there are far better mod suit options available. If its authentic sixties mod you are looking for, sorry but this isn't it.

The Ugly!

Due to the effort put in by designers it would be totally unfair to call any of their designs ugly, although there are several of them out there I'm sure you have seen a few of your own ugly designs. But I thought I would drag out a snap from years ago when I attended a party dressed in the worst possible taste, freebie skins shape etc.......now that's ugly! Its unlikely you'll see many avatars looking like this in the beautiful world of Second Life... However despite gaining a few pounds, needing extra support and having uncool shades I reckon Albion still looks cooler than Dugi!!!

Whatever mod fashion you choose, have fun: whether its classic, NeoMod or more mid sixties psychedelic its out there just difficult to find. Have fun finding it!

As quick aside I saw a link to a nice mod Mod website whilst I was ranting on Twitter so might be worth a quick peek. Enjoy!

The stylists

Despite Albion's titanic ego I often get bored of blogging with myself as the central feature, Albion at club Albion buys this blah blah. And so for a couple of weeks Ive been plotting to do a splash on the stylists of the grid. So I decided I'd blog a few of you instead of me, don't be upset if you're in don't be upset if you're not, after all there's only a couple of us bothering to read this drivel, self deprecation nah its a symptom of profound Englishness.

There are some great virtual mod stylists on the grid who find some awesome mod style clothing and give the clubs a really authentic feel. Its not easy finding cool mod fashions and hats off to them for finding their items and helping the club look mod and not just another leather and tattoo fest. Therefore I have decided to slap up a few snapshots of some of my favourites. You all know them, know they dress great and unlike me have other talents too. I'm the only one trick pony around here, and that trick aint that great. So, yes I have been secretly snapping you; that sidling up to you is not to get a whiff off your deodorant its been to try and get a half decent snapshot. So, here are a few of the great dressers in the world of virtual mod.

First up is DJ and uber stylist Lupo, he always looks cool and introduced me to the fabulous Unknown Boutique. A stylist supreme rooted in the authentic mod look Lupo is one of the best dressed mods in the virtual metaverse. Next is Eden who always looks the business, having the ability to design your own clothes helps. Eden too is authentic sixties mod, with a bit of eighties revivalism tossed into the mix. Another great DJ she dresses sharp and is 100% sixties virtual icon.

Claie is next in line, she follows sixties trends and generally has vibrant dazzling colours and classic kinky boots... Another DJ she hosts the sixties night at the AAi. Gemma is the ska fashion monster she wears her skin.suede head styles or classic sixties styles at Soul Mods and often looks better than I do in stuff I've blogged she adds her own accessories to stuff and sadly still continues to look better than me, she is small and sneaky*, and stylish.

Its impossible to discuss virtual mod without mentioning Slate, he is the Kevin Cosner of the virtual mod scene. What? He built it and they came! When at Soul Mods Slate likes to dress the part and is assisted in achieving this by having the ability to make stuff, clever git. Slate is followed by his own army of Jimmy's [Ruths but cooler] sop don't mess with the king of the mods. Finally, lets not forget Kim another uber cool virtual mod whose dress sense is so sharp it'll slice your arm off. DJ and designer, along with Eden Kim runs Mod Squad Design, Kim wears so cool sixties clothes made by herself and Eden, fledgling modettes these girls are your route into mod fashion on the grid.

I could go on and on listing people but these have caught my eye with their dedication to maintain virtual mod style on the grid, there are others I could mention and probably will but am saving them up for a future blog post. So if you see me sliding up next to you its probably because I'm looking to get a sneak snapshot, or girls I could be camming up your skirt, although as is well known I mostly spend time camming myself.

ciao.

*of course she is not really sneaky, I'm English she is English we like sarcastic irony now bog off, have a nice day y'all.

Modernist Fashion in SL

Venturing away from the sombre styles and textures of the early sixties the mods of the mid-to-late sixties started to wear more flamboyant fashion and the standard suit and tie combination was replaced by more raffish alternatives. Hoping to follow this style I headed off to the Marketplace where I sifted through endless naff fashions hoping to locate those few gems of modernist fashion. Eventually I stumbled upon Gizza shirts, looking at the retro range they seemed ideal to fulfill the fashion criteria of the pop art inspired mid sixties.

However my desire for classic modernism remains undaunted and so amidst the array of colourful shirts I grabbed the monochrome white with black pin spots variety. The shirt comes in a jacket and shirt layer, with underpants layer too giving it a degree of versatility sadly lacking in many fashion items who stick rigidly to the single layer sales format. Along with the multi-layers, the shirt comes with prim cuffs and a prim collar. These items fit my avatar and required no shifting to achieve a measured look. Reasonably pricey but nevertheless great value the shirt when combined with a styling black scarf and some Armidi trousers, plus my FKNY buckled loafers produces a stunning mod look from pop art period. Less flamboyant than much of the fashion and far more subdued in colour it is a classic piece of virtual mod fashion. Think about buying one, but stay away from the spots they're mine!

Gizza Shirts at the Marketplace
Gizza Store

Modernist Fashion in SL

Tonight Mathew I'm going to be...

After looking around the Marketplace somewhat forlornly, finding a fair amount but nothing I actually wanted to buy, I saw this great riding jacket that reminded me of early promotional shots of the Kinks. Mods in hunting pink, seemed a cool sixties image so I grabbed one. Its not an exact replica as the Kinks jackets were tailored and more fashionable whilst the Second Life option is very much a riding jacket. However matched with some funky trousers and the classic mod bowling shoes I think its produced a decent homage to the Kinks early style. Marrying a plain white shirt/tie undershirt layer with the jacket gives it a clean sharp look that suits the modernist needs quite well. I'll be wearing it at Soul Mods tonight, how long until the first Tally Ho!

E. Watkins - Red Riding Jacket

Quiet

Apologies for my lack of posting, lack of inworld presence just been lots of real life stuff happening that's kept me away from virtual life and firmly planted in the real world. That seems to be happening more often, I need to return to idleness to fully engage with my virtual self.

So, as the Welsh allegedly say "whats occurring?"

After much thought the inevitable happened and I bought a Hasendow suit, in fact I bought two as I couldn't choose between them. Its a horrendous price to pay for some virtual stuff, 1400$L for fecks sake for the two; but, they look so sharp and ooze sixties styling that in the end I couldn't resist them. Besides they also encouraged Albion to grow his hair back so perhaps that's not such a bad thing. I opted for the blue and mercury [silver grey] suits and despite the fierce price tag can admit to being very happy with the purchase and just wish I could justify buying more. I added a prim handkerchief in the breast pocket and failed miserably to retexturing the colour, I'm just out of my depth which is a polite way of saying I'm bloody useless. My one tiny criticism is I was surprised to find the trousers had no prim cuffs, as they seem to be standard with most hi-end Second Life fashion items nowadays. The prim jacket cuffs add depth to the sleeves and prim additions to the trousers would perform a similar service; however, despite this small complaint I am happy with both suits and believe they are fine examples of sharp sixties styling in the virtual world. If you can justify the cost...buy one!

After splashing so much cash on a couple of suits I decided I'd hunt through the freebie blogs to see if I could pick up something for nothing, a favourite pursuit in Second Life. As the suit had encouraged hair growth I opted to grab some free hair styles. Checking out Yves Firlan's Fashion+Freebies for Men blog I discovered there were some cool giveaways at Savoir Hair I had a good look around and managed to find four hair styles that seemed to have a degree of NeoMod potential and besides they were free so even if they were not totally correct it would be no loss. My favourite was the very Beatleseque style which could even persuade Albion to forsake his blonde locks for a while. But I doubt it. Anyway if your looking for free hair check it out, there's plenty of styles for girls and geezers and they're all free so waste yourself and overindulge on prim hair! The snap also beautifully illustrates my inability to manipulate my virtual environment, although on reflection maybe its not too bad the hankie matches the blue tie I just couldn't get it to go gold but that's another tale.

As for life in Second Life, lets see I crashed out of Soul Mods on Friday which delighted me so much I hurt my toe kicking the desks. Intended to log in on Tuesday to see what was happening but fell asleep on the sofa, middle aged dog walking syndrome, have wandered around the web listening to cool tunes imagining my virtual DJ set list, nope that's not going to happen its a fantasy within a fantasy and gets way too complex,,,see I conceived Inception before they conceived it wonder if I can get a few bob out of it. Planning ahead I hope to be bouncing in Second Life on Thursday and Friday for the gigs at Soul Mods. I'm still trudging through the fashion quagmire trying to find gems of virtual sixties fashion but having to stretch the boundaries drastically just to get something that I can waffle on about. I ended up looking more like Adam Ant as I strove for  a mid sixties pop art fashion look, need to remain vigilant on the fashion score. So I'm expecting a slow down on the fashion blog for a while which mean more modette stuff will get shoved up as I get bored and feel the need to post something. Besides it'll keep Graz happy that I'm a girly girl, hahahaha. And that my lads is about it, oops lasses too,  time to make an early lunch and then shift some rubbish in the garden,,,what a glamour life I lead,,so lets keep it virtual, talking to myself again I'll get locked up one day!

Oh I forgot: Pop Art or Adam Ant? Answers on a postcard or that comment thing if you can be bothered I'm undecided but anyway its an indication of how desperate I have become in my search for new mod items to write about, bloody designers.......

Modernist Fashion in SL

I bought this cheap and cheerful selection of suit a long while back and obviously forgot to blog them; to be honest I buy too much stuff and so the likelihood is I forgot about them and therefore I doubt I have worn them more than half a dozen times since purchase. I grabbed the fatpack in store and was reminded of them as I was trawling the Marketplace and they popped up in my search selection. A neat range of highly affordable suits in some bright colours that have a nice sixties feel to them, despite being labelled as linen suits they fit a mod brief reasonably well.

To be frank in these days of prim cuffs and other attachments developed to give clothing a sense of depth these old school painted textured designs seem to lack a little bit of style. But, despite their old fashion creation they are well made, granted the lapels loook a little ropey but I can live with that. The colour range is fantastic - bright but not startling and matched with a classic white shirt black tie combination it propels the suits into the centre of early sixties fashion. I'm ashamed for forgetting all about them and fully intend to wear them more often.

So, if you're looking to bulk out your wardrobe and want suits with a splash of colour but are restraining your wallet look no further, 500$l for eight suits is a bargain or buy them as individuals for slightly more per item, 150$l for an individual suit. Find them either at the Marketplace or if you prefer inworld at the store.

Marketplace

NachtMusik: a Dandy shop

Modernist Fashion in SL

I first saw this suit on an advert for a complete Asian avatar and thought it looked extremely cool and very sixties in its styling. Since then I hoped the designer would opt to release it as a suit only option, and whilst trawling through the Marketplace for interesting stuff to waffle about I stumbled upon it and thought that's where the remains of this months lindens rations are heading. Its a neat black suit, with prim cuffs variations in the shirt layer and a decent pair of prim shoes [although I opted for my trusty FKNY loafers]. The jacket texture has a sheen to it that gives it a leather type look although its not leather which is quite different and allows it to step out from the morass of black suits. Its reasonably priced considering its a complete outfit including shoes. So whilst some might be thinking 300$l is very steep, prim work on the suit, plus its variant options plus the prim shoes makes it seem very reasonable in today's slightly inflated price market. Should you get one? No because I want to be the only one looking this sharp,,,let me have my wish for a week then get your hands in your virtual pocket and spread some linden lurve.

Buy it either inworld or at the Marketplace.

MrS
or
Marketplace

Modernist Fashion in SL

Mod Dandyism

The move into what I shall term Mod Dandyism, occured in the mid sixties as the mod fashion shifted on its axis and the faces moved to a far more flamboyant dress code. Frills, startling bright colours and a shift away from conservative browns and greys signalled the move towards psychedelia culminating in the abandonment of mod and the creation of introspective hippydom. Interesting the mod Dandyism style is easier to achieve in Second Life than the earlier retro dark suited style of the early sixties, as exemplified in this purple crushed velvet suit modelled on the Hollywood folly Austrin Powers. Its possible many will scream this isnt real mod fashion, and I guess they are correct, even borders on 1980s New Romanticism, but as virtual mods following the music into the midsixties period, I thought feck it lets extend the fashion horizons too. No need to follow, plenty of casuals or NeoMod options listed but if your coming on my fashion odessy grab your ruff and climb aboard the Vespa.

To achieve this mod dandy look I took a classy suit from Sartoria

and added a ruff to the shirt collar. The high chinese collar of the grey suit jacket easily lends itself to this brand of restyling. I grabbed the ruff from a random shirt in my inventory, and with more forethought I would probably have attached ruffled shirt cuffs too, in keeping with the Austin Powers inspired shagadelic vibe that eminates from the mod dandysism retroism. Some sharp shoes, and a rather severe hair cut from KMADD's freebie locker [remiscent of Sting in his Quadrophenia ace-face pomp] and a cool pair of coloured lensed shades and the image is complete. Mods on the road. Posing at the Twisted Wheel sim up against the graffitied alley walls always imbues snaps with a griity mod vibe, and that acts to tone down the frilliness of the danyism in this snap. See its all artsy fartsy today, ha haha.

In this ensemble, dandyism is taken to extremes of modernism. The trousers are from Hoorenbeek, as blogged earlier. The waistcoat, shirt and cravat/collar are from the steampunk store To-a-T and were picked up at the RFL Clothes Fair, but they have several stores across the grid. The texturing on the union flag waistcoat is wonderful and the fabric design is ideal for a popart inspired modernist dandy looking to accentuate the flamboyance of his style. Again its the severe KMADD cut and also a cigarette and pose the divas of male virtual fashion. The cuffs were FREE from SF Design, a neat addition thats gives the rather plain shirt a touch more life. The waistcoat and shirt come in varaiable layes, and also in female options too, affording the versatility I yearn for in my virtual tailoring. The cravat is also scripted to change colour, with charts and codes provided in the folder. The epitome of mod dandyism its unlikely this rather Edwardian look is for all but for mods with a mid sixties psyche yearning and a fashion boldness, grab what you can and stride out onto the floor babeee.

In essence this style is about bold bright coloured suits and shirts with ruffles, accessorize with other items of bling if thats your thing, think Austin Powers, only cool rather than a plonker and all will fall into place.