Modernist Fashion in SL

Crombie

I have spent several months searching the corners of virtual fashion hoping to locate a cool crombie overcoat. My initial purchase from Nordic Blasphemy was okay; in the shade it was a passable item, although the skirt layer was too small and the texturing on the coat varable. But the addition of a red prim pocket handhkerchief gave it a more creditable crombie feel. Worn with suitable Dr Martin boots and high cut skinhead jeans and a nice button-down shirt the coat was acceptable if not a stunning piece to add tro your mod warderobe. For, although synonymous with skinheads and rude boys the crombie latterly became absorbed into the eighties revival mod fashion as much of the ska skinhead influenced fashion did during that period. Therefore, its unsurprising that it should feature in a virtual mod fashion that is influenced by akll forms of modernist fashion to culminate in the NeoMod fashion philosophy of the twenty first century. Howver, whilst the crombie was functionable it did not satisfy my wish for an uber cool item that could be recognised as a crombie.

I tried other options including overcoats and also sheepskins which were fine but lacked the sharp mod feel of the crombie. Fantastic items in their own right they could not substitute for an authentic looking crombie. Then whilst browsing through X-Street I saw the westminster coat set from SF Design.

The image used to promote the coat caught my eye and whilst it too lacked the disticnt red pocket accessory, that could easily be resolved. So I splashed out 500 lindens and bought the coat, complete with a cool black suit, white shirt and scripted colour changing tie. Nice additions but the prize was the coat. Prum cuffs, a collar and lower half give the coat a depth the earlier coat lacked, the texturing is also far more consistant. As with all flex hemmed coat it can be a little hit or miss on how the coat hangs and combines with the layered partner but the coat has a good match and the size suits my avatar shape very well. Adding the jazz suit red handkerchief again makes the coat easily recognisable to virtual mods as a crombie. The addition of my GOS Docs and some high cuffed faded skinhead inspired jeans finished the look which i feel is uber mNeoMd despite its obvious seventies skinhead influence. As for the crombie style so far I have yet to find anything that can hold a candle to this particular item. Another fantastic piece of accidental mod design by SF Design

SF Design

Modernist Musings

Big Brother Watching You

Interesting times in the virtual world, I finally get to log in on a Saturday and ...     ! Precisely, bugger all happening just my luck, missed two great nights with Slate DJing, then when I make it there's nowt on. Thankfully Sean stepped in last minute at Soul Mods on Friday otherwise I'd have drawn a blank there too. 

The surge in mod nights and Northern Soul nights appears to have waned. What seemed to be a flourishing scene a few months back seems to have died on its arse with only the Soul Mods club regularly providing solid mod northern soul nights. There still some awesome soul/funk clubs such as the OSR operating but the mod scene appears to have been shafted. Where did all those small DJ run clubs go ... into the virtrual ether it seems. Annoyed? moi? Okay, just a tad. We seemed to have a nice pattern of mod nights with good turn outs then the week got swamped and clubs closed and now the swamp has receded and we are left with feck all! Thank feck that Soul Mods still sails serenely above all this other shite!

Hopefully some clubs will get resurrected or at the very least the band of vagrant Northern Soul and Mod DJs will find somewhere to spin their discs and entertain us again. I would hate Northern Soul to be restrictecd to one or two venues, its in the virtual world now and we need to support it ; else we'll be back to spandex inspired US AOR crap all over the grid.

My pointless grumblings aside its been a good week music wise in the virtual world. Kim played two excellent sets Tuesday and Thursday and Sean stepped in to cover on Friday and played some awesome tunes. In fact they were so good and I was so busy I didnt even have the time to take the piss either there or in here. Poor lad will think I'm neglecting him! A quiet night Friday but enough of us to have a laugh and as stated earlier the tunes were awesome.

Hahaha thats what I call a happy blog post. ciao

A Double Whammy!!

Another double week for Kim as she plays sets at both the AAi and Soul Mods, keeping the stabdards high is difficult but I feel Kim is justified in believing she has achieved that now, four hours of blindingly good music: with heart, with a beat and significantly ... with soul!

The set at the AAi was a very fine one, I know it gets dull hearing me say ... oh it was full of fantastic tunes, a great set, oooh truly wonderful blah blah; but, what else can I say - it was another fine set from Kim. Even Shaun, I mean Shawn, or is it SEEn. Anyway, even the scotney enjoyed a few tunes ... almost. I had a great time, plenty of good banter and some new people to help join in the mockery, I just wonder sometimes if this avatar is too handsome and intimidates the others*.

Wednesday was a night away from the grid and Thursday one of the highlights with another great mod night scheduled at Soul Mods with Kim on decks again. No stopping the girl now.

So, there I was a miscreant turning up an hour late and recieving a savage telling off lots of wagging fingers. The gang were in full mod dance swing and seem to have been Lupo'd ... the quirks of a British club. The music was great and it seemed like everyone was having plenty of fun. Shauna elbowed into my Shaun gag and Josie wondewred why I was short, time of the year I think. Gemma still looked cool in he rude girl clothes, Eden and Kim were wearing stuff from therir WIMMINs store ... lol ... and Dugi, well he was just a cloud but I thought it rude to inform the host he was merely a puff of smoke.

Great times again, I'll probably leave off for a while as me eulogising about how great the club is and what a fantastic job the DJs do must get a tad tedious. So, until I have something more to add than great set etc I'll leave off my mod club exploits. Just check them out ... you wont be disappointed.

*its called irony chaps dont take anyt of this waffling seriously, except my praise of clubs and DJs... thats solid.

Modernist Fashion in SL

Dyn is not the only store with a fabulous sale occuring at the moment as Arai, another standard issue mod store, is offering a feat line in discounted items.

These four shirts retail at a fantastic twenty five linden; multi-layered [ah bliss] they are highly versatile. Whlist they lack the classic button down collar styling the use of fabric texture lends itself marvelously to NeoMod styling. Worn with jeans in a shirt layer with a Harrington jacket or with a jacket layer and jeans in classic Britpop style. Excellent value, four multi-layered shirts for 100l I suggest you check them out as its fantastic budget shopping.

I can already hear the calls of outrage, High School Letterman jackets, what's next Triumph biker boots. Not remotely Mod. but because they have a huge A emblazoned over the front I figured a NeoMod stylist like Albion [spot the link] might be tempted to introduce such an item into his modernist style bible, after all the face leads the fashion and is not dictated too by fashion. So yeah the current laws of mod fashion scream NO!. But what the fuck we can write our own mod fashion laws ... so long as you dont look like a raging biker, dump the heavy leather you ticket!

On much safer ground here, a classic popart Union Jack fabric textured mod styled jacket. No accusations of digression away from mod fashion here. I already possess such a jacket but this one is suitably different, and at such a throw away price, to encourage me to buy another. The fabric texture is sharp, the creation of the styling is excellent and its retro design is ideally suited to the modernist fashionista. Any mod looking for a classic retro style would do well to check this store and specifically this item.

However, one of the real gems of the sale is the Arai range of polo shirts. As a virtual labels they possibly lack the kudos of the virtual Fred Perry polos. But, they are beautifully textured in a wide range of colours. A double D ... Divine Design, these fabulous items should feature heavily in your modernist wardrobe if you do not possess a polo shirt, shuffle through your virtual wallet grab fifty lindens and treat yourself to something beautiful, and a function fashion masterpiece.

Arai

Modernist Fashion in SL

I have blogged this sale before but as it is still raging I thought I would give it another mention, so the fity percent sale is still raging at Dyn, go take a look!

The Dyn fifty percent sale is still running, so its well worth checking out this UK fashion stronghold a bastion for casual NeoMod clothing. Dyn sells a selection of cool shirts, sweater, polos and sportswear that all tilts its head toweards NeoModernist fashion. Some of their stylings are firmly based on real life fashion, indeed using the real life label in their branding, but they seem to be moving further away from this to create their own unique designs which are perhaps less modernist in concept and execution.

I grabbed these three Paul Smith influenced polo shirts in the sale, a bargain at 50L each; however, I would have prefered a shirt layer alongside the jacket layer to allow me to combine them with a corresponding v-neck sweater or a sharp jacket. This insistance on single layer fashion design can become quite frustrating for the dedicated mix and match modernist stylist. As for the items themselves they look great, neat NeoMod look with cool textures and a sharp stylish design ... I am happy with them despite my minor grumbling.

Another sharp real life item I recently picked up at Dyn was this uber cool Sergio Tacchini track top. A classic of the eighties casuals fashion wardrobe this white track top worn with jeans and my MK Adidas mamba trainers yells retro casuals fashion to anybody able to listen. Its a classic NeoMod combination of Britpop fashion duistain moulded onto eighties casuals styling. The neat feather cut styling of the hair plus the cool shades all combine with the well textured clothing to create a sharp Neo Mod look. Faded rather than pristeen denim looks better but the look can also be achievec with a dark denim but the jeans must remain quite a simple denim design if you hope to achieve the casuals retro look.

But it is not just copied textures from famous real life fashionistas that Dyn sells they have an ever expanding range of their own designs that at well worth taking a look at. One that particularly caught my eye was the short navy blue duffel jacket, neatly textured with a nice prim hood which I felt had an air of the NeoMod about it. Another jacket to be worn with jeans and trainers. Totally abhorrant to traditional retroist modernist in their sharp tailored suits I still feel such items have a place in the wider fashion stuylings of the NeoMod virtual style. Its a well crafted item and a slightly unusual look, and standing out dfrom the crowd shoyuld feature in anyb mods fashion criteria ... no wall flowers required thank you.

Amongst my favoured Dyn items are their range of sweaters, simplistic linear design with a modernist influence which lends itself fantastically well to either the retro sixties styling or the more contemporary [although thats nearly thirty years ago, so contemporary is a bit of a misnomer] casuals styling of the eighties. This simple tight v-necked sweater is an example of the latter, possessing its own label on the texture. The texturing and design look great, and worn with jeans and a suitable shirt its a classic piece of NeoMod styling.

I urge you to go check it out at the Dyn fashion house before they decide to end it. And while your there grab a few other items too, it all fleshes out your virtual mod wardrobe wonderfully.

Modernist Fashion in SL

LeLutka - dangers of prim work

I saw these clothes on another cool fashion blog and thought wow they look cool, however obviously the snapshot guy was pretty good as when I got a closer look I was less impressed. Prim clothing works fantastically well if its executed with skill,; however its also easy to go slightly awry with it and I think the prim lapels here look far too rigid distracting me from some othe fine work on both items. However, that may just be me talking bollox, both the jacket [which has an absolutely magical blue texture] and the standard black suit have a definite modernist look and would not look out of place as retro clothing.

LeLutka

Kim and Eden ...

Thursday night, Second Life means only one thing on this computer ... a night at Soul Mods! It was Kims second night on decks, after her great set at the AAi, and amazingly I think she was even better tonbight that she was on Thursday playing some amazing rarities and crowd pleasers too. It was a sublime night of virtual entertainment with some truly awesome tunes and Albion set his feet ablaze chilling and dancing and having fun.

Its been interesting watching the dynamic duo develop and grow in confidence as virtual DJs, from originally sharing deck duties to now playing a couple of two hour sets a week, with both sets having an individuality and flair that sets them apart whilst still indicating they have the same original music heart. Its no mean feat to come up with four hours of musical entertainment that keeps the punters happy and yet maintains a modernist credibilty. Huge dollops of applause for Kim's sets this week which fully complied with this brief; as does Eden on her lengthy stints on the decks. The two have a similarity of style that is pricked by subtle differences that enable you to be quietly confident of who is spinning the discs and as their confidence has grown the quality and breadth of there sets has also increased until now they must realise they play some of the best music on the grid, and if they dont realise it yet .. well this acts as an unsubtle reminder!

But, back to Thursday. A smaller crowd than of late but hugely enthusiastic and nice to see Josie had traded her tabby for a cool mod cat. On arrival I thought I was at a Hammers reunion with all those bubbles ... remember next time panty check first girls . But the bubbling frivolity soon vanished into a haze of delirious mod sounds as Kim thumped out some anthemic stormers that created a beat and rhythm that was sweetly infectious and had me stomping my feet from the minue I arrived. The addition of the new Weller single and a blast from Wellers past with a Beatles cover by the Jam was inspired [but ask Dugi I am a tad bias, he endured Wellers single endlessly at Moonletters the other day] before electing to round proceedings off with a thunderous track from The Who. I had a great time, everyone else seemed to and I think even the mod cat got into the groove. Awesome night , and I'm looking forward to the next already.

We are Mods!!

Look out for Mark Feld, aka Bolan, as a teenage North London mod.

Ska-ed for Virtual Life

Dropped in at the Wheel for openers and listened in to some excellent revivalist 2Tone tunes, the club had a healthy crowd and grooves who all seemed to be moonstomping to some cool eighties ska from the names of the period: The Beat, The Specials, Madness etc. I dont often get on the grid early enough to get to hear this session so it was cool to make it and hear some of the stomping ska that informed much of my early youth before I delved a little deeper. Seemed the room had a few mod stylists in too, even if they were kind of on the short side. Musically the DJs at the Wheel are still capable of delivering some cool sets and although I wasnt there for very long I greatly enjoyed the half a dozen or so tracks I heard, took me back a few years and got me into the groove for an evening of virtual clubbing.

I had to leave the Wheel early to catch Kimberley Sixpence's set at the AAi, a regular Tuesday night gig for the Soul Mods crew. As I arrived Kim was playing some original skaand the contrast between this original Caribean styled ska and the revivalist eighties stuff I had just been listening too was very interesting. A small crowd present at first but as the evening progressed we had more and more punters arrive, I have noticed this trend over the past few weeks that clubbers are arriving that little bit later maybe the sumer sunshine is encouraging them away from their keyboards. Anyway the mod stalwarts were in attendance and Josie had brought her cat, cue lots of Mrs Slocombe jokes I'm guilty too, it didnt look too mod though, atabby cat when surely it should have been 2Tone black and white?

Kim was playing some awesome tunes, and the dance floor was filling as we continued half way thru the set and the floor was full, the AAi might be a small venue but its still quite an achievement in these low turnout times. Kim's set was well into its strife now with plenty of stand out tracks, she resisted the urge to play Graz's mod classic, Graz it seems has bigger issues - something to do with cat food? Sean made an appearance in chat as we envied his real life social life, that didnt last long as some cruel people yelled their jockney gestures, I cant imagine where they came from. The music was stomping, the chat was rolling and we were having a fine time ... then real life dragged me off with 30 minutes to go, so while Albion kept stomping I was out in the cold dealing with stuff. I hate stuff, it comes in many forms and most of them are a pain in the @rse!. Stuff has left me scarred for life.

Roll on Thursday and another cool night at Soul Mods, just need to find something to chill me on Wednesday if I can make it onto the grid.

Monday Magic!

Its been some time since I have logged into the grid on a Monday and so I was wondering where to find some cool entertainment in the virtual world. Fortune smiled on me as I recieved a flyer from the OSR HQ giving me a heads up the Boonie was about to start his regular Monday night soul and funk sussion, so jumping on the teleport I swapped Doc boots, cut off jeans, brace and a Fred Perry for a more WSB style of jeans, cool Tacchini track top and chilled adidas trainers and took to the floor.

The OSR crew were in attendance on on fine form, the banter was good and the gestures were zipping off the keyboards. Superstar mod creator Slate McLeod was sporting his latest T-Shirt creation ... when will this geezer open a clothing store! And, also reminiscing over his mankini outing to the amusement of all, fortunately for all he seems to have retired this item, joy spread across the grid. Boone was playing some awesome tunes helping to mellow out the crowd and I was having a fine time, even if I was keeping quiet.while the fun rolled around me.

The OSR HQ plays some of the mellowest contemporary soul on the grid and its one of the coolest places to hang out on the virtual soul scene. Join the group and get the regukar flyers events are run most days, with either Boone, Divine, Josemari or several other members of the OSR DJ stable. Look out for there gigs across the grid, I'll be there as will the rest of this crazy cool crew ... I just lurve that alliteration!

A suit is NOT just a suit...

...take note of this biblical suit instruction

sorry about the advert, guess its a German thing.

Modernist Musings

Anyone able to translate the Japanese comments I keep getting I wonder if they are good or bad, who knows - not me! Trains, early alarm calls, Wembley, football and victory ... real life can be highly entertaining. I'm currently freaking myself out watching Dr Who on the I-Player, spooky Vampires, I need a cushion to hide behind. Anyway enough of this reality rubbish, whats happening in the virtual world of mod?

Thursday saw the welcome return of Edensky Cortes to the decks at Soul Mods, much missed on the scene so it was fantastic to have her back spinning some wonderful tunes. I gave away some of my coolest mod fashion landmarks and was suddenly out modded by some great stylists. The Wheel seems to be jumping location hoops at the minute but is still putting on good nights, unfortunately I missed Slate DJing Saturday night, which is a downer as I am fairly certain a great night was had by all, if past events are anything to go by. Kim has been playing the AAi over the last few weeks, most of which sadly I have missed, real life has really put the boot into my virtual life of late.

I discovered that you can watch YouTube videos inworld, sat in Shauna's cool house at Penny Lane I watched some great comedy and magnificent tunes, ahh the wonders of virtual technology astound me, so now I sit in a comfy chair watching myself watching videos I'm watching myself ... confused yet? I wonder what other virtual wonders there are, I mean watching TV I'm flabbergasted! 

Oh and I also got to appear on a retro TV, how cool is that ... well actually I wore it like you would a hat but its the principle of the thing. I think I look good on TV but then I would its a narcissistic thing so I'm told, personally I think its a gorgeousity thing but hey I'm no GeoPhysicist ... are you? Time for a brew I think; adieu

An Evening in with the Soul Mod girls

I went to a barbeque at the weekend: lots of booze, too much food, laughing friends and tunes to suit 60+ to 15yrs. Now, although several people have I-Pods I'm the only one daft enough to load music on, actually thats not strictly correct as I am also the only one who has a music collection if we discount a pile of cds given away with the Sunday papers. So, I was designated tunesmeister and had to create a playlist that would keep people happy and allow me to indulge my preference for munching and slurping at  barbeques rather than have to satisfy an infinite music demand from the big O to Lazy Town ... Lazy who? Wait til you have kids. So by now you're wondering what has any of this bollox to do with Second Life? Simples [yes I watch TV adverts too], it lead my to wonder if we underappreciate our DJs in second life who toil away with software I dont understand compiling brilliant playlists on a regular basis sometimes a couple of times a week to keep us entertained, so hats off to all the DJs who entetain us on our virtual nights out, it wouldnt be the same without all the effort you put in!

Ooooh cool deejay segway .... Thursday night at Soul Mods with Eden up on decks. Eden's has been absent for a while techy issues I think and its only when something is gone you realise how much its missed. So it was great to get EWdens sets blasting out of the speakers again. To be frank, I think she should stay away more often as her return set was sublime: it had it all rarities, classics, stompers, chillers truly anm awesome set and undoubtedly one of the best thats been heard at the club, no mean accolade as some amazing sets are delivered by fantastic DJs at the club.

A good crowd of people were in attendance all beautifully dressed. but obviously I expected to shine when Gemma arrived looking the full suedehead business and putting me distinctly in the shade.  A great suedehead/modernist look give that girl a scooter she outfaced the faces tonight and gets my special weekly prize of the "spot that face" logo blog roll. I invented it today and will forget it by tomorrow but rejoice in your award Gemma, great to see mods looking like mods . Now I must discover where you got your uber cool jeans from, its hard work being a fashion icon y'kbnow its just the cross I have to bare* Not only did I have to compete with Gemma's great look, but Eden had one of her own designs on [i reckon I could pull off looking cool in a dress] but super cool mod Lupo arrived too relegating me to fourth place in the modernist fashion league. Oh woe is me!

Thursday was definitely a girls night as Soul Mods regular Josie was celebrating her birthday, uber host Dugi gave her a wonderful bottle of red and he said it tasted delicious, other gifts including gestures and balloons and butterflies, while Josie sipped straight JD in her attic** I sense a B Movie momemt on the horizon. Blimey I'm back at Uni I keep putting footnotes in my blog anal academic alert!!! Anyway Josie seemed to be having whacky fun in the virtual party atmosphere, the tunes were brilliant even if Eden failed to play that monster mod classic "Pass the Dutchie", hey I guess she just lacks Graz's mod credentials ... how fortunate. Party hats and hooters all round, and as a treat Josie shipped her clothes and danced the tango, or did I just read that in Dugi's diary.

So another fantastic night and Soul Mods leading lady Aston's hearing survived another playing of Bernaddete as Dugi sets out to discover how much bass foundations can handle. Thanks to all who turn up and give me something to waffle about and thanks to Eden for producing such a fine set of tunes. Logging out to embark on my mammoth train journey to Wembley, ciao!

*huge dollops of irony here in case you missed it
**further portions of irony, keep up chaps

Modernist Fashion in SL

In my NeoMod style collective I often mention suedeheads and skinheads, and group them into my expanded modernist fashion directory. If you are to adopt this look you can survive in smart loafers for a while but at some point you must display your rolled up jeans and your boots, without doubt its impossible to make any claims at suede or skin fashion without possessing at least one pair of outstanding boots. Left-Right, here we have some great MK Dr Martin style boots with scripted laces, each boot is a single prim ideal for wearing with prim cuffed roll up jeans. Sadly the male version of this boot only comes in black or brown, girls have more choice including a great cherry red pair. Next up are the ROT Test boots, these rugged combat styled boots are also scripted to achieve various colous or degree of wear and tear. They come in a two prim mode, for the foot and ankle; this means you have to realign your prim cuffs to a different location which is kind od tricky. Generally for posing this is not an issue but everyday virtual activities, can look a tad strange. As for the boots themselves, they are beautifully textured and wonderfully sculpting a fine addition to anyones wardrobe. Below them, are the GDC Polished Combat Boots, not a particularly retro skin/suede style of boot but nevertheless a welcome addition to my boot drawer. Well crafted they are a more contemporary styling, higher up the calf than the other styles and burnished intensely to get a real gleam. Again these are two prim boots, similar to the ROT, and suffer the same difficulties. But they are a fine pair of boots, well made and very stylish. The final pair are my most recent aquisition from GOS, and they are outstanding.

These boots come in a wide range of colours in both male and female sizes, they are scripted for sizingand colours, uniquely you can purchase tin of polish and add that to your boots scripting. Therefore you can add more colours to your standard boots, you can also alter the lacing colour in a similar way, so my cherry reds are also scripted for yellow laces, black colouring and Union Jack toe caps, through an addition purchase. Very imaginative. The boots look marvelous as close to the real thing as I have witnessed in Second Life, they are the most expensive by far but also they most resemble Dr Martin boots. Texturing and sculpting is exquiste the scripting affords variabilty and as a single prim for each boot they also allow easy use of prim cuffs with your rolled up jeans. Expensive but worth it.

Any of the four boots are worth purchasing* and cover a range of pricing and styles. If you are hoping to cultivate your skinhead or suedehead look a pair of boots is essential, several even better. And if I had to opt for a single pair and cost was not a factor then I would opt for:

*scoured my inventory for Landmarks for ROT and GDC and cant find them, irritated somewhat by this, tried search that was worse than bloody useless. Will continue trying and will update with a landmark as and if I find them, if you stumble upon it add to to comments and I will use it with much gratitude.

GOS

Modernist Fashion in SL

Nice short sleeved shirt FREE with the MHOH3 from KHUSH, the addition of the ASS white braces transforms a nonedescript look into an acceptable mod, suedehead, skinhead styling. The logo on the back detracts somewhat from the modernist vibe but its certainly not going to alter the look significantly enough to deny a mod credential. The braces come in a variety of lengths and also colours, I chose to purchase the white, and its the addition of braces that transform a generalist shirt into a shirt that has a modernist feel. Simple trick but very effective.

KHUSH

A cheap coat thats elevated to modernist cool by the simple addition of a wonderful little scarf from Adjunct another cool MHOH3 gift. The scarf is scripted and can change colour as well as increase or decease in size. The short length of the scarf is classic NeoMod styling and is often seen in real life by many who would class themselves as modernists. Accessorizing the coat correctly is what creates the NeoMod style, if the scarf looks wrong the whole modernist style is compromised. Arty Farty, indeed it is, but if your looking to live the virtual mod fantasy then the look is in the detail. With some sharp jeans or pants the coat/scarf combination is very NeoMod and definitely worth a punt if its made available post-treasure hunt.

Adjunct