Modernist Fashion in SL

A while back I bought a trio of cheap shirt from Aqua, they may have been in an end of season sale I forget. At the time I thought they looked pretty cool and for thirty lindens were a real bargain. Neat collar sharp thin tie nice colours well textured ideal sixties look. Anyway as so often they were bought thrown into the mods folder in my inventory and promptly forgotten.

Then as often happens I was at Soul Mods and dressed down when Lupo came in looking sharp as.... Now, although I don't Albion has a definite issue with vanity, I know you think I do too but err nope not much anyway; lets get back on track people. Anyway Lupo was looking good and it was just the push to get Albion looking a tad cooler. I saw the Aqua shirts and put one on then fumbled about looking for something to match up. Opted for a very loud gold Meriken jacket and some shiny pants from Beck and Carter, plus my favourites the classic FKNY Loafers in brown. I thought it was an excellent look and then thought I probably find matching Meriken jackets for the other two shirts if I rifled through my inventory enough. Sifting through the racks of folders I found two perfect jackets and also a couple of pairs of ideal Meriken trousers that would beautifully accompany each of the jackets. Yes colour co-ordinated to the max. I'm pretty certain most of this stuff is still available I bought most of these items at reduced rates, check them out or better still shuffle through your own inventory and mix and match some new stuff with some old to give yourself a nice sharp look. Or better still grab your own Lupo and copy his look...it works for me.

Ah that's a bugger they were so cheap as they were in the stores closing down sale, oh well at least I got them, so that's good. You could possibly tint your own modifiable white shirts. Also bare in mind I'm a profoundly idle sod so its possible these landmark SURLS may be incorrect as they are old purchases and unlike proper bloggers I have failed to rigorously check them, hey look on it as a gamble an adventure have fun!

Meriken
Beck and Carter
FKNY

Bits of this and Bits of that......

Despite my miserable posting performance and the fact I have missed a lot of Soul Mods nights out whilst sat in my chair; there have been a few cool things occuring in my somewhat limited Second Life.

First off, Shauna gave me a really groovy cap that matched my Hoorenbeek suit and Muism sweater perfectly, put a twenties spin on my modernist look but I thought it looked great and wore it whilst I grooved at Soul Mods a while back. Shauna is producing a lot of sharp designs at her store so I suggest you retro girls head over to Moonletters and check out all the stores as its a great place for retro clothing stores. For girls obviously, us blokes are as a rule too tight to splash our lindens on clothes,,,surely not! Looking at the sharp dressers at Soul Mods you think not but sadly they are generally the exception.

I bought myself another military mod outfit in my pursuit of the 1967 look, not sure if its quite right but I'll probably blog more on it at some point. Anyway, it looks kinda cool just need to find some trousers to set it in its sixties retro context. Also bought a wildly pink suit from Shiki, to show its not just Graz who does pink y'know. I'll blog more on this later too just thought I would mention it as an excuse for fiddling with throwing up a couple of snapshots.

Other madcap adventures followed reading Jellie's post over at the Moonletters blog which I saw as a challenge, okay I admit I cheated, whilst I went for a cuppa and watched TV I weighed down the page up key to gain height whilst I chilled, I felt it was only fair after Albion crunched his head on a floating platform, I realised how dull climbing to over 100,000m on your own can be and thirdly my finger dtarted to forget what its role in life was beyond depressing that key. And to be fair, there is really nothing up there, try it yourself, go on go on....

Albion chasing the moon, but eventually you leave all this behind and the sky is just full of stars, the guy who hit over a million meters must have gone crazy. Orbitting myself might get me to that hieght but as for flying there, werr I leave that to jellie, 103,000m give or take is probably my limit. If however you fancy it yoursef, feel free to fly high and send me a TP when you get there. Chilled in space, starring Albion Spitteler. Not much to do with virtual modernism, altho Mods in Space has a kind of freaky B Film ring to it, flying scooter anyone. Besides it gives me an excuse to post two awesome tracks, one is from the mid sixties pop art mod genre the other is mod suspect but a fantastic tune so what the feck. Have you guessed them yet, no? I cant hide my disappointment.

ciao

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!

Mens Stuff Fashion Hunt

Hunting prizes seems to be an endless activity in the virtual world, with hunts organised for fashion items on a regular basis. Some are themed for specific genre others are based around the stores on a sim and they are generally heavily biased towards items for the girls. However a while back a few hunts started targeted directed at men, the prizes all being for men. One such hunt is the Mens Stuff Hunt currently running until the 3rd of July 2011. Whilst these hunts are stuffed to the brim with items to find, spending hours scouring various stores to locate the gift item its not often that there are items suitable for the aspiring virtual mod. I had a brief potter about and located the odd one or tow items. So, if you're bored and fancy a look why not participate, join the group find the Blue T-Shirt symbol click on it and away you go.

So what did I find, I liked the Alphamale prize, the preppy sweater which had a revivalist feel to it, I also liked the trousers from another prize, the Brocade Tiger cargo shorts looked good for my Style Council Long Hot Summer romp, plus the Philo shades looked awesome contemporarydesign but so sharp I'd add them The Duh shoes look cool plus I'm sure there'll be a few other pieces out there just need to filter through the items to find them. Have fun.

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!

Modernist Fashion in SL

A trip to the Marketplace

Another item that is not strictly mod but the iconography used the, George Cross, all very English yells Britpop circa '90 and thus has a great NeoMod feel. Worn with a suitable pair of jeans and a low profile shirt these nicely sculpted boots give a sharp dash of modernist graphics to your look. They are well made, beautifully textured and look very good on the dancefloor. Perhaps a little small for some but a little tweaking soon solves that tiny issue. Not one for the modernist fashion purist, of which there are several, but for the indie inspired NeoMod they are a great buy for a hundred lindens over at the Marketplace.

Stuffie's- England Sneakers

Another cool item available at the Marketplace is the Fenix 194 unisex hoodie, as with several other hoodies I merely drop the scultped hood to create a decent casuals style top, ideal for the NeoMod looking to flash his stanley whilst spending very few lindens. And as this item is free, well one linden but surely thats not shattering the bank, even if you decide its rubbish you have lost almost nothing.

Its a neatly textured item that evokes sharp memories of track tops, Lois jeans and adidas trainers, floppy fringes foreign beer in bottles, and trips to the football. For a single linden do not anticipate a wealth of sculpting, its a straightforward textured jacket layer but I think its a nice addition. It fits my memories of the casuals brief and fits neatly in the wider NeoMod fashion stable that is the staple fashion fodder of this rather pitiful blog.

FENIX-194, Track Jacket

One of my current favourites bought at the Marketplace are the wonderfully versatile Adjunct- Armando jeans. I have been wearing these a lot lately either with loafers and a jacket for a sharp classicists mod look, or with more NeoMod items, such as the above sneakers, to shape a sharp indie Britpop inspired look. They are a marvelous addition to your NeoMod wardrobe, or indie freak cupboard, go on treat yourself to a pair.

The jeans are low slung, not always ideal for the mod look but acceptable and really well textured. They come complete with prim cuffs as seems standard on most jeans or trousers now, there is also a scultpie belt which I have yet to use but looks nice enough in the promo images I have seen. The 185 linden price tag may seem steep but over the years the virtual economy has changed and whilst there are still some fantastic FREE options out there the dollar speaks loudly in Second Life nowadays and if you want a quality item there is usually a price to be paid. But as these jeans can be worn in so many different ways to help create several different looks and are a well cradfted creation the price seems reasonable to me, as ever we all make our own call on price, I think they are great check them and perhaps buy them!

Adjunct - Armando Jeans

Modernist Fashion in SL

Things are becoming somewhat desperate in my pursuit of new mod clothes in the virtual world. I seem to be regurgitating the same items with the addition of a different shirt or perhaps a different sweater but essentially its the same items. One factor is undoubtedly cost I have stopped forking out a couple of thousand lindens a month or clothes and tried to be more selective in my purchases. I occassionally feck it up and buy stuff I dont need to for several hundred lindens: such as a new modifiable shape that I tweaked severely and then on reflection realised I was attempting to modify it to look like my original shape, quick waste of 700 lindens there folks. However as I quite enjoy myself by blurbing away on this little virtual modphile blog I do look out for new pieces of mod paraphernalia just to keep the old thing ticking over, that and updates of my rather quaint virtual social life. But, finding those new mod items is getting tougher and tougher and so in a desperate measure I enrolled Albion into an elite corp of fashion hunters. Once inducted he underwent a severe bout of intensive training to emerge as an uber fashion hunter. Yes I am pleased to reveal him as I think the world's first virtual mod commando.

His mission is to enter the leather clad, denim soaked soft rock hell that is Second Life male fashion, to use his uzis of cool to blast away the dross of Bon Jovi inspied fashion faux pas and forge a path of mod fashion rightousness. He shall pentrate the den of the freebie T-Shirt with the naff sex pun slogan, reap havoc amidst the heavy metal bandwagon and spray the mob of bling laden wannabe rappers with the bible according to mod. All shall hail the soul and ska inspired tunes, they shall forake their ugly fashion errors and follow the path to true fashion cool, they shall bow at the feet of Lupo's cool; hail the throne of King Slate; kowtwo before the club icon of Soul Mods, learn at the feet of Moonletters and crave to be Albion ... yes I have seen it written by the mof astrologists, Second Life shall be a haven of mod hope. And then I woke up......

Mod commando's seeking out shite fashion and blasting it away!

Yeah decided to go a tad mental today and enter the realm of the crazies anything for a laugh, the trousers and beret of Albions Mod Commando are available at the Marletplace, they were not cheap but what is nowadays in the virtual world. But, they made me laugh and despite the silliness the fact remains finding good male mod items is getting harder and harder. The guns some old Uzis from Breach I had in my inventory. Be vigilant, the mod commando's are on the march, hahaha.

Mod Commando Beret
Mod Commando Trousers

Or check the store inworld: PXDTOXIC

And using the rather tenuous mod commando link I sieze the opportunity to raid YouTube and load up one of the most awesome tunes ever!!

Modernist Fashion in SL

Tired of the same greys, blues and blacks I head into the SL Marketplace to find myself something new. After a long haul trawl through many items which were either unsuitable or awful or just more linden dosh than I cared to splash on a single small item. Eventually I found a great range of jackets from Giovanni and I opted to buy a white blazer style jacket. The jackets come in two variations one with a blazer style pocket patch and a second without. Its a classic three button style with neat prim cuffs. Worn with a black FS polo shirt and some neat black trousers it creates an effective mod look.

Finding different mod styled mod items is getting more and more difficult, I either find myself repeating items with slight twists or I grasp at straws using items that at a stretch can meet a NeoMod criteria.

..::Giovanni::.. Sport Jacket White w/ Logo

Paul Weller - Desert Island Discs

Found this old radio broadcast whilst flipping through the BBC radio pages, interesting musical choices and an insightful interview.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b008gh41

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/34730ec9#b008gh41

Awaydays

Amongst the many things I find myself endlessly wittering on about in this loose collection of waffle is casuals fashion. Undoubtedly many people assume this is a relaxed kind of dress, easy enough to surmise that but its quite the contradiction. Casuals had extremely rigid dress codes, in essence they were little more than neatly dressed football hooligans; but their hooliganism oozed sartorial style.

Read this book years ago, rekindled some lost memories not on this scale but severe enough. Along with other sharp styles, over time casual dress codes become absorbed into the wider sharp fashion yearnings of the NeoMods. Although Second Life struggles to provide an array of suitable classic mod wear it is however bulging at the seems with aspects of the casuals dress code: trainers, jeans and track wear. Find it, wear it just leave the stanleys at home cheers.

Amongst the many suppliers of trainers, Hoorenbeek should be a first port of call. There is a wealth of finely sculpted trainers here. Classic retro eighties stylings are a specialist of the Hoorenbeek designers. This classic pair are on old freebie pair modelled along classic Adidas lines. Hoorenbeek rarely strays into reality fashion these days sticking to its own virtual branding, but the styling is close enough to please the virtual mod seeking to immerse himself in some casuals footwear. Also worn here are some khaki jeans with prim cuffs from  ::Mr.Poet:: and a cool casuals styled jersey from [Sheep Door] , which is FREE just join the group and get your group gift. If Hoorenbeek is not ticking the correct boxes do not fret, there are a range of other footwear options. First to try is the uber cool Adidas branded trainers from SoReal. This is a very cool urban funk store, not cheap, but their items are well crafted and possess great scripts to help you tailor your fit. However there are trainers spread across the grid just ensure you select the correct style. Decent pair of jeans and a track top and your almost there, sharp hair and your casuals inspired NeoMod styling is complete.

As for the film and book, nostalgia of the darkest kind, read the book watch the film both are quite good, but I'm no film or literary critic I just like what I like, ciao la!

Modernist Fashion in SL

St Patrick's Day Mod

For those of you who like to join in the festivities I grabbed a few treasure hunt freebies, some group gifts and a few old favourites plus the odd cheap item to create a kind of green NeoMod look to groove with the Oirish on their big day of booze laughs and the craic. This time of year there is so much green about its hard not to trip over it so if you want to green up for next year keep your eyes open for the freebies. Albion has a neat hat from StarChild, its Fedora Brown in Tartan and a gift at Menswear Fashion Week. He is also wearing some Role Optic shades which are part of the DIMH2 Treasure Hunt. Along with an old favourite the Meriken shirt, he is wearing a sweater from Acid and Mala Creations as part of the 49L$ Sale For Dudes, it has three colours available, and is multi-layered allowing multiple wear options. Next up is a great group gift from Gizza, the jeans from their group gift for St Paddy's day, and finally my classic Gos Dr Martin boots.

So, okay where can I grab this stuff:

StarChild
Role Optic
Meriken
Acid and Mala Creations
Gizza
GOS

Modernist Fashion in SL

I was looking through the Marketplace [where else, I might as well set up residence in there] the other day when I saw a rather sharp looking rain coat. It was very much in the style of the thirties detective trench coat, I thought it looked kind of French. After thinking of capturing a snap and blogging it as a random fashion piece I changed my mind and bought it. Some might view it as not authentically mod and label it Albion's flasher mac; but, I stand by my original judgement and believe matched with the right clothes it has a very sixties European vibe pulsing through it.

The coat comes with both a jacket and shirt layer, which provides scupe for a little tinkering should you choose to. The prim cuffs and collar are a nice addition and all fit my avatar shape beautifully without the need for a touch of modifying. The texturing on the coat is very nice with no obvious flaws. Overall I am very pleased with the purchase and glad I added it to my mod wardrobe. Matching it with some brown Armidi trousers, a brown button down shirt from the Unknown Boutique and some nice brown shoes from FKNY I think it achieves a very cool French mod look, I'm certain Alan Delon* would be proud to look this sharp! Despite early doubts once the coat is worn with other classic mod styled items it becomes a very mod look in a traditionalist sixties style but also with NeoMod features. For a single item its not a cheap throw away costing just over three hundred lindens but it does provide a neat sharp look and an altwernative to the leather coat or parka that dominate the virtual mod scene. Be seen to be different on the scene if you want to catch the eye, its a truth y'know.

Ace (Face) rain mac

*who? French sixties film icon, uber cool. Google it you philistines haha

Modernist Fashion in SL

Mix and Match

I like multi-layered clothing so much as it provides an opportunity to combine various fashion items from different designs to create a look of your own. Single layer full outfit textured item, ie, a sweater textured with both a shirt and tie, leave me cold as there is no scope for such an item; it is what it is and the opportunity to vary it isd non-existent. So I had a play around with some multi-layered shirts from Meriken whilst in the Moonletters photo studio*  the other day. Using the undershirt/underpants layer for the Meriken shirt allowed me the freedom to use other items from different ranges to achieve the desired look. Mix and Match is the way forward, as Ib often see a shirt that I think would look great with a suit only to didcover it only comes in a jacket layer rendering it impossible to wear with a suit. I'm no designer its another technical task way beyond my talents but I imagine its not too odious a task to create items on jacket/shirt/undershirt and underpants layers to give the item full versatilty and a use beyond its basic fashion function. So get with the programme and open yoyur designs to real life, I mean its not like real life items are restricted to a single use so why should virtual ones suffer such a fate. Get with it.

Here I used a range of Meriken shirts, on the underwear layer, in tandem with ties from the Hasendow suits on the shirt layer and matched to a range of trousers from Armidi, the shoes are almost free a 20L$ splash over at DUH! I colour co-ordinated the clothes but mixing the colours would work well, I also opted not to wear a jacket as this showed the shirt/tie combination more clearly but after I had finished snapping I threw a black Meriken jacket on over the shirt/tie to complete my mix and match. The addition of a shirt on the underpants layer also means it can be worn with the low slung trousers, that dominate Second Life design, without having to resort to a jacket to cover up the exposed underbelly [the one failing of the fabulous Unknown Boutique shirts, which I think are fantastic and look sublime but do possess this irritaing weak link].

I also swapped shoes to cill outside Kim and Edens store, wearing my Jeepers Creepers Strike bowling shoes, classic mod footwear.

Meriken
Armidi
Hasendow

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.......

Fashionable Updates

I was again trudging, and yes it is a trudge to find anything really relevant to this blog now, through the Marketplace when I stumbled upon a couple of items when I entered "Carnaby" in the search engine. First up popped a skinhead inspired shorty skirt outfit that might appeal to some of the dancers at Soul Mods, not strictly mod or skinhead but this style appeals to many and so I've put up a link and a snap in case there are girls interested. Yes I am  a nice chap, ta!

Jane Westminster

Next up were a couple of familiar faces and if you cant plug your mates stuff on your own blog your up shit creek. So I';m happy to once again punt forward Eden and Kim's clothes, which can be bought at their store on the Moonletters Sim and now also at the Marketplace. Their design style is probably the most authentically sixties on the grid, just need to get sewing a few geezers shirts. Check it out girls, if you want to look the part at the mod events I waffle on about this is an ideal starting point.

Kim's stuff :-  https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/68479

Eden's stuff :-  https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/69500

So there you go a couple of quick fashionables for all the girlies out there, better get some myself don't want to disappoint Graz and his  conspiracy theory, hahaha.

Modernist Fashion in SL

One of the most irritating aspects of my self imposed austerity pact, is when I see fantastic items that beautifully fit the mod brief but are just outside of the price band I've agreed with myself for this month. I have so many suits, most of which never get worn that can I justify buying a whole load more, however fantastic they look. So imagine the beating I gave myself when I stumbled upon Aragane Nishi clothing range at the Marketplace, not one not two but twelve beautiful suits designed and textured in styles that are ideal for the aspirant virtual mod. But with each of the two fat packs rolling in at a hefty 3000$l sadly there is no snapshot of Albion wearing them, its just the store snapshots that made it onto the blog.

Its quite difficult to write an accurate review of items when you don't possess them as the nuances of prim fittings and how the textures look and function are obscured from the reviewer if all he has to work with is a snapshot. But from what I can see and what I have read in the details the suits seem to be a fine addition to the virtual mods wardrobe. There are several variations, multi-layered clothing and the correct prim usage on the cuffs and trousers to give the suits the sharpness required of the typical mod suits. However, six grand for the two fat packs is very steep, even if its providing a significant discount on buying an individual suit. I think I'll opt to buy a single suit but the tough decision then is which one? At 700$l I want to be sure to get the correct one, in and ideal world I'd grab the lot, but I'm just not Chelsea y'know and so over the next few days I'll be wondering which one I should go for.

Now, if you're West London and have no qualms about splashing the cash and want a whole range of sharp sixties suits grab the fat packs, I wont be jealous, honest.

Aragane Nishi

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

Sometimes you have an item thats been sat in your inventory and you find that you forgot you had it and when you finally throw it on it opens up a wealth of fashion possibilities. I did this the other day with a simple but nicely textured white cardigan, I threw on a suitably mod T-Shirt with some wild free purple trousers I picked up free from the London Freebies Store and decided I was ideally equipped for that scooter rally to Brighton beach...sadly that sim is no more so I had to make do with a scooter ride around Moonletters. Despite the klack of a promanade I still felt cool on my Slate built Vespa, dressed in white like a mod icream-man, hell yeah babeee. One well made item can exhert a strong influence over several other items sharpening them up and imbuing them with a nice touch of class.

Then a quick change into the fabulous Armidi black trousers and a great black button down shirt from the Unknown Boutique, the all black look offset by the sharp white cardigan giving a more sophisticated look: sharper cleaner more cut for that dance at the local club cica 1964. The cardigan still retains the casualness of the look but the neat shirt and trousers upscale the clothing from the T-Shirt on the beach feel to a more,,all because the lady loves milk tray elegance ideal for a night at the Twisted Wheel, gone but never forgotten.

The shades are free too, a simple textured pair which look okay and suit these looks but there are better sculpted pairs of shades on the market but if you like them , they are yours at Alphavillain.

And, the cardigan, I almost forgot, thats available from Alienated.

Alienated
Armidi
Unknown Boutique

London Freebie Store
Alphavillain

Modernist Fashion in SL

Suits Galore

If you are opting to dip your toes into the virtual mod scene there is no actual requirement to dress the part, indeed the amount of leather clad bikers or alien burlesque troopers that attend virtual mod clubs probably outnumbers those dressed as mods. But, sometimes its cool to dress for the part and therefore you are going to need at least one mod essential - a decent suit. Call me a fashion snob but I'm afraid that selection of free business men suits with a colourful ranee of shirt and tie combinations just will not cut it! Despite this looking like a sharp suited mod does not require the purchase of multitudes of lindens dollars, a visit to the Marketplace and select a few search options to reduce the number of items available and in the 100-500linden dollar range you can find plenty of suits that will enable you to adopt anything from a sharp early sixties look to a more flamboyant mid sixties mod fashion colourfest. Even here I would advise caution as a high price does not always equate with quality so exercise some caution. Five hundred lindens splashed out on a shoddy one piece [layer] suit might leave you with a few regrets. But, so long as the suit has a cool vibe and you're happy with it go for it. Ive bought 50l$ suits that have made me look far more mod than 1000l$ top end design garments. So buyer beware and take heed at what you wear.

In terms of mod fashion I can only points you in the direction of the hugely undervalued Kinks who sum it up far more succinctly than I ever could, err thank you Ray.

ciao