Second Life Fashion Review

Second Life's fashion industry is a fashionista's wildest fantasy. The most exotic designs from some of the most creative minds around the world are available to you with the click of a button. Unfortunately, a much neglected demographic in SL's fashion industry are male fashion connoisseurs. While there are many designers who attempt to reach SL's fashion conscious gentlemen, there are only a select few who have managed to combine both high-quality textures with fashionable designs. Laqroki (formerly RaC), known for its high quality "Portrait Skins" has recently released an admirable Fall menswear line,available in the Apparel section of the store at Laqroki 111, 161, 65. Apparel Designer Winter DiPrima has created a wardrobe that any fashionable SL gentleman worth his salt would be happy to have in his inventory.

Laqroki's graphic tees make for great casual-wear for the Second Life man. Pairing fun, interesting designs with colors that are easy on the eyes, these whimsical shirts help you make a statement without ever having to type into local chat.

The open neck and rolled up sleeves of this pearl pinstripe shirt really stresses the "casual" in "business casual." The loosened necktie prim (with black and white color options) declares you the bad boy of the boardroom.

Never underestimate the casual sophistication of a V-Neck sweater. Shown here in power color blue, this item can be worn over jeans or paired with Laqroki's khaki shorts for a laid-back, yet still neat look.

For those crisp, Autumn days, pick up Laqroki's lightweight long jacket with a prim hood. You can purchase the jacket by itself or with an irremovable plaid shirt like this one in green. The jacket by itself can be paired with a collared shirt for a more stylish look, or paired with a tee for a casual, laid back day.

Laqroki's jeans are a nice balance between being realistically detailed without looking like they were directly cut and pasted from a RL magazine. They are available in several colors and can be dressed up or down with included belt and no-belt options.

Another must-have item is the stylish high collar coat, which is offered in a large selection of colors. Buy it in black and pair it with a shirt and tie for a more serious, sophisticated look, or purchase it in beige and pair it with a bright color like pink for something more stylish. For a more downtown urban look, buy it in military green and pair it with a grey tee.

Sasy Scarborough dropped the "S" bomb on the "Digit Darkes" blog early this month: a 50% off sale on all the shoes in the store! I've only recently had some time to check the sale out. The DD store doesn't yet have a huge variety in terms of shoe styles, but each style does offer a good selection of color and texture options. I picked up two pairs: The "Elphaba Heel Bow Heels" and the "Jen Heels" in the "Pucci Print."


The Elphaba Heels are great but I do have a small gripe about the texturing, particularly on the gold fringed lining and gold sequin-work. I'm not entirely anti-photosourcing but the color of these shoes do take a bit of a hit because of it. This is a REALLY small point to note on an otherwise good-looking shoe. They are well sculpted and come with an optional sexy-walk override to use with the shoes.



The Jen Heels in the Pucci print are fabulous. The colors are bright and eye-catching, the texture of the jeweled buckle looks excellent and everything looks smooth and seamless. I'm not too crazy about the jeweled "X" on the backs of the heels of both pairs of shoes, but that's just me.

Overall Evaluation: Well made shoes, but I feel the 50% off sale price should be the actual price for some of the designs.

Let me make one thing very clear: I appreciate the work of all of SL's fashion designers, and no I don't think I can do it better myself. I tried designing for a few days before I admitted defeat and decided to leave that job to the professionals who are already doing such a wonderful job of it. That being said, the reason why my critiques aren't simply paragraphs of glowing praise but are ACTUALLY CRITIQUES is because of this appreciation. Let me explain.

I write fiction in RL. Of course I love it when people tell me how much they loved my story. Who doesn't love praise? But praise alone doesn't help anyone. I heavily rely on the people who tell me what DOESN'T work and offer helpful suggestions on how to fix it. Those are the people that truly appreciate my art and want to see me improve. In turn, that is what I wish to do for SL's fashion designers. Believe me, I recognize the hours of work that must have gone into creating your designs and I admire your effort to make SL a more beautiful place. My desire is only to help that effort in my small way. If you find that offensive, there is a small "X" in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

For those of you who are still reading, thank you. I appreciate your comments and suggestions. The purpose of this blog is to educate SL's fashion consumers on what they're spending their hard-earned Lindens on and to offer constructive criticism to SL's designers.

Stick with me guys, this should be fun.