the notebook/fashion diary with an identity crisis.
Merveilleuse. [Fr. merveilleux, marvelous, exquisite] A fashionable woman under the Directory in France at the close of the 18th century, at which time ultra-fashionable people affected extraordinary innovations in costume. Hence, any new style in female costume.
the first thing i thought of when i saw the new skins from MadScience Labs was the flayed god, xipe totec. of course, i don't expect the rest of the world to be as pre-columbian addled as i am. the next thing i wanted immediately was a human skin ballgown (in second life of course) to go with the xipe totec theme. for those who do not know, the priests used to wear the flayed skins of sacrificial victims till they rotted off. besides, if you were skinless it seems that would be the perfect material to wear.
sadly, there were no human skin gowns that i could locate in sl. however amusingly enough i came upon a company in the real world that makes faux human skin garments. after some searching, i found an acceptable substitute, the cute zombie bloom dress from Rotten Toe. it is not a new release but i couldn't resist the human heart ornament and blood spatters on the dress. juana decided to get all julio cortazar as a tourist, and it was intensely hilarious to be at the Visit Mexico sim in this getup, bumping into honeymooning avatars on horses.
juana "jose cuervo you are a friend of mine" wears:
zombie bloom and visions of death eyes by rotten toe
mia hair by ploom
mad science [[skinnned]] skin by Rev Eponym
thigh high boots by j's
paperdoll necklace by i love 13
p bouc piercing by female paradox & alpha
skull mask by punkerella summers
bloody bonehead bracelets by retox
yes. i am into the big dresses. perhaps it is the residue of the elizabethan gowns i used to wear in the SCA. this is a pretty excessive dress. whoa. paging mr. beardsley. it looks like the peacock tendrils threaten to engulf juana and any other unfortunate avatar that might be nearby. however, that's beside the point. i think i am kind of in love with the house of beningborough now, because they seem to specialize in that kind of dress, you know, the showstopper dress that has its own zipcode and upstages all the other people at the party.
i have to say that i really was at a loss where to go in this ultimate statement gown, and was completely surprised at how fabulous the chouchou xvi (the babel) sim was. i have visited a few of the chouchou sims before, but hadn't seen this one yet. i still don't know exactly what it means, or what the boxes are supposed to do, and for the life of me at first i imagined some sort of jacob's ladder with angelic fashionistas floating up and down (but the funky alpha effect kept messing up my dress) and then i wanted to pull out a lighter and sing "stairway to heaven" because i realized how hilarious it was. this whole dream/hallucination of ours has an economy, and juana just happens to be one of the materialistic bottom-feeding shopping heaux that makes sl run. that is, never a producer, always a consumer....
slairway to juana wears:
dancing peacocks dress by house of benington
delilah stockings and glovesby nightshade designs
aztec goddess 2 tattoo by ink blots
tilly (night) hair by truth
nose piercing by avz
rose hairpin suede wine by gfield
abbadon torc by tekeli'li
antracite skull earrings by DECO
thigh high boots by j's
devon 3a skin and visions of death eyes
by rotten toe
I fervently love Eshi Otawara's clothes, even tho I've never met her in person. She is one the deities in my revered personal SL fashion trinity (the other divine pair being Cutea Benelli and Alpha Auer). Her new releases lately have just made me squeal with delight. Which brings me to the subject of this installment--I was going to pretend to have a screaming shoegasm in her store, (and indeed she said via IM it would be alright) but you know I can't do that sort of thing without laughing. Enter the immensely talented Miss Lillian Shippe, who so graciously provided a genuine sample on request (a rather impertinent request I suppose) and even remixed it! I must thank her again and express my deep gratitude for such a beautiful gesture and her beautiful voice.
On a related note, why the hell are sex animations in SL so stupid? I mean, poor Juana is a virgin and all, and I've literally never had a reason to use them (just imagine me trying to explain that I needed it to pretend to have a shoegasm in a store) but I swear I was so annoyed with how idiotic it made Juana look that I really wanted to tie that stupid prim genitalia to a prim brick and throw it through an *unnamed* prim plate glass window.
100% Genuine Orgasm performed and mixed by Miss Lillian Shippe, Vocal Orgasm Model.
Juana wears:
Aria Pompadour gown, hat, gloves, and facial tattoo
Mayan Dream tattoo by Garden of Ku (tinted)
Bloody BoneHead Bracelets by ReTox
Thigh High boots by J's
Abbadon torc by Tekeli'li
RUI306 Hair by Boon
Xcite genitalia
Bone queen skin by Cutea Benelli
Visions of Death eyes by Rotten Toe
Special thanks to Miss Lillian Shippe and Eshi Otawara
Pyongyang Traffic Girls are (perhaps with the exception of the mao suit) the chi-chiest of all fashion influences originating from dour totalitarian communist nations. These hot uniformed patriotic creatures stand in their impossibly cute outfits (who doesn't love white ankle socks and little brown heeled oxfords) at intersections performing impossibly robotic movements (as only crazy goose stepping bankrupt communist nations with brilliant athletic teams and starving populaces devise) directing non-existent traffic on pyongyang's mean streets.
i have to start this post with a shout out to marisol koencamp of the blog some strangeness in the proportion. i saw her fabulous last post featuring the chrome goddess skins by Terra Cioc and started drooling uncontrollably despite my somewhat semi-serious aversion to gynoids. then i invited my two friends Dimitri Rizooto and Circe Timtam, and guess what happened.............
it just goes to show what terrible role models fashion bloggers can be, no? :D
juana manuel as the gothloli doll wears:
duck shoot mustache by katatonik
triquetra posture collar by lolapop!
aura top hat
and chiroptera bloomers by violent seduction
black dancer vinyl gloves
and replicant eyes by rotten toe
poe corset and panties by nightshade designs
broken crinoline skirt by weird designs
enigma bracelets by loulou&co
ailith hair grafite by wasabi pills
j's thigh high boots
chrome goddess v02 skin by terra cioc
Special thanks to Brad Murphy for permission
to use his cover of "When Doves Cry"
vibrator sound effect from
freesounds.org
Circe Timtam as the Girl wears:
Skin - Nomine Sylvan Ultralight-glam goblin
Hair - ZF-Tickles Hair-Frost Marshmallow
Eyes - Slick-Blink Rumpleteazer-New Growth
Ears & Tail - Urban Dare Neko Ears w/rings and
Urban Dare Neko Straight Tail- Long/Slim w/dagger
Piercings - Slick-Triple Erl and
Slick-Triple Lip Piercing w/Triple Round Dangles
Tattoos - Aitui Cherry Blossoms (red) undie & bra layer
Bra - Artilleri Deanna Bra *cherry black*
Sweater - Pixel Mode Twist Sweater-Black
Skirt - Blow-Up MiniSkirt Zipped-WhiteTartan
Panties - Blow Up-Black Panties Low
Pearls - Shiny Things-Knotted Bead Strand
in Mother of Pearl
Boots - Pixel Mode-Viv Boots-Jet w/Silver
Stockings - Sheer Torn Fishnets in black
Dimitry Rizooto as the Boy wears:
Skin - Daniel Peach 04 - LAQ,
Hair - Caught - Shag,
Pants - Deconstructed Blue - Nomine
Wife Beater - Plain White Tank - Mechanism ,
Shirt - Sinnerman Smoker - Nomine,
Sunglasses - Recon - Role Optic,
Tattoo - Viva La Zapata by garden of Ku
Special Thanks to Dimitry for the use
of his house and also
his excellent poseball wrangling
how does the saying go? all the world is a stage? i like to think so. i was in a re-enactment society for about 10ish years in my previous existence, and i have been lucky enough to have visited the reproduction elizabethan theater in austin at castleton. i loved the contrast of the simplicity of it with the garb people were wearing. and so when i put on this most theatrical of outfits i immediately thought of my old real life garb, and of the absence of scenery that would distract from the magnificence of juana's attire. i like the illusory nature of it all. that and cross-dressing boys. it is kind of like second life, no?
ok, that's a stretch. but i do have a bit of an affinity or a soft spot at least for that sort of thing. when i was ain the SCA i wore ruffs and an awful lot of black. which is why when i saw this outfit from grim bros/cutea benelli i flipped out.
it is most definitely a gothic lolita dress but when i first saw it, especially the way she styled it, the delicate looking filigree-like collar immediately reminded of a ruff supportasse, along with the general spanish saya alta looking high neck and the cage crinoline skirt. And the incredibly detailed optional spine attachment reminded me very much of a standing wired veil. i was in raging mad love with this dress just based on the sheer deathly exuberance of the details and the decidedly elizabethan flavor. every item on the gown is incredible. and as always there are optional pieces to mix and match. the spine attachment and bustle skirt were my favorites. i did modify the gown a little with other pieces from different designers for the first look.
juana dramatica wears:
pensees noires gown set by grim bros/cutea benelli
steampunk'd cloisonne corset, bone collector collar, and mourna skin by nomine
gloves by sweetest goodbye
mad lilly hair ebony by i love 13
lucy hair by magika
37 hair by W&Y
thigh high boots by j's
aura parasol by violent seduction
to live and to die tattoos by bakersfield kidd
skull nose ring by avz
hair rose by gfield
at blackfriars theater http://slurl.com/secondlife/Shakespeare/20/63/45 listening to too much sand on headphones by mobster download at: http://www.jamendo.com/
i just had to have the new nomine milkmaid dress...it is so gorgeous and sexy and it comes in several colors. juana has gotten several compliments wearing it, and i would highly recommend going out and buying all of them myself. amusingly enough when i donned the dress, it put me in a bit of a valentine's day mood, but in my case that means laughing at necrophilia. it did remind me a little of what a lonely girl working at a morgue might wear. or at least my idea of what a lonely girl working at a morgue might wear.
i was encouraged/joined/enabled in this jollity by the ever fabulous recidivist sideways, who volunteered to play the dead guy. we were also supervised very carefully by the diabolically fashionable Rev Eponym (who was observing off camera). i have mentioned before that Liqueur Felix has the coolest images and flickr site for browsing for new places, and it is there that i found the slurl to Ben's Morgue in the Wastelands.
special guest star recidivist sideways wears:
custom skin and accessories
by munchflower zaius of nomine
necrophilia valentine juana wears:
peach milkmaid dress, primrose virgin tart skin,
& heart repaired necklace female by nomine
latex gloves from dark dancer set by rotten toe
black boots (high) by j's boots
skull nose ring by avz
kitty eyes blood black by yukis devin
new 47 hair by W&Y
at ben's morgue, wastelands
http://mixoom.com/map/The%20Wastelands/96/250/76
"how deep is your love cover" by david choi (thanks to david choi for permission)
download at:
http://davidchoimusic.com/downloads/covers/
special thanks to Rev Eponym
for ensuring no corpses
or small animals were harmed in the
making of this fashion machinima.
if life is a dream, then second life is probably more a hallucination or delerium. it was very hard for me at first to describe this dream-like quality in second life properly, but my dear friend magenta bleac, who is australian, told me a little of the concept of the dreaming, or the dreamtime. i know it does not have the same connotation or the exact same meaning but i find the term "the dreaming" to give a good sense of what i encounter daily in second life.
the most fascinating thing for me is that like a dream, second life lets people create these amazing environments, completely free of all the pesky constraints in real life, like gravity, etc. and when i visit some of these places i very often feel as if i am stumbling into someone's dream. this is very much the case with the sim known as 03. it consists of a gorgeous desolate desert at ground level, with a kind of arena, like ancient ruins, and also a huge chain that tethers a floating object high above. if you ascend to the floating island, you will find an improbably beautiful scene of a snowy wood and a little cottage. in all it is splendidly beautiful.
as usual it was a kind of happy accident that i seemed to be wearing something that matched up very well with my surroundings. i have an unabashed love of i love 13, and this is one of their new releases, the moon dress (night). i am a great fan of that new look i see emerging, a kind of wispy broken doll gothy look, that seems to be a kind of merging of goth loli, and regular goth, and horror, and god knows what. the leading designers in this style seem to be i love 13, violent seduction, rotten toe, and aura falta of tacky star. the hair is from W&Y, which is now my new hair obsession. the skin is from rotten toe, and i'd like to mention it as it is very much one of my favorites, being a dollskin but one that is decayed, and comes with three distinct stages of rottenness, and also a set of pus eyes, though i am wearing the gazing ball eyes from miasnow.
the dreaming juana wears:
i love 13 perfect moon dress (night)
j's boots black
immaculate heart by tekeli'li
neck corset by ru
w&y hair new36
may buried pus stage 2 skin by rotten toe
hair rose by gfield
gazing ball eyes by miasnow
at 03 http://slurl.com/secondlife/REZ/130/9...
it is interesting that in second life there is not always the chance to make a sentimental journey--so often things vanish without a trace, without warning. there are some places that seem to be imbued with a kind of eternal specialness, even when they are broken beyond repair. i would say that the city of nexus prime is one of those places. two years ago it was lost, in a kind of uniquely second life catastrophe.
roaming the city now, watching it rebuild, is kind of like seeing it heal, and also a bit like visiting ancient ruins. the idea of the place still remains though. for many people this second life city had a very profound impact on their lives. i can't say that i was one of the people who knew it well, but i did love the place, and it carries a fateful significance for me.
normally i would be dressed in some sort of commemorative attire but i was summoned there by a very dear friend, and i arrived in what i was wearing, which was the new rottenesque outfit by rotten toe (and various other rotten toe items) plus my habitual j's boots and tattoos and eyes from Tacky Star's charity (Haiti) offering. i admit i feel somewhat facetious relating what i wore in these circumstances, but i suppose life must go on, even in a pretend world.
juana wears:
vika hair, jane skin, visions of death eyes,
rottenesque outfit, and neck ruff by rotten toe
spiderfae sleeves and gloves by nomine
thigh high boots by j's
birdie bye bye and satin button eyes by tacky star
skull nose piercing by avz
the nexus haiku by grady echegaray
there are some days that have unexpected good fortune. and so it was today, while shopping in grim bros, which of course is the brand of one of my very favorite designers ever, cutea bennelli. and guess what???!!! she dropped a few boxes on me!
and omg the dresses! this is the first one. i put it on and was completely in love. cutea is doing a set of dresses based on the original grimm brothers fairy tales, and so this is her interpretation of schneewitchen, or snow white. i had no idea that snow white was getting drunk on apple schnapps to deal living with OCD dwarves in a commune! (thanks cutea for this splendid interpretation) and the skirt with the attached dwarves is all kinds of terrible funny.
i went and wandered around in chakryn forest a bit, which is bettina tizzy's lovely sim. while i was there i met a charming group of people who were very amused at my dress. but then again, how often do you teleport into a forest and find a vast naked woman and a drunk snow white stumbling around with dwarves all over her skirt?
drunken snow white juana wears:
schneewitchen outfit and la vie en rose blanc et jaune shoes by cutea bennelli/grim bros (OMG thanks cutea!!!!!!!!!!!)
primrose virgin tart black skin by nomine
heaven's tears eyes by tohru
