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.
It is such a lovely feeling when you know that it is nearly over and it is going to be everything you wanted and more. I still have a ways to go with this but it is coming together so beautifully.
The yelek and belt buckles are both solid 20s mother of pearl, and i managed to find some MOP fingerbone shaped beads by accident. The ollin-lauburu symbol my husband made for me turned out fine, and those are yak bone beads from a mala there. The fabric is from an unused bolt of mourning silk for a kimono, and it is lined with silk from my first wedding dress.
I'm going to add another ollin-lauburu on the center back seam of the yelek in the manner of a semi-formal single crested kimono.
It's been about four years since I've posted and many things have happened. I'm returning to this blog to chronicle my new fashionaut adventures in real life. Instead of going to normalcy I seem to have fallen into another set of subcultures as is my wont. So now the focus is on belly dance costumes, and steampunk, because that seems to be the obsessions of the moment.,,
So we begin with a new costume I'm making for my appearance at the ABDC showcase, which isn't a big deal, but for me it is a long cherished goal that was interrupted by a severe illness that might have ended my ability to partake in this hobby.
So to prevent any mishap I am adding embroidered symbols on my costume. The theme for this is the Aztec glyph "ollin." It means movement, and it is part of the name of the current (or if you believe it ended in 2012) the past sun.
The colors I chose are going to be based on this scheme. But everyone does Art Nouveau so I'm going for a more 20s look.
So, it has been over a year since I have posted. I will get to what I have been up to in that time, later. For now, I will introduce you to my human avatar, which has been shown in these virtual pages before. Her name is Calamity Juana. Yes, it is much easier to keep my alter egos with variations of the same name, and I have been answering to Juana now, for ages and ages it seems. Calamity Juana is a member of a Steampunk fusion dance troupe called "Ladies of Arabella Rose" and we've had a few shoots and some events lined up.
Today we had a photoshoot at Mission San Jose, in San Antonio. I wore this outfit. My Steampunk character is supposed to be from South Texas, (specifically the defunct Republic of the Rio Grande) and I have taken pains to give her outfits that kind of flavor. Many of the people in that area are technically criollo Tejanos, and not Mexican. It seems like a slight distinction but one my relatives are very fussy about. Touchy points of pride and all that.
The Mission is still in use and in this image I was wondering if I would have to escape because parishioners were still coming out the doors. I wanted to go inside but our outfits were a little too risque for that. We did go into several rooms that were obviously kitchen and living rooms. The walls are pretty thick for defense and for primitive A/C.
Here's a different shot of the same outfit. I had a long discussion with my mother and examined two photographs of my great-grandparents during the early Edwardian Period. There's not a great deal of visual evidence for what Tejanos wore but my mother was able to give me some anecdotal guidance based on the old people she saw and knew. Generally clothing was very simple and somewhat vaguely kept to the style as best as they could. My personal preference for a blouse and a dark skirt is apparently very much in line with what a lady of Juana's background would wear.
My preference for flashy colors and flamboyant styles was not at all typical of a Tejana lady apparently. I was annoyed to find out that the custom of wearing all black to mass was not common in this area. At any rate, the effect I was after was a neat elegance, with a bit of an equestrian flavor tossed in. The bolero was a horror to assemble--the pattern is from 1863 and people were TINY then. The pattern as it was unaltered would barely fit a child. It took some screaming and continual muslin making and even now it still needs a little work in the form of darts for more shaping. The grey lace mantilla on my head belonged to my grandmother, and I figured why not, since I was technically in a churchyard. The two bracelets on my arm were given to my by my grandfather when I was about 14, during a shopping expedition in Laredo.
The Pious Leather Calamity Juana wears:
Black headband veil and mini top hat, from Claire's. Leather corset from Orchardcorsets.com Leather gloves from Amazon Black linen skirt made from Burda 7894 patter
Beige lace shirt given as a gift from my mother Bolero adapted from original 1863 pattern done in red silk chenille Lunge whip borrowed from the barn Megan wig by Sepia
what you have neglected because of your happiness. that is the only excuse i will give you, that i was following the light at the end of my lantern. it is still burning very brightly, and i am still journeying with my companions and my new love, but i am learning to wander through the flowers and the high grass in the fields that flank the road, happily unaccompanied in my own reveries. but no bouquets of regret.
this little bouquet was collected as i wandered an unknown sim last october, dressed as coatlicue, the serpent skirted mother goddess. today when i was working on something unrelated i saw the clips from this adventure, and decided to use it as my re-entry into the sl blogging "monde" after my long retirement. it is also something of a late valentine, too.
coatlicue juana wears:
devon 3b skin & visions of death eyes by
rotten toe
guja snake queen outfit & modded headdress elements from vita's boudoir
pout tattoo by little pricks
archaic choker by grim bros
los muertos tattoo
x & y model hair 16
thigh high boots by j's
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
i've not been to Mexico, DF. it is one of my dreams to visit, someday. it seems so interesting--apart from the sheer intensity of such a crowded place, there is the unusual geographic situation, and also the weight of history. the residents there are supposed to even have a special character, and have a charming (and from what I read, perhaps derogatory in some contexts) nickname (Chilango). btw, as a completely off-topic aside, i keep up with a particularly hilarious blog called "effective swearing in d.f." which should help me a great deal should i ever get to visit the real Mexico, D.F.
so i thought it very interesting then when i was looking at Liqueur Felix's flickr stream (always the most gorgeous amazing finds and pictures of different places to visit btw) and saw this image of the ciudad de mexico sim, which is apparently a roleplaying sim run by brasilians. upon visiting it in person, i found it really quite lovely, though the observer tag is distinctly hideous to wear (it looks like a fishbowl over your avatar's head). when i was walking there parts of the city reminded me vaguely of nexus prime in 07, and a little of hangar liquides before it moved to insilico. there are three levels to the city, with interesting and mostly empty buildings to look at, but take care. while i was doing my research and exploring the sim, i happened to touch a transport button and it teleported me into an arena on the upper level, into what i think was a beauty pageant that was in progress while i was there. sadly there is no photographic evidence of this caper, as i was so completely flustered i ran across the room and jumped off the building. ah well next time. and now you know this amusing little anecdote.
i was really at a loss what to wear--however there are shops when you first teleport in, and i found a really unusual outfit from rfyre, called providence. of course i pared it down a little to suit my purposes. its really quite striking on its own, but i liked very much how it seemed to combine so well with the deconstructed trenchcoat from nomine. i had also found the amazing mirror hair from paradox and alpha, along with their interesting facial piercings in my earlier travels. as it is this outfit turned out to be a collection of new things and my favorite standbys, as you might recognize the rest of what juana is wearing from other posts.
juana the wannabe cyber chilango wears:
providence house of rfyre
deconstructed trenchcoat by nomine
aztec sample bracelets and armlets by otaku designs (group gift)
bone queen bonus skin cutea benelli
mirror c14 hair and P_Stras piercings by Paradox & Alpha
ving boots by shiny things
mayan dream tattoos by garden of kuu (tinted red)
cybermacahuitl by cortech enterprises
i am very very fond of horses, i am lucky that my parents have them and i get to go ride occasionally. i must say that with my overactive fashion mania that i have never really liked most of the riding habits out there, and always wanted to devise a kind of private personal riding habit according to my tastes. women's riding habits and equestriennes are rather charmingly called "amazona" in spanish, and so of course i would want to call my version of a riding habit (and an equestrienne styled avatar) a "glamazona."
i have always wanted to learn to ride aside, and so in my mind the glamazona prototype would definitely have a skirt. i love spanish-style habits, and the magnificent Yuki-Hime ensemble from The Black Canary has that kind of severe yet graceful flavor, though it is more properly described as a sort of neo-victorian-kimono mashup. it is a very distinctive and ladylike outfit, which i totally fell in love with as soon as i saw it. and the sleeves would look gorgeous hanging down from the horse. the Yuki hime outfit is part of a hunt though, check the Black Canary store for details. i chose a spanish-style hat to go with it, and of course if i was riding through the wastelands i would want to take a katana to use against snakes and other such hazards. perhaps this is purely fancy on my part but this area is strongly reminiscent of deep south texas (near the border), and i half expect to see a coyote or two.
and this is why i was listening to narcocorridos while writing up this post. i must say that the horse is nice though a bit complicated. i have yet to find a horse maker in second life who makes peruvian pasos, which are the horses that i ride. someday perhaps. this particular horse is from AKK Horses, and it is interesting. i have always wanted to have an arabian, so why not. it is however a trifle expensive. it is my very first second life horse. i am so pleased i don't have to clean his feet.
juana la glamazona tejana wears:
Yuki hime by the Black Canary (winter hunt gift)
Andalusian hat by Daini Ken
Miriel Granny boots by Siyu Suen
Cortech Katana by Beezle Warburton
Bone Collector collar by Nomine
Yanzi wave hair by DrLife
Raine cream Dolly tears red by popfuzz
Heavens Tear eyes by Tohru
Arabian Horse by AKK Horses (Kristivon Kolache)
at las animas, ashvasta
listening to contrabando y traicion cover by
maldito bajo
Siyu Suen has the most insanely fabulous parties. not only does she dj divinely but she also has hit on a very brilliant method to keep lag down--when you attend one of her parties (masked and in formal clothes) you must keep your prim count at 200 prims or less. it sounds mad, but i do believe it causes unbelievable creativity in the ensembles that are worn. and trust me, the people who go (myself not included) are fierce slfashion titans!
i tried to get a few little films in of the remarkable scene--every single person looked unique and distinctive. truly there were too many to count. but at the end of the fray, the ball had its king in carthalis rossini, who did a splendid interpretation of baron samedi in a nomine sugar skull skin, and also the three queens, who were mabb dilwegg, who looked amazing carrying her decapitated head as a zombie marie antoinette, and the incredible twin duo of mourna biziou and achariya maktoum, who were twin creepy broken dolls.
i think the brilliance of the company speaks for itself, i only hope i was able to catch a bit of the amazing scene that unfolded last night.....
i only wish to add here at the end, what i wore. i found a somewhat expensive but really innovative store, called violator. i suspect people already know about it, but when i saw this dress i knew i must have it. and so i must show it to you, because i love it.....
juana's masquerade gown:
(abridged) @192 prims:
death of the black swan dress by violator
aztec gold bracelets by otaku designs
skull mask
hair rose by gfield
mary jane shoes by violent seduction
burnt bones skin by nomine
skull ear spikes by mad about
visions of death eyes by rotten toe
hair by deviant kitties
(unabridged version, which what is pictured above):
death of the black swan dress by violator
aztec gold bracelets by otaku designs
hair rose by gfield
bonus cruelty skin by cutea benelli
mayan dream tats by garden of kuu (tinted red)
skull ear spikes by mad about
visions of death eyes by rotten toe
bax boots
hair by deviant kitties
when i was small i was scared half to death by tales of la llorona, a spectral crying woman who roamed the banks of the river (supposedly the one in our town of course), creeping up and snatching children. i spent an awful lot of time at my grandparents' house and they lived a few blocks from the river.....
it wasn't till later that i learned that la llorona is a folk legend that is pretty widespread....and she is apparently all over the place. it doesn't lessen the uncomfortable feeling i get when i have to pass by the water at night, or hear distant sounds of women crying.....
however it is an excellent excuse to blog the uberfabuloso dia de los muertos jewelry set made by the lovely lola79 heinrichs of otaku designs!!!! <333!!!! and i love how the main pendant has a lovely purple flame too!
la llorona juana wears:
dia de los muertos necklace & bracelets by otaku designs
maya hair by mirja mills
jasmine dress set by fumiwo
immortal dreamer skin by miasnow
carpe noctem ivory boots by nightshade designs
visions of death eyes by rotten toe
occasionally it makes me laugh to imagine juana as being a dark and sinister fashionista follower of the old gods, prowling the landscapes of second life looking for noobs to sacrifice, to keep up her outfit juju. hey, stranger things have happened. so juana got dressed to kill in one of the new nomine sugar skull skins (throws self on ground in manic abasement and worship of the divine munchflower z.) and went out to look for sacrificial victims for her obscene and deadly fashion rites.
but there is a slight problem with this ho-hum rummaging for sacrificial noobs. this creepy little town......is inhabited by an inescapable horrendous terrible horror the likes of which nobody has ever seen! (and if they did see it they'd go mad!) now, at this point i am thinking that if this little scenario wasn't ever made as a santo film, then it really should have been. (i did google santo vs. the great old ones just to be sure) though actually i would rather have masked takenouchi from cromartie high school in the movie. or at least dress poor juana like him.
apart from these little technical difficulties, now is the time on merveilleuse where we gush about the fashion. and i admit to falling in love with sangre noir, though i first was introduced to this designer when i bought the most adorable dia de los muertos neko set from subtle submission. i love the way this outfit moves. also i can't say enough how much i adore bakersfield kidd's tattoos (they aren't for sale anymore which is why i love them even more). also, cutea benelli, in her infinite goddesslike wisdom has made the most perfect set of sacrificial shoes ever. they are literally stiletto blades impaling severed hearts. <3<3<3!
sugar skull in innsmouth juana wears:
sugar skull skin 3 by nomine
to live and to die tattoos by bakersfield kidd
sangre noir 2 by sangre noir
skull choker and earrings by mad about
bloody bonehead bracelets by retox
obsidian blade by cortech
heartsnatcher stillettos by grim bros/cutea benelli
anzu kuromame hair by ay.line
hair rose wine by gfield
visions of death eyes by rotten toe
in innsmouth sim
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Innsmouth/128/130/25
listening to
Krios- Illa Tiðandi (Burzum cover)
it's october....and therefore the obsession with the dead continues. as i was trying on the new Skinny Winnie Zombie Bride dress by Grim Bros/Cutea Benelli, i started laughing for a moment. i didn't laugh at the dress--far from it. this dress is by far my favorite of the bone dresses Cutea Benelli makes--i love how it is bony but also very gauzy and light looking too. what made me laugh was it reminded me very much of the dress i wore for my quinceanera.
the idea of a pre hispanic death goddess as a quinceanera struck me as insanely funny, and i thought it might be hilarious to go to one of those romantic smooth jazz ballrooms and hang out. and so i did. the people there at the ballroom were actually quite kind, and didn't seem to notice my attire. i was wondering if i was being teased because someone was addressing another person as "skull" but that ended up being one of the avatars' first name.
even so, nobody wanted to dance with me. *sniffs*.
skinny winnie the zombie's bride & belle morte shoes by grim bros/cutea benelli
wild woman hair by miasnow
mayan dream (tinted) by garden of kuu
crossed out clown skin
skull ear spikes by mad about
hair rose wine by gfield
necromantic crown by violent seduction
at sweethearts jazz club
listening to smooth jazz all stars "heart of a woman (r. kelly cover and tribute)" *snicker*
