This close to Christmas, there's not as much opportunity to be 'dainty' as I would hope. It's all grownup stuff, cleaning, decorating, shopping, endless shopping, so much shopping (it almost stops being fun.....almost), wrapping up gifts, food preparation, checking things off endless lists...it's all so PRACTICAL. When I was a little girl, what I would be doing, the instant school broke up for the Christmas holiday, is prancing around like some sort of sweet little excited fairy. But sigh. With age comes responsibility, and with responsibility comes cynicism, and if I was a less maddeningly happy-go-lucky person, I would be quite jaded by the holidays and claim it had lost its magic entirely. Luckily, that's not the case. I AM a maddeningly happy-go-lucky person, and in amidst all the practicality and work and stress and trying to be superwoman that December brings, I have the distinct joy of being able to slip off to Second Life.

I must admit, I'm not really one who gets poetry. I'm a prose gal, and song lyrics are just about my limit when it comes to words painting pictures and being rhythmical and generally...pretty. I don't know why, but I can stare and stare at a poem, go over it a thousand times in my head, and have none of it make any sense to me, I suppose I'm not the best at interpreting inspiration. It's a shame. It takes something really special for me to be able to understand where it's coming from. And special, I got.

A tale unfolds upon this dress,
A rhyme of lost innocence.
A girl amid a winter field
A raven dark, his wings revealed.
An apple glows a warning red
Upon the snow the color bled.
Snow White, skin like fallen snow
her bloody lips with red will glow,
Hair as black as raven claws
Reflection dark in mirror's jaws.
This frock will tell a warning tale
A winter masque in which innocence fails.

In my spare time (such as it is) in Second Life, I like to go play at an 'immersive' Victorian steampunk RP sim. For reasons probably best kept to myself, I recently went in search of some Victorian underwear to wear there, which was rather less fruitful than one would perhaps imagine. I eventually found a place which had a fine selection of nice vintage undies, in my excitement bought altogether more than I needed, and proceeded never to actually publicly wear any of it. It got me thinking, though, two things: Firstly, for all the lingerie stores out there in Second Life, very little of it caters towards historical roleplayers, and for all the historical dresses to be found out there, there's little consideration for what could possibly be worn underneath them.

For some reason, one of the big clichés in the world of 'cute' is the image of a baby with a bowl of spaghetti dumped over it's head. Any parent will tell you, having to clean up after such an instance is anything but adorable. Wearing your food is generally considered at very least, not especially sophisticated, if, at times, admittedly, raising a smile. Sofia London's mainstore, LurveBite, has the makings of changing this, bringing about a wearable edible revolution, with her Food Couture line, full of delicious dresses not just inspired by, but made of, the scrummiest ingredients, marshmallows, chocolate, buttered toast, banana pudding and vanilla wafers, breakfast cereals, a mouthwatering line that's literally good enough to eat.

Anyone who knows me, will know, I love outfits with lots of 'bits'. As many pieces as possible, not just layers (although dear me, I do love having layer options), but optional extras, a change in the skirt and the addition of a jacket that can turn a slinky evening dress into a punky neko ensemble, that sort of thing. Something that says that everyone can have and love a particular outfit, but doesn't mean they have to look like fashionista clones wearing it.

And of course, I like to get a bit of bang for my Linden buck! And oh boy, did I ever get that when I opened the Aria outfit, by Kavar Cleanslate of Exile, made for the Fashion Inspired by Crimson Shadow show. And with that in mind, I am going to skip my customary lengthy preamble and dive straight into the mind boggling array of ways to wear this amazing outfit, which is thoughtfully packaged in four boxes, containing four key 'looks', which can be mixed and matched until you find something uniquely you.

Italians, are, notoriously, world-leaders in fashion. It's something in their blood, effortless elegance. Even outside of the great Italian fashion hubs of Milan, and more recently, Rome, a glance around the piazzas, restaurants, and streets of even a small town will generally indicate that Italians are forerunners of sophistication and style, the everyday adherent to fashion following the trends that suit them, highlighting their own strengths and concealing their flaws, while still impeccably groomed and their outfits perfectly put together.

Ah, simplicity. Halloween is about the dressing up as someone (or something) else. Also, it's about getting free candy from strangers, but I digress. Halloween is a time of disguises, and nowhere is it more so than in Second Life, where we can be anything our hearts desire. Which is where it gets a little difficult. Anything at all. It's all a bit overwhelming really, when you come to think of it.

With all the options out there, choosing a Halloween costume can be scarier than all the ghoulish ghosts and spooky scary skeletons haunting the grid through October. But fret not! Rezzable's Crimson Shadow boutique has an elegant solution to the costume quandary. The definitive disguise throughout time has been the mask, and they're still going strong today. There's something deliciously sexy about the classic masque, the delicate way that anonymity is protected only by inches around the eyes and nose, leaving the mouth free to convey e

I'm going to let you all in on a secret. Well, it's not much of a secret, really, but, consider yourselves privileged nonetheless. I am terrified of birds. Their pointy beaks, their scratchy claws, their hollow bones, the frenzied way they flap their wings when they're taking off...There is just one thing that doesn't make me run gibbering to hide under the nearest bench when a bird comes within 5 feet of me. Feathers. Feathers are amazing things. The way they can be stiff and sleek, or soft and bouncy and warm, and the way they're constructed, tiny wisps and tendrils clinging to a central stem, waterproofing or insulating their owner, helping them glide through the sky. And they make fantastic fashion accessories, too! 

You know when sometimes, you see an outfit, and you just want to tackle the person wearing it to the ground, to rip it off their back and have it for yourself? In the course of my wanderings at Crimson Shadow (Rezz there now!) Lokum narrowly escaped this fate, from me.

She was wearing this amazing strapless gown with a stunning tulle skirt, which, without word of a lie, I squealed when I saw. I squealed doubly when I found out that this incredible dress was the work of Alla Ruff, who has worked with Rezzable previously on their Second Life adaptation of Rebecca Edwards' RL rockabilly fashion line at the Cannery (TP there!).