no more gas, in the red, can't even get started

Organica is actually participating in a hunt, wherein she offers up her Japanese Alder bonsai for free (for finding the hunt item, of course). Just my luck I prefer the look of the Japanese Maple bonsai, but for either, I'd have to ponder where I'm going to put such a thing--because I would not want to leave it in my inventory! Both versions are gorgeous, and they have seasonally-changeable leaves.

More RL than SL, and Miss Kamenev, do not click this link, but some of these three-dimensional tattoos are stunning.

Next up, I want to talk a bit about Gorean fashion. More in general, than anything, but consider this a small guidebook from the uninitiated (that would be me).

For a while now, I've been on the lists of "25LT", a rotating group of Gorean merchants who design at least one item for L$25 every Tuesday--hence, "25LT" for short. Part of it is that some of the folks on the list do things other than Gorean items, and I like what they do. Part of it is that one of the stores, nearly perpetually on the list, I like a great deal--both the look of the store and the items for sale. (In fact, if you want to get into the subscribe-o of the group, going to Painfully Divine is a safe bet to get on the list.)

How'ver, at least one-third of the items, on any given week, fall into the "camisk" variety. And it's not that they're unlovely pieces; but they seem to be designed to be worn as the sole garment, if you take my meaning. And most of them reveal one, or both breasts, and end about mid-hip...revealing everything lower than that.

So I finally broke down and went hunting on the net. It has been some time since I read the Gor novels, and being as I'm not Gorean, these little details can slip my mind quite painlessly, as it happens.

The City of Lara's page lists a passage from Outlaw of Gor:

Camisk:
A rough rectangle of cloth, worn like a poncho and belted at the waist. The Turian camisk is shaped like an inverted "T" and is tied behind the girl's neck, her back and in front at the waist. "She wore only a single garment, a long, narrow rectangle of rough, brown material, perhaps eighteen inches in width, drawn over her head like a poncho, falling in front and back a bit above her knees and belted at the waist with a chain."

Okay, so a rough, simply woven, plain garment. Like this one from Coquetry Clubwear:



Only, well, in green. The page leading up to that link had more information:

"The camisk is a rectangle of cloth, with a hole cut for the head, rather like a poncho. The edges are commonly folded and stitched to prevent raveling. The camisk, I am told, normally falls to the knees...The camisk, I am told, was at one time commonly belted with a chain. However, the camisks that I have personally seen, and those we were given, were belted with a long, thin strap of leather binding fiber. This passes once around the body, and then again, and then is tied, snugly, over the right hip....The belt of binding fiber not only makes it easier to adjust the camisk to a given girl, but of course, the binding fiber serves to remind her that she is in bondage. In a moment it may be removed, and she may be secured with it, leashed, or bound hand and foot....The camisk, in its way, is an incredibly attractive garment. It displays the girl, but provocatively. Moreover, it proclaims her slave, and begs to be torn away by the hand of the master. Men thrill to see a girl in a camisk."

This is from the book Captive of Gor.

So obviously, the point of a camisk is to sexually entice; I don't think it goes too far beyond the pale to say that slave girls wear camisks, and nothing else beyond the "leather binding fiber" (a more cumbersome way to say leather belt likely has not been invented) or chain. Simple garment, sedate enough as it falls to the knees, revealing, but not...what's a good word...slutty? Or hells, since I actually have a folder in my inventory labeled "slutwear", let's go with trashy. Because a female can be darn near completely revealed, and have a very slutty look about herself, without crossing that line into trashy. Burlesque queens did it all the time.

Mer-Elf Creations started making some reasonable ones about a year and a half ago. They had a tailored bodice, but otherwise were simply structured lengths of cloth, bound around the body with a leather cord. Done. Then things got complex...

From the Pretty Pretty Dress Up blog comes a few articles under the heading of "Camisk Week": they're found here, here and here, to give you an idea of the wide variety of items that are put out, shouldering the weight of the world "camisk". There's also a whole category entitled "Camisks" for entries on the Arachne's Silks blog, and if those fishnet numbers that start it off really are considered camisks, I'm woefully out of my depth, here.



And then there's this sheer number from Haven Designs (again from 2009). And yes, before you say anything, I do think it looks better without the "censorship" hearts, but I also don't want to have to transfer this to my private server...

...because I can't remember the password to get in....

...AND ANYWAY, that's not the point of this.

I guess the point of all this is, I still don't know what a camisk is. Are they essentially rough tabards with a head-slit, bound by a length of cord, chain or belt? Are they enticing little numbers of silk and beads that reveal in no uncertain terms that you are absolutely IN NO WAY IMPAIRED from being thrown against the nearest wall and taken by any random thug with a momentary interest in you? I mean, really...what does "camisk" mean for the Gorean culture?

Someone help me out here, because the stores in SL? Do not help.

In related news, Miss Searlait of Roawenwood has several items out currently at her mock 25LT board; she's not officially in it anymore, due to...well, let me have her explain it:

Hello!!! Guess what? I'm not in this weeks 25L round. And guess what else?

I'm not going to be next week either. *sighs*

Things been switched around on the list and the way it is working I'm probably going to have a harder time getting onto it than in the past unfortunately. Was going to try for next week but missed the window and have a feeling that is going to happen often.

So she's right--she has a wickedly revealing set of black silks (appropriately titled Wicked Fantasy), four male short-sleeved tunics in various colors, and on the other side of that sign, she has a potted palm on a burlwood pillar, and a reading couch with five very good animations, both also for L$25.



Go look sometime today (she might even keep them up for a bit tomorrow); they're worth the trip.