dress me, I'm your mannequin

Friend of mine tossed me a link to the video of Pasarella's latest show in world--and it took me about half an hour to track down the two dresses that absolutely wowed me in that show.

Turns out they're both made by the same store--Donna Flora in Bodin. The "Clessidra" hourglass dress runs L$400, and cannot be worn without viewer 2.x capability; the same goes for the two "Cage" dresses (though they're L$450, due to coming with hair and shoes. One's in a wine and gold, one's in black and gold, and both have the cage-and-birds lower skirt). They're stunning, all three of them.

I spent the past two days walking around in Clessidra:

From the Fashion album

Just astounding. And yes, that's not a Photoshop trick, you can see right through the middle of the dress. The sand in the hourglass doesn't move, but it looks like it does.

From the Fashion album

I adore the shading on the clock hands that rim the skirt and make up the gear-and-clock-bits collar. It gives the effect of aged, burnished brass, perhaps copper-plated, perhaps not, depending on the time of day.

From the Fashion album

Especially considering the fact that both sleeves and skirt--and, well, the "hourglass" waist (sorry)--are all sculpted and thus, immobile, these are surprisingly easy, fluid pieces. The shading is superb, there could be more detail on the wood of the hourglass itself but it does come with a very nice hand-tatted doily on top, and my only complaint is that she didn't leave the alpha layer moddable, so that I can wear shoes alphas with it. Still, it's something to consider--making alpha layers on my own and seeing if that works out for a shoe/dress combination.

(The pictures for "Clessidra" were taken on Cleonae; the hair is the Ribbon Updo II from Curio; the skin's from Adam & Eve's Mei Li 2 line, this one in particular being Geisha 1; the shoes are the 'Folden Boots' in Moss Green from Glad Rags; and the eyes are House of Ruin's Mortis in Bloodstoned (don't know if they're still available but you can always check the rebranded Rue on the Marketplace).

And that brings us to Caged (in Black):

From the Fashion album

This one is, unfortunately, much less forgiving of motion and AO poses due to the thin bottom panel of the birdcage. You need to know that upfront. How'ver, barring that it's a stunningly surreal outfit, and well worth the L$450 she's charging.

From the Fashion album

This is a shot captured when I'm leaning forward slightly; as you can see, the un-alpha'ed bit of leg does poke through the bottom. The legs show through in the same fashion when walking, sitting, or laying down. Still, for this dress, I can handle it being photo ops and careful movements. And it's all dependent on your poses, too--for instance, none of my geisha poses caused the legs to poke through the bottom, so if you track down an AO built for a more formal walking style (the Lyonesse, Kamilah Hauptmann, may have an AO that would work), you may not have this difficulty.

From the Fashion album

Straight out of the box this one takes more adjusting, too. It will be very shape-dependent for how well it fits. Still, all I did was slightly move the gauzy drape, and move the skirt up a bit, down a bit, until my legs mostly stopped showing.

From the Fashion album

I'd like the hair better if it were flexi, honestly, and you do have to watch standing against alpha textures, because nearly the whole of the hair is alpha. But all in all, quite pleased with the outfit, and glad I took the plunge.

A NOTE OF WARNING: These are transferable frocks. Yes, that means what you think it does, so be very careful rezzing out and unpacking the box, and save your transaction history just in case. If you make a mistake, your only option will be to buy a new copy, and that's scary, I know. But you should know that before you go to Donna Flora's and ask to see the latest.

(The pictures for "Caged" were taken on Villas on Villa, in their Parisian and Tuscan villas, respectively. The skin is Mango Mango's "Shadow Vamp; the eyes were made by Miriel Enfield, whose store is now closed, alas. The hair and shoes come with the dress.)