oh, he's slightly clever, to just a certain extent

Homeland Security is now telling people not to download Java updates. Java has no response as of the writing of this, though they really should--either a brief press release saying they're sorry, or a brief press release saying they're working on it and don't hate them. Either would be fine.

Back to Candy Mountain vs. Yulicie!

Since I only have the one photograph to use for comparison, I'm thinking my best bet is to just list the dress features and go from there.

(from the Comparisons album: the "Puddi" dress from Candy Mountain, again

I do love the texture of the fabric; it's making me wish I'd actually acquired this when it was released (even if it was in flan colors)! How'ver, the features of the dress as I see them:

• Peter Pan collar
• demi-cap sleeves
• cloth fold/cloth stretching shadowing across the chest
• a bas-relief printed 'nubbly' texture across bodice and upper section of skirt
• bell skirt, patterned in the same 'nubbly' texture for the upper section, and a straight deep custard yellow for the lower section

Even though it was released in November, it seems a light, fun summer dress, conservatively short in length, and could go admirably with many different skin tones and hair colors.

And now, some shots of the "Candy" dress from Yulicie for comparison:

(from the Comparisons album)

This is Yulicie's Vellent Retro mesh dress, in "Tutti-Frutti".

So, first up: this doesn't have a Peter Pan collar. It also seems to have actual cap sleeves, not demi-caps, but to be fair, I only have Candy Mountain's product shot to look at, not an actual wearable copy. And while the skirt is similar, it doesn't seem precisely exact, at least texture-to-texture-wise.

(from the Comparisons album)

Tossing in a couple close-ups here, this one specifically showing the draw lines across the chest. Candy Mountain's dress clearly has four wider draw lines; Yulicie, for comparison, has four draw lines, but narrower ones. And Yulicie's designer adds in a wrinkle along the right-hand side, as well. (I'd go back to Candy Mountain's dress for comparison, but it's obscured in the one shot I have by the "LIMITED EDITION" printing across the shot.)

(from the Comparisons album)

The second close-up features the scoop neck of the Vellent Retro dress. And, while we're here, let me say that having this scoop neckline on this color makes it look very similar to the traditional "boat-neck nautical-inspired tops and dresses seen around and about--without verging into Flashdance territory. Plus, let's bring up the one thing I still like about well-made mesh outfits--that they look like actual clothing hanging on a body, not design work painted on a body.

(from the Comparisons album)

The side of the dress, to show the flow of the skirt, basically. I don't have any views on the side of the Candy Mountain dress, so this is basically just me showing you the side of the dress, because, dress side. Essentially.

(from the Comparisons album)

And the back of the dress, same reasoning.

(from the Comparisons album)

Finally, a shot of the other dress color in the pack, "Strawberry Avalanche". This also shows the basic flaw of this--well, any--mesh outfit, but let me stress, it's not the fault of this dress that our avatars clip through the fabric. It's actually the fault of the clipping our avatars do in general, because there's no anti-clipping code in the SL client. (And likely never will be.)

My end conclusion: I'm wondering if this was just a case of similar templates, again. I went looking on the Marketplace to see if I could find the base template used, and nothing came up with this specific shape, so the jury's still out on the possibility. (To be fair, I didn't ruthlessly pursue a search using all potential search terms, either).

I think there's definite similarity, but whether that similarity is because Yulicie scarpered off with Candy Mountain's LE dress is decidedly unclear. The textures used are different, the sleeve styles at least appear to be slightly different, but to me, it does look like both designers went to the same template maker for this outfit.

If anyone knows who that is, do let me know, and I'll do my best to post pics of the base template used.

Last notes: I was wearing size M for both versions of the Vellent Retro dress. I did alter my base shape for two slider points: breast size, and torso muscles, both found under the Torso slider settings. I only needed to drop by two points on each setting, though, so it didn't put me out by that much. And after I adjusted those two slider settings, the dress fit perfectly.

(Worn [besides the dress] for this entry: Rue's "Cabal" skin, 'Naif' variant, in Powder [no idea if it's available now, though I know you can find reasonable facsimile skins in her shop]; the Leafy lipgloss tattoo in "Ice" over that; Discord Designs' "Starstruck Eyes" in Sophie [might still be available at the store at a DEEP discount if you look around]; GG's duotone pink/pink OTK socks [Naoki Ninetails designed them, but GG doesn't seem to exist anymore. She says her items are now under the Locke Couture imprint on SL Marketplace, but nothing seems to be there]; ploom's "Dawn" hair, a ring-curled mesh pony style in one of the "Candy" color-pack variants [in this case, blonde base with ombre pink/blue tinting]; and Dare Designs' "Looking for Strange" mesh boots in bubblegum pink [an in-store special a few months back]. And I took all the shots in the Sky Retreat skybox, designed by Desperation Isle Productions but provided by (and floating in a sim owned by) Little Dreams Estates. It's pretty here. I like it.)