Colour Challenge Week 8 - Dark Raspberry

Hooooo! This week wasn't too hard, outfit-wise; mostly a case of accessorising my one gown that seemed to fit this colour, which surprised me, as it's a nice colour and quite in my range. Pleasingly, it is also a dress by one of my favourite designers. It's the first colour post where I have fit the avatar around the clothes, instead of the clothes around the avatar, and as a result I am looking unusually "normal" - the only non-human thing about me is my ears! I had to put something on, I don't feel right if I 'pass', and Flea had just very kindly given me the new Harpy v.3 after seeing my Alice Blue post - the new harpies are awesome, by the way, they have the Icarus flight system option and a really beautiful, musical song HUD made up of rainbow feathers. So I made up a rather Victorian looking elf I was happy with, then wandered around my friends' sim looking for a rustic photo opportunity and found a delightful little bridge by a stand of foxgloves which PERFECTLY matched the colours in my dress. Sorted, one would think.


Of course I had to go and make things difficult for myself, didn't I ;)


Quite apart from modding my hair out of my hat and trying to fit a belt to hide the folds of the skirt which didn't quite disappear neatly into my hips (yes, I am fussy) I first tried to pose using a chat typer that looked like I was writing in a book. This was hard to take shots with, as you have to type with one hand while you take the picture, and in any case it didn't really fit the scene - standing awkwardly in a clump of flowers with my head in a book, oblivious to the idyllic setting? So I decided to try leaning on the bridge instead. OH ME OH MY THE DRAWBACKS OF FLEXI SKIRTS... You lean,  your skirt does not, it continues to hang in flagrante delicto with gravity. And thus, your bony knees, indeed the greater part of your lower torso, sticks out for the world to see. How shameful! And how not to showcase a pretty dress. Invisiprims were out; they don't work properly any more and even if they did, the dress had an alpha layer which interfered. 


Alpha masks would seem to be required. But does anybody make an alpha mask which fits under a skirt? If you know of one, please do share. The problem is, a full lower torso mask goes up further than most skirt belts, leaving a very obvious gap in the tummy; and no foot/leg masks I have found go further than mid-thigh. I needed a very particular mask, cutting off just under the hips. Well, a dear friend came to my rescue and made just what I needed, despite me crying for help right in the middle of an um... delicate IM moment, shall we say ;) and as a result, I have the perfect legs-B-gone! pantywaister that will hopefully come in handy for many long skirted poses. Despite this, I still had to shorten my legs drastically so that my boot wasn't sticking out on the end of an invisible limb.


During all this, I was wrestling terribly with bakefail on login, for some inexplicable reason (for one whole day I couldn't log on at all) and although I can fix it by changing outfits, the first change results in a COMPOSITE of both, even though the only options are replace or remove. This resulted in a very silly image of a flamingo in a dress, which I will share. Anyway, bakefail, extrovert legs and photogenic poses all finally negotiated, I got down to the serious business of you know, actually taking the photographs. And then wasted at least two days not posting the results because I was sick of the whole thing *g* And here it finally is! I shall call it

Girl on a Bridge

or

Introspection with Foxgloves

A Quiet Walk in the Country

Contemplating Nature

Demure Demoiselle

Flamingo in Drag

Incidentally, the nearest colour on Chirag Mehta's colour wheel is Camelot. There isn't a Raspberry on there of any kind, which I find odd, although possibly raspberries are not a very common fruit, internationally.

Credits

Skin, hair, boots: (PixelDolls) Revenait au Rivage "Iridescent" avatar (eyebrows tinted!)

Purpleish pink eyes by newbietemplate Linden - copy/trans, if you would like a pair just ask

Ears from Grendel's Children Harpy v3.0

Digit Darkes "Serina" dress in wine with 

Misterious! Ivory pearl lace gloves by Nonna Hedges and

Yak & Yeti Tibetan Chuba Belt in red brocade

"Alma" jewellery set by Bewildebeest (store sadly closed)

Headgear: The Mad Hatter Vintage Embroidered Linen Top Hat with Pins with

PurpleMoon 'Day' hair headpiece from Tropicalia Bazaar - available now! - I just bought this and found that the default colour was perfect for the outfit, so I added it to the hat. It is only $75 for a set of hair in 4 colours (not worn) and a colour change ornament with multiple options.

I just LOVE The Mad Hatter hats. I have 25 of them. Every new hat is sold at a huge discount of $50 for the first week and they are all superb works of original art. This is actually the most ordinary of my collection. I have had to be severe with myself not to buy them ALL.

Digit Darkes is another of my favourite designers, and I have been with her since the start, as she was the business partner of one of my first friends in Second Life (who came through Help Island with me). I've already used one of her dresses (in Alice Blue) but I'm really pleased to be able to post a dress-oriented challenge response in her brand. This post is designer heavy really, as both PixelDolls and PurpleMoon are two more [primarily clothing] stores which have profited greatly from my hoarding instincts, not to mention my favourite avatar store, Grendel's Children. I am old enough to have seen all these stores blossom from small shops to self-owned sims, and judging by the quantity of their products in my inventory, I have helped them along in no small way! At some point I suppose I really ought to post a favourite store list, with landmarks.