I have been home sick from work with a cold these past several days, and sleeping most of the day (hence the relative lack of blogging this week). Sorry guys, I am feeling under the weather! I’ll be back soon, I promise!
One of my tips for Second Life freebie fashionistas is that many ballrooms and clubs with a formal dress code will often offer free outfits for both women and men, as a courtesy for newbies who might not yet have some fancier clothes in their inventories.
Ballrooms tend to come and go with alarming regularity in Second Life, so if you do hear about a place that is offering free outfits, you might want to visit it as soon as possible, and save it in your inventory for when you need it! You never know when they might come in handy, for a wedding or some other formal event…
And remember, if you ever need a fancy outfit in a hurry, and you don’t have time to go shopping, among the newest set of starter avatars are the Gretchen and Leonard avatars, with a perfectly good women’s strapless ballgown and pearls and a men’s tuxedo:
These outfits should work very well with a mesh avatar, using the alpha HUD that came with your body to alpha out the sections of your body that poke through. If course, if you have a classic, system avatar, all you need are the alphas that come with these outfits and you’re all set.
I’ve already mentioned the free men’s and women’s formalwear at the new, upstart Frank’s Jazz Club in this blogpost. Here’s a look at the free black ballgown for the women, which is simple, classic and elegant:
Another ballroom which I heard about for the first time today which offers free outfits for men and women is the ApoTHEOSes Ballroom (yes, that’s how it spelled!) which you can find at this SLURL. If you search for and join the ApoTHEOSes Ballroom group (or just click the JOIN GROUP sign), which costs you nothing, then you can click on the two signs right at the entrance to pick up some lovely formalwear:
This men’s tuxedo is different from the freebies I have picked up at other Second Life ballrooms, in that it actually comes with a HUD to change the colour of the vest and bowtie to one of 20 different colours, and includes a separate red or white boutonnière to finish the look:
Yes, the shoes are included, and they are quite nicely detailed (they don’t show up well in this photo). Both the shoes and the tuxedo come in sizes to fit most popular male mesh bodies, such as Jake Belleza and Signature Gianni, and several other mesh bodies. This is a wardrobe staple for male avatars that you absolutely should not pass up!
The women’s Diana gown is also beautiful, coming in both various fitmesh sizes, as well as versions to fit Maitreya, Belleza, Slink, eBody, and other female mesh bodies. It looks great with or without the flexiprims and optional stomach brooch, is materials enabled, and shimmers in a truly lovely way that these pictures cannot capture:
(The black pearl earrings and necklace are not included; they were a long-ago freebie from Dark Mouse, a store that is no longer on the grid. The black pumps are part of a freebie four-pack from Marquesse for Slink feet, available on the third floor of the excellent freebie store at Ajuda SL Brasil at this SLURL):
So, as you can see, you don’t need to spend a dime to look like a million bucks in Second Life!