Puzzling SL fashion trends

[Beebo Brink]

Outside the SL norm maybe, but your aesthetic is closer to RL norm....

That was my own personal goal, but not everyone shares the assumption that avatars should be grounded in reality. For some people the unreality may be the point, for others an avatar is just a silly costume rather than an expression of self. There are so many different ways to view the role and purpose of avatars that it's fruitless to put our own interpretations on what we see.

 

[Romana]

Exaggeration is definitely the point for some. Usually it's equally big boobs and butt, though.
For some reason, if someone walks into me shopping, it's always one of those, IDK why.
I actually haven't seen any of the all-hip ones walking around, just in ads.
It's not like you could demo shapes before buying anymore.
I thought the all-hip shapes just be for the Kupra body, but looking at their MP store, their shapes are more usual hourglass.
Different tastes, like Beebo said.
. It would be annoying if I was looking for a new shape, but fortunately I'm fine with the one I have.The shapes say "fits Maitreya, Legacy, Kupra" but from the one that's shown, it would take so much editing to get it to look how I'd want that there'd be no point to buying it. Also before the advent of fitted mesh and rigging for bodies, it would affect clothes shopping, like the invisible pony rider and bubble butt crazes.
I'm not passing judgement, I just don't get the appeal.

 

[Sid]

Yesterday I was at Lelutka, I'm looking for a mesh head, but oh boy those prices there, the store was pretty full.
At least 2/3 of the women there where from the "big butt-wasp waist-big boob" department.

I don't get it. Why trowing so much money to look so ........ eh...... different?

 

[Beebo Brink]

I don't get it. Why trowing so much money to look so ........ eh...... different?

I've never understood why people spend so much money to play golf. They're all just mysteries of the universe, eh?

 

[Romana]

Some things I've been musing about lately looking at the shopping catalogs for events:
1) A lot of the shapes I'm seeing advertised lately are all hip. Not as in "groovy, man", but as in the hips absolutely dominate the shape. There's practically no torso between the boobs and the hips, and the hips are huge, I'd say like a fertility idol, but they were shaped more like real people.

Came across a perfect example of this today : *Beauty Code* | MIIX WEEKEND - GALLERY

Just for purposes of illustration.
I still haven't come across any of these actually walking around in SL. It's like a fashion runway thing, I guess.

 

[Rose Karuna]

Long ago I decided to dedicate my time to building things as opposed to my avatar. I've done a bit more work on her lately but the end game for me was to make her look like me as much as possible. I am completely confused by how to modify her and make the modifications stick. Also, buying clothing is nuts. Getting things to fit drives me absolutely nuts. Yes, use the alphas but when you do, you end up that shape anyway. I'm sure there is much I'm missing because I haven't taken the time to learn but it's frustrating.



If I could figure out how to change her (and make it stay) I'd make her heavier and I'd give her some wrinkles but one of the things I've noticed is that there is precious little out there for older avatars. Thanks to Beebo, I've got some skin options but I'd really like to see more.

Oh and clothes for women ... don't get me started. I want something like I'd wear in RL. I don't want to show half my ass or my tits TYVM. I just want a normal looking shoes, dress or shirt or pants. Grrrrr. Very difficult to find.

 

[Romana]

Long ago I decided to dedicate my time to building things as opposed to my avatar. I've done a bit more work on her lately but the end game for me was to make her look like me as much as possible. I am completely confused by how to modify her and make the modifications stick. Also, buying clothing is nuts. Getting things to fit drives me absolutely nuts. Yes, use the alphas but when you do, you end up that shape anyway. I'm sure there is much I'm missing because I haven't taken the time to learn but it's frustrating.



If I could figure out how to change her (and make it stay) I'd make her heavier and I'd give her some wrinkles but one of the things I've noticed is that there is precious little out there for older avatars. Thanks to Beebo, I've got some skin options but I'd really like to see more.

Oh and clothes for women ... don't get me started. I want something like I'd wear in RL. I don't want to show half my ass or my tits TYVM. I just want a normal looking shoes, dress or shirt or pants. Grrrrr. Very difficult to find.

Recently I came across a skin maker who had a number of mature looking skins, and there are also wrinkles, etc, to be had as overlays. When I get inworld later I'll try retracing my steps to get you the info. Clothing that's rigged for specific mesh bodies ought to stretch or shrink with the body sliders.
"Standard" sizes, yeah, you're stuck with the alphas, or the ones on your body HUD, same result, though.
You don't mention whether you have a mesh body or what kind, but if you don't, it works be an improvement over S, M, L, etc.
As for the kind of clothes, yeah. Regular people clothes exist, but the sexualized styles do dominate the market.
Like another pet peeve of mine, furniture. Try finding a bed that doesn't instantly make you look like you're humping like a maniac . For that matter, why does every damn piece of furniture (even" PG" ones have to include teh sexxors (or obvious prelude to)?

 

[Sid]

I tried to make my avatar a bit heavier too, but there is only one avatar that could make that happen the Jonathan guy. But there is very little clothing for him and only one AO that works with the plus body (without loosing your arms in the body all the time) but that has a lot of ADHD movement.
So Sid stays slim and young.
To find clothing for a Joe Average who likes normal casual every day clothes is hard too, but I'm almost done now collecting stuff for all occasions for my Gianni body guy.
I still need a suit for Christmas and other formal occasions.
And then I'm totally done with the "fun" shopping for clothes in SL. I'm not going for a mesh head.

We pay a heavy price (in time and money) because LL never added standard mesh bodies and heads in SL.
This changing to a mesh body and the search for new clothes took me all in all almost 2 months of my available SL time.
Next up is building again.
Yabba Dabba Doo!!!

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Body aesthetics are so incredibly subjective. Admittedly, SL avatars exaggerate body shapes well beyond reality, but those extremes are still extensions of an underlying aesthetic which is rooted in culture, gender and generation. What I may find repulsive could be really attractive to someone else, and vice versa.

Yep. And we all have our own very subjective limits of what is or isn't "too much"... my avatars are all unapologetically sexualized. I get A LOT of good feedback from people who like it. ... I also get some nasty comments from people who don't! But even I have limits... I've seen avatars that could quite literally fit a person in one of their boob's or ass cheeks. I can at least say my avatar is physically possible, even if it would usually require surgery or super rare genetic gifts.

Something I find funny is that "realism" is often way more of a problem to some people when sex is involved. Fantasy communities (on and off SL) that preach realism in boobs and butt often are guilty of amazingly unrealistic things that just are less sexual and therefore fine to them. I've literally been told my shape was unrealistic by dudes who had biceps bigger than even my giant boobs... Unrealistic lady avatars seem to attract way more scrutiny then the ones that need 20 years of roids even though they are at least as common.

 

[Adeon Writer]

it is worse for women for sure, but it’s not too much better for the guys. its very hard to find normal clothing for second life in general. everyone wants to mimic high fashion. even if you find a normal looking shirt or hoodie it will usually be for a super muscular fashion model body proportion, and for the girl it will be some crop cut. It is exceedingly difficult to ”look normal” being normal is niche here.

I would go as far to say most male avatars are not unrealistically muscular out of choice it’s just the only body shape they can make that fits the clothing that they buy

And I hate the look so much that’s why I go furry instead

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

I would go as far to say most male avatars are not unrealistically muscular out of choice it’s just the only body shape they can make that fits the clothing that they buy

Most dude avatars are more muscular than "normal." That is true... but I still see plenty of dudes with more obtainable physiques than others. The body makers mostly are just responding to market demand either way! People like big ol' tiddies and big muscles. And I agree it is harder to look "normal" but it is clear some men and some women deliberately went way more extreme than others.

With all that said, I'd love to see more nice mesh bodies for skinny "ectomorphs." You can get that for women if you want (I deliberately don't) but it's rare to see that in men who aren't furries; as you said.

 

[Archer]

I personally would love to see good quality male skins that are more realistically muscle toned, or even a bit more unathletic. I definitely trend more realistic.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

I personally would love to see good quality male skins that are more realistically muscle toned, or even a bit more unathletic. I definitely trend more realistic.

Yeah... a while ago I tried and FAILED to help a friend find a black guy skin that was not horrendously ripped. I wish more dude skins just had neutral levels of muscle tone. It's okay to have a plain, smooth stomach that doesn't show the full abdominal anatomy chart...

 

[Lexxi]

Long ago I decided to dedicate my time to building things as opposed to my avatar. I've done a bit more work on her lately but the end game for me was to make her look like me as much as possible. I am completely confused by how to modify her and make the modifications stick. Also, buying clothing is nuts. Getting things to fit drives me absolutely nuts. Yes, use the alphas but when you do, you end up that shape anyway. I'm sure there is much I'm missing because I haven't taken the time to learn but it's frustrating.



If I could figure out how to change her (and make it stay) I'd make her heavier and I'd give her some wrinkles but one of the things I've noticed is that there is precious little out there for older avatars. Thanks to Beebo, I've got some skin options but I'd really like to see more.

Oh and clothes for women ... don't get me started. I want something like I'd wear in RL. I don't want to show half my ass or my tits TYVM. I just want a normal looking shoes, dress or shirt or pants. Grrrrr. Very difficult to find.

You might have already been told and/or found out, but I only relatively recently* stumbled across one skin maker that has some more mature looking skins.

Skin maker being poema.

*relatively recently being 8 months ago.

 

[Rose Karuna]

You might have already been told and/or found out, but I only relatively recently* stumbled across one skin maker that has some more mature looking skins.

Skin maker being poema.

*relatively recently being 8 months ago.

Thanks, I'll check this one out. I also found another (Ruby) who makes a couple of them too and then I found this really crazy seller that sells all sorts of "elderly" stuff called "Golden Years Storefront". They have the funniest old lady skins I've ever seen, plus lots of "elderly" clothes and things like walkers and dishes of jello and french fries cafeteria style (sort of laughing at the boomers). It was actually hilarious. I didn't buy the skin because I wanted something less cartoonish, but I did buy a sweater outfit.

 

[Rose Karuna]

Here are some pics of my new "Ruby" skin called Sarah.

 

[Romana]

I scored a cool bodice from a Wicca's Originals gacha, but trying to find the items necessary to complete an outfit...? Even if I could get a matching color from the gacha, the bottom is a thong, so I have to fall back on my same pairs of leggings. Why isn't there more quality BOM clothing by now?
Also having to use the same pair of boots, because although SL avatars can run in any height heels, it still doesn't look right in a RP context.
I've wondering about the heel height thing for a while. Slink and Maitreya feet can do 4 or 5 different heel heights ; why are most of the footwear made for just one of them?

 

[Fionalein]

... why are most of the footwear made for just one of them?

Spoiler

 

[Romana]

Spoiler

I saw the original cast, lol.

 

[Conifer Dada]

It's as if the evolution of SL fashion in avatar shapes has taken on a life of its own, separate from RL. So the current extreme body shapes are inspired by what went before in SL, but more so, as it were.