Otherworldly

We’ve reached the end of May and with it the end of the World Goth Fair is near; the last day is tomorrow, June 1st. I am saying my dark farewell in a gown by Pale Empress and slithery accessories by House of Rain.

Skadi, the huntress of Nordic mythology, is a most appropriate guise for the depth of winter. The lush dark gown, brightened by a scattered fall of snowflakes, and the collar adorned with arrows are the creations of Axi Kurmin of Pale Empress. This brand is without a doubt one of the best in Second Life at taking a theme and an inspiration and interpreting it in a unique and wearable way. A gown might not be the first thing you’d imagine for a huntress and skier like Skadi, yet surely every goddess needs a chance to be festive? In Skadi’s case, perhaps she’s celebrating that her husband Njord, whom she selected based on his beautiful feet, is off somewhere else…

I love the contrast between the frosty surroundings (and the streetlamp, for that Victorian touch) at the Neva River sim and the black and dark red of this outfit, which is based around a gown from Senzafine and jewellery from aisling.

Gothmas by Gaslight is now open, offering two full sims of dark, elegantly twisted creations with a christmas/winter feel to them. Nephilaine Protagonist has really outdone herself with her Pale Empress releases for this event so it is fitting that they are both names for goddesses, namely Skadi and Persephone. It is the latter ensemble that I am featuring in this post, with a bonus gothic gazebo from Souzou Eien as part of the backdrop.

A Tattered Page is a new event in what has become a veritable ocean of events, but this one really stands out and deserves recognition if you, like me, love books. Each round is inspired by a book, but for this event the inspiration has to be supported by a citation from the book. I have certainly started feeling that many themed events are becoming increasingly filled with items that only have a very tenuous connection to the theme so this is a welcome change of direction. If I have read and loved a book, I want to be able to really see what aspects of that book that the event creators also have fallen in love with, that makes their items all the more special to me.

For the first round of A Tattered Page, the participating creators have read and been inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I admit, it has been quite some time since I read Frankenstein, so I am not as familiar with it as I ought to be. What little reading time I’ve had this last month has been eaten up by reading for a class, alas, so I wasn’t able to brush up on it either.

You just have one more day to shop at The Raven by The Secret Affair. As one might expect, darkness and death has inspired many of the things on offer, making them perfect for putting together gothic looks. For this post I am using accessories by ieQED and lassitude & ennui, together with a dress from Pale Empress. The photos were taken at Innsmouth, which sadly will be closing down soon due to a lack of funding.

The May round of We Love Role-Play includes several gorgeous corsets from brands such as the Library, lassitude & ennui and aisling. I went with the corset from the latter for this post as I wanted a darker look to go with the accessories from Pale Empress for the World Goth Fair.

Adam n Eve has just released a new skin, the lovely Brooke, as well as set of foot jewellery for Slink’s mesh feet. sachi Vixen is definitely not new to making skins—I dare not guess at how many different skins from her that my inventory contains—but mesh jewellery is something new.

I am also wearing one of the gowns from Pale Empress for the World Goth Fair as well as one of the newest hairs from Exile.

When it came to flexi curls, Analog Dog used to be my hair crack of choice. These days, Queue Marlowe mainly produces hairs for her newer line, Point B, and I have to admit that I haven’t been as enamoured with these styles. In part, I miss the Analog Dog colours (especially the reds!), and in part it is due to mesh, which obviously doesn’t lend itself as well to flowing curls. However, I do check out every new release, and the latest one included the Five style, which became an instant favourite. I love long hairs that work both for modern looks and more fantastical looks, and this style definitely fits the bill. This is just what I want to see from mesh hair.

I am also wearing the new Adam n Eve skin once again; if you haven’t already demoed Carolyn, what are you waiting for?

I am featuring some great items from a festival/fundraiser starting today. It is called Unhinged and it will run from November 15th to December 15th, collecting funds for a much-needed bone prosthesis for Eku Zhong. The merchants participating are offering either gatchas or items for sale and there’s an overarching theme of skulls. The festival is also offering plenty of musical entertainment.

This first post is showing off festival items from Pale Empress, Bilo and Pose Monster.