Keep Our Male Avies Looking Sharp!

In SL female clothing stores are EVERYWHERE! However, I've heard from a lot of male avies that it is difficult to find male clothing stores with quality clothes.

It is rather a joke between my friends and myself that I shop a heck of a lot on SL. A couple of weeks ago a friend, who spends his time on SL building and running businesses, approached me about shopping for him. Since his businesses were growing, he felt that he needed to upgrade his avie from original skin and freebie clothes. So, I entered the world of "personal shopping."

I spent a lot of time exploring men's clothing stores in SL, and decided that I wanted to help keep "our" male avies looking sharp on SL. Here is a list of some of the stores I visited.


REDGRAVE

Redgrave has men's and women's clothes. Redgrave's is not what I would call a big store; however, what really catches your eye here are the leather selections. Leathers in rich colors such as black and shades of brown adorn the walls for purchase. The details give the jackets the richness in design. You will also find other items here such as jeans, sweaters, t-shirts and a little more dressy options.

To visit Redgrave, CLICK HERE. (Sands Island 1 169, 100, 24)


MADE MEN

Made Men has some casual clothes. You'll see these at the teleport point. However, what this store has that really caught my eye is the skins and suits.

The skins are made for a young, muscular look. Muscles are well defined showing excellent abs with great detailing.

My favorite thing about this store was the suits. Made Men has lots of suits in a large array of colors to fit everyone. The selection includes sport jackets to classic business suits to more modern suits. I especially liked the "Black on Black" line of suits which are very GQ.

To visit Made Men, CLICK HERE. (Made 80, 192, 51)


THE DRAWMACHINE

Whether you want the look of speed for looking like a biker or a racer, The Drawmachine has the look for you. Included in their array of products are biker boots, biker gloves, biker pants, jeans, leather racing jackets, and Air Force t-shirts. When you first arrive all you will see is the sexy lady outfits. Turn to the right and the men's clothes will start on the right wall and continue upstairs.

To visit Drawmachine, CLICK HERE. (Sc Design 30, 23, 22)


CALEDON KITTIWICKSHIRE

Looking for clothes of yesteryear? The region of Caledon Kittiwickshire is the place to go. A couple of stores specializing in men's clothes caught my eye here.

Mako Magellan

To find that dapper look of the Music Man period of history, visit the Mako Magellan store. You'll find top hats even paired with canes, suits with tales, and dual colored shoes. They have everything to customize your look of this fun era.

Doc Wrangler's Men's Wear

The rugged look of the Old West is what you'll find in Doc Wrangler's Men's Wear. Bowler hats, boss hats, fedora hats, caps, suits, frock coats, striped pants, and mix-and-match shirts adorn the walls of this historical clothier.

To visit Caledon Kittiwickshire, CLICK HERE. (Cdn Kittiwickshire 66, 131, 22)


MUSASHI-DO MAIN FASHION SHOP

The men's clothes in Musashi-Do are on the second floor of the shop. Musashi-Do advertises themselves as "Italian fashion meets the Far East." I do have to agree I can see both the Italian and Far East influences in their line of clothes. Although it is one of the smaller collections, it does include some everyday clothes from casual to dressy suits and some more exotic wear such as kung fu uniforms, racing outfits and kilts.

To visit Masashi-Do, CLICK HERE. (Anton 96, 243, 108)


NAUGHTY DESIGNS

I smile at the thought that my favorite male skins are found in a place called "Naughty." I've found these skins to be so realistic and detailed that I am truly amazed by them. The skin named Dante happens to be my favorite. I've seen these skins first-hand on a couple of avies who are close friends. They are very impressive.

To visit Naughty Designs, CLICK HERE. (Naughty Island 35, 164, 23)


STELLAR DESIGNS

Stellar Designs has a whole building dedicated to men's fashions. At the teleport point, the sidewalk is a teleport hub. Right click on the word "men's" to teleport directly to that building. Stellar designs includes more casual clothes. They have several styles of jeans including low-rise, stonewashed, holey and sculpted cuffs. Also included in the collections are different styles of t-shirts, chino shorts, jean shorts, open shirts, thermal shirts, palm shirts, leather pants, briefs, and avatar shapes.

To visit Stellar Designs, CLICK HERE. (Stellar Isle 170, 125, 23)


VR PHLUX

VR Phlux is another vintage men's store. They have a collection devoted to the swing era. From suits to tuxedos, VR Phlux will keep you looking sharp. This store will also tempt your "bad side" giving you the look of a mobster or a very eloquent looking vampire. The collection includes lord coats, brocade coats, and royal vampire guard outfits.

To visit VR Phlux, CLICK HERE. (Phlux 167, 163, 35)


DESERT MOON CLOTHIERS (DMC)

This store reminds me of many of the RL jeans stores. Lots of different styles of jeans are on displays in neatly stacked piles. This is definitely a casual clothes store that caters to both the male and female avie population. Of course, just like the RL stores, they also have many t-shirt options to match those jeans. This location of DMC is a concept store introducing the use of a store card. Purchase your card at the vending machines in the store. You can either use them yourself or give them as a gift. When using the card, wear it and then right click on your purchase and choose "card" instead of pay.

To visit Desert Moon Clothiers, CLICK HERE. (Goodelli 230, 191, 25)


FNKY

FNKY is an interesting store that has some things I haven't seen elsewhere. Some of the items include sunglasses, regular eyeglasses, ball caps, bucket hats, earphones, boomboxes, beanies, scarves, cuff bracelets, criminal suits (mobster look), loafers (some of the best I've seen), and lots of skins that at first glance seem to be pretty good.

To visit FNKY, CLICK HERE. (FNKY Cake 123, 68, 24)


LUXURY BY VINDI VINDALOO

Luxury by Vindi Vindaloo is a nice size men's store specializing in luxury items such as suits and tuxedos. The suits come in a vast array of colors and styles such as pinstripes. You'll even find some unusual items such as brightly colored jackets in prints. The store also stocks some other luxury items such as silk robes and pajamas, fur coats, dress coats, and vintage suits.

To visit Luxury by Vindi Vindaloo, CLICK HERE. (Plush Kappa 47, 50, 22)


NOA

NOA has lots of cool and artistic designed t-shirts and jeans. The clothes have splashes of color in their themed designs. Some of the t-shirt designs include anti-bate, dispute, power unit, breakup, heavenward, rising sun, and the raven. Jeans include brawler, grease monkey, contaminated and skill. This store definitely has something for the avie that wants bright and artistic.

To visit NOA, CLICK HERE. (Amat 35, 91, 23)


SF DESIGN SKYMALL

SF Design has a large quantity of men's clothes. Suits range from nicely taylored executive suites (some come with flexi ties) to the more ornate historical suits. The store also has scripted bow ties, shirts with a wide-range of color ties, work boots, biker boots, sneakers, dress shoes, casual shirts, chaps, vests, leather pants, costumes, jeans, swimwear, t-shirts, sleeveless t-shirts, and a whole lot more.

To visit SF Design Skymall, CLICK HERE. (Innisfree 192, 54, 537)


DE DESIGNS

Wow... what a shopping experience. DE Designs does a great job of bringing the richness and detail of clothes to life. The first area of men's clothes you encounter remind me of the gaming clothes of a futuristic rugged man. Some of the clothes are more simplistic and some are very detailed with all the perks such as belts, gloves and chains. The store also boasts a large section on casual, everyday and formal clothes including jeans, cords, leather pants, shirts, sport coats, camo wear, historical suits and tuxes. Don't forget to go to the second floor to see more casual clothes. This store is huge.

To visit DE Designs, CLICK HERE. (DE Designs 204, 133, 30)

MEN'S SECOND STYLE

Finally, I feel that I need to give you a great on-going resource for men's clothes. This is not a store in SL - it is a very good blog. They have lots of spectacular reviews of men's clothing stores in SL and an extensive list of shops. Please visit them and use them as a resource:

http://www.second-man.com/

Vassar College and the Sistine Chapel

I belong to a group in SL called Things To Do. Things To Do sends messages out to members daily about interesting places to visit and things to do in SL. It's a great group to belong to to get information on new things in SL and places to visit. Many "veteran" avies belong to this group. I highly recommend joining.

Things To Do recently took a tour of the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, most of their tours are while I'm at work, so I explore on my own later. Well, I was very glad that I went to see the chapel. It is absolutely gorgeous!

The Sistine Chapel is on Vassar Island which is the virtual campus of Vassar College. Steve Taylor (known in SL as Stan Frangible) created the chapel to explore how virtual reality might be used to learn about art and architecture in order to enhance a traditional liberal arts education. He built the chapel so everything is as close to RL (real life) scale as possible. The pictures of the artwork (Steve received permission to copy) are brilliant with color.

The real Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina) is located in Vatican City and was built between 1473 and 1484. Michelangelo's beautiful paintings of the Ancestors of Christ and The Last Judgment are part of the chapel. A note card inside the door of the chapel will tell you more information on the real Sistine Chapel.

When visiting the Sistine Chapel, your avie will freeze while you are asked to review the Code of Conduct and agree to it. Only after agreeing will your avie be permitted to enter the chapel. Basically, the Code of Conduct is an agreement to respect the environment. This process will only occur the first time you visit the chapel.

When in the chapel, it is covered with artwork. Don't forget to look up at the ceiling. I thought the ceiling was one of the most awesome parts of the chapel. The bottom of the side walls are for displaying the Rafael Tapestries. In order to view them, you need to click on the sign in the front left of the chapel. The tapestries will only display for 30 seconds at a time.

After visiting the chapel, I decided to explore the rest of the island. Before visiting I did not realize the chapel resided on a virtual college community. In RL Vassar College is a liberal arts college in the Hudson Valley, north of New York City in Poughkeepsie. The college has approximately 2,400 students.

According to an article on Vassar's website, Vassar Island was originally created mostly as an experiment to see if Second Life has some learning potential and seeing what may fit this venue of learning.

Of course, being a teacher myself, I found this fascinating as I explored the rest of the island. The island has a transport system similar to the one found in Persephone. Click on the round disk (one is very close to where you originally teleport into) and a menu will appear. Select from the menu. When the blue light appears above the disk, click on the light.

If you'd like to take a tour of the island, a tour vehicle is ready to whisk you away near the teleport site also. A sign points to the area. Sit on a pose ball in the vehicle; then click on the vehicle to start your tour.

Castles are a favorite of mine, so I had to visit there first. The dark, towering castle is hard to miss. The castle was created because some of buildings at Vassar look like a castle such as the library. The castle contains art galleries, classrooms, a lounge, concert space and an intimate setting on the roof for performances or lectures. One room in the castle contains some games. They are more intellectual strategy games like the "leave one peg on the board" game you find on every table at Cracker Barrel. But, they are very fun.

My favorite part of the castle are the virtual reality rooms (some call them holorooms). A teleport on the main floor of the castle will whisk you away to the larger or smaller room. When I arrived in the room, I felt like Holly Wood in the movie Cool World entering the real world for the first time. Here I am a pixel-based avie in a vivid photo of the real world. I clicked through some of the scenes and was amazed at each one. I discovered that if you zoom in on your avie the world around you looks a little more proportionate. So, I was standing there trying to figure out the purpose of the rooms. There was nothing in the room to sit on. There were no pose balls. So, I messaged a friend who is a builder in SL and works with educational endeavors and the "light bulb came on." What a teaching tool the virtual reality rooms could be. Take your avie into the inside of a computer to identify parts. Take your avie to a large cliff to identify different layers of sedimentary rock. Take your avie inside a body to see a blocked artery. Wow, my mind was racing with learning opportunities. I'd love to see an actual class in session one day.

The island has many other educational areas too. Seminar Swamp is a place for classes or groups to meet. A nice feature of the swamp is areas for breakout sessions that are spaced so chat isn't overlapped. The Ampitheather is a place for lectures or gatherings that includes streamed audio. The Media Gardens have opportunities to watch videos or listen to audio. Vassar Island even has a Sandbox for learning to build.

To visit Vassar Island and The Sistine Chapel, CLICK HERE.

Congratulations, Kim's Club!

Kim's Club, the fan club of live sl artist, Kim Seifert reached 500 members on June 17!

Kim sings primarily country music with her wonderful melodic voice. However, Kim has other music genres in her list of songs including a few jazzy tunes that perfectly fits her voice. Read more about Kim in a previous blog.

Joining groups in SL keeps you informed of events and happenings of artists, venues and groups. Follow these directions to join a group:

1. While logged on to SL, click the SEARCH button at the bottom of the screen.

2. Click on the groups tab at the top of the window.

3. Type your key words in the search box. In this case, type Kim's Club.

4. Click on the name of the club. Information about the club will appear on the right.

5. Most public clubs, like Kim's Club, just takes a click of the JOIN button to activate membership.

If you join Kim's Club today, you will receive information on the big celebration party being held today.

Again, congratulations, Kim's Club!