What I Didn't Wear 12-28-07

What I Didn't Wear 12-28-07, originally uploaded by Rubianne Ellison.

Hi peeps! I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday- I did. But on the other hand, home is where the heart is, and it's nice to be back.

Today's ensemble features an outfit from Ivalde, an Sl store that never fails to delight and tempt me. Arranged by decade, Ivalde has an incredible selection, including some dresses I simply love. I've always thought a well- groomed woman in a well tailored dress and sexy heels is the epitome of classic elegance, and here you can find some incredible things. On my most recent visit, I was happy to find that a line of ensembles paying homage to Marilyn Monroe had been introduced. Say what you want about Marilyn- the woman oozed elegance and style.

The Retro Bea dress in black I'm wearing is from the 50s, but don't be dismayed if the huge tiger on the skirt is a bit much for you- the store also offers some things that are more conservative. The "belt" and blouse are also included. I've accessorized it with the flapper hair from ETD (yes, I know it's the wrong time period), black leather gloves appropriated from the Cocoa Tweed Suit set from Tete a Pied, seamed stockings from CGBG, and the Vidalia Pumps in Metallic Noir from Armidi Gisaci.

Now for a quick tip about wearing skirts. There are 2 types of skirts in Sl- prim skirts that attach to your av, and "layer" skirts that are more or less painted on like your pants and shirts. Until flexi prims were introduced in May of 06 (I think), you can imagine how awful prim skirts looked, so until then layer skirts were more popular. Unfortunately, no matter how thin our av's are, layer skirts make us all appear to have cabooses the size of Texas. In order to combat this, you really need to have a modifiable shape. Under Editing Appearance, experiment with the sliders for hip, butt and saddle until you come up with a shape that looks more or less normal (but still womanly) under that skirt. It's very important to remember to save your skirt shape under a separate name that you'll remember (I call mine "skirtbutt"), and leave your original shape the same- HIT "SAVE AS", NOT SAVE!!!!

I have shapes for layer and prim skirts, as well as for "goth" skirts that are often teeny weeny. Ialso made a skirt shape with thinner calves that I use for thigh high boots. Some also make special pants shapes with slightly larger than normal derrieres. In the end, you've gotta do what works best for you- sometimes it's simply not worth driving yourself crazy over.