Miabella Foxley of Imagen Divine Agency [ida] visited with us to tell us about the Divine Intervention event she and the other ladies of Imagen Divine (Victoria Coppola, Elysium Eilde and Annisha Mankiewicz) have planned for October 5 from 5 to 8 in the evening SLT. 

Part fashion show, part gala, Divine Intervention will feature designs by seven of Second Life's top designers, Haedon Quine, Lux Yao, Shai Delacroix, Betty Barracuda, Tuli Asturias, Betty Doyle, and Kara Eagle.  Their designs will be featured both on the runway, and on models dancing to the beats of DJ Coldfront Revolution throughout the 3 hour event.

The ladies at Imagen Divine Agency have also arranged deluxe gift bags with some amazing gifts.  To get your mitts on the goodies, be sure to attend the hottest fashion event in Second Life, Divine Intervention!

This week on Going Broke with Daphne and Tamara, we spoke with some of the movers and shakers in the Second Life fashion world.  We interviewed Haver Cole and Saeya Nyanda who told us about their work in SL fashion as well as their work on sims such as Imogen, Le Zoo and Carnival Island.  The co-founders of Pwned Magazine are two very busy avies!

Next, visited with Miabella Foxley of the Imagen Divine Agency, a modeling agency that is putting on what will surely be THE event of the fashion season, Divine Intervention.  You won't want to miss this three-hour blow-out on October 5 for some amazing fun and fashion!

All music on this show is from the Podsafe Music Network at http://music.podshow.com.  This episode features "Velvet Underwear" by Tomorrow's Caveman.

Aparently, Akela Talamasca of SLInsider Podcast thought that he could get back at us for taking over his podcast a couple of months ago.  He sent over his cohorts, Haver Cole and Saeya Nyanda, co-founders of Pwned Magazine to see if the ladies could take over our podcast.  Well, Mr. Talamasca's evil plan backfired right in his furry face. 

Instead of Haver and Saeya taking over Going Broke, they chose to tell us about their ventures in SL.  Ms. Cole, um, er, Doctor Cole, is SL's finest plastic surgeon, designing shapes exclusively for <A HREF="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Imogen/173/23/60/">Lemon</A>.  I have been wearing Lemon's Oh Marie shape (all of the shapes are named for Louis Prima songs!) for several weeks and I can't get over the cuteness of the soft smile.  Ms. Nyanda (a member of SL's puppet community) is the designer behind <A HREF="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Valkert%20Gal/190/223/21/">Kyoot Army</A>, a new boutique that's taking the grid by storm.  In addition to Kyoot Army, Saeya also works for Linxster, working on Carnival Isle!


So, Akela, now you have even more tornados!

Welcome to Episode 2 of Second Style Stylecast!  Tamara and I will be hosting this weekly short podcast about new releases in Second Life fashion.  For more details, please visit http://stylecast.secondstyle.com or subscribe to Stylecast on iTunes!

Remember, Stylecast will only be on the Going Broke feed for it's first month, after that, it will be available exclusively at the Stylecast site and on iTunes.

~D~

Welcome to Episode 1 of Second Style Stylecast!  Daphne and I will be hosting this weekly short podcast about new releases in Second Life fashion.  For more details, please visit http://stylecast.secondstyle.com or subscribe to Stylecast on iTunes!

Remember, Stylecast will only be on the Going Broke feed for it's first month, after that, it will be available exclusively at the Stylecast site and on iTunes.

~T~

In Episode 8 of Going Broke with Daphne and Tamara, we catch up with Shai Delacroix of Casa del Shai.  Her interview was as fun as her clothing, and we learned the story behind her Adulterer suit!

After visiting with Shai, Daphne and I headed over to Creamshop on Koenji for some much needed retail therapy.  From there, we headed over to Silver Rose Designs in Shengri La where Daph picked up an "Alice in Wonderland" inspired dress and I drooled over dresses that looked like cakes.  Finally, we headed over to Violet Voltaire on Vodou to accessorize our finds.

Before leaving you, we announce our fourth Avatar of Style, Mr. Menno Ophelia.  Unless Mr. O sends us a snap or two, or twelve for our personal collections, you'll just have to imagine the hawtness!

For more details on the shops we visited, including pictures and SLurls, see the entries below.  As always, music on our show is from the Podsafe Music Network at music.podshow.com.  Please subscribe to our show on iTunes and join our group for folders of landmarks to the stores we visit (and the occasional giftie!).

As a little teaser, go to stylecast.seconstyle.com and check out what's brewing up over there!

Opening and Closing Music: Velvet Underwear by Tomorrow's Caveman

Philipine-based designer Shai Delacroix makes clothes for every occasion.  In her flagship store on the Deco sim (http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/Deco/112/150/30), male and female avies can find everything from colorful swimwear to elegant formals.  Mixed in with the classic suits and beautiful sundresses, you'll find Shai expressing her mischievious side!  Check out the Adulterer suit, complete with lipstick on the shirt collar.  Also, beware of the maurauding Prom Queen wearing a jacket layer of blood spatters over her feminine gown!

It's really hard to believe that designer SAZAE Yoskikawa of Tokyo only arrived in Second Life at the end of February this year.  SAZAE's prim lilies are incredibly detailed and realistic, and they grace bangles, dresses, and a darling poncho.  Creamshop's main store on the Koenji sim (http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/Koenji/200/113/43) is a combination hunting lodge and love shack filled with fun designs for men and women as well as funky hair and hats!

Pictured above, Tam wears Creamshop's Baby Lily Dress, Lily bangle set, and Vanilla hair.

We've all seen those gorgeous, ethereal porcelain skinned dollies drifting through SL.  Some of them wear Edwardian clothes, some wear Victorian garb.  Several of them dress like they just stepped out of a fairy tale.  Many look like they're hiding from Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution.  Modern dollies tend to dress like Gothic Lolitas.  But what do all of them have in common?  Silver Rose Designs on the Shengri La sim (http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/Shengri%20La/119/41/25).  Yuriko Muromachi makes some of the most gorgeous dresses (and men's suits) you could ever hope to see!  If you're looking for a darling dress that looks like it could be made of frosting and sugar flowers, come to Silver Rose Designs.

Daphne is wearing Alice McGee in Purple by Silver Rose.

Honestly, we promise that the building won't fall in on you!  Really!  Make the trip to Vodou (http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/Vodou/105/109/34) for some of the most adorable accessories and jewelry that you'll find in SL.  Check out Melodic Atrocity, a set that includes a spiked choker, cuffs, and a headband trimmed with lace!  Or maybe the Let them Eat Cake necklace is more your style?  Be careful, though, don't try to eat it!


Picture Coming Soon

Hot damn!  Okay, Menno would look good without his stylish attire.  Hey, wait, maybe we should see if that is actually true.  Menno?  Could you please get us a picture of you without the attire?  Thanks!

Back when we were getting ready to begin our podcast this past April,
we set a policy regarding what are called "review copies."  A review
copy is merchandise a designer/builder gives to a reviewer so the
reviewer can critique the merchandise based on more than just a
picture.

Until now, our policy had been that we would not request review
copies.  That policy, however, has to change.  Daphne and I are indeed
going broke doing our research for Going Broke.

When we wrote our original policy, we thought designers and builders
just gave out review copies.  That belief changed when we met
Celebrity Trollop at SLCC.  We thought that if anyone would just be
given review copies, it would be her.  When we asked her how she got
review copies, she said that she just asked for them.

From now on we will ask for review copies when we want to consider a designer/builder for mention on our show.  This does not mean that we will automatically review you on our show.  As we've said before, we only discuss work that is high quality.  If someone's work doesn't meet our standards, we simply won't feature them.

As always, we will inform our audience when we have received review
copies by noting it in the show notes.

In this episode, Daphne and I don't tell you where to buy skin, shapes and hair, but how to buy them.  These are things that can be confusing, and often result in unused, expensive items that taunt you from your inventory.

While we can't guarantee perfect results, if you follow the steps we've laid out, you are about a bazillion times more likely to be happy with your skin, shape and hair, and yes, look great naked (except for the guys b/c we don't discuss where to buy bits -- hey, that's another show!).

Daphne and I were also lucky enough to attend SLCC in Chicago last month and we talk about some of the amazing people that we met and now miss.

By the way, we've got another project brewing!  Keep your eyes and ears open for more details in the near future.

1.  Get as many demos as possible, the more the merrier.  Make sure the demos come with landmarks!  If they don't, create landmarks and put them in the folders with the demos.  Honestly, wouldn't it be THE SUCK if you found the perfect skin and the only information you had was "Bronze/Makeup 4"?

2.  Find a quiet, secluded location and set the light to Noon.

3.  Decide what's really important to you about the skin and the order of importance:
5.  Start trying on skins focusing on your primary consideration.

6.  After you narrow down the selection, deleting the demos that you want to rule out, look at the skins again focusing on the next item on your list.

7.  Continue doing this until you have narrowed your demos down.

8.  If you have more then one demo left start at the top of the list and really zoom in on the parts that matter to you to make the final choice.  Of course, you can also buy more than one skin if you like!

9.  When you're ready to buy:
10.  Look for any information on changing the color of facial and body hair to match your hair.  Some companies make notecards to help you do this, others may have HUDs, others may make different color bald caps and, um, undies.

Tips to help you zoom in:
Use a pose stand
Set menus to Debug mode (Ctrl-Alt(Opt)-Shift-D)
Under the Client menu check off Disable Camera Restraints
Also if you are rezzing slowly or won't rez, under Client go to Character and select Rebake Textures

Skin is probably the single most expensive part of your avatar, do not make a rush decision on what skin to buy.  You skin defines you more than anything else.

(Photo of Daphne Abernathy taken by Kath Brokken. Same shape and Hair for all, with different colors.  Hair: ETD - Trinity, Skins Left to Right: Celestial Studios Vogue in Amber, Whispers of Night in Deathly, Sin Skin in Medium Drow)

1.  Your shape is modifiable.  Try tweaking it yourself before buying one.

2.  Play with the appearance sliders.
3.  If you'd rather leave your shape to the professionals, look for shops with live models, thorough descriptions, or demos.

1.  Always try on a demo!  Almost every store has demos that are free or just $1L.  Make sure the hair fits your head or make sure that you can make it fit.

2.  If the demo doesn't fit perfectly but you still like the hairstyle, make sure you can copy/mod it:
3.  Deciding on color -- this is the fun part!  Most stores have color demos you can try on; you may not like the style, but it will help you with the color.

4.  Don't be afraid to try something new.  Blue hair may not work in your real life, but anything goes in SL!

5.  The vast majority of hair is not transferable!  If you want to buy it as a gift, look for gift certificates.

6.  If the hair shop is laggy, buy your demos and try them on at home or someplace else.

7.  Don't be afraid to play with bangs/fringe.  Consider different colors!

( Tamara is wearing: Skin: TaP Natural, Shape: Lemon Oh Marie, Earrings -- Muse Celine.  Hair (Left to Right):  ETD Jessica -- not yet released -- given to beta, Naughty - Winsome II, ETD Anisa)