Take Another Trip with me to Opa's Boutique

Okay Topaz was busy over the last few days. In addition to my lovely dress, and the Veronica which came out the same time and another fantastic dress named Keira, she released Shanghai Surprise. Now please don't let me skip over the aforementioned dresses because really they are well made and much attention was paid the the right parts of each dress. The textures fit the time period the dress was inspired by, the skirts weren't god awful too small for any normal sized avatar lol and there were no quick prim attachments that as unskilled as I am would notice and be cranky about for eternity. Opa's Boutique puts out lovely high quality dresses and you should hurry down and check out what it has to offer. Back to the purpose of this post though ha!

Shanghai Surprise actually may come as a surprise to you. The texture is very much Asian inspired but it's more of a subtle touch than you might expect on the grid. The pattern is simple and light against the black fabric which gives it a great contrast against skin tone. The top provides another set of details that have to be fully examined as well. The plunging neckline is complimented wonderfully with the bare shoulders all leading to the black band covering the midriff and joining the top to the skirt. The prim attachment gives the dress more structure and pop all without losing the texture or becoming overwhelming. Gathered at the hips but not covering the front of the dress it reminds me of the Claire Huxtable dress I lusted after as a child loving the Cosby Show as it gives definition without making a trouble spot for most women even more obvious. The other thing I love about this dress, as well as Opa's Boutique in general, is that it can be dressed up or down or made vintage or contemporary all based on what you choose to pair with it. I wanted to go more Shanghai than vintage this time and with pieces I didn't have to search farther than my inventory for I think it came together well. Let me know what you think. And big thanks to the boyfriend for helping me get that icky prim box from around the shoes I was wearing.

Items Worn:

Dress: Shanghai Surprise from Opa's Boutique
Hair: Na Young in Ebony from Tukinowaguma
Jewelry: Ahi Set from Miel
Skin: Tasha2 in Ebony from Laqroki
Shoes: Shanti in Black from Maitreya Gold
Lashes: Cake Bedroom Lashes

What's in a Name part two...

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl....I won't kill your ears with my ummm tone transient singing.  I'll let Barry handle that himself when I'm all done showing you the original duo that had me going wooooo I wanna blog same name wardrobe.  As you all know I LOVE vintage shops and support them as much as I can.  The big ones probably don't need my gushing but some of the out of the way spots could potentially.  I was doing my normal notecard sorting when I saw a message from Vita Bella.  There is a great assortment of vintage dresses, swimsuits, lingerie and what not there but there hadn't been a new release in a while.  Until about a week ago when Lola hit the store.  Lola reminds me of a typical receptionist wardrobe in one of the higher end firms---kinda Mad Men esque.  I am showing you the Ruby Red/Sultry Black version but it's also available in Cream/Magenta which is equally lovely and the one that I didn't stop wearing for a few days originally.  The texture is wonderfully detailed, down to the crinkle that would likely form at the back of the skirt after a day of wear.  LOVE IT.  Also featured in this post is the Lola lingerie set from Seldom Blue in Sheer Nude.  I love the way the color looks on my skin and the fact that the fatpack version of Lola gives you about ninety million ways to mix and match the ensemble.  I'm wearing the bra, thong, suspenders/garters and the waist ruffle which was entirely too dainty not to wear.  There are also hip and bra frills as well as a body suit version that is tres sexy.  Check them both out here for the dress and here for the lingerie.  Featured in both posts are photo boxes from Tuft which I just stumbled upon yesterday thanks to fashion feed.  If you want a few they are all under 50L as well as having a midnight mania board with 3 up for grabs.  And I realize I haven't done a style card for either of the name posts.  If you see something you just have to have let me know and I'll gladly tell you where I got it.

No Comments? Ooops,,,,

It seems I had the wrong settings up for comments and hadn't realized it.  You should be able to comment to your hearts content now and I'll be getting the 2nd part of What's in a Name up later tonight

What's in a Name part one

Okay so I'm a bit of a literary nerd and was going to be super corny with the whole would a Rouge by any other name smell as sweet thing but figured that would be above and beyond with the silly. Anyway, I told you that during the Miss Fashion Pageant that Ginevra Lancaster was nice enough to name an outfit for me. Well a few days ago she sent me the absolute final version of the outfit that had some influences from my styling in the contest. The first picture is what I did for the contest in the initial version of Miss Rouge.  The second is a rough image of the final outfit.  I'm going to have a better shot taken and send it to her for the vendor to use if she wants--she said I could YIPPEE!  The last image that I took after perusing for a good locale is from Opa's Boutique (Topaz Joubert's shop which you should most definitely check out) also entitled Rouge.  I told her and will tell you that when I saw it I did a little dance in the bed for which I was roundly made fun of by my partner.  Good thing I think he's cute and the snoring isn't too bad at night lol.  Anyway it sent me on a vintage flutter and I had to take my time to piece it together with the right hair and jewelry.  And I didn't want to use my photo props so I had to go find a good in world location to snap a few that also didn't interfere with the skirt. Anyhoo there are two snaps of my lovely dress and thanks to Topaz and Ginevra for thinking of me.  Stay tuned for What's in a Name part two with designs from Vita Bella and Seldom Blue.

Really have no good excuse

I have been busy yes but I keep saying I need to take photos of all the outfits I've been in and post them but I'm not getting around to it so I should really just post the updates. The shows went well as a I told you last time. The next big thing was another MPI Graduation show which honestly went fantastic short of missing in action models. The designer was happy at the end of the day and the models who were there ROCKED their lag plagued butts off. This was going on at the same time as my participation in the Miss Fashion 2010 contest. My designer, Ginevra Lancaster of Ginevra Lancaster Designs, was amazing and gave me a very sexy burlesque inspired outfit--named after me no less--to wear during the festivities. I will admit I was sick as a dog and was fuzzy most of the time so I'm not sure if I was doing my best but for the first time in any competition I have entered I made it to the finals. Yeah me, go Rouge lol. That meant another quick design week for Ginevra but since she was just so fierce that she got two models into the finals she did a play off of each outfit. Alii wore a moon inspired outfit and I got to represent the sun. When it was all said and done and we actually made it to the show day, I was just hoping not to crash off the runway or embarrass Ginevra. I didn't expect to win as there were stunning outfits there but wow came in third and wasn't expecting that EITHER. I was disappointed for Ginevra because I think she did a stellar job with five days to whip up two original outfits for the contest. It was fun though and let me hang out with models I knew but hadn't worked together a lot with. Might have to brush up on Italian if I plan to enter again lol. I think that's it for now. See ya everyone and eventually I will get to the photos.