Roland Writes

With apologies to ZZ Top, tonight’s contest was “Great Legs” and the difficulty for me is, once more, this is a woman’s field. Guy’s legs are knobby, hairy, and generally kept fishbelly white under long pants. At least, my legs. So, trying to do this theme took a lot of mental re-alignment on my part.

In order to show off a great pair of legs, the skin has to define key elements such as front and back of the knee and – for guys – a well sculpted thigh. I chose LeLutka’s Absolute because it has great definition without looking cartoonish.

I picked a beach boy look by adding Uncle Webs “Angel Shine” Reed, my favorite Shiny Things Bo-Ho Sandals, a pair of ache lowcut swim trunks, and a straw colored tee shirt from Moonshine.The body oil is from Nyokos.

To accessorize, I added my Crowe glasses from primOpic, the Walkabout Men’s Choker from Sable Rose Jewelry, M.R.M.’s Surf Bracelet, my own ruby stud earring, and a knotted leather bracelet from the Mustang Trading Post resized to fit my ankle.

The Result

Very confusing. Not that I expected to place. This was a contest for women, one of several in the next few days that will be impossible for me to place in.

But confusing because the winners had perhaps the least well defined legs in a rather large field. Obviously my definition of “great legs” and the judge’s definition varied on the definition of definition.

Perhaps the answer lies in a statement made by one of the organizers after the winners were announced. “FYI for great looking leggs 100 and having a great leggs as a model no muscles on the leggs”

I must remember that for the final that’s coming up.

What Would I Do Differently?

The challenge here is to frame and feature the leg in whatever look I come up with. To my mind that means showing lots of leg and keeping it simple and elegant.

Still, I could have:
- Added a tattoo
- Changed out footwear to something like a horenbeek trainer, or a pair of chucks

Apparently learning what the criteria for judging might be would be good, too.

Stuff

skin: LeLutka – Absolute (Tan)
hair: UWS – Reed (Angel Shine)

Tee: Moonshine – Straw
Trunks: Ache – Low cut swimwear
Sandals: Shiny Things – BoHo

Necklace: Sable Rose – Walkabout Choker (sand)
Bracelet: MRM – Surf Bracelet
Anklet: Mustang Trading Post – Knotted Leather Bracelet (resized for my ankle)

Nyoko’s Body Oil

Wednesday’s theme was “Teenager” and I found this to be harder than it might appear.

So, not exactly an “angel” but here’s the look:

Teens live in a horrible place – hormone driven, socially challenged, and locked into a system that strives to control them while at the same time challenging them to escape.

To demonstrate that angsty level of style, I chose the black Winter Vest from Kiwi Designs layered over a Rebel Designs Hoodie base and >TRUTH< Blood Tshirt. Nuvolino provided the Surreal Punk Jeans while the Black Chucks are from LiNe. Hat and Hair are from :sey. Accessories include the LacieCakes Tagged Silver Guns and a delightfully clunky watch from BUKKA.

To keep the youthful theme going, I changed my shape to a narrower, less developed version and used Belleza's Jonas medium tone skin for the more
emo looking eyes and sallow complexion.

The Result

A very surprising tie for third place:

This was harder than it looked. The challenge is that while we all have an idea of “teen” and what that looks like, actually pulling it off depended less on outfit than on skin.

What Would I Do Differently?

I’d get a more youthful looking skin. Me Belleza and LeLutka skins have a definite adult cast to them. They’re not as mature looking as some but still not teen-ager. Something like Den-Dou’s Jiro or Ichiro might have worked better.

I’d pick a recognized “style” of teen — emo, gothy, school boy, something. This outfit was pieced together out of hunt treasures, and bits and pieces from my inventory. While it sorta worked, the third place result says it could have worked better.

Stuff

Vest: black Winter Vest — Kiwi Designs
Shirt:: Rebel Designs Hoodie
Undershirt: >TRUTH< Blood Tshirt.
Jeans: Nuvolino – Surreal Punk Jeans
Shoes: LiNe – Black Chucks
Hat and Hair: :sey.

Accessories
LacieCakes -Tagged Silver Guns
BUKKA – watch lasta

skin: Belleza – Jonas medium

Almost let this one slip by and that would have been unfortunate!

The theme for Monday was Styling Nun/Priest. Luckily for me, I participated in a renewal of vow ceremony not too long ago and as part of that, I bought a very nice Dress Cassock. Ecce, Pater Roland:

Cardinal Sin from Basilica Cardinale executed this lavish dress cassock very well. The flexi skirt portion has just the right stiffness to feel right to me. The textures and prim-work are terrific. I added a pair of Evocative Cuban Ankle boots for a nice dressy finish.

The skin is LeLutka’s Absolute (Pale) and adds great mood to the piece. The hair is MADesign’s Marcus in dark brown.

The Results

Father Roland wins.

The outfit itself wasn’t all that, but I think what got the edge was the animation work. I added a “monk walk” so that when I went onto the stage, my hands folded into the sleeves of my cassock and I walked slowly with my head down. I added some specialized poses to my line up — including a prayer pose, a “receiving arms” pose, a genuflection, and a blessing. Those really helped sell the outfit, I think.

What Would I Do Differently?

I kept trying to find a crucifix to wear around my neck. They just didn’t sit right on the richly textured buttons because all the ones I have are too small in scale, or too dark to show against the black background. A nicely ornate golden crucifix might have helped.

This was an “out of the box and walk” outfit. Cardinal Sin did a great job in putting the outfit together but it left little for me to do to “style” other than the addition of the animations. It might have been interesting to see how I might have done had I taken something like a simple alb and added some detail of my own.

Then again, it’s hard to argue with first.

Stuff
Outfit: Basilica Cardinale – Dress Cassock
Shoes: Evocative – “Cuban” Ankle Boots
Hair: MADesigns – Marcus DB II
Skin: LeLutka – Absolute (Pale)