A few thoughts on developing your look in Second Life

In Second Life, as in real life, looking good isn't everything, but it sure helps. Deion Sanders' mantra to explain the size of closet (which by the way, seems to be the size of a modest house in the suburbs for the average person) is "when you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you play good!" This statement is just as true in Second Life as it is on the football or baseball field. With this philosophy in mind, here are a few observations about appearance in Second Life that are useful for newbies.

Clothes are great, and in Second Life your avi can dress well on a minimal budget. A five dollar deposit in your SL account will get you over $1000 Lindens. Outfits cost from $100L to $300L on the average at a lot of my favorite shops. You can also join the groups of sims that you particularly like and many times the designers give away nice freebies to group members. You can also find nice freebies around the sim, often in gift boxes, or labeled as free. You can wear fabulous clothes in SL without breaking the bank.

Skins and shapes are fundamental to making your avi individual and unique. Most of us modify our Rez Day avies almost as soon as we exit Orientation Isle to get away from that obvious newbie look. Your original shape is fine as far as it goes, but when you are ready to refine your look there are many shape designers to help you out. The Lindens have helpfully added 16 new avatars for our use. These new shapes are complete ensembles, that is, all you have to do is to drag the folder to your avi and the outfit is complete with shape, skin, hair, clothes, etc. These new looks were designed by renowned SL shape, skin and clothes designers and are a good place to start. To access these new shapes, open your inventory, then click on "Library", then "Clothing", and pick the look. These new looks are helpfully labeled with the designers who created them, so if you find a look you like you can always visit the particular sim and explore.

Some of the designers include Adam n Eve, Grendel's Children, Nylon Pinkney, Wraith Unsung and Renegade Clothing. I already had a couple of skins from Adam n Eve, and some outfits from Renegade Clothing which I like, so I'm happy to see that they have donated their creativity to Linden Labs to help newbies develop their looks.

Next time I'll talk about skins, and review some fabulous free ones! Stay tuned for the next installment—"Skins, skins, where to begin?"

Cheers!

Charisse