Second Life Review

Shopping

Evening Gowns

The Second Life Evening Gown Competition -  by Hottie Something

Shopping for evening gowns is always a ball. I love shopping for gowns. Nothing makes you feel more special than being ooh’d and ahh’d over when you get yourself all dressed up.  There are a few things you need to keep in mind when shopping for gowns.  Skirt issues can make a seemingly well spent wad of Lindens seem wasted!

Skirts do not always flow well.  With some, when you walk, you can end up with the skirt flapping behind you like a flag when you walk. There are some that have been made to stay aligned with your legs when you walk and sit but this technology has not been used by all designers yet. You can get some awesome dresses that look fab when you stand and are even nice when walking but hang dead under your chair leaving u bare kneed when you sit.  

One major issue with skirts is when flexi skirts have transparencies in the texture. If you wear these skirts and stand in front of any other transparent texture (like say a mirrored ballroom floor you are dancing on!) then an SL glitch makes your skirt suddenly invisible. This is extremely distressing when you spend 1000L on the dress for one particular evening and have to spend most of that evening standing in places where your dress will not glitch out. Another big issue is SL skirt vs. prim skirt. SL skirts (the kind that have a little pic of a skirt in your inventory and are made by using edit appearance) are most annoying in that they make your Av’s butt look at least three times as big as it really is! Anyone who wants to have a pleasingly curvy shape and not look like a stick figure must either look like a whale when wearing a skirt or actually change their shape when wearing a skirt. I have often changed my mind about buying a dress when I saw that it had an SL skirt and not a prim skirt.

 Hanging Skirts and SL skirts that make your butt look big can be a nuisance.

Yikes! The mirrored floor is messing with my skirt!

It’s very hard shopping for gowns when all these dangers lurk out there.  Good gowns usually start at about 500L and go up to 1000L.  Some gowns may reach up to 2000L but these are usually for colour packs or gowns that have interchangeable pieces that effectively give you many outfits in one.  When spending this much money it's important to be cautious.  Pictures do not tell you enough but most stores don’t have demos. Some do however, and others may have friendly store owners who have a staff of models to show you what the dress looks like and answer questions. Some may have some nice customers nearby who have already blazed the trail ahead of you and may be able to give you an opinion of the quality of the goods. The rest you will have to take your chances on—if your think the product is worth it!

• Blaze
  Blaze reviewed by Hottie Something. Fantastic Evening gowns. 5 stars.
  
  
• Nicky Ree's
  Nicky Ree's reviewed by Hottie Something. Stylish evening gowns. 4 stars.
  
  
• Nonna Hedges Designs
  Nonna Hedges Designs reviewed by Hottie Something. Beautiful gowns with finely detailed textures. 4 stars.
  
  
• Simone's
  Simone's reviewed by Hottie Something. Elegant evening gowns, large selection and 100L yard sales! 5 stars.