Showing posts with label Indyra Originals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indyra Originals. Show all posts

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Review: Indyra Originals, i(heart)Unity Spirit Sets


"The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, 
the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, 
an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us" 

-John Williams

In the spirit of the Olympics, we at TRF are proud to present Indyra Seigo's newest design, the i(heart)Unity Spirit Sets. This semi-mesh set is available at the Indyra Originals store in world for L$325, and each purchase will earn you L$50 if you are a member of her Indyra Originals store group. The set comes with one mesh tank top in five separate sizes, three matching thigh-high socks, a cute pair of leather shorts, and a color change headband. While shoes are not included, there are so many possible ways to style this outfit, that you can really wear almost any shoe. There are currently ten countries to choose from, and I am assuming that there is a good chance for more to come.  But, you have to shop for this treat soon as it is a limited edition, available for this week only specifically for the Olympics.

This outfit is great for any sort of Olympics party or any gathering where you want to show off your international team spirit. The flag on the front is very stylized and is just gorgeous; the style of the flag for each country is definitely chic enough that you can wear the shirt for anything patriotic and still be in style.  Sometimes flags can come off as gaudy, but with the chic modernized design of these, the flags will always work well for a patriotic look.  The shorts are absolutely cute too, in a nice soft leather.  The socks add a sporty touch and come with three colors around the thighs - always black and then two of the main colors of the country's flag.  While shoes do not come with the outfit, I chose to pair it with a pair of color change trainers or a pair of black heels, depending on if I wore the socks or not.  There is also a cute headband as well that has a color-changing bow.

While the shirt itself came in five separate sizes, as it is rigged mesh, I still had a little problem with it working with my AO.  While the shirt fits well with more neutral poses, if you have an AO that moves more than normal, it may force parts of your shirt to to in your avatar.  There is an included alpha layer for the shirt.  I was able to easily wear my standard size shape and get the outfit to fit right.  Mom tried the demo at the store and was able to get it to fit to a standard size shape as well and did not have a problem with her AO.  

Overall this is a great little outfit for any Olympic or patriotic theme, but if you want it, you need to get it soon as she will only carry this outfit for the week.  Everyone here at TRF absolutely loves Indyra Originals, and Mom is over there right now shopping again even.  She has some of the great designs in SL for a good price, and she really is extremely high end - all of her fashions have great textures, designs, cuts, and fits.  I would not hesitate to wear anything that Ms. Seigo designs and am looking to publishing this blog so I can go over and join Mom in the Indyra shopping spree.

Overall:  10/10

Pros:  Great flag designs, versatile

Cons:  The mesh may cut into your body depending on the pose




Monday, June 25, 2012

Review: Indyra Originals, Marquise II


We're bringing you something today to help make your Monday a little more fanciful.  This gem is a gorgeous creation by Indyra Seigo of Indyra Originals.  We did a post on a minidress from her Boutique collection a couple of days back and wanted to show some other amazing designs from this store.  This outfit is called Marquise II and sells for L$425.  The outfit includes the shirt, pants, pant cuffs, gloves, corset, and ruffled shoulders and is only available in-world at her store.  This is one of several outfits featuring this style as well, though they are not a formal collection.  

This outfit is great and very striking for any dramatic event you may wish to attend.  The pants that came with happen to be a particular favorite; they are long and drape well at the bottom.  The larger flared pant leg creates a delicate touch giving it a more formal feel.  In fact you could probably wear this for a very striking stylish evening wear.  The top is a quilted fabric that looks great as well, the texture is very detailed and contrasts the pants enough that you could easily wear the two together without the other components. 

The thing that really caught my attention with this outfit is the ruffles.  One of the earliest things that caught my eye in SL was the use of ruffles in everything, thanks to the overly gratuitous application of flexi-prims in freebie outfits.  Ruffles are generally something I avoid, and I beg and plead to my readers that you generally avoid them as well if at all possible.  I am sure we all remember rezzing in on our first day in SL and immediately discovering freebies filled with gawdy poorly textured ruffles that we wouldn't dare wear in our real lives let alone Second Life but we all did because... guess what... it was free and looked better than what we rezzed in with.  This is what I call the SL Ruffle Theory.

I could write an entire essay about the difference between a newbie at a freebie store and some of these top designers, who were all there as newbies as well (I do say "newbie" and not "noobie," which has a big difference).  However, and this is a big however, Ms. Seigo has cracked the SL Ruffle Theory.

Take a look at this photo.  What do you see?  There ruffles, and they are done exceptionally well.  Not too many, not too few.  And where they are in the outfit work well.  Even better, this is not the only outfit from Indyra that has ruffles that work.  In addition to this outfit, Mom owns Jessamine (a black high-waisted skirt with a white sleeveless ruffled blouse) and Sia (a Victorian-aviator inspired outfit with similar ruffles).  All three outfits look great and demonstrate one thing:  while there are a million wrong ways to do ruffles in Second Life, it took the talent of Indrya Seigo to find the right way to do it.  Thank you Ms. Seigo, thank you. 


Now to be forewarned - the ruffles come in two separate pieces; one piece with the ruffles and another shoulder-guard type piece that serves as the collar as well.  Depending on your AO the black collar can move above the ruffles.   Mom there found that if she attached the collar at the same point as the ruffles she was able to mostly remedy this problem as the two pieces then moved together with the poses and animations.  She also found the corset to be a little big, but that means that it will fit almost anyone that tries it on; her avatar is sized on the slimmer side for business, design, and fashion. 


Overall:  10/10

Pros:  The right way to do ruffles, striking design

Cons:  Corset was a little large at first, collar needed to be attached to same point as ruffles with "Add" and moved to place.

Stylings:
Outfit:  Indyra Originals, Marquise II in Rosedust for L$425
Shoes:  Similar Italian Footwear, Venezia in Black for L$750
Choker:  Chop Zuey, Death in Mantua for L$599
Earrings:  Indyra Originals,  Briolette Earrings in Noir for L$150
Hair:  Truth Hair, Kalia Blacks, for L$250
Skin:  Chaisuki, Vienna 14 in Nougat for L$1389

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Review: Indyra Originals, Vida in Cantelope

Today's special item is from a designer that I at first did not like.  But, soon I noticed that my RL mother and my RL aunt could not get enough of the clothing from here so I thought I'd take another look.  The designer is Indyra Seigo from Indyra Originals, with the dress being in the Budoir fashion line and is available for L$325.  The dress comes on its own in clothing layers with a prim skirt.  The version in white is available on the Marketplace for a 33% discount, totaling L$200. The outfit comes as no mod/copy/no trans.

This is a gorgeous little dress, available in several colors from the store.  It fits well, and my aunt found that she did not have to adjust it.  The coloring fit her avatar's own coloring well and she just looked gorgeous in it.  There was a slight variation in the lace of the dress which gave a nice subtle detail to it as well.  Everything about it was easy to photograph, easy to look at, and looked great in any setting we tried it in. 


We also found that the dress moved well.  All of the ladies associated with this blog have mocap AO's from several sources in SL, and we find that there are many times where we have problems with the movement of prims in clothing because of it.  This is one of those dresses where the movement works well.

There are two small flaws we have found with this dress, but both are debatable.  The first is that I prefer to have some sort of shaddowing to the edges of the cloth.  In real life, no matter the lighting, you will have some shadowing on the skin from clothing.  This shadowing is missing here.  It's not noticable unless you look, and you don't miss it that much on someone with a tan, but on a lighter skinned avatar it could be noticed.  It's also not noticeable unless you look, but the edges of the texture do not line up at the seams on the sides.  Though it also is not needed, the available clothing templates all take into consideration where and how to line up textures.  Plus, some of the newer graphics programs now allow you to look at the clothing in three dimensions, which allow for this problem to be fixed.

We were all debating too on the skirt.  While I thought the way the flexi-prims fell did not work, Mom thought it flowed well with the AO.  Indeed it did flow well, and the mocap AO happened to hide the fact that the buttocks tend to stick out.  If you do purchase this and have a little "junk in the trunk," then you will find yourself needing to modify it to make it look like it hangs more naturally.  I also did not care for the fact that the edges of the prims just do not match up well enough.  Mom then noticed as well that the top edges of the prims, where it meets the avatar, had faded to an alpha texture.  While the alpha trick helps to smooth the edge of the prim, from the side, it looks unnatural and makes you remember that you are in a virtual world and not some paradise of your dreams. 

While we did have some technical critiques on this dress, we still love it and would wear it anywhere in SL.  It's perfect for any occasion, plus it comes in such a great array of colors that it will match any skin, hair, or event that you may need.  You might even find yourself picking it up in a few extra colors just in case.  We also found that the men on the sim we run our businesses on could not stop looking at it either.

Stylings used:
Dress:  Indyra Originals, Vida in Cantelope for L$325
Jewelry:  Chop Zuey, Soul's Horizon Set for L$0 if a group member
(note:  group membership for Chop Zuey is L$350, but comes with minimum three monthly free gifts)
Hair:  Truth Hair, Jolie Reds for L$250
Shoes:  Similar Italian Footwear, Grosseto in White Leather for L$795
(note:  free demo available in store)
Skin: Al Zulo, Vero in Cocoa for L$800
Makeup:  NOYA

Overall:  8/10

Pros:  Great design, looked great, very versatile

Cons:  Needs some slight adjustments with the skirt and edges of the textures.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Special Review: T&C Designs, LoveCats Designs, Indyra Originals

Today we at The Redneck Fashionista have decided to forgo our usual posts to bring you something a little extra special instead.  Today we have decided that we are going to split from our usual fashion feed and instead feature an item from an old-school SL designer who has been on the grid for almost five years.  We have the privilege of presenting to you all a very special item by the designer Iga Clawtooth of T&C Designs.  In addition to that, we have three minute-reviews of outfits by LoveCat Thei of LoveCats Designs and one by Indyra Seigo of Indyra Originals that we will be featuring more in-depth tomorrow.

Mr. Clawtooth is a well-known builder and creator within the SL Community and has been here many years.  He has been a part of the SL community for almost five years and in the past has had many of his building creations featured by the Lindens themselves, including one in a CSI-SL feature a few years ago.  When he was still taking commissions, he was considered by many the go-to builder.  He is part of a real-life company represented in SL that features a team of scripters, designers, and graphic artists, bringing you a wide array of products.  He is the creator of the Auction Master Pro with his colleagues TranquilMoonDancer Timeless and Jer Straaf, which set the industry standard for SL auctions at the height of the breedables era.  In addition, T&C Designs is known across the grid for its high level of personal customer support and content creation in general.  Mr. Clawtooth is above the curve here, and represents the highest degree of professionalism we have seen in SL. 

What is not really known to many is that Mr. Clawtooth has a bit of an affiity for motorcycles, and he has created one a few months back that should be considered the industry standard.  My parents both are a bit of gearheads, enjoying cars and bikes with the best of them and try to collect them when they can in SL.  They were introduced to this bike by a very proud Mr. Clawtooth himself shortly before its release. 

The bike itself is the Bullet Lowrider Bike, which is currently only available in-world at the store for L$500.  While most bikes come with a men's and women's sizes, the Bullet Lowrider fits one size.  It is however copyable and able to be locked and unlocked so that you and your friends can ride together. 

The bike is perfection at its finest and is by far its price, the best buy you will find for any motorcycle within SL.  In my opinion, this is the best bike on the grid for looks, style, ride, function, and class A personal customer support.  You will not find better. 

Mr. Clawtooth's bikes all come with the same standard features - what sets this one above the rest is its design, which is based on prototypes from the RL European market.  Advertised features are as follows: 

"Mouse Wheel Controlled Camera View
(zoom in/out with angle control).
Drive / Fly Mode.
Burnout and Rev function.
Skids when turning or breaking at high speed.
Manual / Automatic 5 Gears with adjustable speed (Menu Driven).
Adjustable poses for driver (3) and 1 for passenger (Menu Driven).
Authentic Horn Sound.
Working Speedometer on the HUD. 

"Menu controlled Color changer.
Menu controlled Texture changer.
Parking Mode for the bike with auto switch of the driver pose.
Lights on / off.
Built in Break light.
Exhaust on / off (particle smoke).
Locked / Unlocked mode making it possible for friends or the public to ride your bike.
Group Access mode for members of your group wearing the tag.
Easy to use HUD for quick controls.
Very easy to drive and control."

While the bike is listed as no-mod, we did notice that the items that needed to be modded were all adjustable via a menu, easily accessible from clicking on the bike. You really don't need the HUD to operate it at all, but you can always get a copy of it from the menu if needed  The bike drives with the same key commands as walking, so you do not need to learn a lot to operate it successfully.  Even though the default paint job is silver, there are 20 custom hand-painted paint options created by Mr. Clawtooth himself, two of which are shown in this article.  Two people are also able to ride on the bike at the same time.  The driver can click on the seat to "Ride out," and your passenger on the back fender.  

While the scripts are from KCP, the current leader in motorcycle scripts in SL, these somehow are the smoothest running scripts of any KCP Scripts.  We tested side by side this bike to some of Mr. Clawtooth's older models and bikes form other stores that listed the same scripts and found the Bullet Lowrider to run more smoothly and efficiently than other bikes, even those made by Mr. Clawtooth as well.  Mr. Clawtooth works with a few scripters with his real life company, NCraft Republic, so things may have been optimized a bit there.  This bike also has some great smooth engine sounds that other bikes in SL are lacking.

The design of every aspect of this bike is perfection.  It features an elegant yet powerful stretched out body, wheels seen in prototypes of European and racing motorcycles only, intricate detail of side exhaust, front brake caliper, and down to the details in the various paint jobs included in the bike.  Detail has been shown to every part of this bike, down to the licesne plate, speedometer, and even the tank is authentic.  The bike is not lacking in detail either, nor is any other bike offered by Mr. Clawtooth.  It has very finely detailed timing, scripting, workmanship, and sounds and just looks and works great.  It also features working lights, horn, and a flight mode.  We have talked to many in SL who have purchased his bikes, and everyone agrees that his are by far the best. 


T&C Designs is also the only company in SL that we have found that will build child-sized avatar bikes that the child can sit on and it looks correct.  While other companies do have some bikes for child-sized avatars, the poses in Mr. Clawtooth's child-sized bikes are anatomically correct. Most of his bikes have child versions available for L$300, however, as this is his newest, it is not available at this time. Speaking of animations, all of the adult animations are spot on and have been created by Mr. Clawtooth himself. 

One other detail that Mr. Clawtooth has paid attention to, and this is where his dedication to the craft becomes apparent, is that, unlike many of his SL design counterparts, Mr. Clawtooth seeks real life licensing of the textures, sculpts, and other aspects of his designs that he creates in SL.  While we've seen a lot of motorcycle designers pick and choose pieces, often crossing styles, Mr. Clawtooth will seek permission from the real world companies to recreate the product in SL.  Mr. Clawtooth is the head of a group in SL called "PBACAT" which specializes in the prevention of copyright and intellectual property theft. 


Iga Clawtooth is a sheer genius when it comes to what he builds in general and has set the industry standard in motorcycles in SL with this bike.  The only person, in my opinion that could do better, is Mr. Clawtooth himself.   Mr. Clawtooth has as well set the industry standard in anything he has made for SL at that time. 



Overall:  10/10, we'd give higher if we could

Pros:  Perfection

Cons:  None




Styling Guides:

Med:  LoveCats Designs, Gunshy for Men

This is an excellent outfit for men.  While it is
hard to find good clothes for men, everything from LoveCats is great.  We love the tattoos, shirt, jeans, and boots.  All around a great outfit and perfect for any men's wardrobe.  (note:  sunglasses separate)

Overall:  10/10
Pros:  Great outfit
Cons:  None

Arizona:  LoveCats Designs, Snakebite for Women

This by far another great outfit with a versatile jacket that comes in two sizes that are easy to fit.
We had to adjust her avatar size a little, but the avatar looked even better after she did.  While the boots are styled for a neko, we prefer the boots from gunshy with the outfit.  This outfit can also work well for the neko readers out there.  This outfit also pairs well with components of other outfits.  (note:  sunglasses separate)


Overall:  9/10
Pros:  Versatile, jacket looks great, fits easily
Cons:  Boots are neko


Sonja:   LoveCats Designs, Wanted for Women

Thhis outfit gives you the rocker chic look.  Available for men and women it features a denim shirt, jeans, boots, gloves, and a belt complete with accessories such as drum sticks and a keychain.  Looks good, feels good, and is versatile.  An all around favorite.

Overall:  10/10
Pros:  Great outfit, versatile, great details
Cons:  None




Syr (left):  Indyra Originals, Vida in Cantelope - special to come tomorrow








Credits:
Special Thanks to: Iga Clawtooth and TranquilMoonDancer Timeless of T&C Design
Special Thanks to: LoveCat Thei of LoveCats Design
Written by: Sonja Mistwallow and Arizona Navarathna
Edited by:  Arizona Navarathna
Photography by:  Philip Belgold
Models:  Sonja Mistwallow, Arizona Navarathna, Syrelis, Medavac Renfold