Morning after the Day Before

Make Him Over 4 starts tomorrow, and I wanted to show some recent finds before that takes over my time and brain (not to mention my inventory).

After a long hiatus, the creative minds at Zanzo are trying to make it up to us: shirts eyes, new skins, they've been a busy bunch. This smart looking striped polo shirt came through as a gift this week, along with two pairs of eyes. Zanzo Le Classique Polo (Rochelais) is a double layered polo with rolled, buttoned sleeves and a prim lower shirt option to give you that loose fitting look so many of us prefer.

Paired with the shirt, I have on Fashion Bar Peppermint Blue's 3rd anniversary gift - Cell Frame Glasses in Midnight Blue, which are simple and sharp looking. There's a women's set in the gift as well. They come with a resizer and I really do like them better than most glasses I've paid for. Also from Peppermint Blue were the Paws Walker Tartan Blue Sneakers I'm wearing to go with F2H's September gift - Monday Jeans, available for free in their lobby.

Not to be outdone by anyone, 22769 has released more of their ethnic casual couture styles; on of which is their MHO4 Gift: Brown linen zebra pants & pink Comfisweater and for Festifall Fair: Fall kick off Leaves Vest & striped trouser.

Both outfits have that kind of funky fun casual look, but still with an edgy style. The striped pants, especially, are growing on me with each new version they release. And while Pink is not my first choice, ever, I have to admit mixing it with the brown makes it work for me pretty well. If they don't offer a unisex version of these, then there will be a complementary one for the ladies, so, take a jump over to 22769 tomorrow and take a chance on something a little off the wall, a little out of your comfort zone and a whole lot of fun.

The last thing isn't a freebie. The new Redgrave skin - King -- appeals to me on a lot of levels. It's got a truly different look from most skins -- older, mature male, a little rough around the edges without being a classic or historical warrior. I know in a few weeks, this skin will be everywhere, as Redgrave skins tend to be, but I think this one is worth taking a look at if you want to stand out among the other bad boys in SL. This skin is representative of the bad boy that makes it through to middle age and still has that sense of mischief, tempered by a lot of experience. There are two versions of the base skin, both tan. One with body hair and one without -- both come with multiple beard options. And then, there's the King FX skins, designed specifically for RPers. Roughs, scarred, bloodied and still standing. You can see it above in the Zanzo pictures for a close up of the face. Left is the full body version and Albertt Olkhovsky does a nice review and picture spread of it on his blog, Stylish Man.

Pictured: Redgrave Men: Tan Skin -King- /unshaved+base+bodyhair. A single iteration of a Redgrave skin runs $990L, Full packs are $2990L.

also pictured above is MADesigns Army Crop hair (also not free.)

More from the House Islands

House Island and Deep House Island house a lot of showcased designers. Mimi's choice for men and women is there, and Mimi does her best to highlight up and coming as well as established designers and offers up unique gifts along with the latest offerings of the designers she showcases.

Emilia Redgrave also has her stores there...and it's worth it to wander the sim and see what else is there (and you get to listen to great music while you do it.)

Just a few steps away from Mimi's is Champagne! Sparkling Fashion which had some interesting, glitzy outfits for guys and some equally interesting thongs if you are feeling adventurous. But, as an opening gift, they had this sleek set out for the taking. Slim line sheened black pants and an open leather shirt with a little glitz (but no bling,) and if you go in Redgrave's main entrance, you can pick up a pair of these unisex ultra modern sunglasses.

Stepping over to Deep House Island will bring you to Urbanized; furniture and accents where you can pick up this texture change valentine's planter and multi-pose cushion. The planter has your typical V-day choices of hearts, but also a cracked, chipped patina finish both in pink and lipstick red. The cushion has three seating options, with a menu driven adjuster (which is a good thing; the "chill" pose was pretty off but easy to fix with the menu. ) The cushion is not texture change but it's fun and the poses aren't your usual ones.

Take a bit more of a stroll and you'll come across Simay Italian fashion. I'm going to have to go back and check some of their men's sets, which looked good, but it was getting late, so I grabbed this free graphic dove button down shirt.

And if you've got a girl, bring her along... plenty of places for her to find gifts and you can kick back and enjoy the tunes.

Showing your A:S:S

It's not quite couture or necessarily sleek, it may not be even particularly trendy, but what the work of Photos Nikolaids of A:S:S (which stands for Another Stupid Shirt Shop) is, is fun, versatile, off the wall, whimsical, sexy and above all, surprisingly affordable and incredibly wearable.

Photos may have started A:S:S as a basic t-shirt stop, but he's both expanded his inventory and grown his own skill just over the few months since I first discovered him. He does have awesome t-shirts that range from funny (and, yes, cute) basics to politically aware (see his line of free shirts for Amnesty International,) to bawdy and provocative.

Lately he's been pushing his skills into more complex designs. He still produces mostly casual clothes for men and women, but his separates are incredibly versatile and wearable and work both alone or as layers with other designers.

He's also aces at providing layers of clothing to allow you to mix and match in pretty much any combination. Shirts typically come with an undershirt, shirt and jacket layer version. Jeans and pants have both pants and underwear versions. His tank tops find their way under a lot of open shirts and jackets I wear, and his button downs fit nicely under my favorite vests.

You will occasionally find (especially in his older stuff) a minor seam glitch or misalign -- which I think he's been willing to fix in the past.

His prim collars and cuffs are modifiable and resizable which is awesome -- I've pretty much given up buying clothes from designers who make their prim attachments no modify -- not all avatars are built the same and I'd rather not have to keep adjusting my avatar because a prim collar is built so small I have to have a pencil neck to wear it.

None of that is an issue with the clothing from A:S:S, and I think that stems as much from the fact that Photos is a smart guy as it does from the fact that the vast majority of his offerings are unisex. He does have some strictly male, strictly female offerings, but most of his clothing looks good on either gender and in some cases, he's deliberately challenged what might be considered a female fashion application and made it into a statement on remaining masculine and thinking outside the box.

You won't find a lot of really complex textures that requires a massively powerful graphics card to render or (thank you, Photos,) basic colors such as white, black, red, green or blue that are uniquely his -- his reds are red and his whites white, not slightly off so no one can wear, say his red tank, with anyone else's red jacket.

Given the variable nature of lighting and graphic settings in world, and the vast difference in rendering color and texture between individual users and their computer systems, this is actually more important than it might seem. I have two PC's and a laptop that I frequently swap between for just that reason, the same with swapping between the LL release browser and my preferred emerald browser. Photos's colors/textures hold up pretty well across systems.

You can also find a wide array of non-clothing items in the store: tattoos, jewelry and mouth toys, furniture, skyboxes (and his skyboxes are seriously awesome,) shoes, and if you are interested in the more bishouen look, he has a nice collection of skins that are either free or amazingly affordable.

Nearly everything in the store is between $25L and $125L, maybe $250L for fatpacks, and there's a lot of things for under $25L, -- there may be a few things that range upwards of $500L (Skyboxes, some larger sets) but the average cost is probably between $75-$125L. He maintains a nice discount area and has a newbie pack for av's under 30 days old.

But here's the thing...It's pretty obvious that Photos is having a blast most of the time, and when he gets in a mood, you never know what he's going to come up with or what he's going to do. If he has an idea he runs with it, and if he likes it, he puts it out for sale or, he gives it away...

Not just in his lucky chair or discount room, but through his subscribo, or tucked into some mini hunt or just says, hey, I made this, come get it for free for the next day or so. I've spent a fair amount of Lindens in his shop, but I can guarantee you that what I've gotten free or for $1L is twice as much as I've ever paid.

So, stop by and take a look. Join the group. Check out his discount room if you aren't sure and spend very little to figure it out, and look for him in the next male oriented Make Him Over Hunt" beginning on October 15th. I honestly don't think you will be disappointed on any front.

And if you see him in his shop (and he's there a lot) say hi, or at least thank you.

~~~~~~~~~
A:S:S Designs pictured top to bottom:

1. Light grey turtleneck, light grey pants, dark blazer - Monochrome separates set - currently on the "Pay What You Want" wall on the second floor of the main shop.

2. Straps Jacket black/white - $65L
Blue Low Rise Jeans - $75L

3. Simple Tank Dirty Yellow - $50L Grungy Low Rise Jeans, rolled - $75L

4. Off Shoulder sweater & tank, white/black -$60L
Starstruck Jeans - prior group gift

5. Military shirt brown - $65L

6. Slacker Shirt Green (worn w/o cuffs) - $70
Mesh detail jeans - Silver - $75

~~~~~Also Worn~~~~
Hair & Beards:
Discord Designs
Goatee - Leon $90L for color packs
Beauty Salon Cri-Cri
mHat02-treasure $170L for 4 colors
JE*REPUBLIC
Love - Black Cap/Ash Black (Lucky Chair - still available - primarily a women's clothier but some unisex items)
Bryce Designs Main Store
Frankie $200L
Zero Style
Ron - raven $200L

Eyes:
Sin Skins
Intense II Med Teal eyes (med) - $10L

Skin:
Redgrave Men:
09B Emil Deep-Tan Skin / bald hair / fullbeard $990
03B Emil Deep-Tan Skin / bald hair / 2day beard $990

Leather Pants & double belt:
Husky GFX - Cort's Brother set $700 (this is a full outfit)

Shoes:
Zanzo/Bete Noire Clothier
Classix Grey sneaks $250L

Accessories:
.:iNflict - After Earth:.
Tattoo - Beauty and Beast
Discord
Ryu-Sei Glasses Brown - 2009 New Year's Gift Pack
Sable Rose:
Zoe Celtic Cross Ruby $150L
Unisex Zodiac Necklace (Taurus) $150L