The new purchase is the newly-released Charisma from the Black Canary. Morrigan Denimore continues to appeal with his meticulous eye for details and his skillful use of not-quite-monochromatic pallets. In speaking with him after having purchased this, I remarked that the roses were an especially appealing touch—they’re quite different, really, for what’s ostensibly men’s wear (but never fear, ladies, it should suit you just fine, as Freyja’s presently rocking it)—and he noted that he had designed the whole outfit around that particular visual element. I think it’s quite a success. I love the way he uses prims to recreate a bit of lace at the writs. All prims are mod/Copy/no trans, so it’s easy enough to edit a piece to suit you (as I had to do with the cuffs and sash).

The first thing I thought of is that I looked like a stylish 18th century pirate as reinvisioned by a Japanese artist, and certainly the Charisma outfit owes some of its appeal to the Visual Kei fashion of Japan (as Morrigan kindly noted in his notice).  I went with the pirate boots from Illusions to round out the look, and then decided it was a fine time to trot out the Fire skin and the Lestat II (one of my favorite hairs for men in SL right now) because they seemed to fit; I’m ready to turn heads on in the Spanish Main, I think.

Freyja found out that Bare Rose had some new releases, and pointed ths marvellous concoction out. While the ethical questions surrounding bull fighting as traditionally practiced in Spain is a very real concern, I have to admit that there is a certain resonance to the heroic image of the bullfighter. June Dion manages to bring it to life with one of the most sculpt-heavy outfits I’ve come to own. There’s an amazing amount of detail involved in this piece, such as the brightly gilded bows running along arms and legs, the collar, event the hat and bow. To boot, well, there’s boots. I don’t know how June has the time to produce so many outfits.

One thing I’ve noticed lately is that June also seems to be constantly improving her skills, because there’s something about the way the sculpts and the texturing have been carried out that are really striking. The gold texturing, for example, stands out, and I have to say I’m a fan of the subtle use of shadows to give the coat three-dimensionality. As always, you get a plethora of colors. If I have any complaint, it’s the fact that the jacket does not come by itself—because of the high-waisted pants, the sash and a bit of the pants are part of the jacket layer. A real shame, that, because I would have loved mixing and matching with a wide range of outfits. That said, it doesn’t fit too badly with the Charisma pants. Especially if one eschews the shirt…

I picked the Xavier skin because the look of it can fit a Spanish bullfighter quite well, I think—my understanding is that sachi Vixen initially saw this as a skin well-suited for a Hispanic look, and I have to agree. The hair, from one of DoCoMo’s past hunts, is (alas) no longer available it seems because NTT DoCoMo (a Japanese telecom) has pulled out of SL. Perhaps the creator of this and some other remarkable hairs, DMAT Allen, will be convinced to make them available somewhere. However, I do have something from a Japanese designer who’s still giving SL a go. Gogolita (of Juicybomb fame) plurked that IZUMIYA had a bunch of free male and female poses, and even more at a very low price (I calculated an average price of L$10 a pose) and decided to check them out. I’m glad I did, because some of them are very well done indeed.