Do the clothes make the avatar?

[Persephone Emerald]

Blueberrry & Addams  both give store credit as well as a few clothes as group gifts. Store credit is an awesome gift, because you can pick out what you like best. Bumblebee is free join & has some decent lucky letter clothes. It all depends on what kind of clothes you like though. Find stores you like, see if you like their group gifts, then if the group is free or doesn't cost much to join, grab whichever group gifts you like best.

Btw, Black Friday weekend will be full of sales & December will be full of gifts.

[Jennifer Boyle]

12 hours ago, hadleycookie said:

I'm less than a week old and with much effort and help from two friendly people (and Youtube) I was able to put together a nice avatar. I'm now afraid to touch anything because I don't want to mess it up. (baked on mesh took me what seemed like hours to understand!) I also found a really cute outfit that I adore. It's nothing flashy but it really suits my avatar I think. If I were playing an MMORPG I wouldn't bother crafting/buying another outfit once I found 'the one' and normally in those games no one cares. But I know Second Life is a lot different so I have what might be a silly question.

Are you expected to have numerous outfits for your avatar, and is it weird to only have one or two that you rotate?

I might buy another outfit just as an alternative, but I really don't see myself being a shopaholic now that my avatar is set up. I also noticed a couple of people with their avatar's profiles reading things like "mesh avatars only" and "be well put together" notations about people who want to reach out to them. Despite watching Youtube videos I don't know the culture of Second Life very well yet and don't want to find that my lack of wardrobe hinders me from making acquaintances or friends. 

How does this forum feel about this?

Don't worry too much and just go with what you enjoy and feel good about.

I have always thought that SL was very much like a big adult game of dolls. I really enjoy tweaking my avatar's appearance, shopping for clothes and avatar enhancements, and dressing her. I have hundreds of outfits, and I enjoy changing clothes frequently. That doesn't mean that you should.

I could have about the same SL I have with a few dozen outfits instead of hundreds if I didn't enjoy having lots of clothes. I'd have a few outfits with shorts and tanks, a few with jeans and tee shirts or sweaters, a few officewear types, a couple of formals, and a couple of swimsuits.

[Katherine Heartsong]

2 hours ago, hadleycookie said:

Everyone has given me great advice. I truly appreciate it and since I still have a little over 1000 lindens left, I might just invest that little bit into some tops and jeans, as some have suggested!

Demo everything!! What looks good in an ad, might not look good on you.

No demo, don't buy, even from brands you know.

[Lewis Luminos]

13 hours ago, hadleycookie said:

Everyone has given me great advice. I truly appreciate it and since I still have a little over 1000 lindens left, I might just invest that little bit into some tops and jeans, as some have suggested!

If your avatar is female, and you have a mesh body of some sort, go join a few store groups and grab their freebies.  Here's a few to start you off - Hilly Haalan, Scandalize, Le'La, Beautuful Dirty Rich. Just those four and it will take you WEEKS to unpack it all.

If you haven't got a mesh body yet, go to the Lucybody store, hit the Midnight Mania board for the free body. It will take 3-4 days before it pays out, but you will need to buy the Bakes on Mesh converter, which is L$250. Once you have this body, you will be able to wear just about anything made for Maitreya. Plus Slink shoes. This means you'll have access to just about every freebie in SL.

If your avatar is male, I would suggest staying with the default system body at least until you're able/willing to invest more. There aren't many freebies for men, and sticking with the system body will allow you to continue wearing the outfits from the default starter avatars, as well as the older freebies that you can still find on the Marketplace.  There are one or two free mesh bodies for men but unlike Lucybody they don't fit any of the main sizes of clothing, and they're ugly, so not worth the hassle.  When you're able to invest L$3000 or more, then get Belleza Jake - thats currently priced at around L$1500 or thereabouts - under 2k at any rate. And use the rest for three or four pieces of quality clothing.

 

[Chery Amore]

Since you are so new to second life I wouldn't worry about shopping too much right now. You'll end up with a glutted inventory of things you forget about way to easy.  You also might spend way too much on mistakes.
I suggest saving your current look in case you mess it up by accident with the click of the wrong button or just because you might want to try something else. 
Here's a link to how to save your look... or look it up on youtube ect..

As for the question. People live sl the way they want to and usually end up being friends with people they have things in common with. So you might find more in common with others by appreciating and having other looks available to you eventually. If you really have no interest though .. that's absolutely fine and you should find people that accept that and still want to do things with you.  No one is right or wrong but birds of a feather flock together and all that..
For me, I love shopping.. especially bargain shopping. I feel bad if I don't wear the cute stuff I buy.. cause that's just wasteful when you're a skinflint. I tend to change my clothes everyday in sl and also depending on where I am going. Going to the beach.. swimsuit, going to a club.. clubwear...  Events for instance often have a theme and people dress up for that for fun or to be involved but it's usually not required, just something to get people engaged. 
People ride horses here, go driving, go boating, go surfing and so on and if you have a human look it kind of makes sense that you eventually have different outfits for different activities .. just like in real life. 

Edited October 29, 2022 by Chery Amore

[Nalates Urriah]

On 10/27/2022 at 1:11 AM, hadleycookie said:

I'm less than a week old and with much effort and help from two friendly people (and Youtube) I was able to put together a nice avatar. I'm now afraid to touch anything because I don't want to mess it up. (baked on mesh took me what seemed like hours to understand!) I also found a really cute outfit that I adore. It's nothing flashy but it really suits my avatar I think. If I were playing an MMORPG I wouldn't bother crafting/buying another outfit once I found 'the one' and normally in those games no one cares. But I know Second Life is a lot different so I have what might be a silly question.

Are you expected to have numerous outfits for your avatar, and is it weird to only have one or two that you rotate?

I might buy another outfit just as an alternative, but I really don't see myself being a shopaholic now that my avatar is set up. I also noticed a couple of people with their avatar's profiles reading things like "mesh avatars only" and "be well put together" notations about people who want to reach out to them. Despite watching Youtube videos I don't know the culture of Second Life very well yet and don't want to find that my lack of wardrobe hinders me from making acquaintances or friends. 

How does this forum feel about this?

That does not need to be a concern. Save your current look as an OUTFIT. Assuming you are using the default SL Viewer made by the Lab...

• Right-click your avatar and select My Outfits.
• Then select Save As... (at the bottom of the panel) to save the current appearance of your avatar.
• Done. Close the panel.

This saves everything that makes this avatar look. You can come back to Outfits in the Appearance panel at any time and wear this outfit to restore your look.

There are gotchas. If you are using BOM and avoiding appliers then your Outfits are very stable. If you do use appliers there are some other steps one has to take to maintain the integrity of your Outfits. Ask if you need to know those tricks.

For those of us that like dress up, such as my self, a NUDE Outfit is a common starting place for new Outfits. I have 2 or 3 varieties of nude. I use a basic low ACI and script version, a second for every day dress, and a complicated version with all the toys I like. When making a new outfit I start with one of those 3 and add clothes, jewelry, shoes, change hair, make up, and whatever. When it is the way I want it, I save it as a new outfit.

I name outfits by type and date. So, !Dress Mini - 2022-10 [body] [head] [colors] [ACI or script weight]  The '!' is so they sort so all my Outfits are together in the panel.

I also have copies of my head and body in a test outfit. I can change the test outfit avatar and never have to worry about messing up any of my other saved outfits. But this is a hold over from my days of heavy applier use.

Depending on what you like to do in SL you will find a single outfit is enough or that you need lots of looks. Also, your personal preferences will decide what you want to do. I change my clothes every week and sometimes 2 or 3 times in a day. Also, the activity may dictate a type of outfit. Combat, flying, sailing... all have optimal outfits. Events with lots of attendees require low ACI and few scripts.

Trying to fit into SL by doing what others do is not a good idea. There is no normal nor average... well... anyone can come up with an 'average' but it is not representative of anyone in SL. Avoid the PC idea pushed by media that you need to 'conform'. SL is a place to experiment and be an individual.

[Freckles Fairelander]

You do what's best for you! I know one person who's been wearing the same classic body with BOM suit and Chucks the entire decade I've known him. I enjoy doing hunts and dressing up my avatar, so I have all kinds of outfits.

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

On 10/27/2022 at 4:11 AM, hadleycookie said:

I'm less than a week old and with much effort and help from two friendly people (and Youtube) I was able to put together a nice avatar. I'm now afraid to touch anything because I don't want to mess it up. (baked on mesh took me what seemed like hours to understand!) I also found a really cute outfit that I adore. It's nothing flashy but it really suits my avatar I think. If I were playing an MMORPG I wouldn't bother crafting/buying another outfit once I found 'the one' and normally in those games no one cares. But I know Second Life is a lot different so I have what might be a silly question.

Are you expected to have numerous outfits for your avatar, and is it weird to only have one or two that you rotate?

I might buy another outfit just as an alternative, but I really don't see myself being a shopaholic now that my avatar is set up. I also noticed a couple of people with their avatar's profiles reading things like "mesh avatars only" and "be well put together" notations about people who want to reach out to them. Despite watching Youtube videos I don't know the culture of Second Life very well yet and don't want to find that my lack of wardrobe hinders me from making acquaintances or friends. 

How does this forum feel about this?

I personally tend to put together an outfit or look I like and wear it for week, but I like the variety as well… so 

[Anna Nova]

Late to this thread.  I am of the opinion (yes, mine, and it's just an opinion)  that skin is the most important distinguish-er of avis.  Especially Facial Skin.  Humans are keyed to faces, this is why seriously unhealthy bulldogs are considered cute...  But I digress, I advise everyone to learn how to make a good skin on the face.

Edited October 31, 2022 by Anna Nova
typo

[Edohandsome]

On 10/27/2022 at 5:03 PM, PheebyKatz said:

People who are strict about mesh-only avatars tend to be those who are in it for adult things and are highly visually oriented. .

👍