Why is SL Clothing Mostly Overtly Sexual?

[Possum888]

I have been  looking  around at the clothing that is available both inworld and on the market place and so much of it is overtly sexual and  not the sort of thing I could imagine myself wearing.  I am looking for skirts and dresses that cometo just above my knees,  not just below my crotch, necklines that don't  plunge  too far, and sleeves (short or long, it doesn't matter) rather than  bare shoulders.

I have found some but I  was expecting more.  Am I  just looking in the wrong places?

[Josephine Carissa]

Hello Possum,

a couple of places that have some of what you are looking for:

Coco: ( has some nice things that have full coverage ), join the free group and she has alot of free gifts at her inworld shop.

Second Life Marketplace - *COCO*_OversizedSweater_White

thats my favorite sweater : ) i have in several colors

 

Ison: ( have just started building a folder from here ).

Second Life Marketplace - ISON by Harry Hyx

its nice that they sell in color packs too.

 

S@bbia: (has a lot of full coverage clothing with long/skirts and such ).

Second Life Marketplace - S@BBiA by Jury Gothly

have fun shopping,

Josephine

 

[BlueMoonLightz]

Just Because 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/JustBecause/129/78/24

Emerald Couture 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bratsville/103/181/3000

Virtue

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Beauty Star/148/245/900

LC Fashion

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rouse/135/144/38

Store  FEMALE clothes Mall 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rouse/135/144/38

Carol's Store

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Spiced Romance/238/117/2320

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by BlueMoonLightz

[Cougar Sangria]

Yes, to COCO, yes to ISON.  I have just about everything these stores have offered.  There are others.  Fashionably Dead,  Erratic, Tetra, Just Because, Dead Doll, Clef de Peau, Giz Seorn, Rowne, Valentina E, Tres Blah, just to name a few.  All have Classic modest clothing that is still sexy and they also have the revealing clothes.  I have a inventory/closet full of just above the knee skirts and dresses.  While it may be hard in finding more modest clothing, it is also rewarding once you do.  

[animats]

The technical limitation is that rigged mesh can't drape. It's just offset from the bones by a fixed distance. There's no cloth physics, which uses too much compute time to do in real time. That's why long dresses and skirts don't work well; legs go through them. Form-fitting clothing works better.

Even in games that use cloth physics, you might see a cape or a scarf with proper physics and collision draping. but full clothing physics is rarely used. If it is, it's probably only for the hero character.

[ValKalAstra]

At first I wanted to protest that it really isn't that hard to find modest clothing in Second Life. When I saw bareshoulders counting as oversexualized, it began making sense though. So let me think.

Addams has got a wide variety of casual looks and generally works really well for mixing and matching. Even if one outfit might show cleavage, you can usually slot in a top from a different outfit. It also tends to play nice with Blueberry but those outfits would probably be too risky for your tastes.

There's the already mentioned Ison and... gosh, I keep forgetting the name - a smaller store for french fashion that always escapes my mind. Either way, if you're okay with cute clothing (think korean drama fashion) then you might enjoy some of the side rooms of Zenith. Hilly Haalan then offers such a wide variety of clothes, that you're bound to find something fitting, even say - a business suit for female avatars.

Oh yeah - a bit of a hint what you can do:

You can mix and match with BOM clothing. I've got a completely black tanktop as BOM that goes under everything and it's a neat trick to "modest up" otherwise risky outfits. Might be worth grabbing a BOM top with mod permissions so you can colourmatch it and further cover it with accesories. Let me take an example image quick!

Left image is without the BOM top, belt and smartphone that I use to cover clipping on the belt. The right is... well the same but with an added top that blends in really well to the point it might even appear to be one piece (no pirate treasure, sorry :P), in my opinion.

 

Edit after editing the edit:

Obviously the example is not what OP would probably consider modest - but it should illustrate the usefulness of blending mesh with BOM to cover up parts you want covered up.

Edited November 9, 2023 by ValKalAstra

[Rowan Amore]

Neve by Cold Logic...https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/103006

[Psyche Starling]

Trying to name some that haven't been mentioned yet, but my old eyes might miss some things!

SpectacledChic

Amiable

WebDew

Ecru Couture

Belle Epoque 

Siss Boom

Meander

Like the ones mentioned above, these stores don't only have modest clothes, but they all have some modest clothes, and more than like 1 outfit that I can think of. Some are original mesh and some use templates, but I picked ones that I think do a good job making the templates their own, so to speak.

Oh, also Applique Chic often has something on the 25L Tuesday sale.

 

 

[LoverLoveBoy]

Cheezu makes nice modest also.      Leggings , and short cloth shorts , tights under short skirts.  Sheer tops , plain bom shirts under neath other tops. Under garnets pastie have fader to match skin for some gowns so nips don’t show or have lace to cover it. Bom body suits can even work with some clothes and gowns to cover in places. Low backs on gowns so butt does not show you get bow y put over it may have to find gown dress has one like older version one but comes handy when you need it. 

Edited November 9, 2023 by LoverLoveBoy

[Love Zhaoying]

There are burqas on the marketplace, if you are so inclined.

IJS.

[Trinity Blakewell]

LOL, why are jeans and sports shoes not "grown up" clothing? 

But...getting back to the OP question of "Why is SL Clothing Mostly Overtly Sexual?"

Not sure it's "mostly" but the answer to that question is that there is a subset of SL participants that want clothing for their avis that looks like that. SL is a wide open virtual platform where people can basically do whatever they want. Some people are involved in overtly sexual activity. Some people just want to dress that way, maybe because they can't do that in real life (who knows?). 

Another potential reason for this is that some of the popular full-perm mesh clothing makers out there create skimpy clothing (this is what people who don't or can't create their own custom mesh designs in 3D software use when creating clothing to sell). The most prolific full perm creator on Marketplace has a lot of more modest styles, but the second most prolific creator on Marketplace has a ton of very skimpy/revealing items.

Certainly there is a significant group of SL users that aren't interested in this type of clothing. You've been given some good recommendations for brands to check into.

As ValKalAstra mentioned, I also recommend investing in some BOM clothing: tank tops and camis, shorts/underwear and leggings/tights. It's a fast and easy way to make things more modest. And most BOM items can be tinted to better match the clothing you're using them with.

Emi's Attic has a fatpack of cami's and boy shorts.

Izzie's has multi-packs of  cami's, long sleeve t-shirts, jeggings, tights and stockings.

C'est La Vie has packs of tights and leggings. Note - do not turn on media for C'est La Vie unless you have a high tolerance for Japanese in baby-girl voices.

Note that Izzies and Crest La Vie have appliers as well as BOM in their packs. I don't recommend using the appliers. Using the BOM is much easier.

Edited November 9, 2023 by Trinity Blakewell

[MoiraKathleen]

Another place to take a look at is AlaFolie   

I also use a lot of BOM leggings (to turn too short dresses into tunics) and have quite a few BOM tank tops also for when a top or dress I really like has too much cleavage or a top doesn't extend all the way down to my skirt or pants. 

[Rowan Amore]

8 minutes ago, MoiraKathleen said:

Another place to take a look at is AlaFolie   

I also use a lot of BOM leggings (to turn too short dresses into tunics) and have quite a few BOM tank tops also for when a top or dress I really like has too much cleavage or a top doesn't extend all the way down to my skirt or pants. 

I just pulled.out an older dress from AlaFolie the other day.  I always adored her clothing and owned most of it.  She did flexi so well!

[Extrude Ragu]

Because one of the primary reasons people come to SL is to do things they'd never feel comfortable doing in RL.

I'm more surprised by the people that come to SL and try to be as normal as possible, makes me wonder just how freaky they must be in real life that normality is their fantasy

[Quartz Mole]

This thread is about Why is SL Clothing Mostly Overtly Sexual? 

If people feel they must complain about First Life fashions and dress sense, the Pet Peeves thread is available.    Please reserve this thread for a discussion of SL fashions.

[Love Zhaoying]

I had a thunk (like a "thought" that falls down with a loud noise, but it also happens to be a programming term):

Regarding the thread title, "Why is SL Clothing Mostly Overtly Sexual?"

Implied by the title, is that the question is for both male and female clothing.  

But, since the OP mentions specifically in the question:

On 11/8/2023 at 11:24 PM, Possum888 said:

  I am looking for skirts and dresses that cometo just above my knees,  not just below my crotch, necklines that don't  plunge  too far, and sleeves (short or long, it doesn't matter) rather than  bare shoulders.

It is fairly clear that the question is regarding female clothing only.

If I take an underlying assumption of the OP's question as "true", i.e. that "SL (Female) Clothing is Mostly Overtly Sexual"; as being sold, since the OP's actual question details their search efforts - and not what they "see people wearing"; then I propose one way to answer the question, would be to perform a survey of merchants who "mostly sell overtly sexual (female) clothing". To ask the merchants, "Why".

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Love Zhaoying
Add missing words.

[Possum888]

On 11/9/2023 at 11:47 PM, ValKalAstra said:

if you're okay with cute clothing (think korean drama fashion)...........

Funny you should say that - this is what I'm wearing at the moment in SL:

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Possum888
accidentally posted before finished

[Orwar]

   It's up to how one defines 'overtly sexual'. I very often wear tops that are cropped for the simple reason that it's an easier way to avoid clipping between the top and the bottom I'm wearing, and personally I don't find showing a few inches of midriff is 'overtly sexual'. When it comes to skirts, Animats is spot on; long skirts and dresses do weird stuff when your avatar is doing anything that isn't a T-pose. The shorter the skirt, the less problematic it is.

   In some cases wearing BOM leggings under can offer some modesty, but then that's one more component that needs to match the style you're going for.

   But then, just people-spotting around the grid, or watching the 'what people are buying now' section on the MP, I think the simple answer is .. There's a demand for it. It's not as if we don't have the option to dress modestly, it's just most people seemingly don't want to. As for why that is .. Well, one could only speculate. Or make a study, I suppose, but then I'd have to actually talk to people and that I can't be bothered with! Easier to just make assumptions such as 'people are all floozies!' or 'all the female avies are piloted by men!'.

[LittleMe Jewell]

3 hours ago, Orwar said:

 

 

It is hard to tell the exact fit form the picture, but to me, if that top is not fitted close under the breasts and thus allows for easy peeping under, then it does fall into my category of 'overtly sexual'.  I do know that there are tons of folks that will disagree with me on that.

 

Orwar is right though -- there is so much of that clothing because so many folks actually do want to wear it.  

With a bit of effort though, and threads like this with store suggestions, you'll eventually come up with a list of creators that do a pretty good job of supplying some 'modest' items.

[Orwar]

4 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

It is hard to tell the exact fit form the picture, but to me, if that top is not fitted close under the breasts and thus allows for easy peeping under, then it does fall into my category of 'overtly sexual'.

   If you'd cram your head up against her and closed one eye, you might catch a glimpse of her bra. 

   Which, even with much of her current AO being fairly static, feels like a whole lot more effort than it's worth! 

[LittleMe Jewell]

Yeah - that's not the type of top I was referring to.  There are some out there that are set quite a ways out from the ribcage, and usually that way for both breasts - and then the gals wear then without a bra.

[Wulfie Reanimator]

31 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

It is hard to tell the exact fit form the picture, but to me, if that top is not fitted close under the breasts and thus allows for easy peeping under, then it does fall into my category of 'overtly sexual'.  I do know that there are tons of folks that will disagree with me on that.

Even if it was impossible to cram your camera under that shirt, it'd still call it sexual/sexy.

It's not just a tank/crop top that leaves the belly visible, the creator went out of their way to add detail to hike up one half of it while adding a bit of emphasis to her breasts with those creases.

[LittleMe Jewell]

3 hours ago, Wulfie Reanimator said:

Even if it was impossible to cram your camera under that shirt, it'd still call it sexual/sexy.

It's not just a tank/crop top that leaves the belly visible, the creator went out of their way to add detail to hike up one half of it while adding a bit of emphasis to her breasts with those creases.

Yes, definitely a sexy look, but I wouldn't put it in the category of 'extreme', like the tops that barely cover the nips and skirts that don't bother covering anything.

[Possum888]

On 11/9/2023 at 3:24 PM, Possum888 said:

I have found some but I was expecting more.  Am I just looking in the wrong places?

As you can see from the end of my first post in this thread,  I was looking for advice about where to find a  certain type of clothing.  I never intended it to be a  discussion about sexual expression in SL. As pointed out, comments about that belong elsewhere on this forum.

The suggestions so far have been  interesting, and have  brought up names of some vendors that I haven't heard of before, and need further investigation on my part.  I am  also fast coming to the conclusion that  mixing and matching items might be the way to go.

In retrospect,  I  perhaps should have  given the  thread a different  title,  but I  can't see  any way of changing it now. 

[Possum888]

I just found this lovely dress (with matching shoes) at Cog & Fleur.  Makes a bit of a change from my other outfits.