Vanity Fair

Yep, that is what this diehard freebie fashionista is hoping for! I have a number of female alts who wear the Maitreya Lara 5.3-compatible Lucybody Atenea mesh body, and I have no plans to update them. I endlessly shop for freebies for them at events like the Shop and Hop, and by taking advantage of stores with dozens of group gifts and a free or inexpensive group join, like Scandalize. Those Atenea bodies are going to have clothing and shoes for YEARS, people! 😉

I suspect that most creators will probably drop Lara in favour of LaraX (and Petite in favour of PetiteX) going forward. Some vendors may choose to support both for a limited time, but I can't see that happening indefinitely. For example, almost all vendors have dropped support for Belleza's older bodies (Freya, Isia, and Venus), in favour of the new GenX bodies (Classic and Curvy). Similarly, nobody is still creating for the older eBody mesh bodies, in favour of Reborn.

Oh, hooray! I had bought both the dress and the jacket as fatpacks a couple of years ago, so I will definitely be getting a redelivery. That is great news! ETA: Turns out that I had bought the Mell outfit megapack, which also includes the boots, which apparently still fit LaraX! Here's what I look like wearing it, below. The fatpack of the dress, jacket and boots comes in 30 colours, and the dress itself comes in two versions in the pack, cotton or satin, and it includes optional panties. It's an outfit I turn to time and again! P.S. the rigging is INSANELY good; once I was falling from a great height due to a vanished skybox, and the hem of the skirt on the dress actually fluttered! From that point on, I was a loyal ViSion customer. I mean, who thinks of details like that when creating clothing??

So I have bought just a few new items for my LaraX body: one knit dress with belt from Carol's Store (they have a couple of LaraX items out now), and the following outfit, which consists of the Vintage Jeans from Maitreya (newly updated to LaraX, and 50% off for Black Friday), paired with the Megan top from GAWK (also updated for LaraX, and also 50% off).

Thanks, Blush! Is there a list of stores that make and sell Lara/LaraX body deformers anywhere? And I assume that just because a body deformer works for Lara, it might not work for LaraX, since the mesh is somewhat different, right?

One of things I like about the full-price Kalhene Erika body is the number of deformers for various areas of the body. I'm not an expert in this area, so I ask: if Maitreya does not offer these kinds of deformers, does anybody else? Perhaps there is a market here for LaraX deformers (for example, to remove the butt dimples, perhaps?). Like I said, I'm not an expert, so I'd like to learn more about the body deformer market. Somebody posted the before-and-after pictures of the effect of the shoulder deformers on the LaraX body, and I have a question: do these sort of deformers also affect the clothing as well as the body? I assume they do, but like I said, clueless about all this. Thanks.

Just kidding, luv ya, Blush! ❤️

Which Discord is this? I might want to join, particularly if they have a channel for new LaraX releases. Thanks!

Yeah, this I don't get at all. I got the notecard of LaraX apparel vendors from the Maitreya Lara Friends group and I was...underwhelmed. Perhaps the apparel designers for LaraX were under some sort of embargo where they couldn't release new clothing until the body was released. But I would have thought that more creators would have been ready to launch immediately with clothing for the LaraX body. Perhaps everybody was busy preparing for Black Friday sales?

I am sitting here with my morning coffee and roaring with laughter at some of the snark about the butt dimples. You all are just too funny! Me, I usually wander around the grid with either CalWL or Nam's Optimal Skin 1 or 2 EEP settings (the better to participate in hunts with!), and when I'm not, I'm usually wearing clothing over that area, so I'm good.

And here is what Blueberry has posted to their store group re: LaraX: ----- Berries! LaraX has hit the grid, and everyone has questions. While we cannot answer body questions, there are a few we CAN answer. We will be creating for LaraX, which is the good news! We will still be creating for Lara 5.3, at least for the foreseeable future. We will only be updating some of our older items as it would keep us from doing anything else, but we may be updating favorites. ❤️ Please note the Blueberry team will not have answers on when or what we will be updating; please lets not swarm the chat with questions on updates. We are SUPER excited about LaraX, too and will do our best to continue to make our berries as happy as possible. As far as customer support questions for the new bodies please contact Maitreya CSR: Gryphon Ronas for all LaraX questions or join the Maitreya Discord - https://discord.com/invite/tNss4XD If you are looking for information on LaraX - https://sl-maitreya.blogspot.com/p/lara-mesh-body-v5.html If you already own the body, you can receive your updated bodies in the Maitreya store, redelivery terminal. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Maitreya Isle/129/130/23 Thank you for understanding and being patient with us! We LOVE YOU and the new Maitreya body ❤️

Also, here is the notecard Kiddo Oh of Dead Doll has posted to her store group: --- I have been asked questions about DEAD DOLL support to Lara X/Lara 5.3 a lot lately, I will try to reply to all of them here: ❤ Will new releases for Lara X fit my old Lara 5.3 body? For the most part they will not. The body has been reshaped, mostly in the torso/arms area. Since feet were not subject to alterations you will probably be able to wear footwear created for Lara 5.3 with Lara X. ❤Will old releases for Lara 5.3 be updated to Lara X? There will NOT be a systematic update of old products created for Lara 5.3 to Lara X. Unfortunately I can not afford to add more working hours to my current schedule, with 8 years of past creations to update I am unable to commit my efforts for the enhancement of old products. I might sporadically update older products, there is not a schedule or a list of products, the updates will happen at my discretion. ❤ Will the updates be available free of charge? This will be decided on a case by case basis. The criteria will range from the amount of time required for the update to eventual improvement/enhancement of other aspect of the mesh such as UV mapping, retopology, retexturing. ❤ Will DEAD DOLL keep supporting Lara 5.3? Moving forward all DEAD DOLL releases will ONLY fit Maitreya LaraX and PetiteX. I understand that this adjustments may impact Maitreya Lara 5.3 users. However, this decision allows me to allocate more resources to innovate and improve my work so forward is the direction I'm going. ❤ Will old Lara 5.3 Exclusive releases be retired? They will be eventually retired. Although there is not a plan or official schedule yet I will slowly be removing those products from my store. This is mostly due to the fact that often people refuses to try out demos, read/understand informative notes or item descriptions especially on the Marketplace while they are very inclined to leave bad reviews that are hard to get removed. FOR YOUR OWN SAKE PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO TAGS, TRY DEMOS AND READ DESCRIPTION PRIOR TO FINALIZE YOUR PURCHASES. In order to safeguard my own mental health, i will not reply to questions asking if a specific product will be updated/re-released. Thank you for understanding. Love, Kiddo Oh DEAD DOLL ----- I do expect many creators will do something similar to this.

Oh, yes! I do expect some nice Advent calendar gifts this December, for those of us with LaraX bodies.

I have one alt who has Maitreya Lara 4.1, and I neglected to update her to 5.3, so I will just have to be patient and wait until the Maitreya store is less busy, so I can pay a visit and slap the redelivery panel in-store. (My other alts have Lara 5.3, so I was able to update them using the Redelivery button under the Misc tab on the 5.3 HUD.) Here's what I think is going to happen with respect to Lara versus LaraX: We are probably going to be going back and forth between Lara 5.3 and LaraX for 2-3 years. People aren't going to throw out all their old outfits, and I doubt that many creators will choose to go back and re-rig apparel for LaraX. Like Salt & Pepper has already announced, what will likely happen for most vendors will have a cut-off for Lara, probably as of right now, and from this time forward, everything will be for LaraX only. I cannot see vendors rigging for both bodies, especially when they're also rigging for Legacy, Reborn, Kupra, etc. etc. What I don't know is how many creators will bend to pressure to rig for both Lara and LaraX. However, the silver lining will be that a large amount of Lara 5.3 clothing will eventually land up in the freebie/cheapie bin, which is great news for all the female alts I have that use the Lucybody Atenea body, which is Maitreya Lara 5.3-compatible! (Except for the feet, which are Slink-compatible. However, if you get the latest version of Atenea from the store (30?, I think), there is a new button which has Maitreya Lara-compatible high-heeled feet!) I really do not expect that there will be many sales or bargains in LaraX apparel. Vendors are probably going to want to take advantage of Second Life fashionistas' natural desire to buy outfits to fit the new LaraX body. Some will no doubt choose to stay with Lara 5.3, but they will face a dwindling supply of clothing (much like what is already happening with Belleza Freya and other discontinued bodies). Anyway, my $0.02 (Canadian).

Yes, sorry!

And this is why I am lurking in this thread. These sorts of tips are gold, thanks Katherine!

Oh no, I guess that Dead Doll is doing what all the other creators are doing: a strict cut-off of Lara, and only doing LaraX from now on. I guess the information I got was wrong, and I am sorry! And *YES*, we definitely need a list of the major brands that are updating their clothing (although let's face it, it will be ALL of them!).

Thanks, Marianne! I, too, tend towards more modest stuff. Full-length sleeves and full-length pants should be okay, although you're going to have to make good use of the alpha HUD. Any skin-tight clothing, such as T-shirts, is probably going to have problems in the shoulder, armpit, and upper arm areas, because they are very different from the original Lara body. I *LOVE* this new body! However, I am probably going to do what I did when I bought the Inithium Khara body at one of their L$1,000 one-hour flash sales this past summer, which is just sit and wait for the freebies and cheapies, instead of spending a small fortune on new apparel! If you need something to wear, don't forget that the free Gigi bodycon dress fatpack at the Maitreya store has been updated to fit LaraX and PetiteX! Here's what it looks like on my LaraX body:

@Dreamer Pixelmaid told me that apparel maker Dead Doll has stated that "Maitreya Lara X is already available as a free update for customers who have purchased previous Maitreya Lara versions." This is great! Anybody know of any other clothing creators who have done this behind-the-scenes work for their Lara apparel?

Yeah, well that was inevitable, wasn’t it? 🤣 I wonder if LaraX is gonna be half price for Black Friday weekend, as in previous years with Lara? I mean, on one hand, it’s new, so why offer it for half price? On the other hand, what better way to launch it than with a time-limited half-price sale? I can tell you one thing, apparel designers are going to make lots of sales as all the Lara users start shopping for LaraX clothing!

Oh yeah, and any Lara 5.3 (or earlier) clothing with an autohide gives you the same results as if you blindfolded yourself and just clicked on the alpha HUD at random. Completely random! I put on a pair of Addams jeans and it alphaed out random parts of the chest and arms! This happened over and over again. So any older clothing with autohide will probably not work, but at least you can hit reset and start over from scratch.

I read this 15 minutes after you posted it, screamed like a little girl, and immediately hit the redilvery button on my Lara 5.3 HUD! Here’s my first impressions, after trying out a bunch of Lara 4.1/5.3 apparel (and even a few old fit mesh Medium outfits!): Okay, so based on trying out different 5.3 outfits, I'd say that the biggest differences are in the shoulder, armpit, and upper arm area, and the hips and thighs. A lot of mid-sleeve and short-sleeve items are not going to work with LaraX, as well as bathing suits, panties or any other skimpy clothing. Full sleeve length or sleeveless outfits should work, though. Full-length pants and non-skintight skirts of any length should also work, as you can still alpha out what pokes through relatively easily. I'd say about 50% of your wardriobe won't work with LaraX, though. Underwear from Velour, Addams, and Blueberry is included. It's a really lovely body! And they finally fixed the too-high armpits, which drove me crazy. I will play around with it some more tomorrow. I predict that this will prove to be a very popular body. Oh, and Velour skin tones are included, both in the HUD and as a set of tattoo layers (BoM), so it turns out I didn't really need to buy the Velour Venus body skins today (although they do come in a much wider variety of styles, like slim, curvy, etc.). They've even included 3 or 4 Halloween Velour skin tones!

While it is still (thankfully) rare, I have come across a few stores in my travels that do not sell clothing for the Maitreya Lara body. The "big three" in female mesh bodies at this point are Maitreya Lara, Meshbody Legacy, and eBody Reborn, with almost all stores creating apparel for them.

The only things I have ever bought at Black Friday sales in SL are name-brand mesh bodies like Maitreya Lara and Meshbody Legacy, which are usually 50% off the regular price throughout the Black Friday weekend. They rarely/never have sales at other times of the year, so I usually wait and buy then.

Yes to all of these, and I want to throw in: A lot of stores participating in another round of the LeLutka Holiday Special, including (of course!) two new free mesh heads from LeLutka. I'm also hoping that a few other Bento mesh head makers will toss a freebie our way (hint, hint). EDITED TO ADD: Oh, and a lot of stores offering gift cards (or store credit) at the December Shop and Hop event! I noticed far fewer gift cards than usual at the Halloween Shop and Hop, which was a bit of a disappointment.