Psyche Starling

That looks like a seam in the mesh. You can see it when you use a texture because it breaks the pattern; with a solid color you can't see it. But it's just kind of a necessarily evil with a lot of clothing. They have to put the seams between faces somewhere, and it's not always where you want them lol. A lot of times people will just say "screw it" and have a pattern not match perfectly. Or you can sometimes line it up, with a lot of time spent in Photoshop. You also eventually kind of start working with each template's strengths and weaknesses. So maybe that dress with a seam right down the middle front is good with solids or a small print, but doesn't look good with a big print. Or that dress where the front and back are perfectly aligned horizontally is terrific for that horizontal stripe texture you've been wanting to use. tl:dr it's a pain but just keep experimenting until you like the results or at least can live with them lol.

Looks like EscalateD is still on Marketplace, though they closed their inworld shop a few years ago. https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/135414

Given the logo, my brain is going off in the direction of the Greek classical elements, and I've got plenty of ideas for those--fingers crossed I get in!

@Rowan Amorethank you! (that's me lol!). I didn't think of it because the sleeves aren't long. I did a green version too.

If you can go a little above the knee, there's a template that a lot of stores have used that you might like. Here are a few examples: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Albino-Peacock-April-Shirtdress-Aqua/21309726 (found in MP search just now, they have some other color packs too) https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Piper-Moda-Paris-in-Springtime-dress-skirt-shirt-outfit-Maitreya-Slink/17760334 (I own this one) https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/AmAzINg-CrEaTiOnS-Rock-and-Droll-Dress-Skirt-Top-Coat-16/14847516 (I think this one may have been free inworld at some point, might be worth a look) Belle Epoque hits a similar aesthetic pretty often, though an exact dress isn't coming to mind, and I also have one from Shifuku called "Vintage" that I think also fits this style though it shows some cleavage (though in a way that's easy to cover with BOM).

I thought I had two alts; I logged in from a really old laptop a few months ago and realized I had a third one when its username showed up in my login screen. I eventually remembered creating the first one as a noob because I misunderstood something about land groups and thought I needed a group to rez anything on mainland, so I made a group consisting only of me and this alt. I eventually sold the group to a friend and forgot the alt was there lol. As for the two I remembered: Both are sometimes NPCs in roleplaying. The male one I use to model men's clothes. (The female one I use less often for modeling, because my main looks better; Ms. Alt has a free body. I really only break her out for modeling if I want three people to be in the picture.) I also sometimes log in as one or the other if I want to go look at something inworld but don't want to chat. Mr. Alt also has the advantage that he gets a lot fewer come-ons. Their wardrobes are mostly gifts plus stuff I've made.

Aw dang, it was really cute. I went by but couldn't get it to rez; meant to go back and forgot.

I can ill afford to upgrade from 6144 at this point, but I might have to come just to see it! Too cool!

Relatedly, it seems to me like a lot of the retro-vintagey stores are on board--thinking of Valentina, Belle Epoque, Just Because, Pixicat. I like that aesthetic so I've added some nice new stuff. I use third-party mesh myself, but having a LaraX size included is a big selling point for me when I'm looking at mesh to buy. But as always there's a mix of items that inspire me and ones that just...don't, lol.

Missing Mile is based on a book by Poppy Z. Brite

Both, I guess! I thought they were the same one in two colors.

May I ask where you got that lovely dress?

Cooling pad. It changed my (second) life for the price of about $25. Seriously, I cannot overstate how much of a miracle it felt like.

I think MSN Design is one of the others (also at Shop & Hop)!

They really did encourage Senra designs for this event, though! It was in the call for designers. And I've only been to one sim so far and have still seen more Senra stuff than I've ever seen before this. So if someone wants to use the bodies, it's a good place to go.

There's also a lot of free stuff for the Senra body at the Shop & Hop currently. Check out this post for more: https://fabfree.wordpress.com/2024/01/31/fabfrees-ultimate-guide-to-the-valentine-shop-hop/ There wasn't much clothing for it, so for this event Linden Labs specifically encouraged people to design for it.

VAW are interactive, though I like the look of LF better personally.

That's really cool!

You can rename your own body, so if someone scans your avatar, it could say "Tazzie Tuque's Mesh Body" instead of Belleza GenX. So it wouldn't get picked up by bots. But it won't affect the vendor of the original body, so you wouldn't have any trouble finding it if you wanted one.

One I really had fun wearing was this: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Crayon-Avatar/8204363 I bought it last year during Fantasy Faire because one of the fairelands was done up like a kid's daydream, with a lot of crayons in the design. It's cheap and low complexity and really cute.

And like...those spankers have a setting where only you and your partner get the text! It'll still jiggle, but it's a lot less intrusive.

Kris does look kinda mean, doesn't he? 😂 I've got my alt wearing him for an RP character right now because the RP character is mean. Before spending more money, demo some skins and shapes and see what you can come up with. ETA: The head I had on him before that was too "nice" was Quinn, so that might be one to demo! I tried to make him a biker once while still on Quinn and he just looked like a real sweetheart.

Yep. I didn't make alts to get the heads, I got the heads for alts already in existence.

Because people go, "Wow, this is a good-looking head with lots of great features! But it's not exactly the look I want." So then when they decide to find a different head, they're already well-disposed toward Lelutka and know their way around the HUD and own some skins for it. I have 3 free lelutka heads (5 if you count the male ones I got for my alt) and I just bought one full price a few weeks ago for a specific look.

I've been seeing a lot of X also. It helps that a lot of designers I personally like have picked it up. Something comes out and I would have bought it in 5.3 too, but hey, it's X, sweet! I'm not tossing my 5.3 wardrobe either; I'm switching between bodies on the regular.