Help with updating avatar

[Seiarah]

Hello, I've just returned to SL and my avatar is in desperate need of an update. Searching through the marketplace is a cluster and not terribly helpful because it is full of older stuff.
Where are the best places to go for new female avatar stuff? Or female clothes/acessories? I don't like the huge super curvy body shapes, but I'm tired of my avatar being stick thin skinny. What decent middle grounds are there?
Thanks so much for the help! :)
Edit to add: I forgot to say this in the original post, but my current avatar has really high load. Does any new, good stuff help with this?

[ClariceRose]

Welcome back to SL! The first thing that I would do is read up on the recent updates to SL. You can see them in your Blog Feeds when you log into secondlife.com website. The biggest thing right now is Bento.

Next I would decide whether you want to use your standard body for get a mesh body. You can find reviews of mesh bodies and heads here http://meshbodyaddicts.com/ and you'll see the tabs for the reviews on the top toolbar. Some of the reviews may not be current though. I am not sure if we are allowed to recommend a certain brand here on the forum, but in my opinion, Maitreya Lara is the best mesh body on the market now. The runner ups are Belleza and Slink.

For hair, clothes, accessories, it all depends on what your style is, of course. I tend to lean towards simple and classic as my style.

A few hair brands that I personally love are: TRUTH, Mina, DeLa, eXxEsS Hair, Magika.

Clothing brands that I love: Blueberry, Addams, (my mind went blank to think of more lol)

Blogs to check out to get ideas of other hair/clothes brands, some are free group gifts:

http://www.scoop.it/t/second-life-freebies-und-mehr

https://fabfree.wordpress.com/

http://nessmarket.com/

http://slfashiondirectory.com/

 

I didn't want to put up too much stuff, didn't want to overwhelm you. But very important also is to DEMO!! Do not buy things without getting a demo first, so many of us have wasted money to find out that things don't look/fit right, or not our style.

I'm sure others will give out great recommendations as well. Good luck!

[Bobbie Faulds]

It depends on the look you want. Maitreya is good. You also have the Belleza Isis or Venus or the Slink Hourglass or Physique. An up and comer is the Tonic Curvy or Fine. The Fine is comparable to the Maitreya and is Omega compatible. It also has the 3 Slink compatible heights and has the Bento rigged hands in beta available for free.

For clothes, Blueberry, Lapointe and Bastchild. Hit Collabor 88, anyBody and the Mesh Body Addicts fair starts in the next few days where you can look around and see what's available. Demo, demo, demo and find what YOU like. Hit Hairology for newer hair ideas. Hit Lumae to get their group gifts. The group is only 1L to join and gives you a place to start.

As for a mesh head, I'd wait for now. 

There's enough of a learning curve with mesh bodies, Omega appliers, skins appliers and sizing right now. I'd join Mesh Body Addicts and the Omega Solutions support groups to get help.

For anything and everything you'll see...demo, demo, demo. If the mesh clothing doesn't have a demo, pass on it and continue looking. You want to be sure the clothing fits the body of your choice. On the MP there is a free kit with the body slider settings for the standard sizes. I'd get that as well.

[CassieMaia]

Regarding the high avatar load, it could very well be due to particular things you are wearing, and I think one of the culprits could be some of the older hair.  To figure out what thing(s) are causing the high number, you could take everything off, including hair, and then add things back one at a time, checking the avatar complexity number after each item is added back.  If you go to the advanced menu --> performance tools, there will be an item there that you can select which will display your avatar complexity number all the time.  I use this when I'm trying a lot of different things, because sometimes I miss it when it just flashes on the screen for a moment or two.  After you find out what might be causing the high number, then you can turn it back off, so that it will only display when there is a change to it. 

Not everything that is new will necessarily be lower, so as you try demos of things, you can check what the demo item does with the complexity number and decide whether or not it's in a range that you like before you purchase an item.  The change you see with a demo might not be exactly what the purchased item will come in at, but it should be somewhere in the ballpark. 

Have fun with finding an updated look!

 

 

[Marianne Little]

I agree with what's said over here, prim hair almost always have a high load. Shoes, boots and jewelry. Some of my older jewelry that I adore, has a terrible high load.

But it would be helpful to know just how outdated you are. You have no mesh clothes, hairs at all? Are you interested in a mesh body? And can you give us more details, female avatar can be so much.

[Seiarah]

Thanks so much for the responses! The info you all gave is super helpful.

As for what my avatar currently is (oops I should have posted that originally), I don't have a mesh body or head, I have slink hands and gnd feet, flexi Catwa hair, and various clothes from all over. I'm also using a Tutti AO, is there better out there now?

[Sephina Frostbite]

I love the Maitreya body but its pretty curvy. I think slink does a great job with their mesh body and they even have 2 different starter shapes. Of course you can tweak them but its nice to have options. Also Slink is cheaper.