Culture Shock: Colour Shock

One of the fashion trends that continues this summer, inside and outside SL, is color blocking.  It's nice that SL is on-trend as often it lags a bit.  Step into Culture Shock 2012 and you will see it everywhere - clothing, accessories and home decor.  My natural clothing tendencies go toward neutrals but I am enjoying this trend, especially since often the design is very clean and mod.  I am going to show you just a sample of items that I found at Culture Shock that fit this bill.  I think one of the tricks with color blocking is to choose accessories wisely so you don't end up looking like a coloring book.  I've exaggerated my looks a bit here to show you the range of items so you can find ways to add color to your look.

Sleeping Koala hit it out of the ballpark for me with the Bold Print Dress (100% donation) above. It is so mod and while the colors are bold they have been toned down just enough for me to not feel overwhelmed. It is partial mesh, which in this case means you can have a smooth mesh skirt prim or the usual one.  I actually liked the normal prim as she uses two pieces and sometimes I am too lazy to unlink (lol).  Speaking of skirt prims, nothing irritates me more than a nonmodifiable skirt prim, especially when there is not even a resizer.  Have you seen the variety of hip width and buttock size in SL? Anyways,  I laid off on the accessories as I chose Wasabi Pills Shiori (50% donation) hair as well as the Gwen skin from CIA Designs (50%) as they were both in very bold tones.   If you know me at all you know I am a huge mid-century furniture fan and if I see it I have to have it!  As soon as I saw the items from [HAND]verk I started to get the happy brain sensation I get when I see really well made high-design items.  In this photo the marshmallow sofa and starburst clock, amazing replicas of Herman Miller and Howard Miller items, are actually sold at FaMESHed, but the teaset in the style of Bauhaus designer Marianne Brandt, is at Culture Shock and is their gift to you.  Lastly, the adorable little radio from {what next} comes in 5 versions and reminds me of old Fisher Price toys, which I am an avid collector of in RL.

Apple May's new dress, Danni, is available in the Retro version exclusively at Culture Shock (50% donation). The top of the dress is mesh and comes in 4 standard sizes. I find that often even with Standard Sizing I often have to make adjustments to my shape or go up a size to get the right fit but this fit perfectly!  Please demo the dress as it is mildly revealing though I didn't notice the bit of nip until I had been stomping around in it for a day.  The dress includes clothing layers and the skirt is not mesh.  Ingenue has released new mesh boots, Jude, and the mustard color that I am wearing are a 100% donation item.  The purse is part of an adorable pose set from Sparrowtree Studio poses and includes 5 poses, poseballs and 5 purses.  The poses also work well with other purses so it's a great deal.

I adore the skin from Acide!  All of the Muriel skins are new and exclusive for Culture shock and this particular version, Violet tan, is a 50% to charity version.  Mons wonderful sparkling eyes are a 50% donation item.  I've been wearing these since I got them and I've been a die hard devotee to my other eyes for ages.  You can see a tiny glimpse of [HAND]verk's Bauhaus Face Necklace here. I am going to do another post about their designs as it's my new obsession and I will show the full set there.

Not exactly color blocked but bold in their own way are The Plastik's Katyana top (100% donation) and YS&YS's exclusive Brera CS2012 shoes (100% donation).  Both items worked perfectly with a pair of skinny jeans.  I am wearing YS&YS's CS2012 exclusive Roxanne skin (50%) donation which tones perfectly with the shoes (bonus!). It's gorgeous and I will get a better face shot soon.

Finally, alterego's cute Candy Dress (50 % donation) is all mesh and also sized perfectly with my XS shape.  The dress comes in three color blocked version and includes necklace, earrings and hair bow.  I laid off the hair bow because Wasabi Pill's Shiori hair comes in all of the usual fantastic textures.  The Brera shoes from YS&YS are available in other colors and the Gloss Fuxia pair were perfect.  I fell in love with la petite morte's Diffused Makeup and the blue was a perfect matchy matchy!

The Color Blocking Prop I used in the bottom 3 photos is from Magpie is perfect for a strong pop of color.  It contains 6 separate poses that are well placed for still shots.  The object is modifiable so you can adjust poses for your avatar. This is also at Culture Shock.

Each shop at the Culture Shock event has at least one item where a portion of the proceeds benefits Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders). I had to stop by there today and noticed they have upped the script limit to 75 so make sure you remove HUDS and items that contain a lot of scripts.  I noticed one woman repeatedly trying to get in with nearly 500 scripts on her body.  That will not cut it and I for one am thankful that this decision was made.

Credits (any items from Culture Shock will not have a slurl by them.  You can go to the Chic Management webpage and find a complete map and list of slurls for all the stores.  Once you have passed the landing point you can use those to directly TP around the sim.

Photo 1:
Dress: Sleeping Koala:  Bold Print Dress
Hair: Wasabi Pills: Shiori
Skin: CIA Designs: Gwen
Poster: What Next: Got Music? - gift!
Radio: What Next: Retro Radio
Tea Set: [HAND]verk: Tea Infuser Set - gift!
Marshmellow Sofa and Spoke Clock: [HAND]verk at FaMESHed
Noguchi Table: I've had it forever

Photo 2/3
Dress: Apple May: Danni - Retro
Boots: Ingenue: Jude
Skin: Acide!: Muriel
Necklace: [HAND]verk: Bauhaus Faced Necklace
Hair: LeLutka: Toni

Photo 4
Top: The Plastik: Katyana Top - Revolution Culture Shock 2012
Shoes: YS&YS: Brera Pumps Culture Shock 2012
Ring: [HAND]verk: Black Wassily Ring
Jeans: Maitreya: Mesh Zipper Skinny Jeans
Skin: YS&YS: Roxanne

Photo 5/6
Dress: alterego: Candy Dress
Shoes: YS&YS: Brera Pumps Gloss Fuxia
Skin: YS&YS: Roxanne
Makeup: la petite morte: Diffused Makeup
Hair: Wasabi Pills: Shiori

Photos 4 - 6
Magpie: Colour Blocking Prop