Today is Pink Hijab Day around the world.  What’s this about, you ask?  There are two goals: first, to increase understanding of the hijab, and second, to raise money for a cure for breast cancer.  Now, I am not Muslim, but I have a deep respect for the religion and those that follow it, and that respect includes what are often perceived as cultural differences, such as wearing a hijab, or headscarf.  Hijab is specifically the headscarf, but also often refers to dressing oneself modestly in general.  While I do not usually wear hijab, today I have chosen my wardrobe in support of fellow women who choose to do so.  Hijab, for the women wearing it, does not usually mean oppression in the “western” world; most feel empowered and protected.  Wearing hijab is not only a symbol of religious submission to God, but also a symbol of feminist empowerment, a celebration of being judged for our minds and not our bodies. (...)
Read the rest of Pink Hijab Day (225 words)

© SarahTheRed for Red and Re-read, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Adam n Eve, Bijou, CKS Designs, ETD, Exodi, Hilarious, Reel Expression, Sakinah

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Shit!  I’m being followed!  Did I get burned?  (...)
Read the rest of If spies kept scrapbooks. (194 words)

© SarahTheRed for Red and Re-read, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Adam n Eve, Dark Mouse, ETD, Free*Style, LeLutka, [LAP]

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I’ve finally hit upon my solution: Compare&Contrast posts.  (Yes, it’s a terrible name for the category.  Suggestions are welcome.)  One of my favorite posts was Freckleface.  It was fairly thorough, and I’m really interested in how similar products compare when placed next to one another.  I’ve been meaning to do a jeans comparison post for ages, and when I saw GoGo’s plurk linking to Fashionphiles’ Who Designed It Better blog post, I realized I’d been sitting on my answer.  (One thing this will NOT be: a who-ripped-who type of blog post.  I’ll focus on genres, like holey jeans, hair in curlers, littleblackdresses, and the like.)

Edit for clarity: The post linked above is not a who-ripped-who post, and I’m sorry if that caused any confusion.  I wanted to reference a blog that cemented my idea, and also to say that finger-pointing would not be part of what I do here.  The two ideas are completely separate.

I’ve also been wanting to do more in-depth features of specific products/designers, with more pics showing more angles of the product.  It means I won’t be able to turn out a blog quite as quickly, but I think I’ll be doing better work, and showing what I would want to see from a blog.  In feature posts, I may also be doing a bit more reviewing, sometimes pointing out flaws as well as features of a product.

So, from here on out, What? Another Fashion Blog?  posts will fall into three categories: Compare&Contrast, Feature, and LOTD.  I could probably drop the LOTDs, but, damnit, I like them.  After all, showing off cute outfits is why I got into this whole blogging thing.  I’ve got a big skin feature coming up next, and then it’s on like Donkey Kong with the Compare&Contrasts!

Credits:
Hair: Philotic Energy – Eira in Clinker
Skin: Blowpop N2 Elizabeth -tone C- 2.2 Cherry Blossom 2
Earrings: Dark Mouse Platinum Bling Earrings (previous group gift)
Necklace: Chuculet Ava – silver – necklace – pearly white
Blouse: Icing – Puma Jie in White
Dress: Vanitas Vesture – Flute Scribbly Dress – Red
Bracelet (R): Dark Mouse Silver Blue Bangles
Bracelet (L): Earthstones Bangle Set – Red/White/Blue (previous gift)
Jeans: Zaara Jeans – Classic – Indigo
Shoes: ETD Starley Pumps in Ostrich Pewter

© SarahTheRed for Red and Re-read, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blowpop, Chuculet, Dark Mouse, Earthstones, ETD, Icing, Philotic Energy, Vanitas Vesture, Zaara

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I’m in love with the Yannick style, shown above.  It’s a playful, natural everyday style.  I think it’s meant to be for men, but as you can see, it looks adorable on girls too.  The shape of the style is great, and the dreads have good movement.  For me, it has a very chic city-girl feel to it, perfect for going from the office to a night out with the girls.  I love the Licorice shade  – rich dark brown with a hint of red.

The lovely chocolate skin is the one of  Genesis’ Eden Juniper skins, and I have to say, every time I put on one of the Juniper skins, I feel beautiful.  Keeping with the casual city-girl look, I paired the intricately patterned Beauty Avatar Janessa top in a neutral shade with the classic well-worn New School jeans from Kari & TW.  The stunning necklace is from Dark Mouse’s Tarnished Copper and Red Opal Set; it’s a beautiful antique-and-chic piece.  The shoes are my favorite Starley pumps from ETD, in the creamy Ostrich shade.  I wear the Starley shoes, in one color or another, with damn near everything, it seems.

Credits:
Hair: Discord Designs Yannick in Licorice
Skin: Genesis Eden, Juniper tone, Au Naturel (freckled)
Eyes: Miriel Realistic Eyes in Basic Brown
Top: Beauty Avatar Couture Janess in Brown
Jeans: Kari & TW New School Jeans, blue
Necklace: part of Dark Mouse ‘Tarnished’ Copper and Red Opal Set
Shoes: ETD Starley Pumps in Ostrich

© SarahTheRed for Red and Re-read, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beauty Avatar Couture, Dark Mouse, Discord Designs, ETD, Genesis, Kari & TW, Miriel

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Hair: ETD Aiiyanna (retextured)
Skin: Rockberry Megan Bunny Hop Hunt Natural FRX
Eyes: Kunstkammer Surrealist Eyes  in Olive Green
Tattoo: Aitui Tattoo Fire Fish Sleeves Method in Faded
Shirt: unreleased blouse from Vanitas Vesture (opening soon)
Shorts: VG Republic Twill Shorts in Brown (store closed until further notice)
Earrings: +plus Circles Earrings in Dark Gold (previous hunt gift)
Bracelets: Dark Mouse Paint Splashed Gold Bangle
Tights: Insolence Carmen Shiny Heavy Tan Pantyhose
Shoes: Detour Glamour Metallic Pumps in Gold
Poses from Sugar Mill

© SarahTheRed for Red and Re-read, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: +Plus, Dark Mouse, Detour, ETD, Insolence, Kunstkammer, Rockberry, Sugar Mill, Vanitas Vesture, VG Republic

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As soon as I saw Philotic Energy’s new release, Katalin, I knew I had to have it, immediately.  It appears to be inspired by the character Roxie Hart in Chicago, and I love it.  The simple, swept-back retro style exudes quiet elegance and sophistication.  For those who fear the odd hairline of no-bangs hairstyles, don’t stress — the hair sweeping down from a center part is a lot easier to fit than most no-bangs styles. 

Zaara’s recent release, the Isis shirt, immediately came to mind when I began building a look for my lovely new hair.  It’s a long-sleeved, button-down sheer blouse, with pintucking running down the front and along the lower half of the sleeves.  As always, the texturing is delicate and beautiful, with subtle shadows giving the impression of real folds of cloth.  I picked up the neutrals pack, looking ahead to wearing the hell out of this versatile item.

Now, the Zaara Isis blouse IS sheer.  So, a more modest girl like me is going to be rummaging through the inventory for just the right layering piece, with just the right neckline.  I wanted a simple spaghetti-strap tank, and I found it on Persona’s Feathers Dress.  It works well for layering, with wrinkles that show through a sheer blouse.  Of course, the original piece is lovely, too.  The short feathered skirt with the feather brooch make for a great flirty cocktail dress. 

I had a hard time finding the right bottom for this outfit.  I started out with skirts, but they made the outfit too girly and reserved, and Iwanted something more playful, so I went looking for some shorts.  The High and Waisted Shorts, by Random Fashion, are a freebie from The Gnubie Store, and had the perfect cut.  (I left out the jacket layer, left.)  The pants layer comes up to touch the shirt layer, so I avoided the dreaded belt of belly peeking through layers.  They were a too bit light in color, but with a little tinting, matched the outfit perfectly.

Up to this point, all the clothing has been on system layers, and the silouette was a little slinkier than I was going for.  The answer?  Prim cuffs for my shorts.  I turned to my Elephant Outfitters Jordyn shorts and borrowed the prims.  You may wonder why I didn’t choose these shorts in the first place — after all, Armidi items always have lovely textures.  However, they were too low-waisted for this particular outfit, hence the frankenstein-shorts.

I have to tell you about my tights.  Do click on the pic for a close-up, so you can see the pattern.  I knew I wanted to wear tights, to keep some of the sophistication of the hair and blouse.  I also knew they had to be fun and sexy, with a subtle pattern, and soon had my heart set on leopard.  I started my search at Sn@tch, and ran into the designer there.  After she heard what I was looking for, the amazingly awesome Ivey Deschanel dropped these on me, and they’re perfect.  They’re not available for sale yet, but they’ll be part of an upcoming release, so keep your eyes open.  Anyway, the sheer tights mirror the sheer Zaara blouse, and with a bit of tinting, they had just the right rich black color to flow with the overall look of the outfit.

ETD’s Starley Pumps are some of my favorites.  For this outfit, the retro style helps to frame the look, tying in with the retro hair.  The classic rounded toe makes these a wardrobe staple, and I picked up a fat pack back when ETD had their big sale.  Unfortunately, ETD still seems to be closed, with no news as to when it will reopen.  Keep your fingers crossed.

 The bracelets are from Aesthetic (formerly TRip).  Unfortunately, they’ve been discontinued.  But I still love them.  They’re black.  And shiny.  I like black shiny bracelets. 

Balderdash jewelry makes my heart go pitter-patter.  The tiny sculptwork is exquisite, even if it does take an extra minute to rez.  While sorting hunt goodies, I came across these lovelies, and have been wearing them for a while now.  I like the scale of them — you can definitely see that I’m wearing earrings from a distance, but they’re not huge.  Their delicacy supports the girliness of the outfit. 

 Finally, we arrive at the skin.  I do love me some Adam n Eve Bliss skin.  This is the T2 tone, a medium-light skin color, with the FrecklyCat makeup.  The sweep of the eyeliner adds a touch of exoticism to the eyes, and I like the berry-red richness of the lips.  I can never get into the nude lips that are so popular right now — they make me look washed out. 

Of course, all my pictures would be lame without poses.  Second Life’s AO is not that interesting, and we’d all quit taking pics if we didn’t have awesome posing options.  Today’s poses are all from Reel Expressions, which is one of my faves.  All her poses have an innate elegance and grace.

I hope you enjoyed this extra-long chock-full-o-pics blog post.  This format won’t be my norm, simply because it was time-consuming, but I do like showing individual items, as you’d find them in stores.

© SarahTheRed for Red and Re-read, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Adam n Eve, Balderdash, ETD, Miriel, Persona, Philotic Energy, Random Fashions, Reel Expressions, Sn@tch, TRip, Zaara

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