“Finding my way in this world” could be about the activities I participate in and the way I interact with people. But hey, it’s Second Life! So this is about shopping and clothes!
Lara & Tres Blah
I rezzed in SL on 17 September 2023, which makes me 831 days old today. Not long after rezzing, I bought a Maitreya Lara body, and not long after that I started wearing a lot of clothes from Tres Blah.
eBody Reborn
In late 2025 I decided to change to the Reborn body. I still love Lara, I think it’s a beautiful body. But something powerful happened when I put on the Reborn body. I felt like I had come home. I felt like I was the real me for the first time. Being in this world with a heavier, curvier body just felt so right. This is the me I was always supposed to be.
Violent Seduction
A while after switching to Reborn, I packed up all my beloved Tres Blah clothes and put them up in the attic. I decided to focus on wearing clothes from Violent Seduction.
Wearing Reborn was so easy and felt so right. Violent Seduction is kind of the opposite. These are, in a way, not easy clothes to wear. When it comes to easy, casual comfort, the fashions Julliette Westerburg has created at Tres Blah can’t be beat. They are so easy, cozy, and comfy.
By contrast, the fashions Vibe Rater (Iki Akiri) has created at Violent Seduction are not always easy or cozy. When I go to a coffee meetup, the clothes are often too formal and elaborate. Or too skimpy and provocative. Occasionally the alphas get fussy. I can’t always sit down. And I’m not really sure that I can wear one of Akiri’s corsets and still breathe at the same time. Nor do I have any idea where my internal organs go when I cinch down those corsets!
For comfort, it’s Tres Blah FTW. In First Life, for a couple generations now, fashion has been largely about comfort. We wore a lot of denim before the pandemic, and when that hit, we took to sweatpants.
But comfort is not the only thing clothing can be about.
The Joy of Discomfort
A few years back, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles ran an exhibition, “Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture.” The exhibition featured unexpected resonances between fashion design and architectural design. And it featured lots of uncomfortable clothing.
When I walk through the bays of Violent Seduction I feel less like I am in a clothing store and more like I am in an art gallery featuring contemporary and historical works of sculpture. Many of Akiri’s designs are overwhelming! Understated clothing can make a person stand out. Akiri’s dramatic works can demand more attention than the wearer.
For me, it is a privilege to be able to wear these remarkable works of fashion/sculpture. I feel lucky to live in a world where they can exist at all, and where I can actually afford to buy them.
A tight-fitting polygon by any other name
Really, it’s all in the name. “Tres Blah” sounds like a lazy, cozy afternoon sipping a latte and knawing on an overly gooey biscotti.
“Violent Seduction” does not sound like a cozy afternoon. It sounds like an aggressive provocation. It’s fashion and virtual lifestyle that demands attention and promises nothing more than than the experience of visual splendor.
Keeping my Head on
While my body and wardrobe have made dramatic changes, my face has not. I’m still wearing my original LeLutka Halle head, with Skinnery Anzu skin, and David Cooper (Dam1710) over at Doux is still cutting my hair in the Anna Wintour bob cut I love so much.
Comfort and Dis
Today I’m wearing my cozy Reborn body and my not-so-cozy Violent Seduction gowns, lingerie, and neo-Rococo fashions so dramatic they make Gianni Versace rise and take notice. And it all feels just right.
- Maitreya Lara: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Maitreya%20Isle/207/165/26
- eBody Reborn: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/eBody/191/64/2002
- Julliette Westerburg’s Tres Blah: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lula/135/200/25
- Vibe Rater (Iki Akiri)’s Violent Seduction: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Violent%20Seduction/158/129/28
- Skin + Bones: https://www.tsao-mckown.com/projects/skin-bones-moca-exhibition
New clothes, and they fit just right.
Alan Kaprow
Fun Trivia
I presumed that big designers like Maitreya and LeLutka would have their shops on private islands. But until I looked up the SLURLs for this blog post, I never realized that they’re right next to each other! Separated by a scant 256 meters of unswimmable water.
Proud Woodcrest University Cheerleader!
Don’t mess with the Angry Beavers!!!
Currently accepting applications for a partner in crime and fellow Netflix binge-watcher.
