Get your steampunk on

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Nix Sands describes himself as a neo-Victorian, a humble tailor, tinkerer and occasional adventurer, but that representation seems quite muted when one comes across this outrageously good freebie at his shop, Xcentricity: Victorian Steampunk Clothing for Rakish Gents & Reckless Ladies.




Photos courtesy of Nix Sands

You can pick up your own gloriously free copy of the Monstro hat by teleporting to Xcentricity directly from here.

Then Cutea Benelli, co-creator of Bogon Flux, one of the most imaginative builds in Second Life®, as well as Epsilon's Fabulous Eyestem Thingy, and hundreds of the most delightful cyberpunk fashions and avatars, has insured that future steampunk fashionistas needn't compromise personal sophistication and elegance when it comes to adorning their avatar's feet.



The Vapour Vanity luxury steampunk heels are available in a zillion colors and metals but all feature a "mini-chimney" emitting tiny clouds of steam.

Teleport directly to Cutea's main store, Grim Bros. from here.

Thinking differently, right down to your tippy toes

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

While I maintain that no other platform can rival virtual worlds for thinking differently about design - and specifically Second Life® and OpenSim where user-created content is not only possible but encouraged - my pulse still quickens when I come across innovations by Real Life mavericks.

One such designer is Netherlands-born, London-based and award-winning artist Marloes ten Bhömer. Her brainchildren actually belong on our feet, and offer an alternative to existing design languages.





Marloes' shoes, which are more architectural than fashionable, afford women the incredibly rare chance of freedom from conventional style clichés and codes. Everything about her approach is different, including the materials she works with: carbon fiber and stainless steel, among others.




Many thanks to artist AM Radio for the toes up on Marloes' shoes.

A winged treat for your tootsies - free, too

"Her shoes have wings," is an expression often used to describe a great dancer.

Previously only available to people with too much money and not enough sense, fantastic haute couture shoes are priced like works of art, especially if they are designed to be worn just one day of the year. In Second Life®, high style is blessedly more affordable, and never more so than today.

Via Impossible IRLer Juko Tempel, we've learned that Nix Sands and his Xcentricity shop are giving away these Candy Corn FairyFae Pumps - perfect for Halloween - as freebies. My favorite price! If you fancy this style, the D'Fly pump collection is available for sale in eleven different colors, so that you can wear them the rest of the year.


Adorned with black dragonflies and an optional pixie dust effect

Hermes - a Greek god himself and messenger of the gods as well - was presumably the first to sport winged shoes. It was his responsibility to guide the souls of the dead down to the underworld. How fitting then, that these lovely slippers be worn on Halloween, when the dead are in transit.



Head on over to Xcentricity by teleporting directly from here, and pick up your own pair. All of his shoes are giftable/trans okay, too.

Michel Tcherevkoff would have us all wearing a floral bouquet on our feet

Blessed are those who think NPIRL, and not all of them inhabit virtual worlds.

A little over a year ago, professional photographer Michael Tcherevkoff had just completed a photograph of a leaf for a cosmetic client when it occured to him that it looked like a shoe. He manipulated the image on his computer and was so pleased with the result that he began to frequent the wholesale flower market just four blocks away from his home in New York City. He then twisted and bent and cut each flower into a fantastical shape, photographed it, and edited the image... to breathtaking effect.

Michel crafts each shoe from a single variety of flower or plant. In fact, every time he sees a flower, he thinks of a shoe. “Taking pictures of something that just exists was never interesting to me,” he says. “I’ve always gravitated to photography that’s more illustrative in nature, where I can create my own reality — with a twist.”


Lillywhite

This fresh work first came to my attention when Tezcatlipoca Bisiani shared the Virtual Shoe Museum with me. Created by Liza Snook, that website is pure ambrosia for anyone who embraces NPIRL thinking and merits serious browsing.


Divine

For those of you who live in Paris, Michel's collection “Shoe Fleur, A Footwear Fantasy” will be on display at Le Bon Marché through August of this year.


Salvatore

Michel's Shoe Fleur book was first published in English with texts by Myrna Kresh as "Shoe Fleur: A Footwear Fantasy" in September of 2007 by Welcome Books, a division of Random House Publishing. The French translation is called "Bouquets de Souliers" with texts by Anne Chabrol was published by Chène. The English version of the book is available worldwide through Amazon.com. Hi-Res images of the book covers are available through either publisher. You can view the English version online .

All concepts and photography by Michel Tcherevkoff. Many thanks for allowing us to republish them here.