Red-Headed Step-Child

While Van’s busy making the stars shine for all the music fans tonight, I’m ringing in the New Year alone with a bottle of champagne. If you’ve ever watched “Mad Men”, you’ll know that lonely housewives and long hours of work are common in the Draper household. Every New Years Eve, I feel a little bit like Betty.

Don Draper. Workaholic, visionary, lover, liar. If he had a choice, he’d be at the office on New Year’s just like my husband is now. Armidi was the obvious choice for an expensive tailored suit, with a Blaze shirt and tie tinted Don’s signature grey. The Rude Boy hat from Kari is pure 60’s sophistication, worn here with the Petrelli style for a little modern edge. I had to make a pocket square, and threw in a copy of the moon landing newspaper for a little Kennedy-era ambiance. Of course, business necessities like rocks glasses and ashtrays are easily toted in this smart leather briefcase, found OnRez.

Tonight, Betty Draper is all dressed up with no place to go. When I think of her character, I picture this scene in her blue dress and the ugly aftermath. She’s a potent reminder that beauty is very different than happiness. There was no finding her exact dress, so I bought a wildly different blue stunner, the aptly named “All Eyes On Me” dress from Icing. I fell in love at first sight with this design, and when I read it was inspired by Goldfrapp’s Supernature I was completely sold. Rich jewel tones, peacock feathers, AND my favorite band?! Clearly, this was made to be my New Years gift to myself. Paper Couture’s artistic jewelry is the only appropriate embellishment, with matching blue pumps and a jeweled purse fit for any retro trophy wife.

Cajsa, thank you so much for the perfect excuse to do this. My itch is still not scratched, I’m picturing Joan and Roger now…

On Van:
Skin: The Abyss – Scorpio in Dystopia
Hair: Sinistyle – The Petrelli in Rust (Edited to Fit Hat)
Suit: Armidi – Classic Italia Suit in Grey
Shirt and Tie: Blaze – Power Suit (White Options, Tie Tinted Grey)
Shoes: Storm Schmooz – Men’s Black Shoes
Pocket Square and Newspaper: Made by Me
Briefcase: Pukk Abel – Elegant Burgundy Leather Briefcase

Rocks Glass: Neptune Lighting – Shot Glass 1
Ash Tray: No. 3 Feathers Interior – Blue Butterfly Ashtray

On Candy:
Skin: Tuli – Unnamed Skin Version 2 in Light (Past Group Gift)
Eyes: Miriel – The Jeweled Collection in Miriel – Blue Opal
Hair: ETD – Loraine in Blonde
Dress: Icing – All Eyes On Me
Shoes: Maitreya – Group Gift Pumps in Blue
Earrings: Paper Couture – Sapphire and Diamond Earrings
Purse: Rebel Hope – Hope Gown Pillbox Purse in Blue
Manicure: Gianetti – Nails in Punch

Poses:
LAP – Dude VI
LAP – Material Girl

For Slurls, see our Designer Locations page.

We’re skipping around our “Dress Me Up” request list, this time to TearSong Vaughan‘s “Barbie and Ken” suggestion! A few of the ideas we were given immediately started my brain sparking, and this vintage toy shoot was among them. Thanks so much for the fun concept, I had a blast!

Naturally, Barbie has far more accessories to choose from. I chose to do “Spotlight Barbie”, a gorgeous classic model from the the 1950’s, but it was no easy task achieving that kind of glamour. I went to both of my go-to vintage dress shops, Ivalde and Ingenue, and did a lot of thinking before selecting Betty Doyle’s “Begin the Beguine”. I could have gone with a long black gown and added the net bustle myself, but my heart really skipped a beat when I saw this dress, and I knew it was the one. The hair was my next challenge, but I stumbled upon a perfect blonde updo from Aoharu, a former group gift (yay!). To help mirror her outfit, I added a rose corsage, a pair of opera-length gloves from Fleur, and made a quick pink scarf in Barbie’s signature color. For jewelry, I chose the elegant stacked black pearl necklace from Paper Couture, and a pink and black cocktail ring to wear with drinks after her performance.

The original Ken came with little more than swim-trucks and a smile, and for me, there is no avatar who rocks this look better. Years ago, when all the guys were sporting badly-textured board shorts, my husband stumbled into Barnes’ Boutique and found the holy grail of men’s retro swimwear. Two years, a couple contest wins, and a few propositions later, they’re still fresh and still his favorite. He’s wearing Nylon Pinkney’s “Gamer Guy” skin, complete with Ken’s trademark painted-on hair. The sandals come complete with sculpted toes (tintable) and texture-change straps, and were a pretty amazing deal from J’s considering they were only L$280. The surfboard was a little more pricey, but it did come with animations and looked a thousand times better than any other I could find, and the hand towel is another great freebie from Bare Rose.

On Candy:
Skin: Rockberry – Lily in Light (POE Hunt Find)
Hair: Aoharu – Nikki in Milky Montblanc
Eyes: Miriel – The Iridescent Collection – Blue Opal
Dress: Ingenue – Begin the Beguine
Shoes: Storm Schmooz – Laque Platforms in Black
Gloves: Fleur – Long Leather Gloves in Black
Necklace: Paper Couture – Black Pearl Necklace
Ring: Barracuda – Reed Ring Rose
Corsage: Twisted and Spoiled – Twisted Rose Dress Pin (Lucky Chair Prize)
Barbie Scarf: Made by Me

On Van:
Skin and Hair: Nylon Pinkney – Gamer Guy Skin (In Your Library Folder)
Eyes: Miriel – The Jeweled Collection – Zircon
Swim Trunks: Barnes’ Boutique – Retro Hawaiian Swimming Trunks in Red
Sandals: J’s – Men’s Belt Sandals (Red Option)
Hand Towel: Bare Rose – Face Towel in White (Free!)
Surfboard: Namiko Surf Shop – Indigo Surfboard

For Slurls, see our Designer Locations page.