12.30.2008

Messy bag blogger's challenge!


Lol, ok... I am not a blogger (not officially, at least), but this challenge that's been going around lately sounds like fun!

So there's the messy content of my huge messy bag (mind, the purse is newish, that's why there was no random piece of paper with random info written on it... that's another 'must be in there' for my purses).

We have...

  • My huge bag I'm totally in love with.
  • An umbrella inside a shades-like case (ya never know when Milan is gonna start crying on you).
  • 2 (yes, at LEAST 2) packs of tissues... I am constantly sick :-/.
  • My shitty 3 years-or-so old wallet (full of receipts.. not too much money...).
  • My house keys.
  • 2 pair of gloves for my cold hands.
  • A tube of hand cream (still for my cold hands).
  • My super super old cell phone.
  • My tiny and oldish mp3 reader.
  • A little pen.
Lol, so, well, that's what was in my messy bag in a winter day...
And uhm... I guess I should start considering to replace my cell phone, mp3 reader... or at least my wallet! My stuff seems to be from a museum lmao.

What's in YOUR bag? :)

12.25.2008

Merry Christmas, world!


Just a quick "Merry Christmas" to all those who are reading my blog ;)
The dress is a recolour of the Jacqueline I have made for my group inworld: Ice!
In the shot I am wearing Hart Larsson's gift to group: a very original frozen skin, my favourite one: Linda :) [available at PXL Creations for group members/subscribers who have PXL in picks :) ].

Hope you are all having a very bright day, and happy holidays!
Many hugs to everyone :D
Clio

12.22.2008

Little gifty :)

Hey there lovelies:)
I am testing a tool a friend of mine made to send out gifts, and decided to release this little gifty for all those who are in my group and have my store in profile picks :)



The outfit is going to be released soon in store, and so will be the stockings, hopefully in a large variety of colours!

Grab it here!
And if you're interested in the gift sender script, check this out :)

Love,
Clio

12.20.2008

A nice thing to do at Christmas

I found this on EFA's blog, and I thought it would be a good idea to share.

Be sure to go by and leave a message for those children: gifting a smile is one of the best thing we can do!

I know this post is not about fashion, but forget the fabulous Christmas outfits, the big diners, the glamour parties and the surprising presents for a while. Christmas is on the way and time to spend some of your time to take a little care of people who will need it in these days.

EFA - Noel - Children in hospital

A lot of children have to stay in the hospital during Christmas instead of being home with their family. You can make these days a little nicer for them by sending a message, let your imagination run free, your message will help to offer some comfort and hope for these children and will put a smile on their face.

How? It is very simple…

The “Fondation Réunica Prévoyance” in association with ”L’enfant@l’hopital” have set up a Christmas Message Tree. Take a taxi to this tree, simply click on the card to write the message you want to deliver to a child (in French or English - don’t forget to mention your country).

The “L’enfant@l’hopital” will collect these message and will take care of delivering the supporting messages to children in various hospitals in France.

Don’t forget to have a look at the drawings of the children too. These cartoons are part of a competition. In January you can visit this place again to vote on your favorite cartoon.

Merry Christmas!

12.17.2008

Gwen, a new sassy gown :)

I have released a new dress just yesterday.
This is a design I have had on a hold since forever... months! And I finally found some time to finish it and put it up for sale :D
The top is simple, full of silky folds (as my usual, huh?) and comes on all layers. Same for the pants.
The prim skirt leaves legs daringly uncovered, but being it so large it also makes a good option for a dance in a classy club.
As always, 100% drawn by me.
Below are some of the 10 colours available, which can also be purchased as a complete Colours Pack.
See it inworld, here :)




And this is the poster to buy the Colours Pack :)

Hugs, and will be back soonish with new stuff!
Clio

12.13.2008

Make-A-Wish new releases!

So, all this time I have been busy with my usual messy RL, and with THESE new releases I made to help raising funds for Make-A-Wish Foundation. Many SL designers (including me :)) have donated unique designs, limited editions or new releases that will be sold until the 31st of December, with 100% of the proceeds to help children through Make-A-Wish.

From the Drousilla, with suggestions and ideas from RubyStarlight Writer, I ended up with 2 very special dresses.
Drousilla Fire is a limited edition dress that will be available on the grid in only 15 copies.


Drousilla Night is the One-of-a-kind design I donated. Similar to the Fire version, but obviously unique. It will be up for auction bidding until the 31st of December! Hurry up! ;)


Then, a new release that will become part of my own line after this festival is over, is a big gown.
Floreale comes in 10 different colours, clothing on all layers & sculpted clutch.
I was feeling like big skirt and tiny prints, and so I made a big skirt and arranged thousands of tiny flowers on the dress :D





You can find all these things HERE :) Be sure to come by to also see the donations of my fellow designers, and to donate (even if not by buying :P)

With love,
Clio

Skin worn in all shots from PXL Creations, hair worn in Drousilla Fire's poster from House of Heart, hair worn in Drousilla Night and Floreale from Exile :)

11.27.2008

Charis Teal AD


Just sharing a picture I took in my new gown (teal colour).
I played a bit with inworld lighting and added some shadow during postprocessing... I think it came out good:)

Too bad my snapshots are always such low quality! LOL.










Credits to all what I wore with my gown for this picture:
Skin from PXL Creations;
Hair by Exile;
Jewelry by ~flirt~

11.23.2008

Charis Gowns out!

Here they are!
The Charis gowns are finally out, in 10 colours!
I made 2 sleeves lengths, and both tops and pants are on 2 layers (shirt & jacket, pants& underpants).
The poster on top is to buy the Colours Pack, with all the gowns (30% off), and here are some posters for single colours :D



The skin in the pictures is from Hart Larsson of PXL (Linda generation 2), and hair is from House of Heart :)
The gown is available at my main store :)


Don't forget about the sale, too!




At my store on Capelli Estates all the boxes are still set to 50/70% off!

Visit the sale NOW!





Hugs,
Clio

11.22.2008

Sale started :)

Yay yay!
The sale I had planned to say Bye Bye to Capelli Estates has finally started.
I have been changing prices nearly all day yesterday, and lowered them from 50% to 75%.
Complete packs with a discount, too! Everything!

  • Casuals priced from 25 to 100 L$
  • Formals priced from 50 to 200L$
  • Complete packs discounted as all the rest, priced up to 600L$.
On many items I changed permissions from NO COPY+TRANSFER to COPY+NO TRANSFER. So it's wise to check before any purchase (to avoid 'surprises' :)). Perms should be found in the description line of EVERY box. If you are in doubt (or if I forgot to write them down), just contact me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible:)

Sale will last a couple weeks. After that, the whole SIM will sadly be abandoned. It has been Clio's place for over 1 year, but now it's time to let go of it *sobs*.

Visit the sale by clicking HERE.

Have a look at next door's sale at Silvia's Fashion Store, too! Silvia is selling all for 100L$, and it's just a few steps away from my store (just get out of it and walk South).

Hope you all will like the idea of the sale... Let me know!

With love,
Clio

For this 'ad' I wore Linda Tan Generation 2 by Hart Larsson of PXL Creations and VooDoo hairstyle from Exile.

11.19.2008

Hey there people :)
Here is a sneak preview of what *might* be the newest release for my poor store.
I am not sure about the pattern... would probably try to make it more like an embroidery... but not sure yet...
Let me know if you have any ideas or particular wishes!

A bunch of hugs,
Clio

Samsara's SOLO fashion show


Coming up on the 22nd of November: first SOLO show by Samsara's Secret Boutique.
All the information can be found here.

11.18.2008

THE prettiness

LOL!
Sorry people... I know this is way too stupid and super-funny... but I couldn't resist.
I am working on a few new releases: there is a charity event coming up, during the Stylista Festival (in December), for which I will donate a new release, and possibly a one of a kind dress, or a limited edition (depends on the time I'll have).
Then, since the Winter Fairytale expo at Vanity Universe is about to start, too, I will have to make some newness for that, as well...

The snapshot is obviously an untouched, unprocessed, deliberately ugly portrait of what Clio looks like while she's creating :D
Takes hours for me to experiment the prim skirts' flowing movements... and that's how I do it! Hahaha.

I might look crazy... I am a bit... drunk by the loads of work going on.
Please, excuse this crazy gal for this awful show of her working uniform!

Huggles and kisses,
Clio

11.06.2008

Finally some newness!

Hello my dears,
I finally managed to release the dress I gave you a little preview of.
The set of pants and skirt will be sold together in a pack, and I also made a colours pack, cause I think mix&matching works fabulously with this outfit.

For the complete pack (all colours) you can buy it from the vendor with this 'general' poster, and here are some single-colour posters:






Pants are on 2 layers to wear them easily also with a pair of boots.

I also hope to be able to release a long gown in this same style... but haven't found the right idea yet! All suggestions will be welcome ;)

Hope you like them!

Love,
Clio

P.S: hair for all the shots is always Kavar Cleanslate's Pamela, from Exile.
I wanted to show more shades of it ;)
And the skin is by Hart Larsson of PXL Creations :D

11.04.2008

Working working...

Hello dears.
I am still idle...
working on an outfit that is almost over... need probably a third option... but I thought I'd share the first 2:
As I wrote, hair is by dear Kavar, creator of Exile: new release ;)

I hope I'll be blogging about this new outfit (Karina, it will be called) finally released soon.. meanwhile: kisses & huggggs!

Clio

10.23.2008

Is it time to coin the term "freebism"?

I don't know if any of you have seen this around lately, the thought of freebies being harmful for SL economics has spread out a lot, and is now something nearly everyone talks about.
You can find it on various blogs by content creators and fashion bloggers: many are disappointed by the new trend of expecting freebies and expecting them to be 'nice'.

I have followed the threads a bit, and thought I would share my opinion as a designer.

I was VERY lucky with all those who came to my shops for freebies... cause I cannot recall anyone being rude about something being 1L$ instead of 0L$, nor I had anyone pointing out seams were not perfect or prims did not move properly.
This is maybe because, even those freebies I have had for ages (which are actually items I created before starting my business!) are things I made with care. Obviously they are not the quality of my latest creations, but they are free, and people have always appreciated them, and I consider it something nice to give out samples of my very first creative steps.

Then I have started giving out for free some items I did dedicate long hours/days to.
The most famous example is my Jacqueline gown in Tobacco... that gown I had released after 2 weeks of work on the dress, when I thought textures were ok but was still figuring out the prim skirt.
I got a load of "Thank you"s from customers, got bloggers interested, got a huge number of teleports to my main store.
And a week or so later, when I had finally finished the prim part -and could release the gown in its full price and many colours- I still got a great satisfaction from it.
People would buy the freebie and then some other colour to show appreciation, or maybe just cause they liked the second colour better.
That freebie has been my only VERY HIGH (lol, hey, at least in my lil universe) QUALITY freebie stable in my store since January... and I still sell many copies of it every day!

After that, since I liked the idea, I released a couple of 'work-in-progress' dresses that were for free in my store for a limited time, and I often make 1 more colour of my new release to hand out for 0L$ (always for a limited time).
This is just a little courtesy I do to show the quality of the design in a non-demo way (although I have demos available for almost all my items...).

What has been happening for a few months, though, is that people got so used to receiving freebies that they no longer show appreciation for them, nor do they accept the gift as it is.
I have heard a lot of designers have been down because people would "expect" the freebies to be FREE (as 0L$), or complain cause the freebie was not "good enough".
This means designers keep spending hours/days/weeks in creating something to give out as a gift, and people are not even thankful.

Why do we do that, then?
The way I release freebies is harmless to me, anyways... cause it doesn't cost TOO MUCH to make 1 more colour when I have the range ready, and I don't need to pay for the cloth I use.
But I think that if it ever happened to me to be treated badly by someone who just picked up something I hand out as a gift in my shop, then "Hey, let's stop it here!".

Now that "It’s unsustainable for business owners if there are thousands of high quality freebies on the grid, as it leads to a culture where a large number of users refuse to buy anything and live off freebies. If content creators aren’t making any money, then there’s no incentive to release freebies." (from Prad Prathivi's blog), then maybe the time has come to start talking about "freebism", as this phenomenon seems a bit too negative to be called "freebie culture".

Clio

10.20.2008

Embrace gown: NEW colours!



Here they are!
As I promised, not the ordinary colours I am used to.
Apart from the black and white, I went totally crazy, overwhelmed by RL stuff and on the verge of exploding.
Antique, Memoires and Shock are my way of saying 'Help! I wanna get out of here!' and 'I still remember the good old times...'.
If you want to read more about what brought me to design the Embrace line, have a peep at my past post about it.

These gowns are as always available at my main store, and to shoot the pictures I wore a Crys skin by PXL Creations.

And, let me announce to you all an event that will be starting tomorrow. I had to organise some event to attract people to a cool new SIM, inspired by Sicily, Italy.
And as I was thinking about it, I came up with the idea for a gift hunt!
So, let me introduce to you my very first "Cookie Quest" on Nuova Sicilia!

The event will start tomorrow italian morning. You can visit the place and go cookie-hunting here!

With love,
Clio

10.13.2008

Almost back from a BUSY time:)

Hello my dears,
as most of you might have noticed, Clio has been absent and hideous for a while.
I will be back soon, my RL has been hell for many many weeks(acually for a couple months, we could say), and I had no time to design nor to be on SL as much as I used to.

I am now at RL work, one of the last hyper-busy days for now. Then back home for a little vacation till next week, so maybe I will still be hard to get in touch with, but hopefully a bit less stressed :) And I will try and get back on designing between the rest of this week and next week.

Just to let you all know: the Passions of Black Swan event came to an end on the last day of February, and the dresses I had made (Embrace) are now available at my main store, as usual.

Then, right now there's a super expo running, for another couple weeks, the Glamour Expo. I was lucky enough to get a spot at this awesome showcase, and have a little shop there with some of my most recent creations displayed.

Also, a shocking news is: I will be trying to work out some basic reselling program, using Hippo technologies to let resellers sell my products at a percentage and get directly the product they want.
This is something I will still keep limited to a few people (ie: you wil not see Clio sold just anywhere), and anyways not yet up, as I only have 1 actual reseller at the moment, and at her place I am not using the easy Hippo system, but had to place the boxes myself.
For anyone who might be interested, leave me an IM inworld:)

Last but not least, let me leave you with some little forecast of what you will be seeing at Clio 'soon':
I am going to make new colours for the Embrace, to make the range a bit wider, and among these I can already tell you: GET READY FOR CRAZY! I am working with really out-of-ordinary colours lol.
Then, time allowing, I want to obviously release some males clothes. And people, trust me, learning the whole new set of shades and cuts for guys' clothing is not something I can come up with at my first try:)
AAAnd, whenever I get some very free time I want to make a new line that will definitely please many on SL... hehe, won't tell you more, cause this idea is very far from happening, but I want to make you curious ;)

Ok, well... I should get back to RL work...

Sorry for being so away all this time, I will make up for it as soon as I can!
With love,
Clio

9.26.2008

Clio & Sams cross-wearing Black Swan creations!

Yey!
People, let me show you what came out from a very funny and (at least for me) unusual photosession I had with Samsara Nishi, of Sams Secret Boutique ;)
We got the idea from a post by Ivalde designer, Neferia Abel (see it here), where she and caLLie cLine cross-wore their Black Swan creations...
So we thought "wow, that seems like something nice and funny to do!" and here are the shots I was able to take on that day ;)
I am wearing Sams Secret Boutique Lava Dress, in the 3 different lengths Samsara made for it.
Plus the skin you see on me is Tuli's Fire skin for Black Swan in fair tone (<-- awesome!) :)Hehe... in this shot Sams said I was flirting with the angel.... you know: I was wearing the 'light' version of her lava dress, and got flirty ;)

Here's my friend wearing my Embrace Darkness... isn't she malicious in that smile? I absolutely had to take a picture :)
Then lol... crazy shot!
2 ladies wearing formal dresses shouldn't be dancing like that! Not in public, at least! haha, but we had to start our delirium somewhere, right? And a dance on the catwalk seemed the most natural thing to do ;)
The one I am wearing in this funny shot is the version I prefer from Samsara's Lava Dress: sheer. VEEERY sexy ;)
Woot at this shot... I complimented with myself lol.
Looks like we're 2 dangerous warrior princesses, or anyways 2 gals you would keep at a distance from... we heard a noise and we're scaping the darkness, looking for the disturber.... run if you can! Muahahaha.
And last but not least: me as a lava princess!
I was still looking for the courage to get in the pool... don't worry, I did, and I can prove it! Check out the shots I flickred, and you'll get some more pictures from our shared-trip :)
Samsara blogged about this, too, and added her own shots!

Plus, there are some nice things to check out on rezzable.com, one of which is a super-duper video of the show, where you can briefly see the creations from ALL the Black Swan designers (GREAT video!), and my dress and Samsara's blogged together by Adaire Decuir!

All the dresses you see us wearing will be available at the Black Swan until the 30th of September, and at our main stores after that date :D
Hope you liked the little reportage, hehe.

Lovable hugs!
Clio

9.19.2008

New show at the Black Swan!


Due to the awesome success of the first big Black Swan show.... here comes a second one!
It's an extra show planned for those who couldn't attend the first show on the 15th (like me... sob).

Hope to see you all there! And hope to be able to get to the show, too, this time... so I will have some pictures to post here for you!

Besides, Rezzable has started a photocontest for the Black Swan, with prices for the best shots taken on the SIM. You can find all the information about it here!

Hugs,
Clio

9.17.2008

Embrace Gown: let me talk to you about it:)

As I saw Samsara Nishi did this for her great Lava dress, I am adding a few words on why 'embrace'? what does this gown mean to me?
Well, the designs we (me and 20 or so other VERY talented designers) presented for this event have all been inspired by the Black Swan. Wonderful and absolutely *different* sim.
Those of you who know me most likely also know I am a very troubled creator... I get inspired by totally random things, I suffer from lack of creativity at times (and feels AWFUL!), I always find a defect in the making of most of my crazy ideas...
So I am very slow when it comes to making something new. I start thinking what I want to come up with, start experimenting for the prims... then when I find an interesting and well-made prim shape I like, I go with textures.

Now, being picky as I am, I often stop designs even at their very first steps... cause I just KNOW the prim skirt won't look good enough while walking, the textures will not render it too good... and who knows what else lol!

So this time I said to myself: Clio, go on that SIM! And find something that strikes you!

I did... teleported over, got the pass device, had a flight all over the place.
There's tons, millions, zillions of inspiring, weird, halucinogenic (is that even a word? lol) things on the Black Swan. I could go with those lights that circle around right over the water's surface, the lava lake, the ballerina, the baby in the egg (which kind of scares me, honestly), the see through figures of dolphins and birds that look like a dream or a mirage....
I swear, I kept asking myself what to pick!

All those things just reminded me of too many colours, too many shapes that were already 'decided' for them (eg: if I decided to make a lava dress, I would have probably made it red... cause that's what lava would be to me! ... while Samsara managed to give it a much deeper thought).

Till after around 30 minutes of desperate flight around the island, looking for something that could really shake me, I bumped in the 2 giants holding each others.

They are so big, so tall in the exact centre of the SIM that I hadn't even noticed them at the beginning.
A man and a woman together in a steady but passionate embrace.
The idea struck me in that very moment.
I flew around them for a while, contemplating the sculpture that was already suggesting me the ideas I wanted, so I could get to work and start creating.

As an embrace the dress is soft. It moves gently and holds the woman as if the skirt panels were the arms of a lover.
The sleeves are long, because a hug feels warm on your arms, and they are softer and somewhat heavier up towards the shoulders.
Neck and shoulders are uncovered, to show a woman's beauty and sensuality, and a flowered chocker adds delicacy to the ensemble.

I always go for many colours options, cause I love colours. They are a way to express emotions and thoughts (almost like music, if you allow me:)). They are the instruments of a painter, and of us who use visuals to communicate.

I made 3 colours versions for this one... only 3, cause I did not have time :)
But for each I splitted the cloth in 2 and added 2 different textures: afterall, it takes two to make an embrace :)

And that's how I made a dress to express a woman's soul, to say how good (confusing, fizzy, warm, delicate, passionate, soft...) it feels to be held in someone's arms.

Lol, I am not used to writing serious things. Forgive me if I sound silly, but I thought I'd let you all know what this dress means :)

I hope you all will find the time to see the Black Swan SIM, because it really deserves a visit:)

With love,
Clio

9.15.2008

Passions of Black Swan starting today!




Hear ye heary ye!

The time for the Passion of Black Swan event has finally come!
You are all invited tonight at the fashion show!
Many very talented designers took part to this project, so be sure to have a peep at the awesome SIM this all was inspired by.

Tonight: presentation of all the designs at 12PM SL time, at this location.

For all updates, you can visit rezzable web site, where you can find all sorts of news about the Black Swan.

Also, as a little credit: for the posters of Embrace Passion and Embrace Darkness I used 2 skins made by Tuli for the Black Swan... the colours just match perfectly ;D

Hug hug and hope to see you there :)

Clio

9.06.2008

Crash Royalties at Clio's!


LOL!
Yes, I know... Clio stays silent for ages, and when she finally makes something new it's a silly joke-top :)
But as I am working on a couple other things, and I am being trapped in RL long hours, I wanted to still release something. So I got the idea from a customer who said long ago: "Why don't you make a T-shirt with Crash King on it? It would be so funny!".
And here it is!!!
I made both tank and T-shirt in 2 lengths, and the shorter on both shirt and jacket layers ;)

Hope you all LOVE it! As always, available to purchase at my main store :)

Lovable hugs,

Clio

8.19.2008

Rania Gowns out... my first bridal!

Hellooo!
Finally blogging again, huh?
I have been just SO busy lately... vacation, then the beach in RL...
But most of all, the big news is I moved my main store! Yesss, I am now having it here!!! Come check it out!
I will have some party there soon (hopefully!) with pressies given out and other things... but right now, it's open to public and it is where you can find my new release... my very first bridal gown!
Woot!
I made it in 10 colours, as usual, so it's not NECESSARILY a bridal gown... and it's in 2 different versions with obviously mixing and matching possibilities hehe:)
I am selling them as single packs or together, in a complete package.
See all the pictures below:)
A DEMO is available at my main too!



Let me also credit the creators of the skin and shoes used for this shot:)
The skin is from Hart Larsson, awesome creator of PXL, while shoes are from Melanie Zhao :)

Hope you love the dress, and do come by the new store, woot! :)

Huggable hugs:)

Clio