This is the second in a two part series on GothWear in Second Life. Our first post reviewed formal wear designer Raven Pennyfeather and her RFyre shops. This review looks into a set of designs at the Evocative and Evocative Magick shops that compliments RFyre, owned and operated by Paul Lapointe and BastChild Lotus.
Where RFyre starts at the eyes and goes to the heart, Lapointe and Lotus go from the eyes to the belly and deeper. The GothWear designs at the Evocative shops are edgier and sexier, but possess the same high standards of texturing as the RFyre designs.
Lapointe and Lotus have been a team for about a year now. Lapointe specializes in clothing design and high quality armor for Second Life role players, while Lotus delivers a great selection of jewelry, both gothic and high fashion. Between them they create a synergistic set of styles sure to please those whose fashion tastes in Second Life stray from the merely realistic to the fantastic.
For the record I now own three outfits from Lapointe/Lotus, and two nice sets of jewelry. These were not simply impulse purchases. A very close friend showed me the shop and told me that some of these things would suit me, and she was right. Why do they suit me? Why would they suit any dancer?
Because Lapointe/Lotus clothing is dam sexy, that’s why. For someone wanting to make a statement on the stage, to be noticed, to be dramatic, it works like cash money.
There are two main locations to find Lapointe/Lotus designs. The older location is at the Evocative Sim, and the new locationis at a sim called Evocative Magick. The layouts are different, but full of the same great products. The new store is an improvement though, for one important reason. When I explored the first shop at the Evocative sim I found myself getting turned around and lost frequently. It was hard to tell the difference between one location and another, especially since they tend to use some of the same designs for different genres. The new shop at the Evocative Magick sim has the shops in separate buildings so that you can tell where you are, with no mazes of displays to navigate.
In an interesting way the duplication of designs in different sections of the stores is a strength for Lapointe and Lotus. It shows how the designs work well in multiple genres. For instance, one of the outfits I loved can be found both in the Neko gear shop and the Gothic Obsession shop. The outfit works quite well for naughty times on stage, even minus kitty ears and tail. The urban wear is great as goth, and vice versa. These designs cross genres very well.
I met a girl named Curveee Lilliehook while on one of my research trips to their shops. Curvee told me that it was her first time visiting Gothic Obsession. I asked her if she saw anything she liked, and she said that she’d already fallen in love with some leather low-cut pants. I just smiled; I had bought that same set the day before.
I spoke with Lapointe and Lotus in preparation of this article, and enjoyed the love story aspect of their business. Paul was working a shop already when BastChild walked in, and a relationship soon emerged. She told me that she started with designing furniture and progressed to jewelry and clothing. She laughed when she told me that her first design was a lamp that Paul loved, and how supportive he’d been all along. I don’t know how the lamp looked, but if her jewelry is anything to judge by it must have been a damned good job.
I only have one critique, aside from the difficulties I had navigating in the old store. The selection is still a bit limited for my tastes. But this may not be their fault. It may be more a case of “I really love this stuff and want to see more.” I’ll leave that decision up to the reader’s judgement. And I hope you do go and have a look. Go to Evocative Magick and check this place out for yourself. If you like goth/urban/neko, I think that you’ll be glad you did.
For those of you who like to stay at the leading edge of fashion releases, Lapointe and Lotus have started their own blog. I’ll be hoping to see the designs coming off the presses there myself. Though the blog is still a bit rough it bears mentioning that I got one of my best belly laughs watching a video they have linked at the bottom of the page.
I give Lapointe/Lotus a big smile of approval for their great designs.
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