A Fleur by any other name…

Every now and then in Sl you find yourself back where you started…

This is one of the first Photo’s I ever took in SL. The picture looks bad but then I was a noob (first Pic was of my back!). I joined SL in May 2007, but found myself in Orientation Island Hell as my ‘Puter could not handle the graphics…on to August when I was born again, so to speak. I guess it’s no surprise when I notice I was wearing Tete a Pied Biba skin along with my first love which was …all things Japanese. I think I walked into the store in Nouveau completely by accident and noticed, and was highly impressed by the layout, skins and general feel of the place. I was still a noobie though and hadn’t even started spending money but I promised myself that when I did I’d be returning (which I did a week or two later), buying a few make-ups in Biba and Celeste.

Fast forward to last week…and Fleur announcing that all the Skins in the Fleur Sim were on sale for 50% off. Not only that, but all the skins will be going bye bye in preparation for a new line being released. It had been a while since I had been shopping at Fleur and I started thinking, as I bought a few skins I had been wanting, how our experience in SL is strongly influenced not only by those we meet but our encounters with the energy and creativity of SL’s designers.

A very interesting thing happened when I started doing some research on TAP–Fleur skins. Me being a little blond, spent a while surfing the net trying to get a feel for where and when the skins started. Roslin Petion and CJ Carnot are the co-creators and it has always been their desire to highlight the makeups, which is what I think really sets all these skins apart. The skins are lovely too with shading on the subtle side. Of course (duh!) the best place to see the development of these skins is to look on the Fleur Blog, which began in May 2006 with Roslin’s first post. The early skins were hand drawn with later versions beginning to incorporate some photo sourcing. There were two generations of TAP skins before the Vivant Line was introduced and even with these skins you can see the lovely detailing the skins have become known for. When I started buying skins the price had been reduced to 500L and there were monthly limited edition skins as well as customization available.

Eventually Tap outgrew their store and their name and so the skins were re-branded as Fleur and the store was moved to a larger island. I remember doing a hunt around the railway station. New skins were introduced. Boutique, Parfait which was a hand drawn skin, Allure which was a further refinement of the Vivant line. Shoujo, an Anime style skin and Biba, an updated version of my early favorite. As well the creative element has been alive and well with specialty makeups, like Oiseau and China.

One of the skins I bought recently which I am really taken with is Parfait. This is a uniquely designed skin, hand drawn and I must say I don’t think there is a skin in SL which looks quite like it. It’s ironic that as more and more skins are relying heavily on photo-sourcing I am beginning to really appreciate the craft of the hand drawn skins.

Skinmaking in SL has always seemed to me a little like alchemy so, although I am sad, seeing a little bit of history passing, I am also wondering exactly what these two Magicians have up their collective sleeves…

(The sale is still on so there is still time to pick up some of your favorites.)

Credits: (except for 1 all eyes Dendou grey)

Pic1-Hair Shop Seu Odongo, Kimono Sweetaholic, Skin TAP Biba (no longer available)

Pic2-Hair Gritty Kitty Penny, Outfit Wrong Black Bondage Mini –Work Shirt-Spike Band,Sn@tch Dirty Biker Cuff, TAP Celeste Buff, *(Decrux)

Pic3-Hair The Stringer Mausoleum, Outfit RFyre Carnival DNuit Garnet, LH Bustshadow, Necklace Kusthammer Blackheart (DSN),Skin Allure China, *(Decrux)

Pic4-Hair Aden Windblown Lightblond, Outfit Evie’s Closet Aria, Skin Allure Biba II, *(Decrux)

Pic5-Outfit HanaWanpi pink and Hair, Shop Seu Bosabosa, Hair Butterfly Minajunk, Skin Shoujo Boutique *(Koreshan)

Pic6-Outfit Bijou Amethest Black Swan, Hair Pudge The Crystal, Skin Boutique Parfait, *(Decrux)