When Sian joined Second Life a little less than two years ago, Jackie Graves was the first designer whose name she knew. Jackie has been making beautifully textured clothes that are a little sci-fi and a little pervy for a while now, and in the last two years she's gone from strength to strength, producing outift after outfit to the highest standard.
One of the most interesting things about Jackie Graves' work is that her clothes, although available in a dazzling variety, are all cut from the same group of textures and a set of common patterns, meaning that they mix and match with startling facility, while Graves' prim attachments can be used with multiple outfits (Sian is particularly fond of the little carabiner hooks that come with the Crossfire outfits). Most Graves outfits include options. With the right two sets your options explode, and with more than that... well. Sian's been mixing and matching Graves outfits like nobody's business. Here are some of the best ones.
Pretty much every outfit Jackie Graves makes is priced between L$400-490, which is about average for her sector, although in terms of quality, Jackie's stuff is far superior to most fetishwear emporiums in SL. Shoes are mostly between L$300 and L$400, although one or two items are more or less than that.
Most of Sian's jewellery is her own work. She is wearing the [PXL] Gaia Dark skin and its makeups in all of these pictures. Obviously, the vast majority of the clothes here come from Graves, and this is the link to the Graves Mainstore.
Parts from:
G230 Operative (corset, blouse, cuffs, collar/tie, glasses, gloves)
G200 Executive (pencil skirt, hat, stockings)
G201 Executive Stilettos (shoes)
G166 Viper Catsuit (belt, briefcase)
G331 Jinx (nipple tape)
G210 Defence White (shoulderpads)
The Executive and Operative sets go together perfectly, since they have that slightly off-kilter official thing going on.
The Executive set is the only one of the Graves sets that includes a system skirt. Sian finds that with a system skirt, particularly one clearly designed to be a pencil skirt, a good skirt shape is essential - to make the skirt look better, Sian made a variant shape based on her usual one (Sian, vain as ever, calls that "the fashion model shape"), reduced her hips, bottom and "saddle bags" and made herself knock-kneed. Without the skirt she looks absolutely ridiculous, but with it on, the difference is pretty obvious.
The Executive Shoes are only L$150, although Sian wonders if they wouldn't be better served as part of the Executive set. The hat from the Executive set is modifiable and (well-)made from traditional prims. Sian had to modify it quite severely to make it fit on her head, shrinking down and widening the five prims that make up the main section of the hat almost halfway.
Sian was standing on top of the Gemini building in Insilico when she took this one, by the way, although you can't really see much of it. All the other ones were taking in various places in Toshigi Cybercity Japan, which has already become one of Sian's favourite futuristic spots.
Parts from:
G332 Legion Red (catsuit)
G324 Paradox 2 Black (harness thing, socks, gloves, plugs, collar)
G325 Paradox 3 Black (sleeves)
G331 Jinx (pockets)
G179 Crossfire (carabiner hooks, padlock)
Note also
[Abyss] Stompers
The Legion, Jinx and Paradox sets are the most recent releases from Graves. Sian has already blogged the Paradox and Jinx sets and directs you to that post for more of the mixing and the matching. Rather than the usual black and white, the Legion outfit comes in seven vibrant colour options, available individually for L$400 or in a set with all seven for L$790, and frankly Sian thinks you'd be mad not to buy the fatpack if you fancied even two of them.
The prim parts on more recent releases from Graves have been no-mod, including resize scripts instead. Sian's a bit sad about this, although the resize scripts do go away when you press the right menu button.
By the way, Sian recognises that she has been wearing the Abyss Stompers a lot, and has never really talked about them. Sian is fond of them because they amount to three prims in each shoe and are modifiable - here, Sian took the black versions and by tinting them with a bit of grey got them to match the tone of the outfit. Sian recommends them for that very reason - if you have an outfit that's modern or futuristic and you can pull them off, buy a set (particularly of the silver or ice ones) and tweak them like crazy.
Parts from:
G215 Cobra Black (sleeveless catsuit)
G216 Cobra White (long sleeved undershirt)
G196 Hydra Dress White (corset)
G331 Jinx (pockets)
G179 Crossfire Black (carabiner hooks)
G222 Crossfire White (padlock)
G210 Defence White (shoulder pads)
Note also
[The Plastik] Recluse Collar Black
[Tokugawa Heavy Industries] Shock Helmet
[Eclectic Randomness] Gauntlets from Siren Avatar Black
[Rublik] Galactic Stomp Adders (boots)
The Cobra catsuits are nice straightforward catsuits with the same hex pattern featured on so many of the Graves outfits and a few nice prim attachment options. They are made for mixing and matching with Graves' other outfits and a good basis for other matches - click through on the picture to see the big version. The Hydra set (one of the very few Graves sets that doesn't come in black) shares the pattern, creating a set that maintains a harmonious balance between colour and shape.
Note the hex pattern on the Eclectic Randomness gauntlets that goes so nicely with the Graves catsuit.
Sian doesn't get to wear the Tokugawa Shock Helmet a lot but loves its elegance and the beauty of its textures. It's actually grey, but Sian darkened the metal bits with a bit more grey to get the black. The Plastik Recluse Collar was the right colour to begin with, though. There are loads of colour options - you get two in a pack and again, it's really nicely textured and sculpted. The Rublik Galactic Stomp boots are out of this world. Sian was glad you can resize them though, because when you get them they are massive, easily twice the size that they are here.
Parts from:
Graves Black and White Insignia set (number)
G206 Defence Black (pants, shirt, shoulders, pockets)
G210 Defence While (underpants, undershirt)
G121 ZERO (bustier, gloves, number)
G222 Crossfire White (white vertical strap)
G179 Crossfire Black (carabiner hooks)
G166 Viper Catsuit (glasses)
One of the nice things about the Graves outfits is the options. Here we have the black version of the Graves Defence set worn without the transparent latex cutouts on top of the identical white version worn with the transparent latex, which creates a nice contrast.
The Zero set was the first Graves set that caught Sian's eye right back at the beginning. It's part of a smaller range of black and white anime-flavoured uniforms that Graves produced a couple of years ago, all of which of course mix and match beautifully.
Parts from:
G177 Escape Transparent Underwear (catsuit)
G206 Defence Black (nipple stripes)
G325 Paradox Black 3 (thong, socks, collar, gloves)
Note also:
[Neurolab] Activa Boots Black
[Ezura] Acha set (earphones)
[A:S:S] Drama Shadow Ash
[A&Y Bunker] Silicon Acid Eyes
The Escape underwear set is actually an optional add-on to another set, but with the right additions works fine on its own, as you can see here. Note the pattern of lines which maps onto Cobra, Defence and many other Graves sets. Sian made the lights on her back with three sphere prims and one of her own textures, although the other Escape sets include something similar.
Sian is ambivalent about the Neurolab boots. She can never get them to fit quite right on her feet, although they are very pretty from certain angles. They have a HUD that allows you to change the glow colour, though, which is nice.
Parts from:
Graves Black and White Insignia Set (number)
G216 Cobra White (undershirt, underpants)
G329 Paradox White 3 (sleeves)
G262 Risk (pants, shirt, gloves, loops)
G210 Defence White (nipple stripes, shoulderpads)
G222 Crossfire White (carabiner hooks, padlock)
Note also:
[Defectiva] Original Sin: Pride (chin cover)
[Ezura] Acha (visor and earphones)
[Bare Rose] Dadamalio (collar and sleeves)
Sian modified the shoulderpads from the white Defence set here, stretching them up a bit, making them a teeny bit transparent and adding a bit of glow, the better to go with the bits from the old Bare Rose Dadamalio set. See how even a non-standard set like Risk has an almost mathematical harmony with the other clothes. This isn't fashion design. This is science.
Sian recognises that this isn't really a post for the freebie-lovers out there, and that some of these outfits have a good L$4000 worth of stuff in them. But even with one or two of Jackie's outfits, you have a wide range of things you can do with them. Visit her store, marvel at the lovely futuristic outfits and dream about what you can do with them.
Want to see more of Sian's Graves mix'n'matches? She's got a set of them on Flickr.
