Will you mix and match clothes or not?

I use SL as a replacement for those big glossy expensive fashion magazines I used to buy in RL. I use to dress up like i did with my dolls *smiles*

That means I will combine stuff from different folders and designers, not just click on a folder and "add to outfit". I buy stuff, I just don't go after freebies. Sure, I pick up freebies but hit the "delete" fast if it's not good enough.

I wonder why it's still so many designers that don't offer flexibility and different layers in their packs. Does the majority want the ready to wear outfits and don't mix and layer stuff?

I read many fashion blogs and we were 2 girls that went to a shop that's new in 2007. My friend wanted a waist cincher, and I said: "Hey I want that too, let's go to this shop I read about".
We found a tight grey dress with pencil skirt and a brown leather waist cincher worn over the grey top. Before it was purchased, we saw that the pack had all layers, undershirt, shirt and jacket. We were really happy....until we tried the layers and saw that the waist cincher wasn't separat on any of the layers. It was 3 identical layers.
The quality of texuring and shadows was really good.....but I wear it and look exaxtly like all others who bought it. It wasn't a bad outfit but I would be more happy with it if it was more flexible. If it was the grey dress without the cincher, the cincher and dress on a layer, and a layer with only the cincher, that would be a hit in my wardrobe. Now it's just an ok outfit but not more.

So is it just me who want to mix and match, since this is a sucsessful shop that's blogged with only positive comments?

I like to mix and match.

I quite often have a top on from one designer and pants from another.


I'm really not the fashion plate though.

I love to mix and match clothes from different folders and designers. I have enough clothes in my folder to last for the next year with a different outfit each day lol. i really need to stop buying things.
My biggest gripe at the minute is that i have to wear my tattoos on a layer. So if I did get (for example) a dress using all three layers for the top, i wouldn't be able to wear my tattoo and would be pretty annoyed. But, if like you say, they provided the entire thing on one layer, as well as each on separate layers, I would be very tempted to add it to my fave outfits.
I can see why people don't do this though. It would create quite a bit more work per outfit.

I really don't know much about fashion but I was talking to a top designer recently about the issue of wanting to wear a jumper of one designer with jeans from another and not being able to because the jeans were too low (but fine if worn with the jumper from that outfit) and she told me the templates cause issues like this, so they design a whole outfit but it's not always compatible with another design.

I asked a friend who was wearing an amazing (and totally unique-looking) dance dress where she got it. Her reply was that it was "bits and pieces of various outfits."

Since then I've tried to think more in terms of mixing and matching.

LOL...I have 2 small kids in RL and just throw on a pair of jeans and a clean sweater every day. It's nice to dress up like a Barbie in SL without thinking that it has to be practical.

I remember the free packs I picked up at Pixel Dolls one of my first weeks in SL, I didn't understand why it was so many identical things in it. Why all those layers? It took months before I started to mix and match, and then I went back to Pixel Dolls and bought more! (We can name names in a positive way? My PD folder is growing and I love their stuff)

So perhaps it isn't enough of us who play Barbie in SL that the designers will bother to put extra layers in their packs? They sell their clothes anyway?

I'm always mixing and matching, it's a great way to wear stuff I might not remember I have. I too find the template issue annoying, that you cant seem to get a shirt layer item to always match a pair of pants or skirt.

LOL - imagine having a wardrobe big enough to fit them all in!



I have the same problem with wearing my tattoos *nodding in agreement with all you say* and as a result I find myself mixing and matching with only a couple of layers. However I have found a couple of suppliers/designers where I can mix and match together without looking like a yard sale reject!

I enjoy mixing and matching my clothing. If nothing is happening around, I'll spend time going through my inventory, trying things on and seeing what looks good together. I've come up with some really nice outfits this way. Then I save them as an outfit, or I'd never remember what I did

Gives me a good excuse to purge things too. Can't tell you how many times I put something on and suddenly realized how awful it was.

In RL, I mix and match everything, don't have any "outfits" per se anyway so I guess this comes naturally.

I I think most of us play Barbie ... at least now and again! I mix and match. Some designers outfits are actually made for mix and match (And yes, it's fine to mention places positively!)

I don't shop a lot for clothes, tho. I was cleaning inventory yesterday, and ended up in a neat little outfit ... when someone asked me where I'd gotten it, I realized that it was not only pieced together, but nearly all freebies. The only paid-for items were the stockings, and they were made by a friend, I don't know if she ever got them into a store!!

The biggest folder I have is objects, and it contains a lot of outfits and hair .. some paid for ... that I haven't unpacked. Sigh.

For me, the challenge is finding places to wear the clothes!

I'll mix and match when I can....but I hate buying 'sets' just because I treat SL fashion the way I treat RL fashion....I shop around for things that will look good when put together. It's hard to find good seperates....but I think more designers are getting the hint.

I've been complimented a lot on my SL fashion sense and it's really a fun tool for seeing what can work in an outfit and what just doesn't. LOL My folders are a nightmare tho...part of the reason I don't mix 'set's up more often is usually because there's just way too much shit for me to browse thru (even in my semi-organized clothing folder) to be bothered. And....lets face it....I've forgotten what half the stuff looks like cause I've accumulated soooo much ....eek. Thank gawd my RL closet isn't like that....my fiance would disown me. LOL

Umm humm. I mix and match a lot. Certain designers whose clothes offer more flexibility are ones I will go back to again and again. When I design clothes myself, I try to keep that in mind. But it's not always easy. Sometimes, to get a certain 'look', you have to place part of an outfit on one layer, and part on another.

While it is tempting to use three layers on the top, a lot of people like to choose their own underpinnings to wear under your dress or top, so if you use the undershirt layer, that means they can't wear their favorite bra. I have one lingerie set that has the corset in a separate layer from the bra. That is great for certain intimate scenes - but it means I can't wear that under anythinbg other than a jacket layer!

I wonder why LL can't fix those templates issue? They need a whole new set of templates that can overlap. Only the jacket layer is long enough, the shirt layer stops at the bellybutton. Frustrating! When I will dress like an adult woman and not like a schoolgirl, I can't wear a jacket because the jacket layer is already in use to cover up my belly as a long top or sweater.

I've read threads about this layering problems that's 6 months or 1 year old, but there is no will in LL to come up with a better solution for clothing or appearance.

My major wish is:

- clothing layers that can overlap, not just meet as they do today.
-an extra skin layer for tattos and makeup to avoid the use of undershirt and underpants layer.
- an extra layer for belts. Prim belts is a hell to adjust, they are usually made as an circle. A belt layer with prim bucket would be wonderful. This layer should be wide enough for waist cinchers and underbust corsets.

Designers can beat it if they will....a shirt can be worn with underpants layer to cover the belly. It just takes more time to make another piece to put in the pack. And if they sell their clothes anyway, they don't bother.

I definitely mix and match, I have 4 or 5 folders with complete outfits made up of items from many places. I have two incomplete folders waiting for items to add. I go shopping looking for items to match a jacket I may have found, for example, however usually when I see the ideal pants or shirt that go with it, it's usually in a L$800 set, so I just don't buy until I come across something that works for me. So many places loose a sale to me because they don't sell some items separately.

Heh. I'm the opposite - I clothes shop for a specific place/event.

I had the same frustration with my tattoo, and finally decided that a tattoo should be a real tattoo - a permanent marking made on the skin. I don't understand why more skin designers don't offer to put tattoos directly on their skins.

It's always nice to find designers who use photoshop for just this reason. When I make custom clothes for myself, it is possible to take (as an example) the tank-top undershirt and place a short-sleeve shirt over it, then save the two as one layer. Easy to do, and far less work than re-doing the shirts from scratch.

And to the OP, oh yes...I mix and match like Carson Kreesley. I have folders arranged by category (summer/winter/swim&loungewear/offbeatAVs,) with individual outfits in thier own folders within each category, and then a HUGE "unassigned" folder with the shirts, pants, shoes, etc... for outfits I make later.

I mix and match from time to time, depends on what I wanna wear.

Mari

I love to mix and match. It is the same in rl when you find that perfect pair of jeans, you wear them with everything. My little pet peeve is that all designers don't have a pic of the outfit included in their folder so I have to try everything on so I can remember what the outfit looked like.

I always mix and match my clothing in RL and SL. Many times I try to create outfits that I have or that I have seen in RL. On occasion if my mood is good and I am not busy I will try to replicate what I am wearing at that moment. When I logg on at work I usually put my SL glasses on and will somtimes wear a suit, etc.
I have many many SL outfits that are replicas of my RL outfits. Yup, even my plaid.

My SL fashion is like cooking. Sometimes the outcome is not good sometimes it is great.

I hear ya Marianne.... I recently picked up a few bits from PixelDolls and it confused the hell out of me... hadn't a clue why there were so many layers. But I have to say I love mixing things up....gives your clothing a unique look.

Also in RL, I'm a jeans & sweater girl too....I have 3-year old boy who's running around constantly so I'm lucky if I have time to put on a pair of socks....

Well I mix and match alot. Prim bits of belts and such with a 10 L top and a 300 L set of jeans. Maybe even my furry avatars mixing multiple different designers. Hell some of my favorite avatars are horrible Frankenstein mutations. My cyborg avatar for example has 2 different robot avatars mixed with a third robotic arm plus a skin from a different place and just looks amazing. Hell I have a backpack from my hyena that I put together form 10 different peoples creations with lots of editing. Mod copy is my friend.

A belt layer would be great!

I like to mix and match, but also to wear the entire outfit.

THEN it's decide which shoes, which earrings, etc.

Fun!

coco

I never mix and match. I don't wear clothes.

But I do accessorize....

I also mix and match a LOT and I look specifically for designs that I can do that with. Its a lot of fun and there are various other blogs out there that feature their mix n match madness. Its insanley fun! I know that PD actually took a lot of their designs and mix n matched them at one point and had them for sale on their cut outs. It was great to see the many ways you could toss the pieces together and for a great price you could pick up the various pieces and experiment on your own.

Someone mentioned above how they dont understand why skin makers dont put tats on for people. Could you imagine the work load that would be? lol What we need is for LL to give us a Tat layer. THAT would solve a lot of problems. It would also be nice if they let us change the layer an item of clothing is on. Say I want to wear a corset that is only sold in a shirt layer but want to wear it over a shirt...let me attach it to the jacket layer. You can do it with attachments, why not with clothing? I know there is a different template, but it wouldnt be that hard to slip in that change I dont think. Either way, it would be nice.

They do. All you have to do is find someone who sells the textures instead of the finished item.