So a buddy asked me the other day for the landmark of a good place to get a tux in Second Life™ and I had to respond “no idea man”. I mean, I have a tux, but I wouldn’t call it a good one. I decided it was probably time for me to find a nice one, and started looking around. I then made the mistake of asking my friends and well, once the women were involved it got a little out of hand. But I will say this, I now know a lot about how a tuxedo should fit…and how hard it is to find such a garment in SL.
Let me clue you in. It would be difficult to find everything in SL in a tux that would fit as it should in “real life” simply because of the limits of technology and the wide variety of avatar sizes and shapes. That said, there are a few key things to look for that should be easy to accomplish in SL. First, the hem of the jacket should fall to about the middle of your hand when you are standing straight with your arms at your sides. Second, the length of the sleeve should be such that a little of the shirt shows beneath it. And third, the pants should be long enough to cover about two-thirds of the shoe, leaving just the bottom third visible. There are another half dozen or so fit points that you would look for in RL, but for SL this should produce a nice look that mimics the real deal quite well. The three fit points would be best accomplished with prims, for the simple reason that, as we mentioned before, avatar size and shapes vary widely and this would allow for correct fitting of the garment by the purchaser.
I found one designer – that’s right, one – that meets these criteria in most of it’s men’s formal wear. The variety of tuxedos offered by sf design is quite good, and most of them are constructed so that you can fit the critical parts such as arm and leg prims after purchase. I wanted something relatively simple and classic, which can be difficult to find without tails. I ended up choosing their Anniversary Tuxedo in copper. The tuxedo comes with two pairs of pants (one with vest tips showing over the waistband, one plain), a silk vest in a rich deep yellow color, the jacket and all it’s parts, white shirt with prim wing collar and prim bow tie in copper, and dress shoes. The jacket lapels and cuffs were what appears to be velvet in the same color as the vest, which, while wonderfully done, was just a little too much for plain ole Trev. So I went upstairs and bought the Anniversary Jacket in plain black. If you choose the special addition in lilac in the Relay for Life board, the all black jacket comes included.
Damn I look good! Notice the white of the sleeves peeking out from beneath the jacket. The prim sleeves let you adjust so the length is just right. The bottom of the jacket is done with a prim as well, and comes in several sizes, all modifiable, so you should easily be able to get the perfect fit and length. The pants here were a little more difficult actually, as the pants layer cuff was a bit wide so they stuck out from beneath the prim when you put it on. But nicely they are modifiable, so I shortened the pants on the pants layer and this made them a bit narrower as well, so that the prim would fit perfectly over them. Then I just adjusted the width and length to cover that two-thirds of the shoe we’re trying to get covered.
sf designs also sells shirts, vests, cumber buns, and different tie options in combination to use with their many tuxedos. I went upstairs and grabbed this cranberry option. This comes as a shirt and drawn on tie, the vest, and a separate prim tie to overlay over the look. It works well but notice we lost the white of the sleeves showing from the arm of the jacket. Still a nice option and one I will wear often.
I wanted to point out a detail here that I thought was really notable. On the left, the collar is a prim wing collar with a prim tie attachment. This really gives a wonderful realistic look to these accessories. On the right, the wing collar is drawn in, as is the tie, and the overlay of the prim does not fully correct for the deficiencies of this method. Still a very nice look, but if you can find it, the prim wing collar will give you a far superior and finished feel to the garment.
The Stuff:
Tuxedos: Anniversary tuxedo in copper; Anniversary tux jacket in black; vest, shirt, and tie in cranberry all from sf designs http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Penryn/82/65/36
Shoes: Elegance leather shoes in black from Redgrave http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/REDGRAVE%20Mens%20Fashion/119/85/22
Skin: Jonas tan 1-E from Belleza http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Belleza/128/128/22
Hair: Eat Aspect in Jet Black from Find Ash http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GREED/203/89/23
