I have blogged before about how much I adore Shai Delacroix and her designs. I know I am not alone here. I’ll say again that when I was very new early last fall, Shai’s designs were the first that I really adopted as a staple in my virtual closet. She was also one of the first designers who I got to know - and she was extremely generous, helping an awkward noob like me.

Just like in RL, I am a fashion chameleon. I can wear a pretty, girlie dress one day and something far more edgy the next day. I work in technology (on the marketing side though), so there’s a lot of leniency with regard to what I put on every day. I take full advantage of that to be sure. I mention this only because I feel like Shai has been able to leverage that facet in all of us in her designs - there really is something for everyone or most moods anyway lol. Oh and I have a lot of those too

From time to time, if we wait long enough, there comes along something of the “very special” variety of SL fashion. Something that reflects not only the deep talent of a designer, but something about the person who made it. The real person. I think Shai has revealed some of that in her recent Filipiniana series. These are really very special. Even if you typically don’t have reason to wear pieces like this in SL, it’s sometimes enough just to put them on for yourself and admire them.

I picked my favorite from the series, the Imelda Terno. I remember all the press about the former first lady and her shoes back in the 80s, among other things. I have been accused of shoe hording myself but I’ll leave those details in my RL. At any rate, Shai includes some information about the dress in her blog saying, “Inspired by the glamour of a glittering former first lady, this terno is an embodiment of how she moved the dark & powerful decade of Philippine History with her style. Imelda Marcos popularized the Philippine national costume with butterfly sleeves and stylized column serpentina skirts. Each public appearance was a work of art. She was keenly aware of Filipino cultural constructions of the lady as the icon of national tradition, and used these insights to achieve her nationalista goals. Everyone secretly loved her fashion sense.”

As you can see (click to enlarge the picture), the dress is very daring and beautifully made. It’s just so different than what you typically see in SL. I adore it…the system skirt; the blended fabric at the base; the sparkling lace at the bottom that you can almost hear rustling; the sculpted sleeves; the amazing detail on the back. Again, very different and deeply beautiful. I even love the green and green is not something I typically wear in either life.

While this is the only piece that I happened to pick up, Shai introduced three other beautiful dresses as part of the series and also offers the Imelda dress in ivory, which is also stunning. Prices on the Filipiniana series range from $800-1,000L.

Visit Casa Del Shai in Deco.

Skin by Lovey Darling; Hair by ETD