Look of the Day 8.30.14

Sometimes while out shopping, one comes across a piece that is just so perfectly made that you can't help but build a look around it. The "T-model" Long Jacket from Scars is an example of such an item. Wonderfully detailed right down to the buttons, it's the perfect companion piece to the "Grey Silk Casual Baggys" from Bastard that I already had in inventory.

This monochomatic Fall ensemble is rounded out by a pair of black Carl Perkins dress shoes by Jeepers Creepers (remember them?), and a set of "Takayama" ear piercings from Mandala.

"Look of the Day" 8.17.13

As you may already know, last night was the "Madonnarama" in Boystown celebrating Madge's 55th birthday. The problem as always was 'well what do I wear?' With a desire to do something different than everyone else would be doing and limited time to shop, I relied on the tried and true mix & match tactic - and since I had a few unique items that no longer appear to be sold in world I thought it would work out fine.

Luckily I'm one of those shoppers that sometimes buys things based on the idea that I might wear them 'one day'. In this case, my purchase of the "Kevlar Shoulder Pads Jacket" and "Gauntlet" gloves from the always original ELIXIR really were a lucky find. I paired them with the ever-popular Elixir "Undergear" men's bikini and Sini-Style's "Blasphemy Boots" for a great futuristic look that fit right in with Madonna's constant reinvention of her own look - and this is my "Look of the Day"

Hair by MR / Mrs C, Eyes - EdDesigns, Facial Piercings - Hebenon Vial, Earrings - Purple Rose, Skin - Aeros
See you soon!-Zim

New "Kouros" Shapes at Agape!

Agape Men's Shapes presents Kouros - a new line of shapes; designed for men who prefer a smaller, more realistically proportioned avatar. At launch, the line consists of four fresh new avatar shapes, designed for the new "Elias" skins by Elysium.  Here are some pictures of the first four chapes in this series...

Pick up your free demo today and see for yourself how at Agape, it's always been about more than just shapes; It's about providing you with the means to truly express yourself within your Second Life.

Studio Series Shapes

Well here we are, our first real post in two years. I'm going to try to bridge the gap a little by writing about our latest series of shapes. As most of you know, Mesh has come to the Grid in a big way – buildings, furniture, accessories, and yes... clothing. Mesh rezzes faster than sculpties, moves with your body in a way that sculpties can't, and makes textures look much cleaner and crisper than traditional system clothing. There are a few drawbacks though, the biggest of which is that rigged mesh clothing cannot be fitted or adjusted to one's avatar.

Of course, we have “Standard Sizing”, an average of several hundred avatar shapes which some clothing designers have adopted to ensure a consistent fit, but we believe that this method is lacking in many ways considering the relatively small sample of sizes used to arrive at their interpretation of “small”, “medium”, and “large” compared with the millions of possibilities floating around on the grid. Sure, the clothes are beautiful, but when you're left with the option of making your avatar rail-thin or giving it a big belly just to fit into those nice mesh jeans you begin to understand just how limited “Standard Sizing” can be.

Rather than try to limit Men's options, Agape has now created a series of shapes designed to take advantage of the mesh clothing that already exists out on the grid. Clothing designers aren't psychic... They can't know or design for every deviation from a “standardized look” and if we all had the exact same body we'd be in Blue Mars (where everyone looks like Tom Hulce). Our Studio Series shapes were created to give you a variety of looks that will fit the majority of mesh clothing out of the box without having to give your body a major overhaul because really, when you're forced to change your shape just to be able to dress nicely something is clearly wrong.

With two shapes released and a third on the way, Agape's Studio Series body shapes provide a simple way for those who want to dip their toes into the pool of mesh clothing to do so and look fantastic. Each Studio Series shape includes a fat pack of Agape's “Simple Eyes” as well as a detailed styling card that will allow even a beginner to recreate the model's look on the product packaging. Stop by our Mainstore in Lionheart Nala and pick up a demo of “Ivo” or “Zander II” and be on your way to looking fantastic in mesh.

Well, well, well...

Hello, everyone... It's certainly been a while. RL events (and forgetting my password) have prevented me from blogging for quite some time, but I think I'm ready to begin again. In the meantime, here's a quick preview of our upcoming "Hermes II" shape.

This shape is the most recent in our "Studio Series" line of shapes and was designed for use with Birth skins. More to come soon!  -Zim

OK, I admit it...

I forgot my own password. Yup, me. Now that I'm back in, I've written it down and hopefully will be blogging again soon. Soon(tm)

So, where is your store again?

Howdy, folks...

Just a quick blog post today. I realized that with everything that's been happening this past year I'd neglected to keep you updated on where our shops were located. Just a quick list:

Current Locations:

Mainstore @ Liberation

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Liberation/12/247/21

Cherry Park Mall

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cherry%20Park/16/112/23

Aqua Lounge FunPlex (New)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Gayllywood/193/43/32

Aussie Boys

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Aussie%20Boys/221/190/23

Gaytown Mall

http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Highlander/60/221/31

Lesbian Dyke Social Hub (New)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lesbian%20Dyke%20SocialHub/121/128/22

Tainted Boys Gay Club and Mall

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pacifica%20Island/105/54/22

The Gayborhood (New)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Gayborhood%20Island/146/78/25

Sadly, in the course of business in SL it becomes necessary to close down certain satellite locations for one reason or another. I would however like to mention that the landlords at these locations were nothing less than stellar in support of their merchants. It was just not the time or place for an Agape location.

Closed Locations:

Club Emerald
Hot n Hung Resort
Jake's Club Resort
Thunder Island
Truck's Place
Virtual London
Warehouse Plaza


Until next time!

-Zim

The long road to Now...

Well, hello there!

Many of you have probably been wondering where I've been. Much has happened over the past year, so I do have quite a few things to share with you. Agape locations have opened and closed and we actually do have a proper Mainstore now in a pretty-much-permanent location (more on that later). We've loved and lost and loved again, come up with new ideas, revisited old ones, underwent criticism which caused us to take a long hard look at ourselves (and decide that much of it was silliness to begin with), and even did some work on our long-suffering not-so-secret project.

I suppose I should start with the basics. In April 2009 I bought a parcel of land on a sim known as Creamy Shores (yes, that's what it was really and truly called) and began construction on a proper Mainstore. Even though I never really blogged about it, the store proved to be popular and I was happy with the way it turned out - yet there was something missing. Neighbors with questionable building taste moved in and promptly set up ban lines, which totally ruined the concept I had going, so once the parcel in the NE corner of the sim became available I bought it.

The next 3 months or so were spent terraforming the land and re-creating my build on the new parcel while the original store remained open. Correcting what I saw as its flaws, my hope was to bring our customers a new and improved Agape experience. The fantastic Tymus Tenk of Envision Landscaping was on hand to assist in the terraforming and landscape the location. With most of his time being taken up by the creation of his fabulous Calas Galadhon sims, I cannot thank him enough for undertaking this project. Because a whole sim or private island was not in the stars for me, we did everything in our power to minimize the possible effect any of our neighbors' builds might have upon our customers' shopping experience and came up with the idea of disguising the our corner of the sim as a private island.

Actually, this is not as difficult to do as one might think. with some careful planning and consideration given to possible sight lines, we were able to to pull off the illusion rather well I think. This newly-improved Mainstore opened in February 2010, but unfortunately for me, Dreamland Estates decided to close down the Creamy Shores sim, forcing us to relocate a mere 2 months after it had opened. The incredible Mr. Tenk and the talented Mr. Regi Yifu of Regimade heeded my desperate call and aided in moving the build to its current home on the Liberation sim, and I must say... the current version of the build is even better than the last! I would also like to thank Mr. Lef Leven of Ars Avette for so graciously coming out and replacing the ancient sailing vessel that got eaten in a sim crash at our previous location. It is truly a fine ship that graces our shores!

If you've not been out yet, please do stop by and pay us a visit. A lot has changed, and I must say it's all for the better. Also, our free photo studio is back for those of you who need to make a new profile picture. Just look for the TP pad under the spiral staircase next to the brass brazier. there are also areas out in front of the store that make great photo spots.

Until next time!
-Zim

Meet "Bryan"...

Hey everyone...

It's certainly been a while since I've posted anything here. April and May were rather busy months for me in SL as well as RL. As many of you know, we had our "Ancient Pleasures" party over at our Warehouse Plaza location. Those of you went know it was a rousing success. I'd like to thank the IronWorks Staff, DJ Gregster Kidd, and all of our wonderful guests for making it possible :)









Another activity which kept me busy was the construction of our new Agape Mainstore (more on that in a future post). It turned out rather nicely if I do say so myself and I'm very pleased with it. So far we've had almost 140 visitors at that location and I haven't even begun promoting it properly yet. Thanks for all your support!



Now we get to the main subject of this post - our latest shape, "Bryan". Standing 2.3 meters tall, "Bryan" has just about everything a guy could want in a shape... clean-cut good looks, a beefy yet not overly muscled body, and well balanced proportions. Well, don't just take my word for it. As they say, a picture's worth a thousand words...









Designed for Signature Skins' new "Ocean" line of skins, this shape is perfect for those who want to create a surfer boy or college jock look. Bryan hit the shops last night and is here just in time for your Summertime makeovers, so head on down and pick up a demo.



Til next time...

-Zim

PS: The shape is out at all shops except Aussieboys and HnH. Here's the SLURL to our Mainstore if you'd like to see "Bryan" for yourself..

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Creamy%20Shores/80/106/23

"Ancient Pleasures" party @ Warehouse Plaza

Howdy folks,


It's been months since we first opened our store at the fabulous Warehouse Plaza, but what many of you did not know is that it's now in a different location there. We started off in a tiny spot near the entrance to what is now the Hothouse Plaza sim, but just after the holidays we moved to "Judgement Square" on the other side of the Warehouse Plaza sim near the entrance to Folsom Plaza. Sound confusing? It isn't really. In fact to help you find it, we're hosting a huge party at our new Warehouse Plaza Agape store :-)










We've named the party "Ancient Pleasures" in a nod to ancient Greece and to better fit our L$1500 contest theme of "Best in Silks". What better way to show off your bod than with a Silks contest? DJ Gregster Kidd will be on hand to serve up the hot tunes while our guests groove and gyrate to the hot beats. My best buddy Gilgalahad Gunsberg (no relation) has built us a spectacular set to party on complete with a giant statue of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. The party will run from 1 - 3PM SLT on Saturday, April 18th so that our European friends will be able to join us for this truly special event.

All the elements are in place for an afternoon (or evening) to remember... the only thing missing is you! Mark your calendars and TP on down to party with us!

See you there!
-Zim

Agape @ Warehouse Plaza: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Warehouse%20Plaza/165/244/23

OMG! We've been Blogged!

Eddi and Jago over at the "Sex Aficionado" blog have done a review of our "Marcello" shape. although this is one of our older shapes, it continues to be a favorite of our customers. Hop on over and check it out!



Sex Aficionado Blog: http://sexaficionado.blogspot.com/2009/04/agape-marcello-mens-shape.html

"Evan" hits the shops!

Howdy, folks!



We've had another crazy weekend with the opening of the Cherry Park and Emerald locations (we managed to crash the sim at Emerald with 80 people!), but on Sunday I managed to get some time to myself and get our latest shape out to the shops. "Evan" is something a little bit new for me. He's another in the "Signature Series", using a "Vain" skin and hair from a new creator I discovered by accident. In case anyone's wondering, Evan is wearing a unisex top from Fishy Strawberry and Armidi jeans. Yes, I fought the crippling lag with Zann to go and pick these up one evening.







The focus this time was on making him as 'real' looking as I could rather than making him 'pretty' or giving him a GQ face. I tried to give him a body that a real guy would have rather than an idealized SL body that you see around the Grid so often. Hopefully I've succeeded in this. Only time will tell for sure. Traffic in the shops has been up lately and a number of guys have already picked up the Demo version.














So yes, if you've been waiting for a fresh, realistic boyish look this is the time to head on down to your favorite Agape location and pick up a Demo. If you already have a "Vain" skin from Signature skins in your inventory you're all set to be a dude-magnet (or a Chick-magnet) in no time ::winks::



Till next time!

-Zim

"Trevor (Gen II)"

The whirlwind of activity has finally subsided. Last Saturday's grand re-opening of our new Mainstore was a fantastic success (and it was a whole lot of fun!!), the grand opening of the Shops at Jake's Club Resort turned out fantastic, and our newest location out at the Cherry Park mall went into 'soft opening' mode without a hitch. Once things had quieted down a bit, I took a look at my Workshop folder in inventoryand noticed that another shape was sitting there unfinished, so I went into 'busy mode' for a while and finished packaging up old "Trevor II".



"Why 'Trevor II'?" you ask? Well the original 'Trevor' shape was one of the first sold in our shop. At that point in time I was still rushing to get things done so I could get them out on the sales floor, and in all honesty I don't think I did poor old Trevor justice. What has changed since then? Well, we now have the fantastic line of Signature skins to work with and the 'Rage' skin looked like it would be perfect for giving old Trev a makeover. Here's a pic of the new and improved "Trevor"...





So just what did I do to him? A number of things actually... I made him just a wee bit beefier and taller - not too much, though. I still wanted him to have a lean, lanky look, but this time I wanted to give him a bit of a bad boy edge. Once I had his body sorted I went on to re-scuplt his head and face. Again, I didn't want to make him into something completely new - I just wanted to improve on what I'd already started. To tell the truth, the original Trevor was looking a little bit Muppety and I wanted to make him look more 'real'.





Once he had the 'Rage' skin on I gave him fuller lips and sculpted them a bit more to give a bit of a pout to them and shifted his mouth upwards a bit. Also, I refined his nose so that the nostrils were better placed and narrowed his eyes just a tad. Trevor's jaw and nose were also fined down considerably and his face made slightly longer to accentuate the new cheekbones I'd given him.


I know it sounds like I did quite a bit to him, but really all I did was use the Signature skin as a guide in making him more natural-looking. He's currently out in all the shops except the Romeo store, so head on down and try on a wearable demo. I'm very pleased with the way he's turned out and he's certain to give you a unique, sexy look.




Until next time!

-Zim

The Return of DJ Kadie

Not that she was ever completely gone, mind you. Last Summer, one of our personal faves, DJ Kadie Pinkenba decided to take a little time off to try a little game known as WoW. At the time she told me, "I'm sure I won't be playing for long, " thinking to herself "I'll just give it a little try and be back soon. It can't be THAT addictive." Well several months and several high-level characters later, DJ Kadie is back and she's in top form.






It pleases me to announce that the one and only DJ Kadie is back and will be playing at the Agape Mainstore's Grand Opening at Gaytown Mall this Saturday, March 14th from 1 - 3pm SLT. The store is ready (and it truly is something special, folks) and all that's missing is your presence. Please do plan to attend as this really looks like it's going to be a very special afternoon of entertainment. The store has moved 2 doors down, so be sure to update your LM's. You can find us here:



http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Highlander/89/86/578



See you Saturday!



-Zim

Hot Boots

Yep they sure are! I bought them a while ago and wore them a few times, but only recently have I begin to realize just how well these boots are made. They're sculpties of course, so they will take a little while to rez (particularly the toe section for some reason - but baybee... once they've rezzed - Phwoarr! I proclaim these to be the hottest cowboy boots on the grid. Take a look at these puppies...

They're called "Catbash boots" and I suppose they're intended as some sort of Neko paraphernalia, but you certainly don't have to be Neko to wear or appreciate them. the level of detail is pretty astounding if you ask me. the scripted bandana around the right ankle is a great touch, but IMO it would have been great if the colors available weren't all similar. Still at about L$480 they're a great value - not only because they look spectacular, but because 5 sizes are included. That's pretty awesome in my book.

You can find the "Catbash" boots at WMD.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Schreckhorn/14/95/37

Hasta la proxima, baby!

-Zim

"Miles to go before I sleep..."

That about sums it up, folks. February was a wild and interesting month, Agape-wise. We moved our HnH store over to the new Sim, opened our new store at Jake's Club Resort (more on that later), and began work on our new "Mainstore" at Gaytown Mall. The Gaytown Mall store is really going to be something to see once it's done. John and Gully were kind enough to offer us a bigger home, and even though I was nervous about being able to fill up a space that large, I accepted, took the plunge, and ordered more prims (lol).



We've also been given a new, larger space over at Warehouse Plaza and that location is coming along quite nicely. Not as large or elaborate as the Gaytown Mall 'Mainstore' will end up being, but it's still something to see. This isn't what this blog post is about, however. Not really. Today I'm announcing the release of our two first "Signature Series Shapes", Ian and Nikita...

I'm very proud of how these guys turned out. "Ian" was designed around the "Rage" skin and Nikita around my personal fave, the "Blaze" skin. Some of you are probably wondering what it means to design a shape around a skin. 'Aren't all skins the same?' you are probably asking yourselves. "Not really," would be the answer. Sure, all skins are based on a Linden template, but that where the similarities end. Each skin creator has their own personal style which dictates placement of the eyes, fullness and shading of the lips, and things like how strong or subtle the shading and highlights are among other things.

The "Ian" and "Nikita" shapes were designed to take advantage of the particular strengths of Skins found at Signature Skins as well as the placement of facial features, etc. The end result is a set of shapes that offer a level of realism missing from the body shapes of many other creators. I honestly don't think you'll find other guys wearing shapes that look as "real" as these do anywhere on the Grid. Be sure to stop by one of our shops and pick up a wearable demo, then hop on over to Signature Skins and pick up a demo skin and put them both on. I think you are going to be very pleasantly surprised at how you look and that you'll be back to pick up the full versions soon afterward.

We do have more shapes in this series coming out soon, so be sure to check the blog or visit us in-world so as not to miss out on any of them...

http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Highlander/90/85/578

Ciao!

-Zim

The Cat is out of the Bag...

Yep, I can finally talk about this it seems :)

Some of you may already know about this, but Jake's Club has now expanded into the all new Jake's Club Resort, featuring a beautiful new Mall and an Amphitheatre for community events and Agape Men's Store is proud to be a part of it! We've got a beautiful new 450 Sq meter store there and if I do say so myself, it really looks wonderful!

The new location will feature all of our great shapes as well as the new "Agape / Signature" series of shapes designed around... Oh wait, I haven't mentioned that part yet, have I (hehe)? Well, now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag as they say, I suppose I should mention this. You may remember that earlier in the month I'd blogged about the shopping experience a friend of mine had when I sent him over to Signature Skins for a "Blaze" skin. Since then, I've been in contact with Mr Spad and he has graciously allowed me to design a line of Male body Shapes around his fantastic skins. You've really got to see these to believe them!

The "Signature Series" shapes are designed around three specific skins from Mr Spad's collection - "Blaze", "Rage", and "Vain". You really owe it to yourself to check these out. The shapes themselves have not yet been released, but you can check out previews of them at our Jake's Club Resort, Gaytown Mall, and Warehouse Plaza locations; or better yet, head on down to Signature Skins and try out demo's of the skins themselves. You will be amazed at the level of realism Mr Spad has achieved with these skins - and once you've worn them with one of our new shapes, well... I'll be surprised if you wear much else for quite some time (I think you know what I'm talking about here ::grins::).

The Shops at Jake's Club Resort is currently in "Soft Opening" mode, but watch for the "Grand Opening" announcement to appear sometime next week. We have a few more announcements to make over the next few weeks so keep watching this spot for updates!

See you soon!

-Zim

The sound of Silence...

Well, it's been pretty quiet around here these past few says, hasn't it? This usually means I'm working on something :) In this case it just so happens that I'm working on several things at once. Eight things to be precise, but they're all inter-related (sp?).

Unfortunately I can't talk about them just yet, but soon (very soon) I'll be able to spill the beans about at least one of them. Trust me, this is going to be very cool. All I can say right now is that part of this announcement involves 5 new Male Body Shapes I've been working on (one of which is pictured here).

It's really hard for me to keep quiet about this because it's pretty big (to me, anyway) and involves LOTS of prims... Oops, shouldn't have let that part slip. OK, I'll shut up now; but keep watching this space. I really think you're going to love this...

Soon, very soon...

-Zim

PS: It's just come to my attention that there is something ELSE going on! OMG... Can't say more now (I'm under SLNDA), but soon I'll be posting more on this as it happens. Stay tuned...

Romeo's Best Kept Secret

Nestled away in a corner of the Aussieboys' hangout on the Romeo sim lies a little Agape Men's Store location. It features almost all of our great Men's body shapes (which is no small feat considering this is our smallest location).

So if you happen to be Sim-hopping on the Mainland, be sure to stop in and visit. The Mall features lots of great shops including Pillow Biters, Dinzeo Design, Xcite!, and 'N4RS...

The store can be found here:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Romeo/99/211/40

See you soon (and be ready for our next big announcement :-)

Have a great weekend!

-Zim

Kudos!

No picture with this entry. I just wanted to take this opportunity to mention an awesome example of an SL content creator helping their customers to solve problems. Recently a friend of mine went to Signature Skins for one of their "Blaze" skins (which is very hot IMO). Basically what happened is that once he bought the skin, the SL asset servers ate it. I'm sure many of you know how frustrating that can be.

What did he do? Well, to his credit he didn't freak out. He went through the usual steps one should take in order to try and retrieve the item. He used the search and filtering functions to make sure the folder/skin was not still in his inventory somehwere. He also cleared his cache and re-logged, hoping that this might bring the item back. When it was clear that his purchase was really, truly gone from his inventory, he took a deep breath and proceeded to write a calm factual non-accusatory notecard detailing what had happened and sent it off to the creator, Simple Spad - including the details of his transaction from the LL web site.

By the time my friend had gotten home from work yesterday, Mr Spad had refunded the purchase price of the missing item and my friend was able to TP over to Signature Skins and re-buy the product that SL had eaten... and I must say he looks pretty damned good. So Kudos to Simple Spad of Signature Skins! Not only are his skins pretty awesome (and reasonably priced), but he takes the time to help out his customers when SL has a hiccup. This alone makes a world of difference and we are pleased to be able to recommend this vendor as a place to shop.

Ciao!

-Zim