The Mens Dept has to be one of the resounding success stories of Second Life retail 2013. Every time I visit it’s busy, especially in the first few days after a new collection is revealed. I don’t really know why this is but I think it’s because having menswear, accessories, poses and other male-orientated goodies located in one spot is just more accessible than searching the grid. Certainly I struggle when looking for quality items for Jez to wear (because he’s bloody useless at shopping for himself) and visiting The Mens Dept allows me to kit him out in quality from pretty much his handsome head all the way down to his stinky toes. This round is as exceptional as any other, but highlights for me this time include this mesh sweater from XIAJ. It’s available in a number of prints and plain varieties, but for me it had to be this great wintry wool print.  Jez didn’t have a really festive jumper, and now he does he looks very Christmassy indeed. It’s an incredibly reasonable L$185 per jumper too, which means you can add a few of these mesh lovelies to your  fella’s winter wardrobe without breaking the bank.  As you can see from the photos the sweater photographs extremely well; the texture is nice and crisp, and the red and navy combo on this particular selection is bang on trend.

Of course, you can’t just have a good jumper, you need some quality jeans to team with it, and that’s where APHORISM come into play. They’re selling some fantastic denim jeans at The Mens Dept. that really must not be missed.  Now, I am very fussy about certain items in SL, you’ve probably noticed, and jeans are very near the top of that list. Why? Because they are so easy to get wrong. You have to suggest depth and wear on a good pair of jeans.  All too often textures aren’t applied correctly which is a shame, because when textured correctly a pair of denim jeans can really look stupendous in-world. You need to suggest creasing in the right places, as well as wear and tear, because denim jeans always look better when they’re aged a bit. Not only that, but they need to ‘hang’ on the avatar correctly, depending on the fit. Baggy jeans can look like a pair of MC Hammer pants if the shape is wrong, and straight-leg pants can just look incredibly flat. It’s a balancing act that few designers manage to pull of successfully, but fortunately APHORISM have successfully risen to the challenge.   I’m exceptionally impressed by these jeans.  They fit just right, and really look the part, especially the vintage options.  The creasing is spot on, not just at the top of the thigh but also around the calf area too.  They’re styled as regular jeans and I would say that’s correct, they’re neither too thin or overly baggy, and in my opinion that makes them an absolute must have for a male avatar. Not only that but they’re just L$200 a pair, so they’re a bit of a bargain. I think Jez looks brilliant in them, but then again I’m biased:)

Last but not least, check out Jez’s pose. He’s using the pack from POSEOLOGY, also available at The Mens Dept., and it’s a very nice selection of male poses indeed. There’s no over-the-top posing here, just nice stands that allow for great photographs and work really well in-situ.  You can buy them individually for L$25 each, but Jez insisted on splurging ion the full pack for L$100 because he hasn’t got many quality poses in his repertoire, and I agreed these were pretty good for the price! So there you have it, a few picks from this round of The Mens Dept. Take your fella, drag him down there if you must, and get him kitted out for Christmas in style!

Here’s your Taxi to The Mens Dept.