“French is the language that turns dirt into romance.” ~ Stephen King

So, I’m just going to admit this — whenever I see a new line that is trying to be all trendy and French, I inwardly cringe. My first thought isn’t that it’s a French designer, but that someone else is trying to be all hip and just learned how to pronounce “couture” from watching Project Runway reruns. So when a friend linked me the very yummy Anglaise cocktail dress and I went to check out AlaFolie, I took a deep breath and decided to deal.

To be honest, I’m not sure what the brand actually is. The store is listed in search as “AlaFolie.” The graphics are “alafolie” with all those cute little European accents. The stuff you open is “A la Folie” or alafolie or some variation (which means everything in your inventory from the place might not be in order — such fun). The designer behind the store, pixivor Allen, has English and French in her profile, so I’m going to lend the benefit of the doubt here. And, for those of you keeping track at home, “A la Folie” means to love madly, or inspire passionate love. I’m going to refer to the line as AlaFolie because that seems to be the variation they use most often.

Don’t panic when you first see the store. Yes, it looks a little like it was built by newbs, but the open-air layout makes it very shop-friendly. Their organization could use a little work, but for the most part it’s a good (ie: not confusing) layout that is easy to move/fly around in. While some of the gowns and dresses in the store can hit the L$1k+ range, most of the items fall in the L$500 – L$750 area, with separates closer to L$200 – L$300. the items I selected were very reasonable — including the one I bought by accident, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

First up, let’s look at Anglaise.

This is a delightful little cocktail dress that has the happy distinction of not being like the other 100030343033034 cocktail dresses in your inventory. In addition to the lovely eyelet lace texturing (yeah, I’m a hippie throwback girl, I’m a sucker for eyelet lace) you have a somewhat unique approach to prims. The skirt is a series of layers upon layers made up of 4 attachments that are around 50 prims each. This gives the skirt a unique movement that is full of energy without suffering from feather duster disease. Obviously it has the standard problems that come with transparencies, but its much less obvious than I’ve seen on some. The bodice attachments of lace ruffles and the fabric rose are all one object that fits onto the chest. It’s 74 prims without resizing scripts and is no-copy. Yeah, I cried, too. That’s the only big complaint I have. You will be able to pass this off to alts or resell, but with so many prims that need resizing to your avatar, making it mod/no copy filled me with dread. Still, after a few minutes of careful tinkering I got to a happy place with it.

The system base elements of the dress are disappointing only because they could have been nummy.

I understand the designer is selling a dress and not singles, but it feels like a missed opportunity when you see things like this. This could so easily have been a cute cami/briefs set, but the choppy unfinished middle thwarts that. Even the pettipants that meet the top don’t quite match up in texture so you couldn’t really use it as prissy boudoir fodder. Still, none of this matters for the dress itself; so long as that’s all your after, these texture layers do their jobs dutifully. Also, it’s worth noting that all the clothing I purchased from AlaFolie is locked on one layer only. The chemise are on top layers, no jacket or undershirt layers, the pants are pants only, etc. If you’re used to swapping about for various things, your options will be limited here.

Now, because I’m a sucker for separates, I also saw and pounced on two separates in the store:

Ain’t it sweet? You’ll notice the eyelet lace skirt is much the same as the Anglaise dress, except in this case there’s these poofy waist prims that are supposed to mimic (I believe) layers of lace wrapped around each other. I don’t think it’s the exact effect they were going after, but I like it. The ivory lace top I picked to go with it is shamelessly romantic and feminine. Like with the dress, it’s the detail in the texturing that wins you over completely.

Again, my only complaint as a consumer is with the system layers:

As you can see, the lace top could be used by itself for a delicate shrug, but it’s only on the shirt layer, so that limits your options. And the pettipants would be absolutely darling on their own — IF THEY ONLY HAD A FINISHED WAIST. It really frustrates me that designers don’t finish off their system layers like this. It’s like prefab builders who don’t texture everything. Still, again, as the price of separates go, these are reasonable and I can accept not being able to mix and match with them. Had I paid a higher premium for these pieces only to find this kind of shoddy work on the bottom layers, though, I’d be disappointed.

Oh, fyi, the top and skirt are not side-by-side in the store, so you’ll have to poke about for them.

Finally, I have to chuckle because the last item I bought from AlaFolie I didn’t intend to buy at all.

Now, I have way too many brown sandals in my inventory to purchase another pair, especially a pair that is as meh as these, but I was clicking wildly and I did something I haven’t done in a long time, I clicked a purchase button just out of habit. These aren’t terrible sandals, but they’re a little too rough for my taste and the texturing on the sculpties is unsophisticated. The prims that make up the soles are also sloppier than I’d expect to see in a quality designer. Not a bad effort for a designer that’s only offering a few shoe selections, but certainly not worth heading out for on their own.

Overall, I have to say that AlaFolie gets an B on what I purchased. The overall effect is straight-As, but the system layers and options are a hard C. I was happy to pay L$400 for the dress and L$200 for the separates, but I’m not sure I’d be willing to plunk down L$1k or more for a formal without getting more information than the display cut-outs offer. As such, two dresses I might have otherwise purchased (L$1000 and L$1500) I ended up passing on.

Where/What/How Much

Dress: (alafolie)Anglaise rouge, L$400
Top: ” A la Folie” chemisier volants dentelles ivoir, L$200
Skirt: “A la Folie”BOLERO” rose clair jupe, L$200
Shoes: “alafolie” SANDALES BROWN, L$400
AlaFolie

http://slurl.com/secondlife/AlaFolie/136/146/38