How Does Clothing Work?

Your appearance and clothing are probably the first things on which you want to work. We all start out with "stock" avatars and from there, personalize our appearance. You can modify your shape to get just the type of face and body that you want. And you can change clothes. In fact, shopping is one of the great pass times in Second Life. So let's get to it!

The two buttons that you want to get used to using for purposes of dressing are "Appearance" (looks like a t-shirt) and "Inventory" (looks like a suitcase).

Once you click Appearance, you will see a tab labeled "Outfits" and another tab labeled "Wearing". If you click Wearing, you will see a list of everything you have on at the moment. You can go through that list and remove the items that you want - just right-click the item and then select "Detach" or "Take Off".

When you click Inventory, you will see everything that you own. Look through there and get used to knowing where things are. The clothes from your original avatar will be listed in a subfolder within the Clothing folder. Just click the little arrow to the left of any folder to open / close it.

Your avatar has a body that is made up of at least four pieces: shape, skin, eyes and hair / hair base. You must have all of these at a minimum. You may have a mesh body as well, but that is more advanced and we will leave that to another notecard. If you want to learn how to modify your shape, get our notecard "How do I personalize my shape?" Later in this notecard, I will explain how you can change your skin, eyes and hair. But first, let's talk about clothing.

System Clothing, also called Layered Clothing, is the original type of clothing and is still used today but not so much. System Clothing is more or less painted on your body. It can be good for skin tight clothes, like skinny jeans, swimsuits or underwear - clothes that typically cling to your skin. But for most other type of clothes, it just does not look real.

When you put on System Clothing, you right-click the item of clothing then select "Wear". Wear takes off one thing while it puts another on. So for example it takes off your old shirt while it puts your new shirt on you.

Mesh clothing is the newer type of clothing. In fact, most of the basic avatars come with mesh clothes now. Chances are that you have on mesh clothes as you read this. Mesh clothes look like they cover your body, more like real clothes. As a result, they look more natural and realistic. And like clothes in real life (or RL as we call it), mesh clothes come in sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL. You choose the size that best fits your shape.

Mesh clothes are designed to contour to your shape, so to some extent they follow the curves of your body. But they are not perfect and therefore they come with an "Alpha Layer" or "Alpha". The Alpha masks your body, making it seem to disappear in key areas. When you put the Alpha on, you will find that part(s) of your body disappears but don't worry - your body is still there, it's just that the skin has been made invisible. The purpose of the Alpha Layer is to prevent your body from showing through your clothes, which not only looks bad but can be embarrassing.

All mesh clothes come with their own alpha. The item will be labeled "Alpha" and the icon always looks like a net-t-shirt. Always use the alpha to look best.

When you want to put on mesh clothes, you right-click the article of clothing or its Alpha and select "Add" (not Wear). Add just adds things to your body. Unlike Wear, Add does not remove anything.

Let me give you two simple tricks to follow for using mesh clothes.

1. Take off or detach all of the clothes that you are going to replace with mesh clothes. That includes any alphas that you might have on when you start.

2. "Add" the new mesh clothes. Right-click and add the Alpha, then right-click and Add the clothing. Add, add, and more add!

You remember before when I said I would tell you how to change some of your body parts? Well, you have finally reached that part of the notecard! SL is kind of great in that you can change your skin, eyes and hair with a few clicks, here and there. Try that in RL!

Like clothes, Eyes come in the same two types: System eyes and Mesh eyes. If you want to put on new System eyes, right-click the new eyes and select "Wear". For mesh eyes, simply right-click the included Alpha and select Add, then right-click the eyes and select Add. (Most likely with mesh eyes, there will be a right and left eye).

Hair is a little more complicated but not too much. Hair almost always comes in at least two parts: the Hair Base and the Hair itself. I have found that the hair base is not always labeled "Hair Base" so you have to use a little trial and error here. What's the hair base, you ask? Think of it like the roots of your hair. It's basically a color and pattern that is added to your scalp so the hair that goes on top of it looks more natural.

To put the hair on, you need to pay attention to the Icon for the hair.

- If the icon looks like "brown hair" then right-click and Wear.

- if the icon looks like a little tan dragon, then right click and Add.

- if the icon looks like an orange cube, then right click and Add.

Seems difficult when I explain it, but trust me - once you try it a few times, you will see how easy it is.

You can get jewelry to adorn almost every part of your body. Jewelry is always mesh (or prim which is used the same as mesh). Just right-click and select Add.

Of course we have those - SL has winter too! Right-click the item you want to put on, then select Add.

Your basic avatar has very little in the way of genitalia. Men have nothing at all and women have parts drawn onto their skin. You can live a perfectly happy in SL with nothing more than what you have when you arrive. If, however, you are an adult and are going to engage in adult type activities, you need to get appropriate body parts. You can find what you want through the search button (looks like a magnifying glass) or on the marketplace.

You are probably asking yourself "What's a mesh body?" Well, here's the answer: a mesh body is an advanced body system that covers your basic body. The advantages of a mesh body are:

- they look more refined, have less angles and better curves.

- they appear more lifelike.

- the newer ones (labeled Bento) have moving body parts, like wiggly fingers and much more subtle facial expressions.

Usually mesh bodies and mesh heads are sold separately, though some come as a package.

In addition, you can buy just certain body parts: breasts, hands and feet. However, these body parts were made before full mesh body existed and very few people buy only one body part nowadays.

Mesh bodies (and heads) are relatively expensive and we cover their use in a separate notecard. For now, as you are just starting out, just focus on getting good with the use of clothes. Once you have that down, using a mesh body and head will be much easier.

For those who no longer wish to be part of the human race, you can go furry or become some other type of creature! You can become almost any animal you wish, a hybrid of some sort, or a mythological creature of your choice. There are a bunch of freebies in your inventory: cat, cyborg, dog, bunny, dragon, fox, lion, monkey, panda, raccoon, mouse, panda, tiger, unicorn, vampire, werewolf, and an assortment of robots. Many of these are older avatars. You can find newer and nicer ones on the marketplace but of course, they will cost something.

I hope this helped you some. I know it's long but hopefully you got something out of it. Firestorm has helpers available and they are here to help. I know when I started, I always felt like I was somehow being a bother by asking questions but really, it's why the helpers volunteer their time - to answer questions and help. So if you need help, find a helper and ask. Enjoy your second life and I hope to see you around!

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Related tutorial videos:

This one relates to an old version of the viewer, but the concepts are well explained: