The Outfits Library
How to build your outfit collection and keep everything safe and accessible
Second Life: Saving and Managing Outfits
An Outfit in Second Life is a collection of links pointing to items in your inventory—clothing, mesh body parts, attachments, shapes, skins, and animation overriders. Instead of making duplicate copies of large files, an outfit folder stores lightweight shortcuts, allowing you to change your entire appearance instantly.
How to Save an Outfit
A. In the Official Second Life Viewer
Dress your avatar exactly how you want it, including all mesh body parts, clothes, alpha layers, and attachments.
Click the Appearance button on the side or bottom toolbar (represented by a shirt icon), or press Ctrl + O.
In the Appearance panel, select the Wearing tab to review everything currently attached to your avatar. Ensure no unwanted items are active.
Click the Save As button at the bottom of the window.
A prompt will appear asking you to name your outfit. Type a descriptive name (e.g., "Casual Jeans & Blue Sweater") and click OK.
The viewer automatically creates a new folder with that name inside your Outfits directory, populated with links to everything you are wearing.
B. In the Firestorm Viewer
Firestorm features an advanced appearance manager called Avatar Appearance.
Put on all components of your desired look.
Open the Avatar Appearance window by clicking the Appearance button on your toolbar or using the shortcut Ctrl + O.
Navigate to the Wearing tab to verify your current items.
At the bottom of the Appearance window, click the Save Outfit button.
A drop-down menu will present two choices:
Save: Overwrites the current outfit folder if you are modifying an existing one.
Save As...: Creates a brand-new outfit folder. Click this.
Enter a name for the new outfit in the pop-up field.
Firestorm provides additional checkboxes here, such as allowing you to automatically include or exclude current physics settings or animation overriders. Check your preferences and click OK.
What Exactly is Saved in an Outfit?
An outfit folder does not contain the physical inventory items. It contains Links (shortcuts indicated by a small curved arrow overlay on the icons). It tracks:
System Clothing & Layers: Shapes, Skins, Eyes, Hair, Alphas, Shirts, Pants, Shoes, Socks, Jackets, Undergarments, Skirts, and Tattoos.
Attachments: Mesh body parts (heads, bodies, hands), rigged mesh clothing, jewelry, shoes, HUDs (Heads-Up Displays), and scripted accessories.
Body Physics: Settings controlling the movement dynamics of your avatar's body components.
Because these are shortcuts, if you delete an item from its original folder in your inventory, the link inside the outfit folder will break, and that part of the outfit will fail to load.
Please note: A saved outfit stores everything your avatar was wearing at the exact moment of saving, not just clothing.
How to Access the Outfits Folder
Method 1: Via the Main Inventory Window (Both Viewers)
Open your main Inventory window (Ctrl + I).
Look near the very top of the inventory structure, or directly under the "My Inventory" root folder.
Locate a folder named My Outfits (Official Viewer) or Clothing / Outfits depending on your organizational structure.
Expanding this folder reveals all your saved outfit folders. To wear one, simply right-click the outfit folder name and select Replace Outfit (removes everything currently worn and puts on the outfit) or Add to Outfit (adds items to your current look without removing anything).
Method 2: Via the Appearance Panel / Outfits Tab
Official Viewer: Open Appearance (Ctrl + O) and click the Outfits tab. This gives you a dedicated, clean view of your outfits folder layout, free from the rest of your inventory clutter.
Firestorm Viewer: Open Avatar Appearance (Ctrl + O) and go to the Outfits tab. Firestorm displays them here in an expanded folder tree structure. Firestorm also features a dedicated "Outfits" side panel/button on the toolbar which isolates just this directory for super-fast visual management and search capabilities.
What's Next? Now that you've updated your avatar's look to better reflect yourself, we'll give you some shopping tips to begin expanding your wardrobe.
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