Barbie Loves Glitter GLAM VAC & Doll

Mattel has me on their mailing list and insisted that I check out their sale (again.) These are the items that caught my eye:

If you saw a doll named Glam and Vac, what would you imagine? I just had to see the glamorous Barbie that also vacuumed. I thought, hmm...now this is real life. Mattel is getting with the program. WRONG.
The vac is a tool you get in the package to clean up your messy glitter after you glue it to Barbie's outfit.

Girls can glitterize Barbie doll's outfits and accessories! Just choose a sticker and apply it to the surface of the item you want to decorate. Pick a glitter color (pink or purple) and use the scoop tool to pour glitter over the sticker. Then press the gem button on the Glitter Glam Vac to clean up the excess glitter and store it in the gem top. So glitter-rific and fun!

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So let's say you don't want the all that loose and dreaded glitter in your home but you must have a Barbie Loves Glitter Hair Doll. It comes with "fabulous glitter mascara to color Barbie doll's hair." I envision a creative child also coloring the family dog's fur.  I don't think the VAC would work on that.

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But the weirdest item of all is the Barbie Doll'd Up Nails Digital Nail Printer.  It doesn't work with a Mac system so I'm safe.

Here is the description of what it does:
"There's so much stylin' fun at your fingertips with this digital nail printer! Now, both girls and their moms can get creative with their manicures. Simply select from 1,000+ adorable nail designs, choose the color, size the image to fit the nail, and print. Voila... your own custom manicure, at home! You can even upload your own photos to print and wear on nails for the most unique manicure of all."

I'm guessing you have to stick your fingers in one at a time. And it's reduced to $149.99. If you buy it on sale you pay only $119.99. 

I can think of all sorts of unique uses for this toy.

2012 Barbie Dolls

One doll that will never make it through my front door is Shoe Obsession Barbie. Yes, those are shoes held in a tulle overlay on the dress. Her face is scary-cheerful.  This doll is wrong on so many levels. Designed by Linda Kyaw who also designed the literal Pantone Barbie. Retail.  $39.

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The only thing I want is the necklace from the Hope Diamond Barbie doll.  I can just imagine how the hair will arrive on the real life doll. The facial screening is too cartoon-like for a sophisticated presentation like this. $75.

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If you haven't seen pictures yet, here are pictures of the initial release of 2012 Dolls of the World which are due to be available in December. Designed by Linda Kyaw. Retail $29.99
From top to bottom they represent Argentina holding a baby cougar, Australia with a gray koala, China has a panda and Ireland holding an Irish Setter.

Grace Kelly The Romance Doll and Update on Goddess of the Galaxy from Mattel

Grace Kelly The Romance Doll looks verrrry nice. She will be available from BC.Com on 10/01/11. This is a Silkstone doll and the first new sculpt for a female Silkstone.

I love the dress and the additional ensemble.

 

Here is the full description from the BC.Com website:

When American actress Grace Kelly arrived in Monaco to marry her prince, she was the embodiment of 50's elegance and class. The exquisite Grace Kelly The Romance doll, the first new character in Silkstone®, recreates her exact outfit in amazing detail. She wears a deep navy blue coat with matching skirt and white blouse paired with classic black pumps. Her golden blonde hair is pulled back and neatly tucked under a white, wide-brimmed hat, while sunglasses shade her lovely blue eyes. A simple strand of pearls encircles her glove-covered wrist, and she carries a delicate bouquet of white violets.
She also comes with the fabulous floral print dress Miss Kelly wore when she first met her future husband at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. From an "easy to sew" pattern the actress modeled for McCall magazine, the dress features long sleeves and a tight bodice that flares out into a full skirt, and is styled with a coordinating headpiece.

So I don't see a navy skirt and white blouse. I see a navy sheath. What's it going to be? Don't you love surprises? NOT.
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Goddess of the Galaxy
She's $100. and on back order until 6/30/11 but you can order now at BC.Com. And more good news is that you can get free standard shipping on orders of $50 or higher. Free shipping expires on 7/19/11 at 11:59PM Central Time.

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While we're on the topic of shipping, our Canadian friends to the north have no postal service for two days now. The workers are on strike! I feel for collectors north of the border. Canadian mail service wasn't that great to begin with and now it's non-existent.  I hope it gets resolved soon.

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Here's an annoying factoid: Palm Beach Coral Barbie Doll that originally retailed for $150. is now on sale for $75.

But the Palm Beach Breeze Barbie which originally retailed for $74.95 has been reduced only slightly to $65.  Somehow it does not compute.

A Kentourage for Ken by Pat Henry, Editor of Fashion Doll Quarterly

Article reprinted by permission of the author, Pat Henry. I have added the pictures below.

A Kentourage for Ken

 As we continue to celebrate Ken’s birthday as well as his reunion with Barbie in 2011, it is fun to look back at Ken through the years and his many styles of dress. Certainly, his place as Barbie’s consort meant a lot of coordinating looks. “Dreamboat” by itself is just a few pieces of sportswear, but putting Barbie and Ken in the roadster while Babs is in “Open Road” becomes an entire narrative.

Certainly, the matching cheerleader/football player is a classic, as is the costume party pairing of “Pierrot” and “Pierrette”, along with the fantasy driven costumes for the Little Theatre, like “Cinderella” and “The Prince”. But to me, the realistic and well made details of “The Yachtsman” or “Rally Day” reminds me of my own father’s wardrobe. The smell of after shave and soap, along with the classic lines of a striped tee shirt, or a driving cap and a Macintosh raincoat, combine to form a tiny time capsule of early sixties high style, when men (and women) still dressed for work and play with a certain sensibility.

Of course, Ken continued to stay abreast of the fashion times. After disappearing for a while during the sixties, Ken made the first of many comebacks with a brand new look. Now, he was “buff” and fit, ready to hit the beaches of Malibu as a blond, or take up extreme grooming with newly rooted hair and sideburns. His clothes stayed apace with Barbie’s; the prints became louder, the pant legs wider. Ken sported turtlenecks more often than ties, and left best bud Allan behind for Brad, a much hipper dude of color. Ken embraced rock and disco, sports cars and guitars.

At this time, I remember more of my male friends actually being allowed their own Ken dolls. Whether they wore their mothers down, or they just swiped their sister’s dolls, it didn’t seem like such a big deal to play “Barbies” with the neighborhood girls. (That may have been due to our stealing their G.I. Joes, but that’s another story for another time.) These dolls were no longer just Barbie and Ken, they were secret agents, astronauts, and rock stars, reflecting our growing interest in pop culture and the adult world around us.

Depending on your age, you probably have your favorite Ken. Mine was the first “Talking” Ken. I thought he was just dreamy. His dazzling smile and his groovy short-sleeved Nehru jacket was just fabulous! But there are so many other Kens for different times and different generations that must be represented, so I recently flew to Los Angeles and headed to El Segundo for a special photo shoot featuring the entire “Kentourage”.

Not only was it a thrill to work in Mattel’s photo studios, but also everyone had a favorite Ken and a story to go with it. Paul Jordan shot an amazing group photo that will become a centerfold spread in our special issue of FDQ, and the soundstage set looked like something from the MGM lot. Mary Jordan did the styling, placing each Ken perfectly on set, looking as though they were talking and interacting with each other. Lars Auvinen is the secret star of these shoots. He designs the sets, and molds and paints tiny pieces of wood and foam into the astounding miniature world that Ken resides in.

In an era where everyone assumes “it’s Photoshoppped”, it is truly a treat to see a full scale set with tiny phones, working doors and a boom camera hanging over the dolls’ heads as if they are actors ready to go on set. Make sure you get to see this amazing photograph in FDQ and on the Barbie Collector site. It’s part of Ken’s history and something to cherish.
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Pat Henry is the publisher and editor of Fashion Doll Quarterly. She is a former fashion stylist and Adjunct Assistant Professor at New York City's Fashion Institute of Technology in the Photography Department. Pat lives in NYC with her husband Hal and their fox terrier, Bo, and a large assortment of fashion dolls and action figures.

I Just Had to Debox Them

I bought the Barbie Louboutin shoe collection although I thought, even on sale, that it was ridiculously overpriced. The packaging was irresistible. When they arrived, I was not disappointed and because the presentation was so pretty, I decided to keep them boxed.
That lasted 2 weeks. But I couldn't stand it. They had to come out. I had to touch every pair of shoes with my grubby hands and play with them.
They are definitely not going to fit my FR dolls but there was a Silkie hanging around and she got to try a pair.
I was pleased to find that there is a box and a shoe bag for each of the nine included pairs of shoes. This is definitely a fun item.

Frogs, Toads and Dolls

I was not a child with snails and frogs in my pocket. Even now, when working in my garden, I jump every time a hippity-hoppity frog or toad surprises me. Only recently did I realize I would not die if I touched a small frog. (I'm not sure about a large one.) The babies are easy to catch in cupped hands. I catch them to show them to Rudy. He sniffs but is not terribly interested. I think they're adorable. But toads are disgusting. They appear under damp rocks and aren't terribly happy to be discovered. The feeling is mutual.

Frogs, on the other hand, aren't ugly. I've seen beautiful, colorful ones in aquariums.

The ones in my garden are mostly greenish gray. If this fellow showed up, he'd find a home with me. Meet Kermit the Frog from the Tonner Doll Co.

Kermit is 11" tall and is designed in scale to accompany the 16" Miss Piggy. He is considered a "semi-dressed" Tonner Character Figure. Very funny, indeed. His retail price is $44.99. If I put him in my garden would the rabbits clear out and stop eating everything?

For the last several years I have noticed collectors going Gaga over a frog called Wanda. I almost bought one but came to my senses after briefly imagining indulging my impulses. BIC sells them. They have been produced in lots of colors and are limited editions. The following 3 pictures are the property of Amélie Deveau aka Aminie who gave me permission to use them here. If you click on her name, you will go to her Flickr and can see more Wandas.

A special Wanda being sold now at BIC would cost you about $96. plus postage.
This collector, "irulethegalaxy" has a Flickr photostream showing a bowl filled with what seems like the largest assortment of Wonderfrogs ever.
They're cute but how do you tell the sexes apart?

The popularity of frogs are on the rise. Gaga wears them. Doll designer, Veik, adorns a Barbie with frogs.

I will not be collecting frogs any time soon but I do see the cuteness of the cartooon-like characters.