Showing posts with label Randall Craig. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Randall Craig. Show all posts

1/13/2015

Runway Right Away Vanessa, 2005

Vanessa Perrin "Runway Right Away" LE 1000  $89.99

Another gorgeous early Vanessa is seen above modeling a Randall Craig sheath.
Jewelry by Joy now going under the name of Exsyntrik on Etsy.
This Vanessa came on the first articulated body; however, I had already switched her to the first tall body when I took this picture.

Below is IT's original promotional photo.


12/07/2013

What A Difference A Body Makes!

My all time favorite Graphic Language Adele, who originally came on a straight arm body, now has a new life. Paparazzi Darling Adele was the FR2 body donor. 
In the first two photos, Adele is modeling a perfect satin-trimmed black shirtwaist Randall Craig dress. The top is slightly large for her but it looks beautiful IMO. Her handbag is FDA.



I went looking through my photo archives for prior shots of GA Adele. She was gorgeous on every body. I've had more than one GA Adele. You know how it is, don't you? You buy, you sell, you buy again. The doll in the purple and green dress is a different one from the one I have now. The one is red is the same gal on her original body.



She never made it onto the first articulated body apparently.


Do you have any dolls that have been transformed by a body switch?


11/01/2011

Spamming the Blogosphere - Showcase Photos

I feel like I'm spamming my own blog with all the posting but it's been a crazy doll inundation for two weeks and I have a lot to catch up with. I've rearranged most of my display of 12" dolls in the last month and redressed many. For the first time I have arranged groupings of dolls dressed in similar colors as opposed to similar characters.
Perhaps in a few days, I will begin to take studio photos instead of pointing and shooting with the toy camera.
Here are a few display case shots I took yesterday.


The yellow capri set on Glow Vanessa (far right) was the only outfit I kept from the Point of Departure Eugenia giftset. It doesn't fit all that well but I like it anyway. Metal Maven Vanessa is wearing La Boutique and Disclosure is wearing Randall Craig. All carry La Boutique POM handbags.


Night Warrior Vanessa wears Optic Verve's gown. AFL Platinum looks amazing in everything and now even better on her new FR2 body. She is wearing Randall  Craig. Onyx Veronique looks awful in this picture. She's wearing Natalia Shape Shifter's black dress.


I knew the minute I saw Ayumi's outfit that my Brilliance Monogram doll was going to get it. The gorgeous Paradise Veronique on the left is wearing a custom silk beaded bustier by Mio and Sound Advice Adele's skirt.


One of my OOAK Vanessas looks stunning in Fauxnessa Monaco's ensemble.


I must have this Shirred Not Shaken Vanessa repainted, rerooted or both one day. Something about her eyes bothers me no matter how I dress her or style her hair. However, her Thai gown is simply fabulous.


Midnight in Monaco Veronique shines in Vivid Impact Agnes' ensemble. I added the fur. I think the thing I put around her neck is supposed to be a tiara but it didn't work out that way.


My rerooted Chic Escape Veronique fills out FR2 Most Wanted Vanessa's gown quite well. It fits the full bust much better and I have a feeling it was intended for a full busted doll in the first place.


 My new Most Wanted FR2 Elise.


Wu Convention 2010 Workshop Eugenia wearing Mauve Absolue gown and Franklin Mint jewelry.


 Rerooted Buena Sera Kyori wearing boots from Mission Control Imogen and skirt from Style Counsel Adele.


Silver Society Veronique wearing Randall Craig carrying POM.

Redhead Color Therapy Vanessa wears LCR Veronique's gown. 


Rerooted Cruise Control Vanessa wears Josephine Baker's La Joie de Paris gown.

8/17/2011

Randall Craig Releases New Designs

Randall announced four new fashions which can be seen on his website and can be pre-ordered at retailers. My favorite of the four is called Lovely. All the fashions are LE100 and all but the long gown are $58. The gown sells for $65.
Lovely
Fancy
Adorable
Glamorous
Click here to see a list of retailers.  I wonder why BIC is still on his list.
All photos © Randall Craig, Inc.

7/26/2011

Randall Craig's IFDC Fashion Collection

Earlier this evening, Christina Goodison aka Shuga-Shug posted this delightful picture of her Poppy dolls wearing the fashions Randall Craig designed for IFDC 2011. She is selling an additional set of NRFB fashions on eBay.



See more of Shuga-Shug's photographs.

4/02/2011

Randall Craig Fashion: New Sizing?

Recently I received one of Randall's new fashions, Delightful. It's a very pretty coral sheath with a bolero jacket that has puffed sleeves. The accessories include a black patent clutch bag, black patent belt, black plastic shoes and black bead earrings. Retail price, with shipping, was $62. from Mary T's Dollhouse.
According to the promotional text this item is "Fitted to Monogram dolls but will also fit Silkstones, ModelMuse, Poppy, NuFace, etc."

One of my Monogram dolls, Dreamscape, never had a photoshoot since she was first photographed in her pink gown. She was one of my (many) impulse purchases as I really didn't like her face.
I was not happy with the fit of the bodice on the Monogram. It was too big. The bolero pushed the bodice of the dress together at the front. There is too much  fabric at the sides and underarm seam so the doll can't have her arms at her sides. And...there is a really strange seam on the back of the jacket. It's as if it was made incorrectly and it was seamed to make it smaller.



The arrows point to the seams. What is this about? It's definitely not a design detail. They're like little puffy wings.





I had to take it off her and try it on another doll who was hanging out in the area.

 
It fits beautifully on a regular Fashion Royalty body but the seams under the arms are still too thick for the doll to lower her arms properly.
Both of these dolls have the side-glancing eyes that I mentioned in the previous post. Neither was popular. I had to cover Kyori's eyes as not only are they side glancing, they're flat and shiny.  If they're going to re-do a sculpt, Kyori needs new eyes.








5/13/2010

Deconstruction Site Eugenia & Magnetism Monogram Dolls

I had time yesterday to redress several dolls and photograph a few of them. For me this is the most pleasant way to spend time with my dolls besides gazing at them. For the backdrop I tried out some mylar coated stock. I'm not quite sure about the best way to use it so the results are accidental. I'll have to do some research.
Here is Eugenia wearing LifeBall's gown. The bust was quite tight but I managed to close it and I like it on her. The headwear belongs to Flame Blue Vanessa and the purse is from an early Fashion Royalty doll. Jewelry is by Facets. She looks gorgeous!

I purchased the Monogram doll called Magnetism as a nude so she really needed some wardrobe time.
The Randall Craig fashion, Kelly Girl, looked great on another collector's doll so that's what mine got to
wear. Fur is by Dimitha and shoes are her own from her original outfit.
This particular backdrop is an older tri-fold cardboard Ashton-Drake Gene item meant to represent the Biltmore Hotel Ballroom. I added the gold chairs and columns. The columns are Wilton cake decorating accessories which I spray painted gold.
The jewelry
was produced by Sandra Stillwell for the 2004 Gene convention. It is a replica of jewelry worn by Susan Hayward in the film Smash Up. The fur was also made to fit a 16" doll however it works well with this scale and is quite glamorous. It is real fur.

Hope you like the pretty pictures. ;-)

Revision note: Information about the jewelry Magnetism Monogram is wearing was provided by Mike Basala. Thanks, Mike!

1/11/2010

Picture of the Week ~ Not Really

I'm going to reward myself for quitting Farmville by posting some of my own pictures in place of the usual Picture of the Week Award. The truth is that I didn't spend much time on the doll boards this week and I don't have a nominee.
This doll was Cruise Control Vanessa. She was reviewed by me several months ago. She had terrible hair. This photo was taken after I tried to carefully comb out her disaster of a do.

She was re-rooted by Susan Korba who did her usual fantastic job using mixed blonde shades.
Shortly after that I saw a Cruise Control doll whose eyes had been re-done. I had to have mine done as well. When I received her yesterday I couldn't believe how gorgeous she was. Vin Trapani worked his magic and made her more beautiful than the one I saw to begin with.
While I am posting these pictures of her I might as well talk about her outfit. It's a Dressmaker Detail's fashion called "Feet First."This image is the property of Dressmaker Details.

I have wanted it since it was first released months ago but my experience with DD fashions has not been a good one as far as fit and quality of accessories. Originally priced at $79.00, when it went on sale for $35. directly from DD, (plus another $20. for shipping!) I ordered it. I hoped for the best with the skirt and sweater and left the rest to chance.
This time I give DD an A for effort as far as design goes. They have kept it simple except for the silly little bow on the back of the sweater which was easy to remove. The skirt fits nicely and has a tiny zipper closure with a hook at the top. The sweater has real buttons and button holes that are adorable and made very well. One needs a light weight pliers to help close the buttons but it's do-able.
The problem with the sweater is that the seams under the arms keep the doll from lowering her arms close to her body. There's got to be another way to construct a tiny knit sweater so the doll can lower her arms properly. Wu did it with several sweaters. Even Mattel has made a few sweaters that work.
I added the chains. The pearl studs and pearl bracelet come with the fashion.
DD plastic shoes are very good. They fit fairly well and come in lots of good colors. I knew that the tall gold boots weren't going to work; I could tell from their profile. They fit but they are Barbie-ish in look. The red shoes and the gold stretch cord shoes fit but look awkward because the foot bed is too large or off-center. At $79. I would have been very disappointed. At $55., I'm not that unhappy because I didn't expect much. I'm glad I got the skirt and sweater no matter what.
DD does great skirts. Construction techniques can be improved and I will jump for joy when Steven Fraser decides to eliminate the low quality frills and put all the manufacturing effort into the main pieces. Perhaps Steven can learn a few tricks by studying the construction and design of Randall Craig's doll sweaters. Take a look at this beauty. (LE 100 MSRP $58)This gorgeous and beautifully made/fitted fashion from Randall Craig is called The Gold Standard. It is part of his latest line. The skirt has inverted pleats and the sweater fits perfectly. RC still has a long way to go with their shoe fitting problems. These shoes, just like last year's, do not fit properly.
All of Randall's fashions this season come with cigarettes. Perhaps next year they will come with coke and I don't mean in a bottle.

4/23/2009

Three New Fashions from Randall Craig's RTW Line

First up is "Style Icon" It's an adorable and updated classic shirtwaist with satin trim at the hemline and a satin bowed belt. Included are a delightful little tulle embellished straw cap, a turquoise clutch bag, pearl drops, black pumps and a petticoat.

The fit of the dress is perfection. It's made very well. I love the hat with it's sequins and tulle. The black pumps and the pearl drops are not as stylish so I didn't use them. The clutch had issues. I removed the velcro closure because it created too much bulk and the purse didn't close well. Last season's purses had the same issues.
Heat Seeker Natalia above is wearing jewelry by Joy. The shoes are from Integrity Toys.
______
Next is Curacao. This is a stunning satin turquoise sheath with gathered pleats on one side. It's made extremely well and has a loose fit. The scarf is the perfect touch for the fashion. The black espadrille wedges are OK but I choose not to use them. We have the pearl drops again. The straw hat shown is not how the hat actually appears. It's very tall in the crown and sticks up so high that it looks like a Mexican sombrero. In his photo, Craig has pushed the hat in at the top to deal with this issue.

Aerodynamic Vanessa is seen here carrying a replica Louis Vuitton handbag and matching shoes from La Boutique POM. She has on IT sunglasses.
__________
My third outfit is Chica Chica. Again the construction is flawless. The pretty and feminine white blouse has a very loose fit which causes a problem. The high waist of the pants is slim-fitting as it should be and there is too much fabric from the blouse to make it easy to put on and have the pants fit properly. It keeps the pants from being pulled up as high as they could be. The wedges appear again as do the ubiquitous pearl earrings. The straw hat has the same issues at described above. I don't like that the photos don't show the hats as they really are.
My version is wearing Integrity sunglasses and earrings. Her handbag is a replica Hermes Birken from La Boutique POM.
__________
All fashions shown are $58. at most dealers with free shipping included. Each is limited to 100 pieces.
You can find more pictures of Randall's excellent doll clothing lines, past and present, at his website:
http://www.randallcraigrtw.com/fashions.html
The photos that have the rtw logo in the background are property of Randall Craig.

10/13/2008

Randall Craig Ready To Wear Fashion

The first is called A Little Moonlight. This ensemble was sold out at the major dealers fast. It is a lovely gray with silver dot chiffon halter dress circled at the waist by a silver belt. The accessories are clear beaded cluster earrings, silver handbag and shoes.
None of the shoes from any outfit fit properly. They don't go on all the way although they are not too small. They're just not made properly. This silver handbag is slightly misaligned and doesn't close all the way. It has velcro which is not strong enough to hold it shut.
Overall the outfit is beautiful and it's a keeper.
The model is a True Royalty who has been rerooted. She is wearing her own bracelet and shoes from Jennifer Sue.


The next outfit is called Solitude. LE 100. It is a slim column of satin with a band of sequins and gold braiding at the shoulder/neckline. Just under this neckline the dress is gathered. According to the Randall Craig website, the fabric is cut on the bias in order to create the lovely drape.
The accessories are dangling gold and black earrings, 4 small gold bangles, a gold clutch bag and shoes (that don't fit.)
The Model is She Means Business Veronique whose hair has been restyled by a Thai dressmaker. She is wearing black specator pumps with gold heels from Jennifer Sue and a "diamond" ring from Hilda.


The last is called April in Paris. This outfit consists of a beautifully constructed sleeveless chiffon print top, high waisted skirt with a gold belt. The accessories are a gold handbag, earrings and shoes. There is a papery flower as well. I really love this outfit but the skirt is a bit too tight. It's difficult to get the stand between the doll's legs and the tightness shows up in the crease across the hips. It is a great, classic day outfit and another keeper in spite of the small sizing issue.
The model is the new doll in Fashion Royalty's Hollywood Royalty series, Josephine Baker. She is wearing her own shoes.


I admire Randall Craig and his work. He himself is a master tailor. I have seen fashions he has remodeled into fabulous creations. These fashions are constructed in a very professional fashion. There is no scrimping on the tailoring. The shoes were disappointing but they were run of the mill plastic pumps and my own collection of shoes is more suitable for these fashions.