Inamorata at PFDF 2014 Report

Reblogged from Emilia's Report. All images and text by Emilia Nieminen.

This is my account of the PFDF 2014. I returned from Paris on Thursday after a 30 hour flight through Moscow and Hong Kong and have been pretty much sleeping ever since. Tired, but happy as Paris Fashion Doll Festival was quite a success.
It was not only that we sold out all the dolls and even the diorama, but also the warm welcome that awaited us. I must admit I was both excited and rather intimidated by the prospect of meeting all my doll friends who I have known for many years online and all the wonderful people I know and admired from their photos. Luckily I had my friend Janina to hold my hand throughout the event, though it was the first time meeting her in person too, but with some people it just feels like you have known them all your life. Besides, my initial nervousness proved absolutely unnecessary. I was simply astonished by how lovely everyone was and what a warm welcome I got. Don't you just sometimes feel like it would be splendid to collect people? Now that didn't sound creepy at all! Well, I guess I'll have to settle for coming back next year and also prepare to attend Milan and maybe the Spanish convention next year too.

However, I was glad I stayed in another hotel in the center before weekend, as the Novohell hotel truly is rather ghastly. I have stayed in abominable conditions in China before, having centipedes and scorpions in my bed, no hot water and lacking many other basic necessaries, but this one takes the cake. There was no air in the place. The air-conditioning was broken throughout the weekend and everyone else was complaining about the same problem in their rooms, but it was not allowed to open the windows - the hotel had even removed the window handles. On Saturday when me and Jing had to spend the whole afternoon, evening and night in the room preparing for the Sunday sales room we truthfully thought we would die out of suffocation. Headaches, nausea and dizziness haunted us and we had to go out to breath. We did complain, but the hotel did nothing. Nor did they give us towels or had sealing lights in the room - only a small nightstand lamp with wooden shade providing no light whatsoever. Happily I had brought a flashlight as a spotlight for the diorama. At some point in the night I wanted to burglar the window open, only to notice this was not a thought unique among the guests as the area around the missing handle was scratched and bent by other inmates desperate for air. I did not get the window open and will hopefully find another hotel some metro stops away for next year.

All in all, it was a truly marvelous week in Paris. I arrived early on Wednesday morning and a walk through Paris and shopping at Galleries Lafayette with Janina and her boyfriend Alan kept my jet-lagged brain somewhat functioning until the evening. On Thursday I took a metro to Rennes and walked my feet to blisters shoe shopping along Rue de Rennes up to Rue de Dragon and the narrow alleyways there, living off tartar and patisserie. And speaking off patisserie I bought a box of Pierre Hermes macaroons the night before and ate them in a hot bubble bath. Heaven! The texture! The combinations of fresh and unique tastes just exploding orgasmicly in your consciousness! The fresh mint and red fruit one, but not mint flavour but true fresh leaves that make you float in a field on a hot summer day. Oh my. And no one quite does packaging as the French do. Esthetics and hedonism wrapped in one. Perfection.

Most importantly, the experience provided me with new energy and inspiration to go on. Before Paris I was worked to the point of burn out. 19 hours a day without weekends for more than a year. It is hard to draw a line when a passionate hobby turns into work. But more to the point, it has been the quality of work that has been eating me alive. If it was only creations itself I would be fine, but the endless fight with the factories for quality control is exhausting, frustrating and unrewarding. There is no margin of error and the factories cannot understand that. I love the fact that with LE dolls I am able to have dolls to go around instead of answering dozens of emails saying "I am sorry but she was OOAK and sold", but with LE dolls I only get to do creative work 3-4 times a year and even then it is limited by the abilities of the factory. Hence, I will now take few months off to concentrate on OOAK creations and to catch up on my ever lengthening commissions list. So, if you are interested in a OOAK contact me now as it might be until next year I have the opportunity to take another such a respite.

What comes to the last Charmeuse (LE5) event doll that I held back for those of you unable to attend the Paris event, she will be sold in a silent auction via this mailing list in early April. The starting price is the same as her price in Paris 950€.

 Here are some links to Flickr galleries

Inamorata at PFDF - collection of other peoples photos of Inamorata at Paris
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emiliacouture/galleries/72157642637408694/

Inamorata at Paris (my photos)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/emiliacouture/sets/72157641445457534/with/13314176425/

My photos of PFDF (my photos)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/emiliacouture/sets/72157642700675743/with/13314176425/

Inamorata Paris dolls: Charmeuse and Predatrice

Emilia revealed two new dolls today on Prego. One never expects anything but the unique from her.  Below: Emilia's own text and photos of her new art dolls.

LE5 dressed atelier doll Charmeuse will be sold at Paris Fashion Doll Festival 16th of March. The first 3 dolls will be sold first-come-first served bases and the 2 more will be sold by a raffle or silent auction: the 4th at PFDF and the 5th through the emiliacouture mailing list.

Charmeuse unveils the new Charo head sculpt (with pierced ears) and comes in new Latte skin tone. The doll features 6 new hand sculpts, one pair of dressing hands and 1 pair of gloved hands using the old sculpt.

Charmeuse is hand painted by em'lia and comes with a hard cap wig by Ilaria (Time of Doll) styled by em'lia. The accessories (2 crystal choker necklaces, crystal earrings and bracelet, gloves, feather fans, feather boa and long black leatherette gloves) are em'lias handywork. The fashion with intricate lace and hand beading (bra, corset, panties with 6 garter belts, stockings and skirt) made by a selected seamstress with finishing touches by em'lia.

Charmeuse's lush make up has naturally shadowed pale grey eyes, rouched cheeks, mauve lips and a beauty spot below her left eye. Each of the 5 dolls is slightly different as their eyes glance in different directions creating a different mood.

OOAK dressed doll Predatrice by em'lia will be sold at Paris Fashion Doll Festival 16th of March.

Predatrice unveils the new Charo head sculpt (with pierced ears) and comes in new Latte skin tone. The doll features 6 new hand sculpts, one pair of dressing hands and 1 pair of gloved hands using the old sculpt.

Predatrice is hand painted by em'lia and comes with a hard cap wig by PattaArt.

Predatrice flaunts a tightly fitted slinky gown adorned with silver threads and sequins. The daring slit of the gown shows a glimpse of her garter belt panties holding up lace stockings and shoes adorned with silver ornaments. The look is accessorized with a crystal choker necklace cascading to the shoulders and breast, crystal earrings and bracelet, long black opera gloves and feather boa.

Predatrice's dark make up has smoky pale green eyes, rouched cheeks, coffee lips and a beauty spot above her lip on the left.

More photos to be revealed during PFDF.

Update on Emilia Couture Accessory Packs

In response to my review Emilia sent me a picture to show that the accessory dresses do indeed fit the [older] Sybarite dolls. I don't know if there is a size difference between older and newer Syb bodies. Mine are all the newer V3 body. I didn't have success with the green dress on mine possibly due to the fact that the neckline is smaller I didn't want to stretch out the dress too much. Sybarites have such large hips and chests. The dress fabric is quite stretchy and it is, of course, up to each collector, how they like their dolls' clothes to fit.

Emilia said:

I got a picture request of the Inamorata accessory packs on other dolls so here it is. I only have old Sybs and a Numina Devon to model them, but everything fits very nicely.
From left to right: Sybarite Inque wears Zebra, Numina Devon wears Peacock, Sybarite Raja wears Gramma and Inamorata Cherub wears Gramma dress and stockings matched with purse, shoes and belt from Krait.

Review of Emilia Couture Accessory Packs

Emilia recently offered 4 accessory packs, a new Inamorata doll and a fashion. I purchased three of the accessory packs. They were $95. each but the shipping was extraordinarily expensive at $59.  which raised the price of each accessory pack to $114.67. The package was delivered by DHL a few days after I ordered it. I guess that was the benefit of paying so much. I could have waited as there was no rush on my end.

Each pack consisted of a dress, handbag, shoes, hosiery and belt. The dresses stretch and fit a few dolls other than Inamorata. They do not fit the Sybarite body or Tonner dolls such as Cami. I have seen the dresses on the Innoquii dolls. The shoes fit Sybarites very nicely.

The dresses have no closures and need to be pulled up over the legs. The hosiery must be pulled on first. They go up to the tops of the thighs. I had to fiddle with the hems on the dresses as they are sewn only at the back seam and just folded up.
The three images just below show the fashion on Integrity Toy's Tulabelle body. (Yes, the head is Avantguard with a transplanted body. ) Very good fit but with this color dress one can see the outlines of her nipples and all the doll's joints.

 

The shoes on a Sybarite doll:

Here's a little surprise. The dress is also suitable for an FR2 (12") body. I pushed it up to the hem length I wanted and the belt went around an extra time or two. I couldn't use the shoes, of course, but the handbag worked. The striped dress wouldn't do well on this body.
This is Color Therapy Vanessa (on an FR2 body) modeling.

I am pleased with my purchase. The individual pieces will be useful for mix and match in the future.
My one hope is that there will be a less costly way to ship from China.

New From Emilia Couture

Seraph Premium Inamorata Doll LE20 $699.
The 16" resin BJD Inamorata Seraph features the Inamorata Nnaji sculpt in Chocolate skin tone. She comes with an exclusive PattaArt hard cap wig cut shrot and displaying 3 flaming tones of hair.

Seraph wears a lingerie set of 2-tone silk layered with burgundy tulle and lace. The set consists of an underwire bra, matching panties with silk ribbon closures, an intricately cut under bust corset with an asymmetrical shoulder pad and a tulle tutu petticoat. The edgy look is accessorized by super long black snake leatherette boots with Art Nouveau Serpent heels in lacquer black. According to her angelic order Seraphim come with gold leatherette harness sporting 6 metal wings.

Seraph has brown eyes and a sultry look. Her make up has a black cat's eye eye-liner, reddish hues on her top lid and smoky hue eye shadow below the eyes, and wine red lips parted to reveal teeth tightly clenched together. Her applied lashes are medium length and nail polish is wine red.

Röntgen Inamorata Fashion  LE30 $199.
The Röntgen fashion consists of a pair of 5-pocket jeans in graphite grey and gold silk, black trico tank top printed with a 16" waist cincher corset and a T-shirt with an x-ray displaying the effects of the corset on human body. This commentary of beauty ideals is accessorized by black pair of leatherette ankle booties with golden Spiky Spine heels and a emiliacouture signature tote.

Accessory Packs contain shoes, purse, belt, stockings and a bonus dress - it's Christmas after all!
The colours available are from left to right: Krait, Zebra, Gramma and Peacock. The accessories fit most 15-17" dolls as the dresses are made of elastic trico and the shoes have soft soles that can be adjusted for different foot arches. $95 Each

The products will be sold through Emilia's website, 

http://www.emiliacouture.com/home

on a first-come-first-served basis on 12th of December at midnight Paris time.

***NOTE: There may be some confusion about what day these are actually going to be available. Emilia's site says December 12 but that is European December 12.  So...check carefully on both days if the first try doesn't work. I've tried to reach her but she's en route from Finland back to China.
_______________________________________
Midnight Paris (12:00 AM)  December 12 is the following time(s) on December 11 in the US.
Eastern 6PM
Central 5PM
Mountain 4PM
Pacific Time 3PM

Alaska and Hawaii are in different time zones.
You can Google a world clock to find out what zone you are in and how it differs from that of France.
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/

News From Emilia Couture

The premium Inamorata doll Seraph LE20, fashion set Röntgen LE30 and 4 accessory packs LE30 each will be out for sale through our shop (www.emiliacouture.com) on December Thursday the 12th (better to avoid the Friday the 13th, right?).

The LE20 Inamorata doll Seraph 699usd and LE30 fashion set Röntgen 199usd will be launched together with the accessory packs. Röntgen fashion will be unveiled in Fashion Doll Chronicles blog by Stratos together with an exclusive interview few days before the product launch.

Emilia's Latest Release: Success!

After what seemed like interminable delays, Emilia Couture finally released Cherub, the LE 10 basic Inamorata and two color versions of Vertebrata, a custom fashion. Vertebrata came in "Nude" LE10 and "Dust" LE 20. There are only a few Dust remaining.

 Above: Cherub LE 10

 Photos show Cherub modeling Vertebrata in Nude. Vertebrata herself is a 'basic' doll who comes dressed in a lovely, lacy lingerie ensemble.

Here is a message Emilia sent out this morning:

I am very happy to announce that the Cherub doll LE20 sold out within 12 hours, closely followed by the "Nude" colour variation (LE10) of the Vertebrata gown. The other colour variation has been even more popular, but due to it's larger edition size (LE20) there are still few left in our store. It has been a remarkable sales event and I'd like to thank you all for your patronage and making my dream of my own doll line come through! Every time I release LE items I'm so nervous they won't sell and it'll all be over, but you pulled me through once more and I am so grateful to all of you.

I have also been updating the website and you can now find more information there about Inamorata dolls including a new product archive with a list of every Inamorata creation ever made - both LE and OOAK. The FAQ and commissions info have also been updated, so be sure to check them out although I'm always happy to reply to your emails about anything.

This is Inro modeling Vertebrata "Dust."

Emilia Couture LE Fashions Getting Ready

Emilia Nieminen talks about the process of getting her designer LE fashions ready for sale. She is a perfectionist and this is just a small detail of what she does to prepare her work for collectors. 
 
Vertebrata gowns waiting to be packed:

 One time consuming step is that I try every item on a doll to make sure the fit is right and do something I call "wet sculpting". Wet sculpting is similar to ironing, but it's done on the doll's body to assure a perfect fit and requires no heat. 
This is how you do it: 

 The results are much better than simply ironing the garment. You can easily do this at home for all your doll fashions to really show off those curves. Just be careful not to wet sculpt dark fashions on light skinned dolls since there might be a risk of staining. It's safer to use a dark skinned girl or a doll dedicated for this process if you are not sure of the fabrics you are dealing with. I always stain test our fabrics before use and stain proof them if I notice any risk of staining. 
 

Cherub bras drying on Inamorata busts after wet sculpting.

Cherub bra before and after the wet sculpting. See the difference? 

 

 I will let you know as soon as I'll have a sales date. Hope you are as excited as I am after all this waiting!

Also, don't forget to support the Metro Dolls Style Evolution charity auction event next Sunday. I have donated a OOAK Inamorata doll called Grès from my Petrographie collection for the event and Metro Dolls accepts bids by proxy in their auction in case you cannot be there in person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emilia Couture OOAK Inamorata Collection Petrographie: Grès

The Petrographie collection consist of 3 dressed OOAK dolls: Aimant, Grès and Craie. More photos at the flickr set.

Grès is the second doll in the Petrographie collection and features the African Nnaji sculpt. Her face is hand painted with light hazel green eyes, shimmering gold eye shadow and her parted lips have ombre effect with gold and grey. Her nail polish is a French manicure in gold with grey tips. The long applied lashes have golden tips.

Her 20's inspired outfit consists of a under bust brocade corset dress with ruched silk hem, golden netting choker top with asymmetrical ruching, gold and grey Art Nouveau serpent sculpt heels, and a hand-beaded skull cap with lavender glass beads. All items are hand made by em'lia.

Grès will be part of a charity auction of New York doll club Metrodolls (http://metrodolls.blogspot.com/) event "Style Evolution 1920 to Present" that takes place on October 6th, 2013. The club accepts bids by proxy.

 

 

Emilia Couture: OOAK Inamorata Collection Petrographie: Aimant

Emilia wrote:

I've had this OOAK collection ready for a while, but was planning to release it only after the Cherub and Seraph were out. However, there seems to be a delay after another from the factories (now the fashion factory told us there will be a delay of 3 weeks at least in the production) so I thought I'd unveil it now to give you something to pass the time while waiting for the LE dolls. The Petrographie collection consist of 3 dressed OOAK dolls: Aimant, Grès and Craie. The first 2 feature the African Nnaji sculpt and Craie features the Asian Miao sculpt. All the dolls are hand painted, and all the fashions and shoes hand made by em'lia. More photos at flickr set.

Aimant is the first doll in the Petrographie collection and features the African Nnaji sculpt. Her face is hand painted with brown eyes, shimmering copper eye shadow and her parted liquorish lips with a flicker of a tongue are metallic lavender with black ombre effect. Her nail polish is a French manicure in metallic grey with black tips.

 

Her outfit consists of a under bust brocade corset dress with armoured hips, lavender silk panties with garters holding up a pair of net stockings, copper leatherette choker top, oriental platform sandals in copper and lavender Qing dynasty inspired headdress with a cascade of hand applied copper glass beads and threads of torn netting. All items are hand made by em'lia.

 

 Aimant will be sold through silent auction via email. The bidding starts at 1200usd. Please send your offer to emiliacouture@gmail before midnight on Wednesday the 17th. You will get an email in reply to confirm your bid and a notification if you will be outbid. The winner will be notified on Thursday 18th of July and 50% deposit must be paid within 24hours. The rest must be paid by 2nd of August. Payments are by Paypal and the shipping with EMS or DHL including tracking and full insurance is 79usd.

Emilia's Flickr Click Here

Be sure to get the next issue of Fashion Doll Quarterly which features a fantastic interview of Emilia.  Ships July 10, 2013.

Inro

Finally, after nearly 4 months I am feeling comfortable in my new studio. I was having issues with the quality of the light and so much more that I was avoiding going down there to work.
So I take these pictures of Inro and take the memory card, insert it into the reader and NOTHING. I'm going to die, right? I keep plugging the USB cable into different ports on the hub and NOTHING. So I go down and get the camera to link it directly to the computer and NOTHING.
Is it the card, the cable, the snow? Seriously!!!

My last attempt to upload the pictures was successful when I located an empty USB slot directly into my laptop and in seconds all the shots were on the computer. The darn USB hub is messed up. It's like the 4th one I've had. They all suck.

Back to more pleasant experiences.

I decided to trim Inro's lower lashes and I'm very happy with the results. They were masking the beautiful sculpt of her cheekbones and drawing her eyes down into the rest of her face. I may give a little color to her cheeks next time I get her out to play.

After I trimmed them it was time to dress her and just for the heck of it I pulled out a Gene Marshall by Mel Odom (Ashton Drake) outfit I have never had on a doll. It is a two piece plus belt linen outfit that would be very fashionable today from the Star Wardrobe collection. It fits and looks hot! I never imagined that Gene clothes would fit Inro.

I have Jamieshow shoes on her feet. I had to warm up the shoes to get them on and they still aren't fitting perfectly. I hope I find other shoes she can wear as Inro has very wide feet.

Around her neck is a gorgeous OOAK neckpiece by Asher of New England called "Quezacotl."
She is wearing a generic size 4/5 wig previously purchased for Avantguard dolls.

What do you think about the lash job?

Inamorata Inro by Emilia Couture



Original Promo Photo

 

Review of Emilia Couture's Doll Inamorata Inro

This is basically a pictorial review of Inro's body and posing ability. 
I started out by taking pictures of her next to a Gen3 Sybarite body. I was surprised that she is so much smaller. Inro is much lighter than a Sybarite which is no surprise because Sybs are weighty dolls. She has a very warm yellowish skin tone.

Her body is very angular, her head even more so.

 The hands shown are one of three pair provided with the doll in addition to a pair of paddle-like shipping pieces.

 As you can see, she is incredibly flexible. Her joints move smoothly and hold their position.

 Style is a personal preference. Inro is not a doll for the faint of heart. Her appearance is very far from the standard fashion doll of today's market. That's what I like and dislike at the same time. Her face-up is total runway drama. Eventually I may shorten the lower lashes - or not. I waver back and forth. Part of me wants to make her look more like my other dolls but that's not why I bought her.

Like the rest of my collection, Inro needs more play time. I enjoyed photographing her and that's essential for a doll to remain in my collection.