Spell avant-garde properly, please! It is a French expression "originally used to describe the foremost part of an army advancing into battle (also called the vanguard) and now applied to any group, particularly of artists, that considers itself innovative and ahead of the majority." (From Wikipedia)All three "AvantGuard" dolls arrived in Woodstock this week: LiveWire, Eclectic and Lush. I was disappointed. I'm not even going to go into the overcharges on the shipping or question why the four AGs that shipped to me from Integrity, two at a time, one day after the other couldn't have been shipped together....let's let that go.
Eclectic is gorgeous. Her wig and her facial screening are winners. LiveWire's screening is beautiful and her skin color is wonderful. The screening on Lush is over the top. Her lips are straight out of the surgeon's office and her eyeshadow color is disconcerting. I'll admit that I don't care for ultra pale dolls but this combination of pale and neon gets boring after a few hours. What might be great for the runway of a haute couture Paris show is not working on this doll.
LiveWire's and Lush's outfits are on the flimsy side but that is intentional and a result of the fine fabrics used. Lush's minidress is finished and embellished by hand. The packaging was nice and all the externals are good. So what is the problem? The doll is shapeless. She has no waist or hips. She does have breasts, however.
The worst part is the feeling of a lack of solid construction. They are floppy jointed. Their feet flop around as do their hips and their legs. The head has limited range of movement. They do not have strung joints. One can remove their hands and feet by pulling them straight out to either replace them or to aid in dressing the doll. That's definitely a plus. There is an extra set of hands with articulation and feet with articulated toes.
There is pretty much just one circumstance during which a woman's toes curl and I don't think many will be posing their dolls for that.
I think Jason was certainly on the right track with these dolls but has forgotten that we like to play with and redress our gals. I tried many Tonner and Gene outfits on her and they are huge from the waist down. What is the point of having a doll with only one outfit? Saran wrap and bamboo leaves are great for Project Runway. I like to open my doll clothes stash and have lots of choices. I refuse to start another wardrobe for another 16" + doll.
Click on the image above to see the source (but come back to read the rest of the post.)I really wanted to love these dolls! I collect 16" dolls and it would have been wonderful to have a very fashionable, very articulated bunch of gals from Jason mixed in with my others. But it's not to be.
Oh wait...did you want to see pictures of the AvantGuard dolls?
Parting words...you might like them. Lush (the blonde) is particularly easy to get at retail which was $220 each doll.
CDCMHS (Compulsive Doll Collector Must Have Scale) = 4