3/25/2016

DeDe Denton by Tonner Doll

As we watch the peeling away of the layers of the Tonner Doll Company, I think it's a good time to take a look at what still remains.

Tonner is the only fashion doll company that has consistently put out a doll with a realistic female shape. Beginning with the introduction of Emme in 2002, there have been very few collections that did not contain a doll that we would previously have called "full-figured."  Full-figured is now the average American woman's figure IMO.

I found these old Emme catalog pages in the Tonner archives.




Emme is an actual person who is credited as having been the first plus size model at the end of the last century through the beginning of this one.  She is currently an advocate for body image reform and has twice been chosen for People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.

She is much more beautiful than the doll showed.




The current full-size doll coming out of TDC is DeDe Denton whose back story is that she's the granddaughter of DeeAnna Denton, the chewing gum heiress. DeeAnna was from an earlier style era and her clothing was, for the most part, quite lovely.
DeeAnna Denton - "Parfum de Fleur" PFDF Exclusive
 DeDe was introduced at the TonnerCon 2015 "Guilty Pleasures" event.

This screen shot from Cherished Friend's website shows the entire line as it's currently available or will be eventually. Check out the great prices, too.


Here are the full images of each of the DeDe products.









While these gals may not be in my collection, I can appreciate their place in that of any other collector.  My favorites are Manhattan Blush and Producers Lunch. I'd like to see a lighter hand used with the eyeliner and lashes. It's a little too raccoonish for my taste.



It would be a real shame if Tonner were to stop producing moderately priced dolls like this, leaving a big black hole in the doll world.

Do you have or have you ever had any so-called plus-sized dolls?