"La Vie en Bleu" Elise Jolie

I was lucky to find a collector who attended the IT convention last year offering this lovely Elise doll. She is wearing a miniature version of one of Jason Wu's designs. The box she came in actually said Jason Wu on it!
I am not a huge fan of the pale face and tiny eyes but the gown is stunning. The fabric is beautiful. The construction is detailed and well executed.

The doll herself is almost perfect. IT used a new finish on the vinyl that feels wonderful and looks great. There is something strange going on with her hip and knee joints. As I moved the legs, I could swear they clicked into place. Uh oh. I might have to take her to my orthopedist.

Whatever it is, it's better than loose hips.

Her shoes are too small. Sigh. The last time I warmed up shoes, the glue wound up melting and the entire shoe came apart. Obviously I left it in the heating pad for too much time. So with these pretty shoes, I got her foot in but I couldn't get her heel to meet the sole. I hate tight shoes.

Here is one of Jason's gowns in the same style using different colors.

Here is the original dress on a flat-chested, sick-looking model. I do not see the beauty of this model in any way.  The gown looks better on the doll.

I wish they would have painted more open eyes.

Elise is my favorite sculpt and although I have most of them, I did not pursue the ones that have slitty eyes. But this one's fashion outweighed her looks. I had to have it.

Integrity Toys Convention 2016 Luncheon and Banquet

 'The evening started with the introduction of the final centerpiece of the weekend, the ultra-sophisticated Dania Zarr, which was followed by dinner, the announcement of this year's competition winner, Salvador Lopez Arriaga, the highly-anticipated raffle of the designer OOAK dolls and finally, an interview with top designer Jason Wu where he announced the plans for the celebration of his company's 10th anniversary in 2017 and the introduction of new features in the Fashion Royalty line, starting with the "Velvet Touch" skin finish! Jason then announced that as a thank you for everyone who opted to attend convention this year ONLY, a special pre-order offer would be included with the convention doll to pre-order the very first Elyse doll that features the "Velvet Touch" skin finish.Finally, the moment everyone was waiting for came and this year's convention doll was unveiled, the ultra-glamorous Dasha, which came with not one, but two complete outfits to match the other girls in the convention collection! What a trip!'

The W Club Member's Luncheon featured a Nu Face Doll as the centerpiece and the gift. There weren't 400 motorcycles and they were a separate purchase. Someone posted that they were $20. I don't know if that is verifiable.

Full Speed
Erin S.™ / NU. Face Dressed Doll
W Club Luncheon Exclusive Table Centerpiece
Limited Edition of 400 Centerpieces

Very cute.

Checking In

Colette D.™ / NU. Face Dressed Doll
W Club Luncheon Exclusive Giveaway Doll
Limited Edition of 400 Dolls Only
New Sculpt!

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Tweed Couture
Dania Zarr™ Dressed Doll
Saturday Night Dinner Table Centerpiece
Limited Edition of 350 Centerpieces Only

This was inspired by a John Galliano Couture Fashion for Christian Dior Fall/Winter '97-'98. Quite stunning!

Diva
Dasha™ Dressed Doll
Official Convention Doll
Limited Edition of 500 Dolls Only

This gown was inspired by a Christian Lacroix fashion from 1995 as seen in this image from Vogue. They did a great copy!

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La Vie en Bleu
Elyse Jolie™ Dressed Doll
Designed By Jason Wu Collection
Limited Edition: TBD
Additional 2016 Supermodel Convention Attendee Exclusive
 

I believed, at first, that they had changed the sculpt. I examined her face closely and now I am convinced it's the same Elise sculpt but painted very differently.  I don't care for this interpretation as it washes out her beautiful features. Her lips look tiny and her eyes are squinty. 

But the toned-down make-up and styling of the doll is in line with the human model from Jason's pre-fall 2016 collection. She looks taken aback and ragged.

It was announced that next year's convention will be held in Orlando.  

Daily Dose of Vanessa: Obsidian Society

Obsidian Society was an edition of 1200 (!) and retailed for $99.99. The good old days. 

Integrity Toys Promotional Photo

What a season it was for Fashion Royalty dolls!  Only one year into the new tall body and the demand was still skyrocketing. 

This 2006 line was called "Modern Pompadour" and included 5 Premium dolls: Veronique "Lights, Cameras, Royal" in two hair colors, Adele, this Vanessa and Natalia. (The blonde version of LCR was the centerpiece at that year's convention.) 

The dolls were dressed beautifully in impeccably tailored fashions with wonderful accessories and gorgeous hair styles.

 

I took her hair out of it's wrap and I loved her even more.

Daily Dose of Vanessa - Luxe Life

 

Once in a while a perfect doll comes along. Luxe Life is one of those. I have never redressed her which is quite unusual for me. She's just perfect the way she is.

LL was one of the stunning dolls from the Iconic 2009 convention. Priced at $130. then, you can't touch this doll on the secondary market for less than several hundred. There wasn't a single off-key note at that event. The Elise Jolie sculpt was introduced for one. There were two Agnes (Agnii?), a gorgeous Eugenia, a Marilyn Monroe-like Dania, a light skinned Natalia and a beautiful Avantguard 12" clone.

The 'Iconic' theme referred to Jason's prior iconic doll designs. Luxe Life was meant to honor Veronique Perrin "Lush Life." (2001-02) This doll originally sold for $60. 

Integrity Toys Promotional Photo

Daily Dose of Vanessa

Today's Vanessa is "Intoxicating Mix" wearing an outfit called "My Precious Luxury Wear. " This was given to us at the 2005 Toronto convention. It came with the teddy bear.
Vanessa was the souvenir doll.

 Recently I began posting photos from my Vanessa archives on my Collecting Fashion Dolls by Terri Gold's Facebook page. 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Collecting-Fashion-Dolls-by-Terri-Gold/148849285133506

I thought it would be a good idea to coordinate the photos with this blog AND the FB page.
Here are the pictures I've posted of Vanessa recently:

If you are not already aware of it, this is a fantastic resource for Integrity Toys dolls: Jason Wu's Dolls Reference List 
I consult it on a regular basis to get names and dates correctly. And you thought I knew everything. Ha. 

 

2014 Integrity's Surprisingly Great FR16 Dolls

To be sure, there are various interpretations of the word great.  In this case, I'm calling them great as compared to other 16" modern vinyl dolls. For example, Tonner dolls generally retail in the range of $99.-$250 for a dressed doll these days.  The less expensive ones will be dressed in more basic styles. The FR16 SRP was $175. That price has dropped a good deal for some of the newer ones.
The fashions are beautifully made and come with excellent accessories.
As far as articulation goes, the FR16 win the vinyl race, their only drawback being their awful articulated toes and awkward feet. Neither the ankle nor the toe joint add anything to the doll and should be eliminated in favor of a sleek fashion foot.

I don't know whether or not it's a good thing that the current IT designer keeps bringing back altered versions of Jason Wu's designs. In one way it speaks volumes about his creativity and on the other hand, Jason's beautiful fashions always work.

Except for Afterhours Hanne, I purchased the dolls and fashions separately. Once I found that I liked them, they started showing up.

For this post I show the original Jason Wu doll promo photo, a photo of my own 1/6 scale original and the new 16" version.

Red Blooded Woman Kyori has grown to become Hot Blooded Woman.
By the time I decided that I loved the outfit, I couldn't get Elsa Lin at a reasonable price. I will continue to look for her. Modeling the FR16 fashion is  "On Edge." Avantguard. She is wearing her own shoes as the FR16 shoes do not fit. The wig is by Ilaria.
Pretty gorgeous!

Cosmetic Takeover Natalia is now Cosmetic Surrender. This Natalia was the first Natalia ever produced. She was on a straight arm body. Mine became so brittle that even though I was very careful, her neck cracked when I first gave her a new tall body. (Not shown.)  My model for the FR16 fashion is Platinum Society Hanne whose outfit follows.

Silver Society Veronique's big sister is Platinum Society. Silver Society was also a straight arm doll. Mine is now on an FR2 body and I still love her as much as the day I first got her.
My model for Platinum Society's fashion is a Tyler head on a Tulabelle body. The head switch was easy and the body is perfect for the FR16 outfits. The feet, like those of the FR16 dolls are unnecessarily articulated. She looks like she has tumors of the ankle (whatever that is.) Do not click here for a Google search on ankle tumors. You will be sorry.
I love Tyler and I always will. She needs a body like this to bring her into the 21st Century.
Anyway, this outfit is a thin pleather-like fabric with wonderful embellishment. I like everything about the fashion and I'd rather have a ring instead of doll gloves any day!
The last picture shows how I've 'repurposed' my FR outfits from the early days to adorn Silkstone dolls. The fit is perfection-even the shoes.

Purple Factor Adele has grown up to become Amethyst Factor. Again, we have a straight arm, early Jason design. This was an amazingly detailed and sexy sheath with ruching, princess seams and a lace inset at the top of the bodice. The fur had beads between the stole and the tails. Everything about it was beautifully designed and executed. My model for Amethyst Factor is Afterhours Hanne Erikson. Her hair was a frizzy mess and still needs work.

Obsidian Society Vanessa's FR16 version is Obsidian Culture.  This was a wildly popular Vanessa; they all were until they started multiplying like rabbits. Vanessa's black suit looks nothing like the new Culture version; it is so much more stylish. My model is the brunette Obsidian Culture in the "Bijou" Avantguard gown.  It's nice to know that the Avantguard, FR16 and Tulabelle bodies can share fashions.

Barely...

This is, in my opinion, the prettiest of all the Obsidian Hannes. Unfortunately, her hair was an overdone, frizzy mess. I have one side pinned back to hide the crimped, frizzed ends. Such a shame. I'll fix it one of these days. The fur is from the Hot Blooded outfit and the earrings and bracelet are from other sources.

Surprisingly great? Yes! Look back at the original 4 FR16 dolls. Three out of the four fashions are uninspired. One of the dolls looks like a corpse and another looks terrified.

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I have the blond Obsidian Culture NRFB doll for sale at a very good price on the Show & Sell pages.
While you are there, take a look at my other listings. You should definitely buy something!

Play with those dolls!

This is a post I found which was never published. It is obviously from a few years ago.

I've been giving advice and not often following it myself. This week I'm being good. I've been redressing dolls and photographing them. It feels like I have some new dolls. I love it.
Most recently the Nu Face dolls got attention. I sold off most of these little beauties so there weren't that many to be redressed. Here are Eden and Nadia. Nadja was "The Illusionist." I unwrapped the braid around the headpiece and underneath was a heavily glued stalk of hair. I washed it several times but the glue would not even soften so I just cut off as much as I could. I may rewrap the tiny braided hair, retrieved from the thing atop her head, around the nub that's left. But for now, this is what she looks like. It made her into a much more useful doll.Here she is with Eden, my favorite of all the NuFace dolls. Yes, it is difficult to photograph such different skin tones next to eachother. I lit the scene as much as possible. I think because Nadja is wearing a bright red she comes forward in the mind's eye whereas if she wore a recessive color, the bright skin and hair on Eden would overpower the photo. The lighting could still be improved.
The biggest problem I have with this color vinyl is that he texture of the vinyl shows all the tiny pits unevenness every vinyl body has. I this photo I have softened the skin contrast with a tool in Photoshop.
I have just decided to sell Erin. I never even redressed her! I took these pictures today. She's just so perfect in the microsequin dress.