There can be humor in patriotism.

This photograph appears in this week's New Yorker Magazine side by side with a brief article about Michelle Obama's preference to go sleeveless. The two gentlemen in the image are Thakoon Panichgul, left, and Jason Wu on the right. The First Lady has chosen fashions designed by both of these men. If you don't know, Jason Wu is also the designer/creator of the Fashion Royalty doll, AvantGuard, Valia and several other Integrity Toy doll lines. He created dolls in the likeness of the First Lady of Drag, RuPaul and transsexual Amanda Lepore. Mrs. Obama wore a gown designed by Jason in which to attend the inaugural balls.

I saw the image prior to getting the print article as another collector posted it on one of the doll boards. I liked it immediately. I see the symbolism of being protected by the flag and holding it dear. Jason is holding the flag to his heart. This photograph is tame by Jason's standards.

Two other collectors were completely offended by the use of the flag. They felt it was disrespectful in every way. I don't see a speck of disrespect at all. I see two great-looking young men posed with a big beautiful, if somewhat old, flag. There's humor in patriotism here. I suppose that the nuanced emotions are too hard for many to understand. No attack against the USA was intended at all.

If you want to be offended, here's your chance:

How about this "Casey Anthony Barbie" being offered for sale on Craig's list?

I don't know the story behind this but there appears to be a great deal of controversy surrounding the entire thing. Since the dress closes with velcro, it's just as crappy as most Mattel items. ;-). Too bad someone ruined a perfectly good flag.

I just spent the last 30 minutes searching images of flag wearing or abusive behavior. Three offensive images were of non-Americans burning the flag with glee. One was a group of American protestors holding the flag upsidedown. I also found these adorable photos among many more beautiful others.

It is part of being a doll collector to read and deal with the opinions of others on topics other than doll collecting. Do you know what an A.F.G.O. is?

If you see this doll for sale, please let me know.

I'm searching for this Vogue Vintage Reproduction Ginny Beryl doll. Manufactured in 2007. Edition of 350. Shouldn't be too hard to find but all I can find are the AA ones. I have been searching everywhere!!!!
Maybe someone out there has one. You can email me by clicking on the little envelope under each post.

Update on August 5, 2009: Found her and she's mine! It was worth the wait.

Is it really the economy?

 All the images from this post have been temporarily removed - in truth, they have disappeared and left nothing but black boxes.

So I was trolling the doll sellers web sites yesterday and checking to see what, if anything from this season's Integrity 12" doll lines, is sold out. That would be NOTHING. I have never seen this before. There have been a couple of the basic Fashion Royalty dolls in the past few years that weren't very popular and more than a few separate outfits but to have dressed dolls still available at every single retailer? Never. I'm not talking about the play line dolls here.

On the other hand, the 16" AvantGuards are completely sold out everywhere. Several of the Gene dressed dolls are also sold out, although if one looks hard enough, there are still some of each around. Last season's Gene dolls went on sale weeks ago at Marlbe and Mary T has been listing her leftovers on eBay for even less than Marlbe!

I find myself looking at the upcoming Fashion Royalty dolls to see if I missed something! I am not excited about anything I have ordered except for the AvantGuards. I did order two of the basic FR dolls, the Daria in red and Reluctant Debutante Poppy.

If it's not the economy, could it be the doll choices themselves? The Fashion Royalty, Nu.Face and Poppy Parker lines seem uninspired. They are just average in fashion and styling. The Nu.Face fashions are downright sloppy-looking. (I've been corrected. It's trendy, not sloppy. LOL)

There is a lot of black, white and red. Hmmm.

........................

And, what about Valia?

Do my eyes deceive me or is she wearing black, white and red, too?

..............................

If this isn't enough for you, why not get this creature? She is called the Traveler Innoquii. The weirder you spell the name of a doll, the more haute...? Trendy? If you like dolls that have tattoos consisting of a compass, passport stamps and an "erogenous flight path" and one huge black eye, then this gal is for you. Run right over to the Haute Doll site as this is an exclusive from Superfrock. There are only 300 of them at $380. each for subscribers or $400. for non-subscribers. Lucky for you, she is still in stock.

........................

Not to be outdone, Robert Tonner also has used black and white this season. Happily it's not his theme. The following are from the Joan Crawford line:

Above is a dresssed doll called Classic Portrait. LE 500 Retail Price $179.99 No, I'm not kidding.

This is a dressed doll called Hollywood Starlet. LE 1000 Her retail price is $189.99. Both Crawford dolls are available for less at the major doll dealers such as Cherished Friends who has them in stock for $153. and $152. respectively.

Finally, in this strange blog post which has become all about black, white and red doll fashions, we have another new Tonner fashion. This one is from the Bette Davis line and is called "Spotted By The Press." This is just an outfit which is LE 300 and retails for $89.99. It's cute but it's way to close in styling to the Joan Crawford outfit, "Publicity Shoot." It is not yet available but if you want to be the first on your block to have one, you can pre-order it at Cherished Friends for $76.00.

Today's lesson: never pay retail. That was yesterday's lesson, too; I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

Marg Matsui of MFD ~ My Favorite Barbie Collector

On the occasion of Barbie's 50th Anniversary, Marg Matsui of My Favourite Doll in Mississauga, Ontario, was interviewed by Canadian media outlets and here are the filmed results.

http://www.topvsbottom.com/barbie/mfd4.wmv

I Don't Care If It Is Her Birthday

Happy Birthday, Barbie. I want my cake now!

Nuts and Bolts and Photos of AvantGuard Goldmine

I'm having a great time redressing Goldmine. She is really a beauty and can carry off many varied looks. It's been a long time since I felt this way about a doll.
I've had just one problem with this gal - inserting earrings is particularly difficult. I use a push pin as I do with all my dolls to make the ear hole the right size for earrings. There seems to be something inside Goldmine's head that stops the earring from going all the way in. I really had to work the opening more than should have been necessary.
The only complaint I've heard is about the light weight of this doll line. Someone called it a "quality issue." When I questioned her she said that she wants her dolls to weigh more. Since I don't have anything to compare her to besides Gene and Tonner dolls, I can't make a statement about her weight.

I certainly hope that nuts don't suddenly appear inside their bodies.

This photo was taken by a collector named, Em'lia. Her Model Behavior (12"/Integrity Toys/Jason Wu) doll broke apart in a fall and she was horrified to discover the nut glued inside. Obviously there is no intrinsic need for a nut inside these doll bodies. It must have been placed there to make the doll weigh more. Many have come to the conclusion that the nut is the cause of the floppy hip joints which keep the majority of Fashion Royalty and these dolls from holding an upright pose. This discovery has been the source of a great deal of indignant foot stamping and the source of several conspiracy theories. I have discovered that many people do not know the difference between a nut and a bolt and that several people think that a nut like this weighs a great deal and is causing their postage to sky rocket.

However, some pretty good comedy has resulted. A remark from one collector went like this: "...now if anyone takes apart a Homme and discovers they have matching bolt...I will die laughing."

Another collector made the following suggestions:

"I suggest they make the nutsack, I mean the nutcase, I mean the body cavity, accessible. Certain edition numbers could contain a valuable prize instead of a plain nut, which would give us a logical reason to look at the COA. Or you could take the nut out and put stuff in the doll, like her jewelry, or a baby tarantula, or one of those little voiceboxes from Build-a-Bear*, something fun."

The entire thread made perfect sense to me. ;-)
-------
Back on the topic of AvantGuards.
There is something about the body that inhibits complete posability. I don't know what is causing it yet. In any event, she is way more posable than Tonner's 16" dolls.

Here are some of my recent images using Goldmine as my model.

This is the fashion from Film Fatale Gene by Ashton Drake. The pants looked too short when she was wearing shoes. Therefore - no shoes.

Wearing Integrity Toys/Mel Odom/Jason Wu silver trench coat from "Star Entrance Gene."

Wearing Ashton Drake's "Tango."

Wearing Ashton Drake's "Lucky Stripe."



I am looking forward to the release of Androgyny and Aphrodisiac.