Homage to Veronique Perrin - Part III of Many

The 2003 Fall/Winter Mauve Absolue Collection consisted of four Close-Up Veroniques, five dressed Veroniques and two dressed Adeles.

Veronique Perrin "Paradise," a close-up doll, and "Chic Escape" a dressed doll, both arrived wearing bathing suits accompanied by handbags. Chic Escape also had a hat. Paradise was an MFD exclusive with an edition of 750 and a retail price of $35. Chic Escape's edition was 1000 dolls with a retail price of $26. Both dolls are still highly prized although this year their prices have dropped below $200.

Chic Escape's hair, although I received her NRFB, was quite unruly and took away from her beauty.

I had her hair rerooted with a blend of light to platinum blondes and I love it.
______
Fashion Plate Brunettte, LE 800, Retail Price $75
I recently added her to my collection. She is a pretty doll but her hair is not a "user-friendly" style. She's got the two pieces of hair coming down on both sides of her face and it doesn't really work.

Mauve Absolue, LE 750, Retail $99.
This doll was my first spectacular Fashion Royalty doll when I started collecting. I couldn't believe the jewelry and the gown. There was so much work and detail in this little doll that I spent many a dolly minute just staring at her. She remained in her original fashion for at least 2 years! When I finally decided to move my dolls to tall bodies, she got right back into the same outfit!

Flame Rouge, R&D Exclusive, LE 500, Retail $99.
Although this doll has a gorgeous face and from afar looks amazing with her black hair and big red gown, I found both of those things to be issues for me. The hair was too big and the curls were difficult to keep tame looking. The dress was too much as well: too much fabric and overly designed. I did not keep her for long.

The next installment will cover the Veroniques of the Spring 2004 Sheer Perfection line: Pearlescence, Haute Luxuries, Diamond Dusted, Social Call and Sheer Goddess.

A Doll Rarely Played With

I'm usually so occupied with hunting and gathering dolls that I have many that are rarely played with. Colette is one of them. When the formerly-known-as Model Behavior dolls came out I was all over them. They have such perfect little bodies and they're so pretty. Their category name has been changed to Nu.Face Dolls with this incarnation. This is Colette Duranger, "Lost Angel," from the last group of these dolls. I actually adore her outfit, her hair and her lavender eyes.

When she arrived, I took her picture and stuck her in one of the showcases. And there she has been until yesterday.

A marvelously talented collector named Marguerite whose board name is MarC, made these pants. I just can't believe how perfectly they fit and how beautiful they look. Colette needed an immediate photo shoot.

The background is from a roll of textured wallpaper I found in a bin at Loew's. It has a great stucco texture and when I use armature wire to support dolls it provides a non-slip surface. The black grid is a frame which I can also use in front of posters to make it appear to be a large window. The chair is a jewelry box that a Canadian collector picked up for me. The table is a candle support with a mirror placed on top to give it a flat surface. The candlesticks are Fashion Royalty decor items. And the little poodles are little Rudy replicas. They appear in many of my photos.

If I get another pair of MarC's slacks perhaps Erin S., "Clash Control" will get to be redressed.

If They Make It, Will We Buy It?

The entire lot of them including Ayumi, came with either an ill fitting jacket or coat. Erin came with a ridiculous hat as well. Even the individually sold fashion had it's pleather problem. One could not lower the doll's arms due to the bulk of the fabric. Don't they try these things out before having them manufactured or does someone say, "Make it; they'll buy it?" The dropping re-sale prices are proof that has stopped working.

My fitting solution with the "Smoke Signals" Gear Up fashion was to open the seams under the arms and have the doll pray for better fitting clothing in the future.
TG

BIC Exclusive "In Yuzen Blossom"

Members of the W Club received an announcement about a new BIC exclusive. Here are excerpts from that announcement:
"Designed by Nobuko Sakayori in collaboration with Jason Wu/Integrity Toys, this Exclusive includes a Giselle head sculpt on the FR Nippon Body, a pure silk Yuzen kimono, fur stole, obi-belt and Japanese sandals. This doll is a limited edition of 300, priced at Yen 19,950 (using today's currency around $201)."

The kimono is very beautiful and I love the sandals. Real fur is a little shocking in this day and age but it wouldn't stop me from buying a doll I loved. Most likely the fur is recycled - at least I hope it is.
The bow is out of scale and looks really bad.

She's not my cup of tea - no pun intended.

UPDATE from the W Club:
Yuzen Blossom Giselle (BIC Exclusive):
"There has been some confusion over the stole that comes with this doll. As a special request for this Japanese exclusive, the stole is in fact rabbit fur. However, this was a one-time request and future releases will have only faux fur."

Picture of the Week Award ~ May 3, 2009

This week's spotlight goes to Marika of Helsinki, Finland for her images of Nadja. I like the use of high contrast and soft focus in these two images.

Congratulations, Marika!

Couture Noir Cissy Doll by Madame Alexander

This is definitely a change for me. Couture Noir is 22" tall! She's a big girl. When I carry her it brings me back to the feeling of carrying a doll when I was a child. I like it.
She was my Mothers' Day gift from my dh.
She came in a huge box, inside another box inside her Madame Alexander box. I didn't expect to see CN wearing her alternate wig because the promotional photos show her in her red feather wig. She looks softer and friendlier than the promo photos. In addition to a second wig she also comes with a mini skirt. The neckpiece was a trial of my patience to get on properly.
The only complaint I have about the construction of the doll is that the heels of the boots are too high. Perhaps they're making them in the same factory as the boots belonging to the Fashion Royalty dolls. She cannot stand flat on the sole of the boot. I really hate that. I also noticed something else odd. Her right eye socket seems larger than the left. I think it shows up in the photos.

The dealer posted on the site that the doll might possibly be stained. She has some staining on her scalp from the wig and around the tops of her thighs from her stockings. These stains don't intefere with the doll's appearance at all but they might lower the resale value ultimately. I'm not going to worry about that at this time.
The coolest thing is that the red wig is actually feathers! The patent leather looking fabric is a very flexible vinyl with a nice feel. I am very pleased with the fashion.
Now all I have to do is figure out how I am going to display her because she is too large for any of my showcases.

Life Ball Fashion Doll by Jason Wu

Members of the W Club received this information on April 28, 2009 along with a link to enter the lottery.
We are excited to announce to the W Club before anyone else that Jason Wu has designed the Official 2009 Life Ball doll! Created specifically to benefit the 2009 Life Ball, this gorgeous collectible marks the debut of Integrity Toys' new FR Monogram™ collection. An extension of the Fashion Royalty collectible line, the FR Monogram collection features a new custom face sculpt (body is the same size as the Nu.Face body), as well as the hallmark of Fashion Royalty- miniaturized couture fashion with impeccable attention to detail....The 2009 Life Ball Doll wears a replica of a chic evening gown from Jason's romantic Fall 2008 women's fashion collection. The gown is constructed from custom-printed fabric in a floral pattern that has been realized in perfect miniature.

For information about Lifeball, click here. http://www.lifeball.org/lifeball/show_content.php?hid=21&language=en

The doll is an ultra-limited edition, with only 250 dolls produced worldwide, and will retail for $270 (plus shipping and any taxes). 100% of the net proceeds from the sales of the doll will be donated to Life Ball to support HIV and AIDS treatment, research and prevention.

Above is the original runway version of the dress created by Jason for his Fall 2008 show.

This is obviously a great cause and I urge all to support the funding of HIV/AIDS charitable organizations.

What's this about a new line from Jason with miniaturized couture fashion? I thought that's what we were getting until this season. Has Jason, as I feared, 'abandoned' creating for the standard Fashion Royalty line?

Or, has he just turned over permission to his staff to use his designs on a more expensive version of Fashion Royalty? Why the switch to the flat-chested body? Will we also have dolls who look like the model above without makeup and without any discernable hair styling? If he's going couture why not go all the way?

Before I go further I want to add that I did enter the lottery and hope I win the opportunity to spend my money for a good cause. I wonder how much of the purchase price will be the net proceeds donated to the foundation. Hopefully it will be at least $200 per doll. When you think about it, donating net profits isn't exactly philanthropic. Simply, net profit is the money left over after paying all the expenses of an endeavor.

Net proceeds is something else and usually refers to securities, real estate and similar and is defined as

"the amount received after all costs are deducted from the sale of a piece of property or security."

Maybe they are the same thing. I don't know.

The doll looks pretty. She has the same coloring as Fine Jewel Eugenia with the raven hair and bright red lips.
I'm not quite sure how her hair is styled but it appears to be in a nice updo. I wish the dress would have been created in a fabric with similar drape to that of the original. It's Barbie-esque with it's stand-out shape. Spectacular, Spectacular Eugenia's dress had the same issue.

Jason has used lovely fabrics in the past for dresses that flowed. For example, Shape Shifter Natalia and Miami Glow Vanessa have gowns whose fabric is soft, clingy and drapey.

I hope to see better re-creations of Jason's designs using finer fabrics that emulate the original more closely.

My collection has grown to the point that I'm after quality not quantity.