Sandra Stillwell's Golden Age of Couture — Nashville, August, 2010

The first thing I want to say is that I will probably go to every event that Sandra organizes in the future. This talented lady wove an amazingly detailed tapestry by combining the best of the location with a fabulous event. She organized visits to top Nashville locations that related to our purpose. Presentations at meals were relevant and interesting. The fashions Sandra had created for the centerpiece dolls and for our event souvenirs are beautiful and so abundant I can hardly believe it.
I shot more than 400 pictures, many of them not so impressive. It takes alot time to go through them and post. Interior shots at Cheekwood and the Frist were not permitted


Cheekwood
 The Cheekwood mansion was huge and we were told that just one small family of four lived there in it's day. There was a Chihuly installation out-of-doors. I think if I hadn't seen a mind-blowing Chihuly installation in Pittsburgh a few years ago, I would have been more impressed with this one.

Ryman Auditorium 
The history of the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Old Opry is fascinating and I recommend going to their websites to read about it. I do not follow country music but I certainly learned a great deal of interesting facts. 

Country Music Hall of Fame

Frist Center for the Visual Arts
The Frist Center is housed in an Art Deco United States Post Office with spectacular marble work, wrought iron gratings, doors and moldings. This is truly an impressive building aside from the exhibit. The Golden Age of Couture exhibit at the Frist Center was very special. I finally got to see four of the Theatre de la Mode mannequins in person. Madame Lachasse was beyond belief. Her teensy leather gloves were handsewn and still in perfect condition. She had tiny silk stockings and a cigarette case with pastel colored cigarettes! The miniatures created to go along with her wardrobe fascinated me. 

Display Dolls
Imagine walking into a ballroom filled with nearly 200 Genes, Madras, and assorted other dolls from the Ashton-Drake and Integrity Gene Marshall lines! Impressive, right?

Chez Manuel More about Manuel can be found on the internet. He has a long history of designing bling-y fashions for country western stars and other well-known personalities and performers.

Crawford Manor  Cheryl Crawford debuts her Crawford Manor collection of 16" resin dolls.

W Club Exclusive Doll Avantguard BIJOUX

Bijoux is a French word meaning a small, dainty ornamental piece of delicate work or, as the adjective bijou, it describes something delicate, elegant or highly prized. That's a nice name for a doll.

This new Avantguard doll is described by Integrity as follows:

The Exclusive W Club Bijoux AvantGuards Doll wears a dark fuchsia satin gown with black contrasting embroidery, orange chiffon inserted accent panels and striking black netting. A dramatic sprinkle of gold on her eyes makes this doll the shimmering bijoux that she is. The fabulous tapered black bob wig delicately shapes her face. The jewelry that accents this fashion consists of a necklace with three black roses and matching earrings. To complete the ensemble, Bijoux wears black platform skyscraper shoes.

The price is $185. which is $40 less than prior releases. What happened? Is the price seeking the correct level at last?

Integrity Announces New Monogram Doll and Fashion

By the time this post is published (it's on automatic) I will be in Nashville, Tennessee for the Golden Age of Doll Couture event.  Members of the W Club get these announcements and are asked to wait until a specific time and day before sharing the information. So, this is being written on Tuesday evening and publication is on time delay.
The dressed doll is called "Extravagance." It is a limited edition of 300 with a SRP of $150.

The fashion is called "Escapade." LE 300. SRP $99.

I'm looking at it like a gift set. One doll and two complete outfits with a wig, nice accessories and very pretty clothes for $249. A little lingerie would have been a bonus but when I see it as a gift set, the price becomes more reasonable.

A Day of Ennui with Robert Tonner and Ellowyne...sigh.

Today I attended a luncheon at the Wiltwyck Country Club which is only 13 miles from my home. I love that I live so close to the Tonner hub. Who knew when I moved to Woodstock that I would be collecting dolls? It's really a big coincidence...or is it?
Anyway...it was fun. Everyone looked great. There were the usual fantastic raffle prizes none of which came home with me. I consider the cost of my 80 tickets a donation. There were competition dolls and all of them looked like winners to me.
Upon arrival we were greeted with a cute canvas tote inside of  which was an Ellowyne item of clothing or outfit, a book of Ellowyne poetry, some postcards and a catalog.
There was a big bowl of lovely mood rings at the registration table. Mine didn't change color until I put it inside my bra for a while. Hey, a table full of women usually gets a little raunchy.
Dessert was good and I would have been happy to have eaten just that. It was a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on a puff pastry shell drizzled with either chocolate sauce or strawberry sauce. And then the server brought a trough of whipped cream to the table. Heaven. I love whipped cream.
The centerpiece was Prudence:

The event souvenir was Ellowyne "A Day of Ennui" (of course):

The companion doll was Amber, "No Ennui, Just Me!" I didn't even know this character existed! I love her snooty face.

All the dolls have inset eyes and applied lashes. I think that makes them even more special. The additional dolls were $150. plus NYS tax which is 8%, give or take a fraction, bringing the total to $162.
After the event those who wished to purchase additional dolls did just that. There were plenty of dolls to buy. I'm guessing the extras will be offered through the Tonner Store so if you are interested, keep an eye out for announcements at the Tonner Direct website.
We were invited back to the store after lunch to have dolls signed and to spend more money. Everything in the store (except event dolls) was available to us for 20% off the current price. Dealers do not carry Wilde Imagination products so there is no discount unless they go on sale directly from WI.  I made up my mind before I left the luncheon that I would buy the Wilde Rose Vanity and Stool I have been eyeing for two years.

Image property of Wilde Imagination

Yes, I had controlled that impulse for so long (while ignoring others and letting them run rampant.) But I broke down and ordered it. After all it was a bargain at 20% off.  I wanted it-emphasis on the word wanted.
Do you notice how effectively I have stopped buying dolls larger than 12 inches tall? Now that I have Ellowyne dolls again, they need a little furniture, right?

Fashion Night Out at Bergdorf Goodman accompanied by a Jason Wu doll!

It won't go on sale until Friday, September 10 but the W Club and Bergdorf's has released the information and pictures of a new doll inspired by Jason's Resort Collection.

The price of the doll is $150. Will you be ordering one or more?

Read about Fashion Night Out in the New York Times.

Disturbingly Low Prices on Dolls on Sale ;-)

Today Maddies Dolls (Canada) announced a sale on Gene Marshall, Fashion Royalty, Avantguard and some Mattel dolls. The  Avantguard doll, "No Exaggeration" is on sale for $140.  Is anyone else gagging?  It seems that everyone is trying to dump the last three Avantguard dolls. Perhaps the next release will take into consideration the desires of collectors. That would be nice.
I say 'disturbingly low' only because I paid full retail for some of these dolls and it wasn't even that long ago.
I'm used to this happening with Tonner dolls but not with Integrity dolls. Ugh.
It also seems that the ITBE line is so unpopular, they can barely give them away. That's what happens when you call an inexpensive doll an "entry level collectible." My Monster High dolls, at retail, cost less and come with cute accessories and trendy/funky clothes.
Here is the link for Maddies Dolls. They do ship internationally.