Facet's Annual Doll Barbeque September 19, 2010

No, we do not barbeque dolls at this event. We talk dolls, look at dolls, buy and sell dolls, eat and run around a loooong table filled with free stuff. We also get to see one of the most impressive doll collections ever - Marcia Friend's.

If you're traveling down the NYS Thruway and want to meet up at the Kingston exit, let me know.

Here is the info from Marcia which contains all the facts and contact details you will need. I hope to see you there.

I can't believe it's September already!

I wanted to remind you that my 8th Annual Summer Doll BBQ and Party is coming up in less than 3 weeks - Sunday September 19th, starting around noon.  It's at my house in Matawan, NJ and I've already started cleaning... trying to get an early start!

Matawan is in central NJ, near exit 117a of the Garden State Parkway. It is easily accessible by NJ Transit trains from NYC or Newark.  We will have a train station pickup and drop off for those who need it, so let me know if you do so we can make sure we have enough cars available for that.

It will be like the previous BBQ's with lots of people, food, dolls, sales, and more!  I'll provide all of the food, and there is a cover charge of $12 per person.  You may PayPal this in advance or pay when you get here.  However, if you're going to do PayPal, I'd appreciate your waiting until a week or two before the BBQ so I have less chance of losing track of it :-)

I'll have a sales area set up in my basement - space is on a first come basis.  Facets will be open, of course (and hopefully a little more cleaned up than in the past - LOL!) :-)  We'll have door prizes, the infamous "free table", and lots of dolls to look at.  

The "free table" is a table of doll related items that are extras, slightly used, unwanted, etc... It's a good way to get rid of those items that you think someone might want and you don't feel like putting on EBay.  If you have some things you'd like to put in, bring them.  However, if no one takes them, you have to take them back or throw them out - they can't stay here!   If you want to mail donations, LMK and I'll give you the address.  I have already gotten some fantastic donations mailed in.

Feel free to bring a doll for display.  I don't have a theme - bring a favorite, a new acquisition, something you want to show off, whatever. 

Contributions to the door prizes are appreciated.

If you need a place to stay in this area, I recommend the Woodbridge Hilton.  It's about 20 minutes north of here and is more reasonably priced and nicer than the few hotels in the immediate area.   If you are looking for travel mates or roommates, LMK and I'll try to help. 

I hope you can make it to the party - it's a day of great fun, great dolls and great people :-)  Email me to RSVP or ask questions.  When you email me, I would appreciate it if you could put "BBQ" somewhere in the subject so I can sort out those emails.

Hope to see you on the 19th!

Marcia

www.facetsbymarcia.com

P.S.   If you know someone who might like to come to the BBQ and that hasn't gotten an invitation, please let me know and I'll invite them.  

Photos from Facet's 2009 Barbecue (9/13/09)

Superdoll Chalk White

 

Dearest Patrons, Collectors and Fans….
Well, as we reach the very end of our marvellous S/S 2010 season and wave a fond farewell to an awesome summer here in London, it is with great pleasure that we extend a welcoming invitation to YOU!

The A/W 2010 Salon season will be launching with the introduction of Ventriloquet_003 (a darkly kept secret), Salon exclusive outfits and more delectability than should be legal!

Our 2010 Autumn Winter collection entitled: Inner Society™ will be shown and sold from our London Salon.

The Chalk White collection PREVIEW & SALE commences on 09 October 2010 at 18h00 with a champagne reception.
 This exhibition is open to all who would like to witness, view and experience the gloriousness of a Chalk White collection in it’s entirety. All we request is that you RSVP in a timely manner enough for us to prepare for your company!
Please see flyer attached for further details or do not hesitate to contact us by email or phone if you have any queries.

http://www.superfrock.com/dmg/innersocietyflyer.jpg
(please paste this above link into your browser)

Our very best from everyone here at SDHQ London….
Till later
C&D

Links to all My Nashville Event Photos

Will be slightly updated during the next few days.

Sandra's Prototype Doll Fashions
Scenes of Downtown Nashville
Table - Centerpiece Dolls
Formal Centerpiece Photo Shoot

These links were posted in my first Nashville blog post on 8/31/2010
Crawford Manor Tea
Manuel the Rhinestone Cowboy
Sandra Stillwell's Display Dolls
Cheekwood
Ryman Auditorium 
Country Music Hall of Fame
Frist Center for the Visual Arts

Original post describing the Golden Age of Couture Event

Fashion Royalty Convention Packet Released

Internet Photo

Included in the release is the notice that there will be a new Fashion Royalty spin-off brand. I don't know why the news doesn't excite me. I like Madame Alexander's Cissy doll but I wouldn't go to a Madame Alexander convention because I don't care for the other dolls that are included in their conventions.  From the point of view of a collector, I don't know that a convention is the place to celebrate a brand new line. We certainly can't say Integrity is boring because we never know what to expect.

The line is entitled FR2 and pronounced FR Squared. I think I'll always call it FR Two (I hated math.)  When something is squared you multiply the original by itself and you get more of the original. The title can lead to a great deal of speculation as evidenced by the 3 page thread on the W Club board.

Note: An email from the W Club just arrived. It says:

"...spin off brand called FR²... This new line will have a brand new body, new characters and a renewed couture style by Jason Wu. "

Haute couture (French for "high sewing" or "high dressmaking"; pronounced [ot kutyʁ] OHT-koo-TOOR) refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish by the most experienced and capable seamstresses, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Couture is a common abbreviation of Haute Couture, which refers to the same thing in spirit.^[1]
It originally referred to Englishman Charles Frederick Worth's work, produced in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century.^[2] In modern France, haute couture is a "protected name" that can be used only by firms that meet certain well-defined standards. However, the term is also used loosely to describe all high-fashion custom-fitted clothing, whether it is produced in Paris or in other fashion capitals such as Milan, London, New York, Tokyo and Madrid.

The term couture style is being misused.

Integrity Toys' Logo

The Registration Package
The 30 page long layout is very artistic thanks to Alain's design skills.  Spooky castles and dark patterns infuse the package with a sense of Halloween and scariness.
The forms are interactive - there's nothing to print out and mail or fax. It's very tree friendly.

 The Workshops
All except one of the workshops is being held on Friday.  It's all very organized. I am registered for the first four workshops below.  The hubster will have to amuse himself.

1. Poppy Ponies Up! - Rob “Uriah” Redden
2. Thinking Out of the Box - Vaughn Sawyers
3. Mini-Masterpieces - Steven Fraser
4. Baby Light-Up my Fire! - Alain Tremblay
5. FR Do’s, FR Don’ts - Francisco Garcia
6. Recycle Those Doll Boxes - Ava Plummer

The workshops are free. Some of them will offer optional kits to use during the session. At the last Gene convention, the Madra head sold for the hairstyling class was a highly sought after item after the convention was over.

The Convention Collection

1. “Always Polished” Dasha FR2 Dressed Doll (New Character!)
2. “Night Vision” Count Adrian Von Lamberg™ Figure (New Character!) 
3. “Fine Romance” Eugenia Perrin Frost™ Dressed Doll
4. “Scarlet Woman” Adèle Makéda® Dressed Doll
5. “Out of the Blue” Kyori Sato® Dressed Doll 
6. “Wild at Heart” Lillith and Eden™ Gift Set
7. “Ask Any Girl” Poppy Parker Gift Set

Seven items with a total of nine dolls. I wonder if Dasha is Tatyana reworked.  It's been a long time since Kyori appeared at a convention and many have been asking for her. The Lillith and Eden giftsets were very popular in 2008. (A friend notes that this wasn't really a popular giftset. I suppose it's a matter of perception.)

Missing from the above are Agnes, Vanessa, Veronique, Elise Jolie, Dania, Natalia, Jordan, Luchia, Tatyana, Isha, the Hommes, the rest of the Nu.Face characters, the Monogram dolls and the Avantguard dolls.

My guesses for centerpieces are Agnes (that's a given), Veronique, Vanessa and Elise. Perhaps those are my wishes as well.

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?