The National Doll & Toy Collectors Club of NYC: 75th Anniversary Gala

The 75th Anniversary Gala of the National Doll and Toy Collectors Club of NYC was held at the Terrace on the Park in Queens, NY on Saturday, April 28 2012.  Although I have driven past the unusual building hundreds of times, I had never been inside. When I was a teacher, I took classes to the area's science museum. I've been to the US Open several times. And when Shea Stadium was there, I attended a couple of baseball games, too. But this was a first and I was very happy to have the experience. The restaurant is on the site of two past World Fairs and from it's high perch and huge windows one can see symbols of the last one, the Unisphere, and one of the remaining buildings. You can also see CitiField and the Tennis Center (but not in the picture below.)

Terrace on the Park is a very impressive location. The food was good, too! Delicious hot hors d'ouvres were served during the cocktail hour. At that time we got to see the centerpiece Evangeline. She is called Star Dust. She's all silvery with a flowing gown and lots of jewelry. She has glitter on her eyelids and incredibly long platinum hair. The centerpiece base was used previously for a display at a Tonner convention. That one was sparkly gold. This one is silver.

I have not removed my doll from the box completely but I've been told that she is wigged and that her hands and feet are removable! This Evangeline has the newly engineered, more poseable body.
She is quite a beautiful doll.

The image above shows she with her hair still encased in plastic and without her headpiece.

There were two vendors there in addition to Tonner -Wilde Imagination. One was Facets by Marcia, a wonderful institution by now. I love looking at her items and no matter how many times I find myself at one of her sales tables, there's always something else to see. One of her new products are wine glasses actually made from glass. The are so pretty and delicate.

 Tonner had a small but delightful display of Wilde Imagination dolls.

The club itself had an interesting display of artifacts from their 75 year history. They also had a great display of Worlds Fair memorabilia.

Many people took time during the cocktail hour to buy raffle tickets and shop and chat with friends and the Tonner staff.

 Joe was caught enjoying the food and Jack shows off his new iPhone gadget which reads credit cards. It was really cool. After a payment is purchased, the buyer signs her name by finger! No more machines. They make it so easy to spend, spend, spend. Michelle got a lot of practice with my credit card.

AnneMarie Beigner, the moderator of the Evangeline Ghastly Yahoo group, put together an amazingly gorgeous OOAK Evangeline and hand made fashions from members of her group. Some of the contributions were from overseas.  The auction for this wonderful collection took place near the end of the festivities. I think the winning bid was $725. All of that will go to the charity.

At first I was surprised that it wasn't more but in reality, the attendees were not solely Wilde Imagination collectors.  At my table only two other people besides myself had Wilde Imagination dolls. 

Speaking of people at my table, this punk Ellowyne accompanied it's creator, Jane Bielak.

The highlight of the program was Robert Tonner's talk on the history of the fashion doll. It was really interesting and I couldn't help but think that it would make a great piece in FDQ. I could hear him well but the table at which I was seated was quite far from the podium and I could barely see the projection screen behind him.

The event souvenir doll was a stunning raven-haired Ellowyne with inset eyes. She is wearing a white lace dress with lacey tights and silver shoes. She is adorned with lots of baubles. She even comes with a rhinestone embellished crown!

Her name - Baubles, Bangles and Blues. What else?

I wonder if her right eyebrow is raised in a quizzical fashion intentionally. I love it. It gives her more personality and character.
Attendees also received a silver wrapped box which contained an Ellowyne fashion item.
Also in the souvenir bags were catalogs and an assortment of little goodies.
The club did a fabulous job putting on this event! Congratulations.

William and Catherine Royal Wedding Dolls: Behind the Scenes

Mattel released this video for the April 29th anniversary of the royal wedding. It's very interesting to watch the props and the backdrops being designed and crafted. Mattel puts a lot of effort into their photo sets. If only the same attention to detail were spent on each doll!

http://youtu.be/Xg4PK2Lni-0?hd=1

William And Catherine Royal Wedding® Giftset
(No Longer Available From Mattel)

First 2012 FR Club Exclusive Doll

W Club members are offered the opportunity to purchase "High End Envy" Erin for $115. This doll is a very pretty redhead with dark streaks wearing a youthful black mini-dress.

 The ordering period ends on April 30th at 10AM CST.  The doll won't be available until this summer - approximately. You know how it goes with club dolls. The edition size depends upon the pre-order quantity.
 
I am waiting for a truly unique and exclusive club doll that is not lottery bound...something that I have to have, not something I've seen before. 

__________________

The slight tweaking of Erin's sculpt sparked a heated debate over sculpt changes.  The biggest argument was between people feeling that their feelings were being either dismissed or put down. It always starts out about a doll and disintegrates into a he said, she said, you said type of thread. It's the same argument over and over touched off by different incidents.

Some people just can't let others' opinions alone. They have to tell the "opposition" that they are wrong - either for their point of view or for how they are expressing it or for expressing it at all. Then comes the fight about being told how to express ones self. It's just endless.

One statement I find amusing is the belief that those who create the dolls have feelings that will be hurt if you express negativity about the product. Of course the designers have feelings (and egos) but ultimately it's their paychecks that hang in the balance, not their feelings if the dolls are not popular.  If one visits a doll dealer's site that is trying to move dolls by bundling or by selling nudes and outfits separately you get the notion that the products are just not selling and that the dealer will do practically anything to get rid of them. Do you think the designers are going around hurt over this? Personally, I hope it does affect them so that they see what isn't working.

Soon we may be able to buy arms, legs and heads separately.

The Emilia Couture Contest

A contest was held earlier this year by Emilia Niemen. It ended on March 16th.
The rules were:
"Take a doll box, tie in your favourite doll and fashion to build your dream giftset. Just pile in everything you ever wanted and feel free to use Photoshop or other means to enhance the looks and colours of your dream doll set. The doll, box and fashions can be any size or brand....The doll must be photographed in the box wearing one of the outfits..."

 The grand prize was this fabulous "Ants" outfit.

All entries were posted to a special group Emilia created on Flickr.

The winner of the contest was Micheal Jarvis aka monkeyhaircutter with this amazing gift set consisting of two men dressed for their wedding. The accessories included a three-tier wedding cake, a bottle of champagne and two fluted glasses, a bottle of liquor and luggage. Their clothes included lounge and pool wear in addition to their formal wear. The case is from an earlier Fashion Royalty gift set. Everything is arranged in a appealing way. If Integrity produced a set like this it would fly off the shelves faster than a New York minute!

First runner-up was Laura/LA with this wonderful gift set consisting of a dressed Agnes, two additional fashions and a furnished wall! WOW! I love the way Laura color coordinated the fashions by using red and black throughout. The fireplace, framed paintings and crystal chandelier could make a backdrop for photography. What a great idea for a gift set.

Second runner-up was Dollster for a stunningly arranged grouping of HJ Couture fashions and dressed doll in lacy lingerie. She is presented in one of the "Atelier" gift set boxes that we don't see anymore. Wonderful!

A special "Out-of-the-box-thinking" award was presented to OddMod for her very clever and amusing Glinda-The Jeti Hunter gift set. This really cracked me up. It was adorable and so very creative.

I felt joy and pleasure looking at the entries because they show how people are playing with and loving their dolls. This was very special!

I was planning to post only the winning entries but I feel like they are all winners. The dolls and fashions are gorgeous. I don't know how Emilia was able to whittle down her choices. I would love to have each and every one of these sets for my own as I bet other collectors would, too.

You can click on each picture to enlarge it.