A Look At Madame Alexander's Cissy

There are just two Cissy dolls remaining in my collection and although I think they're beautiful, I'm preparing to sell them. It gets even more difficult to part with a doll after handling her and photographing her anew.

This is Vice, one of three Cissy dolls designed by Jason Wu.

The other two were Lust and Envy.  Their names remind me of the dolls from the Kingdom Doll convention, Sinful. Left: Lust in pink jacket and (Right) Envy with a martini.

They were radically different from the sweet, baby faced Cissy dolls that had been around forever.


Sometimes it feels like a curse. I just want them. There's really no "good" reason to have more dolls. (Yeah, yeah, I know I don't need a reason so don't offer lectures.) I can barely play with a fraction of my collection. I want to sell off most of my non-BJD resin dolls but then I look at them and see their beauty and their lovely fashions and I put them back in their showcase and that's that.

My other remaining Cissy is Riviera Posh. She is so unlike the dolls I collect now it's like day and night. I love them all.

She is a sweet, baby-faced Cissy in a lovely two piece dress. The skirt opens up to reveal black sequin tap pants!

Above, an older photo when I still had her short, curly wig. So cute.

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Here are a few other Cissy Dolls.  I don't have these girls anymore.

Couture Noir accompanied by a reproduction Ginny and the same doll in her gown and 2nd wig.  The red wig is made from feathers! She was pretty amazing.

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Southwestern Style Cissy's is wearing something I'd wear. The fashions were of a very high quality as were the wigs and shoes.

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I call this IDEX Cissy. She was one of 6 centerpieces at the Madame Alexander 2010 event I attended in Orlando.

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This doll is called "Velvet Deco Dream." I never had her original outfit but the one she is wearing was beyond gorgeous. It was embellished with hand beading. The shawl was extremely heavy due to the weight of the beads.

Goodbye, Cissy!

Kingdom Dolls

I rarely post here these days. Much water has passed under the proverbial bridge. Today I thought I'd just show off more recent photos of some of my beautiful Kingdom Dolls.  All of the wigs shown are by Ilaria except where noted. Furniture is a mixture of Ashton Drake for Gene Marshall and Horsman.


In this photo, Eira is wearing items from Seren's giftset.

Guinevere in the foreground wearing Superdoll and Liberty in the background wearing Tonner.

Helen in her original fashion and wig.

Liberty wearing Tonner.

Marconi wearing Seren's dress.

Morgana in an Ilaria Wig.

Seren dressed in her own fashions from "Weekend in Bath."

More Seren wearing Antonio Realli gown and "The Queen's Necklace" from Facets.

Star Wearing Viola's Fashion.

Vanbrugh in her original fashion with a wig change.

Chaucer wearing one of Seren's dresses. Wig by Cheryl Wood.

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Note: These are my dolls and are not for sale.

If you are looking to buy Kingdom Dolls, you can sign up to be on their mailing list by going to their website and filling in the appropriate spot.

https://www.kingdomdoll.co.uk

or

http://kingdomdoll.us3.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=46e3f2935f55fa1d469d0778b&id=ba8eb3477b

Occasionally, a Kingdom Doll can be found on eBay.

Kingdom Doll Nimue

I just found this post in my 'Drafts' folder. It's strange that I never published it.

Nimue is wearing a gown by Antonio Realli. Her gold wing shrug came from Guinevere earrings from Facets.

Another Kingdom Doll shot:

Viola in Antonio Realli, Ilaria Wig, Facets Earrings

Outlander Claire Fraser Costumes

Since seeing Tonner's Claire Fraser dressed in the big gorgeous red dress she wore to attend the French Court in the eighteenth century. I've been obsessed with trying to find photos of Claire's actual costume including her shoes. There are hundreds of images to be found on the internet but none better than these that show the entire shape of the gown with detail.

In these photos, one can see that the voluminous drape of the skirt is not created with pleats but with insanely full and tight gathering of fabric which would be nearly impossible to recreate in a small scale. The waist drops to a V in the front and the bodice is very low cut. 

There is no opening in the fabric at the front of the skirt as there seems to be on Tonner's gown. 

Here is Tonner's gown with the two areas of concern. In order to create the fullness of panniers, their pattern maker created a seam with pleats. I think it looks awful. The other area is the flap at the front of the gown. 

I realize that production must take into mind costs of construction and the scale but I would have preferred some other solution. 

Do you think the photographer was inspired by the photograph below to have the doll holding her skirts up?

 The actual shoe worn by the actress:

For more information on Outlander's costume designer, Terry Dresbach and Season 2's inspiration, read this article from Vanity Fair:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/04/outlander-season-2-costumes

Robert Tonner Presents Claire Fraser

Claire Fraser   16" vinyl  Edition Size 300     Price $235.

Happily Ever After sent out notification of the arrival of this long anticipated doll. Sadly, one still cannot see her face. Neither does the gown show well. What is going on with the pleating? It looks like one side is pleated and the other is mildly pleated.
I hope this is just the photographer's blunder and not the actual gown. This is a promotional photo after all and not the actual doll.
I did not order the doll. I'm waiting for Jamie.

Reproduction 1962 Barbie Dream House with Doll

I may have mentioned about a thousand times that I have never been a Barbie collector. (IMO Silkstones don't count.) Deciding to buy this reproduction Dream House was all about finding out what the big deal was.

Mine came directly from Mattel although they somehow lost my order and screwed up in a few other ways. This was a big box weighing about 10 pounds.

Like a child without supervision, I snapped all the pieces out of the five heavy coated cardboard sheets before reading directions or planning.

In any event, I managed to make it through the furniture except for the lamp. I couldn't get the lamp right and I think I lost or tossed two plastic comb-like pieces that hold the sides in place. The rest was all very easy to do and came out surprisingly sturdy.

A few other Mattel dolls were thrown in along with the furniture and here are the pictures.

So now that I have this gigantic thing, what am I going to do with it?

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If you plan to purchase one, you can get if for various prices other than list. Check your local Walmart, Target and other large stores. eBay has many for sale. Some are offering free shipping as does Mattel on orders of $39. plus.
http://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/barbie-dream-house-1962-reproduction-fnd44