Ayumi's New Look and Adele's Incarnations

Ayumi Nakamura is a character who was introduced to the NuFace (originally called Model Behavior) collection in 2007. That doll was called Miracle Child. If I remember correctly, the Model Behavior dolls were quite popular. Ayumi wasn't as popular as Erin, Colette and Giselle.

The next Ayumi incarnations were London by Night in 2008 and Sunset Rave in 2011. By that time, the Model Behavior line was called NuFace and many new characters had been added. Ayumi seemed to have faded away along with Nadja and Colette.

Surprisingly, Ayumi popped up in the FR2 line as Luminous in 2011 (below, left)  and Opium in 2012. Luminous was not a popular doll and although her dress was quite pretty, her face was not.  I'm not sure what sculpt Opium uses. She has grown on me and in a close-up is very beautiful. Of all the aforementioned Ayumis, she has remained in my collection. She was a change from the first Ayumi sculpt. At that time, the IT designers were mixing up the sculpts like crazy. I don't have a clue as to whether or not Opium's sculpt is a mix from other dolls or a new sculpt entirely. 

The third sculpt is totally new. She looks beautiful. The screening is lovely. Her youthful and glamorous hairstyle and the sequined qi pao made her a keeper in my collection!

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"Le Smoking" Adele received rave reviews by collectors. She's been compared to The Muse Adele, (2008), widely held to be the most beautiful Adele ever produced. For this version of Adele, they went back to the Adele 2.0 sculpt. Hopefully, they will keep it there as 3.0 is dour. 

Via Venetto Adele (2004) from the amazing Voyages Collection was my first ever Fashion Royalty doll. I have a fondness for that sculpt but I do like 2.0 more. In the photo below, she is not wearing her original fashion. 

Graphic Language Adele (Graphic Flirtation, 2004) used a new sculpt. This doll is still very popular albeit not on her original body. 

The Muse (2008) It doesn't get better.

In 2011, Adele 3.0 was introduced at a convention as part of a two doll gift set called Style Counsel along with Veronique. What a hot mess these two turned out to be. Veronique needed a different hairstyle and Adele needed her old face back. 

In 2013, Adele was released as an ITBE doll. She appears to be using the 2.0 sculpt. This image is by Julia Leroy who restyled the hair and designed the jewelry.

I call this 2014 FR2 version What Were They Thinking? It is really named Vivid Encounter.

"Karl Likes Barbie Lagerfeld"

Lagerfeld's title for this photo is "Karl Likes Barbie Lagerfeld." It strikes me as very funny.

Get ready! Barbie Lagerfeld is arriving at the end of the month!
Taking inspiration from the designer’s signature style, Barbie Lagerfeld is dressed in the designer’s likeness with accents taken from the real KARL LAGERFELD line. Borrowing from Karl’s iconic silhouette, the doll wears a tailored black jacket, white high-collared men’s shirt with French cuffs and black satin cravat finished off with fitted black jeans featuring the iconic all-over head print.  The exclusive doll is adorned in accessories that include black fingerless gloves, sunglasses, black ankle boots and a black leather purse with silver metallic accents.
The Platinum-label Barbie Lagerfeld doll will be available in limited quantities (only 999 dolls will be produced) for approximately $200 USD or €200 Euro through exclusive retail channels including:  select KARL LAGERFELD retail stores, TheBarbieCollection.com, NET-A-PORTER.COM and Colette in Paris.
The worldwide retail launch is set for Monday, September 29, 2014.

Do you think the glasses will be removable? The outfit?
She looks very cute and I am definitely going to try to get one. I don't see a tiny swastika on the jacket. SCNR

Do you think the glasses will be removable?

Je veux les lunettes de Karl!

New Fashion Royalty, Poppy Parker and Tulabelle Dolls

Integrity Toys revealed its new dolls to the members of the W Club last Saturday. The categories were Fashion Royalty, Poppy Parker, Tulabelle and Jem.

The Fashion Royalty theme is Urban Safari.
From left to right they are:


On The Rise Elise Jolie, 
Vivid Encounter Adele Makeda, 
Elusive Creature Natalia Fatale, 
Faded Desert Kyori Sato,  
City Prowl Eugenia Perrin Frost and
Full Spectrum Veronique Perrin

All the dolls are editions of 700 or 800 each except Adele which is an edition of only 400. Each doll's retail price is $135., a bit of a hike from last year's FR dolls. These have the FR2 version 2 body. 

Overall, this group of dolls is nice. There's nothing spectacular or new to write home about. The designer stayed close to the chosen theme in most cases and the clothes are pretty tame. My own favorites are Elise and Adele. I love anything Elise as I used to love Vanessa. However, the fashion looks very familiar to ones IT has done in the past. My other favorite is Adele but only for the outfit. I don't know why they think that Adele looks good in washed out lipstick. She doesn't. I love the outfit and the jewelry and I hope that the color of the actual lining isn't too off in real life. Also, they never should have changed her sculpt. She was beautiful.

The last doll is the event doll available to any W Club member who wishes to pre-order. The edition size in this circumstance will be determined by those who sign up to buy her. She is  High Visibility Agnes Von Weiss. It is a mini gift set as she comes with two fashions. She, too, retails for $135. but will not be available to the public.
Agnes' fashion leaves me cold. The cropped vest over the bustier is fussy and awkward and probably too bulky for the doll to wear. The long skirt is just like another early FR outfit. But Agnes is a very popular sculpt so many will order her.
I like Veronique's outfit a lot but it's not worth $135. I would not keep the doll as this is not Veronique to me.

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The Poppy Parker line gains four new characters, not all with new sculpts. The theme is the Girl From I.N.T.E.G.R.I.T.Y. Apparently they are crime fighters (or murderers) as all come with color coordinated weapons. Seriously?

Sebina Havoc: Mistress of Disguise aka Loni Lawrence joins the line. She is pictured on the right, above. This doll comes with an extra head with the Poppy Parker sculpt.

The new guy is Sebastien Havoc: Brother in Arms aka Lex Lawrence. He's a bad guy and Sebina's brother.

The third new character is Agent Kimiko Gunn aka Tina Tanaka. This doll uses the original Ayumi sculpt.

Colette returns as Agent Penelope Chase aka Jolie James. All these 'forgotten' sculpts are making comebacks.

Four others, above are from left to right: Agent Lotta Danger,  Spy-A-Go-Go,  Arm Candy Chip Farnsworth III and Mayhem in Monte Carlo Poppy Parker.

The dolls and their outfits are cutesy. The entire Poppy Parker line is on the comical side of tongue in cheek. They need to be careful not to turn them into action figures as opposed to fashion dolls. The price of each doll in this line is $120. That's a huge increase over last year's prices. Perhaps it's the tiny guns.

I like Arm Candy's suit a lot. It's a very gay James Bond look. I just don't care for Chip's sculpt. I'm wondering if Lex Lawrence is a combination of features seen previously. He's got very strange eyes.

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There are four new Tulabelle dolls. Each is an edition of 300 and costs $140. Tula's clothes will fit the Avantguard doll. I don't have any FR16 dolls but the clothes are very similar in size.

Click on any of the photos to see larger size versions.

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Jem and the Holograms

The Jem line dolls are action figures to me. They wear costumes, not fashion.

To each his own. 

Each doll is $125.

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What is your opinion of the offerings?

Did you pre-order anything?

Please include your name in your posts...if you dare. :-)

Jason Wu Montaigne Market Exclusive Doll

Several weeks ago it was announced that there would be an exclusive Jason Wu doll carried by a store in Paris, France, Montaigne Market.
She is a very sophisticated Elise Jolie with mahogany hair pulled back into a long and low pony tail. Her makeup palette is browns and beiges with gold glittery eyeshadow The beautiful fashion is one of Jason's runway looks with the addition of a large handbag and two Montaigne Market shopping bags.
No exact date was given as to availability other than end of February.

Here are excerpts from WWD's January 9, 2014 article by Joelle Diderich.

DOLL PARTS: Jason Wu is showing at Paris Fashion Week next month — though the only outfit he will be parading is a miniature version of a look from his spring collection, as worn by a doll he has designed for retailer Montaigne Market.
Priced at 150 euros, or $200 at current exchange, the limited edition of 250 will go on sale exclusively at Montaigne Market and on its Web site at the end of February, to coincide with the next round of catwalk shows. Wu has previously produced dolls for Colette in Paris, and Bergdorf Goodman and Jeffrey in New York.
His latest creation wears a sporty, belted jacket in cream with deep front pockets over a gold sequined skirt, and touts tiny Montaigne Market shopping bags...
“We did everything, from translating the little buckles that we had to make, to the shoes — we replicated the runway shoes exactly. We also replicated the Daphne clutch, our signature bag, into the doll scale, so everything from hardware and everything has to be shrunken down,” he added.

 The doll is a very close replica except for the fabric of the full sized which looks floatier and not as densely sequined. I do like the look of the doll a lot. She's prettier than the model.

Today the doll went up for sale on the MM website and there is the usual angst and jubilation over at the W Club depending on who scored and who didn't.

As of right now, there are two on eBay. Looking forward to seeing how much they bring in.

Review of the Tropicalia Dolls

I wanted to review the dolls and fashions coming out of the Tropicalia convention earlier but I hesitated because the fashions are mostly so bad that it's confusing. Out of the 8-doll Convention collection, the worst are the outfits worn by Veronique and Kyori with close runners-up Adele, Natalia and Colette.

What is this outfit?

The color combinations, style mismatching, poor fit and generally cheap-looking appearance is mystifying. While the dolls themselves are not unattractive, the clothes are. I keep hearing "Who Let the Dogs Out?"
Dasha's dress looks flimsy and poorly constructed. What a waste.

The neat little fashions on the Poppy Parkers are fine. Victoire Roux' fashions are well conceived and presented. Although I'm not sure about the roses (?) on the gown. Anja's dress is so not weird that I wonder what happened. Even the two most beautiful of dolls, Vanessa and Eugenia, had dresses that were uncomfortable looking and without any high style.
The clear winner of the event is Escapism Elise Jolie. Although her dress is a little tortured it looks interesting and I think she is stunning. The FR2 shoe pack is very nicely designed.
The Imogen gift set is so crappy I don't even want to go there. Three skimpy dresses? Red and black?
Good grief.
This had to be the lamest bunch of convention fashions ever.  Look back only a few years at the beautiful fashions and compare what came out of Orlando to what existed previously. 

 The names on the Saturday night dolls have been changed. Vanessa is now being called the give away doll and Imogen is the official convention doll.

Sigh.

Great Pretender Lillith and Perk Colette Nu-Face Dolls

I was sure that I wasn't going to purchase more NuFace dolls; My intention was to concentrate on the more sophisticated dolls and fashions but when I saw these two, I ordered. I am very, very pleased with them and their garments.
My introduction to Lillith was with the convention set of the twins Lillith and Eden. I didn't like her at the time. This one knocks my socks off with her adorable face and coloration.Her hair needs a little trim but temporarily will stay in a pony tail. I added a Fashion Royalty handbag to finish the look. There's a lot of attention to detail, even in the shoes. She's a winner.
Perk Colette is a surprise mix of well designed and executed fashion pieces that work together. I love being able to say that. Believe me, I wish every single doll in my collection could be described that way upon their arrival. I added the handbag. Colette's face is gorgeous. Her hair is pulled back into a low pony tail which is crimped. The blue jewelry is like an exclamation mark on the black, white and grey fashion. It's a wonderful doll.

Both dolls retail for $99. and are available from regular dealers. Get them now before they sell out. I think they just might once everyone sees how cute they are.