Extravagance Monogram Doll; Escapade Fashion and Wig

I have had these two items for three days and have been sitting on this review for the same amount of time hoping that I would see something I didn't see at first and that my first impressions would change. It hasn't happened. I'm thinking: pretty but not without issues.
The suit is gorgeous. The fabric is a silky weave with a medium sheen that seems to have silver threads in amongst the off white and taupe. The jacket is wonderfully constructed with properly scaled buttons. Actual closures are hooks and eyes. But when the jacket is closed, the necklace won't lay flat on the doll. The necklace itself is awkward because if the component beads turn, getting them to all lay in the same direction is a nightmare. My necklace fell apart yesterday.
Jason has done a 180° turn from mini skirt to just below the knee with this one. I prefer somewhere in between and I wonder if the runway is showing skirts of this length. There is a bright lemon yellow shell under the jacket. The shoes with big red ribbon ties are awkward-looking. This girl is going to trip down the subway steps.

The handbag does not meet the design standards of prior FR handbags in any way. This bag could have come out of a Barbie collection.

This hat is a soft 60's Poor Boy cap style with an attached tulle veil. The promotional photos make it look beret-like but one has to pin the center down to get the roundness out of it. Does it not look navy blue in the Integrity photo? I wonder if it is because the coat from the Escapade set is navy blue. (Note: I just read that not only is the beret navy but the handbag is supposedly the same color. )

Promotional Image by Integrity Toys

It's a very large hat for a wig that looks better without anything on top of it. The hat will not stay on the wig as shown above without some type of pinning. In my picture at the top of the page, the Mini Avantguard who is wearing the hat is bald and the hat sits on her head nicely. Putting it on over that wig didn't look good.

Below is the Extravagance promo and my image side by side. In this case the promo pic is better than mine.  I was getting really fed up with these items by this time and it was not a fun photo shoot. I couldn't wait to get it over with.

The doll is lovely but her hair was a mess. She comes in a tri-color dress that would be fabulous if the shoulder/upper bust area fit properly.  The pattern needed to be altered to correct the fit. Not acceptable.  Designers wouldn't allow a model on the runway to wear a dress that fit like this. 

I absolutely love the shoes. The little clutch is cute but strange. 

The hat is a stiffened bowl shaped base with attached tulle and feathers. A big stitch that holds the tulle to the hat goes right through to the front of the hat. The jewelry is cute. It doesn't lay properly on the fringe of the dress' neckline, however.

And now, the question of the day is, "Why is this doll wearing a navy blue coat? Why does the promotional photo show the coat over her shoulders and not over the dress? Where is the belt in the promo picture?

And who shot JR?

Comic Relief

This week the theme on the Studio Commissary Board has been Props.  I was admiring the beautiful room that Wayne in Florida posted.

I thought his next photo was another view of the same room until I looked a little harder at the details.

Halloween is rapidly approaching!

Visit the Studio Commissary.

This Week in My Dolly World

My ever patient and often tolerant husband put up with endless doll chatter today in the car to and from Marcia Friend's home for her annual barbeque.

Then he sat through several more hours of doll talk.
"Who is that? When did you get her? What is she wearing? Does it stain? She came with that? I want one. What convention? Will these shoes fit? How much was it? Why did they schedule the conventions for the same weekend? I have one of those. You sold it? 1500 Barbies?" And on and on.
 If I put myself in his place, I think I'd die of boredom or go mad. But the food was very good. The weather was gorgeous and some of us acted like crazed fools when they let us loose on the free table. So that had to be good for a laugh.  Rudy accompanied us and he loved the attention.

I don't collect Ellowyne, right? So I bought an Ellowyne. What else is new? Doll collecting is as rational as the weather.

Invisible Ink Ellowyne

This is Invisible Ink Ellowyne. The photograph is Tonner's. My doll's hair is nicer than the promo pictures which do not do her justice. What really sold me on the doll was the bargain price of $80. and these shoes:

Aren't they adorable?

Now I have to get Sybil.

 And I love Sybil's carrying case, too.  This is how it starts. Let one new doll line in and the dominoes start to fall. Resistance is futile. I've been hunting the Wilde site for the last hour deciding what I would buy if I were buying. There are so many cute outfits and several on sale. Hmmm.


There were lots of door prizes given out, many contributed by other collectors and by Tonner Doll. I was lucky enough to win the "Dancing on A Cloud" Tonner fashion. I will try dying it as I already have one

It has been quite a week. On one day Jason Wu's "Fashion's Night Out" Poppy arrived along with Traveler Innoquii

Traveler Innoquii

and the Monogram dressed doll, Extravagance, who is not without issues. The Monogram fashion, Escapade and wig set also arrived.

A doll that costs $150 (or $50 for that matter) should not have hair that looks like this out of the box.

Apparently, the factory worker who messed up hair before is still employed and still messing up doll hair for a living.
I have taken the 'style' down and washed the gunk out. Her hair is rooted thinly (which isn't a bad thing) so if I want to keep the hair down, more will have to be added.

I will do more thorough reviews with photographs of Extravagance, Escapade, Innoquii and Ellowyne, too. Soon.

Tune in again.

"Guilded Trappings" Gift Set

I realize that I haven't shown pictures of the beautiful gift set Sandra Stillwell created for us for the Golden Age of "Doll" Couture event in Nashville this past August. We received parts of the set at each of four meal events. The set was a limited edition of 50, all of which have sold out.
This week I took some time to play with the different pieces and take some photographs of the combinations and of the individual pieces so everyone can see how fantastic this set truly is.

 The Certificate of Authenticity reads as follows:

 Gene read the invitation again. The words were every bit as exciting as the first time she read them:

 Your presence is requested as Special Guest of Guy Amie Charbonneau for a private showing of his Spring couture collection, Gilded Trappings. -Avenue Montaigne, Paris.

Below the engraved letters, in a masculine hand read "I had only you in mind when I created this collection. -G"

Gene had traveled abroad many times before, but the occasion to be guest of honor at her favorite designer's salon was a rare opportunity. Ordinarily, she would travel with a vast and luxurious wardrobe suitable for any engagement. This time Gene would board ship with only one suitcase and the bare essentials, for she knew awaiting her in Paris would be an exquisite wardrobe, custom designed just for her.

 Every single piece shows attention to fine detail. The linings are perfection. The closures are zippers, hook & eye and/or snaps. The fabrics drape beautifully. There are three complete fashions and a multitude of options for mix and match. You can tell that a tremendous amount of thought and planning went in to this set. I just love the look of the last picture of Violet wearing the vest from the suit with the formal skirt, the long faux fur wrap and the hat from the suit.
The long shawl that she is wearing in the next to the last picture has rhinestones on both ends and on both sides! I've never seen that before. 

Below are a few other pictures I haven't shown.

JamieShow Shoes

Sandra also made a tiny version of this book for us.

The china tea set I won at the Crawford House tea.

Above is the specially designed chair manufactured by Bella! for the event. The metallic gold embroidery is GAC (Golden Age of Couture or Guy Amie Charbonneau.) It was part of the centerpieces and an optional purchase. In the background is part of a 'wall' I created using the sketches of George Sarofeen. We were gifted with several full sized sketches as well as a miniature portfolio filled with many sketches. On the table, the miniature pink book is the one I mentioned above and JamieShow shoes are shown at the foot of the chair. The bridal bouquet is perched on the back of the chair.

I am having so much fun with all the goodies. I love stuff.

Look for my article covering this event with several unpublished photographs in the Winter Edition of FDQ in January, 2011.

Tonner Notice - Website Update

Dear Friends of Tonner Doll,

TONNERDOLL.COM Website Update: We are still experiencing problems with our website, tonnerdoll.com.  As of this point, we suggest that you do not visit tonnerdoll.com either by direct entry or via an Internet search engine. 

We are working on resolving the issue and will update you as soon as we can.  In the meantime, Tonnerdirect.com is still up and running and is safe to visit.   

We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused and we hope to have the issue resolved very soon. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email us at info@tonnerdirect.com or call us toll free at 800-324-0486. 

Thank you,

 Your Friends at Tonner Doll

 MORE:

Please don't access anything until we send out a message with a validated status - we are moving the site to a new server and need to test it thoroughly. Until we send word out, please have patience and don't 'test' any such URLs you may find through search engines. TonnerDirect is unharmed by all of this as it's hosted on a different server.

Haute Doll "Boutique" Closes September 15, 2010

The last orders for remaining merchandise in the Haute Doll store will be taken in the next few hours. There's not much left but what remains is seriously reduced in price. 

The "La Dolce Bambola" gift set was originally sold for $510.00 non-members/ $500.00 members  It is marked down to $300 now. This is a 1/6 scale French resin BJD of 29 cm or 11.4." Lingerie plus two resin wigs and two outfits makes this a fairly attractive package is you like the style of the doll. I think she'd be prettier with a different face-up and a non-resin wig.
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I don't know anything about this doll other than what the listing says: "NRFB 1990 Barbie Style Special Limited Edition collector doll #5315. $7.99
Anyone out there know something about this item?
___

Miss Sydney World has been listed in the HD boutique for a very long time. She was originally listed for $160 non-members/$150 members and is now on sale for $79.99
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"Traveler Innoquii" is one of a series of four porcelain dolls from Superdoll.  This one was HD's exclusive and was so unpopular that they wound up including her for a very low price if one purchased another doll that was also hard to move.
I've been enabled by other collectors who were so excited at the sale price of $75., that their excitement was infectious and I ordered one. She's going to have to have that black eye removed to live here.

If any of my readers remembers her original price, please let me know. (Note: I've been advised that her original price was $300.)

There is one other doll available - literally. There's one Royal Red Jac Tonner doll. @$150.

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Those of us who had subscriptions to Haute Doll have been handed over to Doll Reader. I have been sent a link to the October 2010 issue. It's not exactly a magazine for which I would purchase a subscription. I have, of course, received an offer to pay for a subscription. I have no idea when my HD subscription was supposed to end.

When my pirate doll arrives I will discuss.

Vintage Reproduction Little Miss Revlon Dolls from Tonner

Anyone who knows anything about Robert Tonner knows he adores the vintage Miss Revlon doll from the 1950's.  It's not difficult to see why his reproductions of this favored series are so adorable and true to the original dolls.

They're so similar in fact, that they don't have the articulation we've come to love in more modern dolls. I wonder if and when these dolls become popular, will they evolve to a more articulated body.

I asked Tom Courtney why is the word "pink" in two of the doll's names. He replied, "it's a nod to the original pairings of names and cosmetics. In fact, one popular doll style was 'Kissing Pink'...and was even used if the outfit had no pink at all."
That's a cool factoid. So there was indeed a relationship between the cosmetics and the dolls if only in the name.

Photographs of the first three in the line have been released.

Frosted Pink

Perfectly Pink

Queen of Diamonds 

The MSRP is $124.99 and each is a limited edition of 500 dolls.

Has Gaga lost her sausages?

It was Fashion Week after all but I don't think we'll ever encounter this on the runway or on a doll although it would be pretty funny. A little minute steak, some heavy white thread, lots of rhinestone jewelry and voila! You have made a fashion statement and stinky doll. It would be a great doll for the Fashion Royalty travel doll competition. Dark Romance? Vampire meat lover?

One of Lady Gaga's costumes for last nights MTV awards was a dress made from raw meat. It was accessorized by a hat, purse and shoes made from meat as well. It looked quite fresh, too.

Writer Sharon Clott posted this comparison between Lady Gaga and a painting by Mark Ryden called Incarnation.
Has Gaga lost her sausages?

For more of Clott's article and pictures of other MTV fashion, click here.

Picture of the Week ~ Wilco Vreeburg

Our featured photo today was created by Wilco Vreeburg also known as Wilco in Holland or Wilco in the Netherlands on the doll boards. Wilco posts mainly on Prego, The Studio Commissary, ICOG and the Yahoo Avantguard groups.

His picture is of the Avantguard "No Exaggeration." No changes have been made to the doll - as they say on Prego, "she is factory."

She has a very 80's look with the short flippy style Monique wig and the saturated make-up palette. Her coat is Tonner's 2004 "Ashleigh" and the sweater is also a Tonner product from the 2003 Tyler "Suitably Pink" doll.

I asked Wilco to describe his set-up and camera. Here is his response in excellent English.

"I used a big board and a white fabric to make a set-up directed into [facing] the natural light of the windows."  Only natural light was used.  "I use an Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom."

His suggestions regarding doll photography is to let one's own taste and creativity reflect in your pictures. "If you don't have a studio or lighting like me...make sure you  use natural daylight."

In my opinion, Wilco nailed the 80's look superbly. This image is one that might have been on the pages of a fashion magazine of that era. She also reminds me of the character from the series Dallas, Sue Ellen Ewing, played by American actress, Linda Gray. That show ran from 1978 through 1991.

Linda Ann Gray

Thanks to Wilco for allowing me to feature his photo! Great work.

Temporary Problems at Tonner and Effanbee Web Sites

There has been an attack virus (malware) installed on both the Tonner Doll Company and Effanbee websites.
Tonner has sent out a message informing collectors that they are working on this problem. Some joker blamed Mattel. Of course that was just a joke but this kind of activity is very frightening and happening more and more.
This is the warning I got when I went to the main Tonner website:

If that's not enough to scare the doll out of me, I don't know what would!
When arriving at the Effanbee site I don't get the same warning but the site is blocked with another warning:

Warning - visiting this web site may harm your computer!

A very interesting and informative page about this warning is posted by Google. If you are interested in learning more about malicious software, safe browsing and the warning, click here.

Tonner has informed us that Tonner Direct is NOT affected by the malware.

Not Doll Related BUT It's Jason Wu!

On the Bergdorf Goodman website there is a short video in which Jason answers five questions.

Click here for the link to 5 Questions for Jason Wu.

Did you get your Jason Wu Poppy?