Integrity Jet Set Convention Part IV: Convention Collection

Integrity has finally released the photos of the Jet Set convention collection dolls. These are the dolls available to all attendees to either pre-order or buy directly when attending the convention. Let us see what was in the lot this year.

Vivid Impact Agnes Von Weiss - defined as an event doll, Agnes always makes her appearance at the conventions. This year was no exception. Wearing a purple gown with matching make up and red hair, she is vivid indeed - but no impact whatsoever. I like her bracelet and brooch and that's it. Maybe as Giselle, her colouring would have been more fitting. Her hair is a small mess. Agnes should look poised and super elegant, this one looks like a trophy wife of a new-money eastern European oil czar.

Style Counsel Adèle Makéda and Véronique Perrin Dressed Dolls Gift Set - this gift set was much talked about not only because Adel and Vero are the original FR ladies, but also because Adele had a change of sculpt - for the 3rd time in her life. Each one of her sculpts was different from the others. Seeing this one, I think my favourite is her previous one. Before, she looked very glamorous, the kind of girl who could be a Hollywood star  or a pop music icon (Beyonce and Grace Jones) or a super model (Naomi), Now she looks more like Dominique - and I do not mean this as a compliment. She looks more latina than black to me. Maybe it is the screening and hair. I will wait for her next versions to see how she evolves. And her outfit reminds me of Spotted In The Park Gene. Veronique is boring here. Cute, beautiful but boring. And chains for belts? How un-fashionable right now.

Mission Control Imogen - she looks like Poppy Parker's older cousin. Her outfit looks like a half-baked flight attendant's uniform. Too many colours in one outfit for my taste - colour blocking is a tricky thing to accomplish. The doll is cute though.

High Toned Rayna - she was one of the most anticipated dolls of the convention, since her first incarnation as a post-modern Dorothy from Oz was first presented a while ago. There is nothing in this doll I really like but her sculpt - and that is ruined by her dreadful make up. I never liked pink on eyelids and here is the reason why. Worst part: the boots. 

Brightness Calls Isha - this could have been a lovely version of Isha. Her hair does look great, her outfit could have been gorgeous (minus the embroidery and a bit of skirt length). But then they slap her with that hideous make up. Why? Poor Bollywood star. Why don't they look to any contemporary Bollywood lady for inspiration?

Simply Simpatico Poppy Parker and Darla Daley giftset - Poppy is very popular, and paired with Darla they make for a smashing duo. Darla has a new sculpt - the old one was accidentally destroyed a the production factory so they had to make her a new one. She looks less cartoon-y now, which is good. I love her styling here, the men style looks good on her, although it hints more to the early 70s than late 60s. Poppy is cute like a school girl in her uniform. I love her face here.

FR2 Most Wanted Elise Jolie - I think her name fits her like a glove. The doll looks gorgeous (even though her sculpt is not a favourite with me), her gown is glamorous (still it could have been better draped) and her accessories fantastic. Elise along with Agnes are the only ones looking like they justify the term Jet Set. 

Overall this collection disappointed me. I was expecting more glam, more elements to fit the Jet Set concept: dolls looking like a million bucks ready to travel, with luggage, scarves and sunglasses and bags and hats and a dog for the day outfits, glamorous satin and silk frothy gowns for the evening outfits. If I was attending the convention, I would have gladly bought Elize and the Poppy/Darla giftset and maybe Imogen (giving the outfit away).

Photos are copyright of Integrity Toys, Inc.

Tokidoki Barbie upsets parents in the US!

Matell released a few days ago a Collector's Barbie named Tokidoki. She is designed by Simone Legno of Tokidoki, a "liefstyle" company from Italy (funded by the Hard Candy make up brand owners from USA), with obvious Japanese influences. She is wearing a pink miniskirt, logo leggings and black top with signature skull heart and bones, carries a large bag from the brand, and accessorized with bracelets, a belt, and sky-high sparkly silvery shoes. The doll features trendy tattoos on her body (non-removable save using acetone) and a pink bob. She is also accompanied by her cactus friend, Bastardino (mongrel in Italian). Considered very trendy (bleh), she was a favourite of Barbie collectors everywhere.

You must have noticed that I rarely write about Barbie doll releases, unless they are something special (like the Pantone Barbie in the previous post). So why this one, since I do not even like her styling? Because she managed, in just a week, to become the bane of many parents in the US, even though she is not a toy. Mattel clearly sells her as a collector's doll, she's a Gold Label doll with no more than 7.400 dolls produced.  She even has a price tag of US$50, which makes her unavailable to most children. Still, many news outlets, from doll blogs, fashion blogs, twitter and even major fashion publications like Allure and news outfits like L.A. Times and CNN keep on reporting about parent's supposedly irate reactions to the doll.

The give-me-a-scandal-any-day UK newspaper Daily Mail even gets it all wrong as they mention that the doll is marketed to children. Sorry guys, get your facts right. Barbie Collector Dolls are for adult collectors and are not to be sold to anyone under 14 (written on the back of all Barbie Collector boxes). But who reads the fine print when they want to create controversy? Of course the doll is not only sold out (more are to be released in mid November from what I read) but her price in the secondary market has quadrupled. 

Barbie Pink in Pantone - the graphic designer's doll?

Mattel is releasing the Pink in Pantone Barbie doll around December (she's available for pre-order from various on-line doll sellers). Pantone, for those outside the creative community, is a colour system that has set a very big standard for graphic designers, architects, photographers, anyone pretty much using colour in any way in his profession. For years now, pink 219 from Pantone was designeted as the Barbie pink. And Mattel finally decided to cement that with a doll dressed head to toe in it!

She is wearing a dress with a faux leather bustier that has a skirt made up of the famous Pantone colour chips, used as samples (see photo below). A flower on her lapel is made in the same way, while her shoes have the 219C code written on the side and their soles are coloured Pink 219!

This Barbie could be an ideal gift for graphic designers this Christmas! Now they surely must release the Barbie as Graphic Designer, complete with iMac and Pantone swatch book.

Most unforgettable fashion dolls

When I started buying fashion magazines back in the late 80's, there was one particular line of print ads that stood out from the rest: Revlon's Unforgettable series. Starting in 1987, featuring photography by Richard Avedon and some of the world's most beautiful models, they set a very high standard for make up advertising that is difficult to achieve even to this very day. 

One such example is the photo above, from 1987 - my favourite model Christy Turlington (so young!) featured alongside Kersti Bowser, a very young Cindy Crawford and Paulina Poriskova, then on her heyday. I was toying around with the idea of re-creating the style of these photos with my fashion dolls for quite a long time, so finally I decided to just try and see how it goes.

And here they are! I was inspired by W Cosmetics as well, the fictional company owned by the Perrin family in the Fashion Royalty world - so of course their girls had to pose for the photo. From left we have Vanessa Perrin, model, Veronique Perrin, CEO of W Cosmetics, Jordan, model and Eugenia Perrin Frost, cousin of Vero and Vanessa and working for the company as well. Their clothing is all Integrity Fashion Royalty as well as their jewellery. I hope you like them - I intend to do some more group shots like this.

Photography (C) Stratos Bacalis (bottom photo only), FR is a property of Integrity Toys and its logo and indicia is being used without permission. This is a fan project and cannot be resold or used in a profit generating manner of any kind. 

Integrity Toys Jet Set Convention Part III

Last day of the Jet Set convention was Saturday. The day started with workshops, raffle room, Design-A-Doll studio, museum and the Souvenir Shop. The W Club luncheon was the afternoon's event, with a centrepiece doll of the new Tatyana Alexandrovna sculpt - now in the FR2 line. She looks quite different than her previous incarnation (better I might say). She is wearing a yellow dress with a straw hat, black strappy sandals and a beige bag. I am still on the fence about the fashion.

As intriguing as the newly re-sculpted Tatyana was, she quickly got upstaged by none other than Evermore Vanessa. The original sculpt on a FR2 body, wearing a red glamorous gown with black lace and deigned as the Official FR 10th Anniversary Celebration Doll. She was available to every attendee of the luncheon for buying. It was also announced that a similar version of Veronique would be offered via lottery to W Club members later in the year.

The event closing the convention was in the great ballroom of the hotel. The guests arrived to find a Monogram doll as the centrepiece. Beyond The Still Monogram doll is a very glamorous looking girl, reminding me of Mad Men a lot. She could fit with Poppy too (her aunt?). It looks like a new sculpt.

It was now time to find out what was the gift set doll - and it was Eugenia Perrin Frost - Point Of Departure. She was clad in a salmon rose bikini, contrasting perfectly with her other outfits, given to attendees in the previous days. Here are photos of her in all of them:

After dinner, Jason Wu himself unveiled the convention doll, a spot deservedly given to Veronique, who was absent for so many years from the collections throughout. Air Apparent Veronique looks very glamorous in her asymmetrical black skirt and white embroidered top, with her waist accented by a coral belt. Her shoes though leave much to be desired as they are simple plastic pumps with a fabric ribbon as a buckle at the front. With a skirt like that, leaving the shoes exposed, one would think that shoes would have to be much much better. Her silvery grey eye-brows might look weird but they make her stand apart and not look too cute, which is something I like.

I hope to be able to give you photos of the convention collection dolls in an upcoming post. The next Integrity Toys convention will be held in Orlando, FL, in fall 2012.