Integrity Toys 2019 Convention Day 3 - The W Club Luncheon

Saturday is the last day of the convention and, apart from workshops, it means W Club Luncheon, usually dedicated to Nu Face. Club members got the Paris Runway Giselle Diefendorf centerpiece doll and received the NYFW Karolin Stone doll as a gift. Both were designed to celebrate the Fall/Winter 2020 Fashion Week by Jessy Ayala. Then, Carol Roth hosted an informative Q & A panel on stage with the Integrity Toys design team, where Club members' pre-screened questions were answered.

Note: All dolls pictured in these photos are prototypes; final colors and textures may vary slightly.

Item # 82122

Paris Runway

Giselle Diefendorf™ Centerpiece Doll

The 2019 Integrity Toys Convention: Live From Fashion Week

W Club Luncheon Exclusive

Edition Size: 700 Dolls

Head Sculpt: Giselle Diefendorf 

Body Type: NU. Face

Foot Sculpt: High Heel

Skin Tone: Cream

Hair Color: Silver With Raven Ponytail Wrap

Eyelashes: Yes

Quickswitch: No

Giselle looks like a cross between Sister Mogul Giselle and Live, Work, Play! Giselle. The outfit is a simplified version of one from Balmain Spring 2019 Haute Couture collection. I love her make up and styling.

Item # 82123

NYFW

Karolin Stone™ Giveaway Doll

The 2019 Integrity Toys Convention: Live From Fashion Week

W Club Luncheon Exclusive

Edition Size: 700 Dolls

Head Sculpt: Karolin Stone

Body Type: NU. Face

Foot Sculpt: High Heel

Skin Tone: FR White

Hair Color: Champagne Blonde

Eyelashes: Yes

Quickswitch: No

Making a return after quite an absence (it’s only the third version ever), Karolin Stone is the gift doll this time. Her fans will love her. I still don’t like the sculpt. The outfit is nice, although not a match for her Salvador Lopez Arriaga version.

All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2019 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission. FASHION ROYALTY, POPPY PARKER, NU. FACE, EAST 59TH, THE INDUSTRY, THE MONARCHS HOMME and all other character marks followed by ™ or ® are trademarks of Integrity Toys, Inc. Chesapeake City MD USA 21915. All rights reserved. The W Club is a trademark of Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.

Photography by Jayme Thornton - Layouts and graphics by Alain Tremblay, Marketing.

Integrity Toys 2019 Convention Day 2 - Poppy Parker Luncheon

The second Live From Fashion Week Convention day began with more shopping for Style Lab and the rest of the collections plus the workshops. Then, guests were welcomed to the ballroom for the special 10th anniversary Poppy Parker luncheon. Love is Blue Poppy Parker, a colour variation of Miss Amour, was the centerpiece doll. All attendees were given a Pink Powder Puff Poppy Parker Doll as a souvenir. After more shopping and workshop in the afternoon, convention guests got to mix, mingle and score some great deals while shopping from their fellow conventioneers at the Fashion Bazaar, that made a much welcomed return.

Note: All dolls pictured in these photos are prototypes; final colors and textures may vary slightly.

Item # PP156 

Love Is Blue

Poppy Parker™ Centerpiece Doll

The 2019 Integrity Toys Convention: Live From Fashion Week

Edition Size: 550 Dolls

Head Sculpt: Poppy Parker

Body Type: Poppy Parker

Foot Sculpt: High Heel

Skin Tone: FR White

Hair Color: Raven

Eyelashes: Applied

Quick Switch: No

Just a colour variation of Miss Amour. And she doesn’t have the perfume bottle. I’d rather have that one remade with something different, an evolution or reworked version. Her face is gorgeous.

Item # PP157

Pink Powder Puff

Poppy Parker™ Giveaway Doll

The 2019 Integrity Toys Convention: Live From Fashion Week

Edition Size: 700 Dolls

Head Sculpt: Poppy Parker

Body Type: Poppy Parker

Foot Sculpt: High Heel

Skin Tone: FR White

Hair Color: Pale Blonde

Eyelashes: Yes, Applied

Quick Switch: No

And another colour version of an older doll was given as a gift to the luncheon attendees. The pink edition of Powder Puff looks slightly less gorgeous than the original but I’m sure Poppy fans went gaga over her and Poppy completists are scrambling to add her to their collection.

UPDATE 14.10.2019: David Buttry responded to people’s comments about the colour variations on his FB profile:

Just a little something I whipped for convention. I'm a little old school where a color variation is something very special and I thought it would be a lovely surprise and gift for Poppy collectors to revisit the Bon Bon collection for this year's convention in Baltimore. It's Poppy's tenth and I wanted to reflect back on the history, even if it was just a few years ago as these were the most extravagant dolls I've done for the Poppy collection. That's why I chose to do what I did this year and from the overwhelmingly positive response from collectors in the ballroom, I did my job. I can't make everyone happy all the time, but for those that I did make happy, enjoy your dolls and I hope you love them as much I did creating them. For those that felt it was lacking, there's always next year. :) See you in Dallas, Texas in 2020!

All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2019 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission. POPPY PARKER and all other character marks followed by ™ or ® are trademarks of Integrity Toys, Inc. Chesapeake City MD USA 21915. All rights reserved. The W Club is a trademark of Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.

Layouts and graphics by Alain Tremblay, Marketing

Integrity Toys Luxe Life 2018 Convention: the W Club luncheon

Saturday always begins with the W Club luncheon. Club members got to see the Lilith Blair centerpiece doll (and many the chance to buy her) and received her twin sister Eden Blair doll, both designed by Jessy Ayala.
Carol Roth hosted a Q & A panel on stage with the Integrity Toys design team, where Club members' questions were answered.

Item # 82106

Afterglow

Lilith Blair™ Centerpiece Doll

The 2018 Integrity Toys Convention: Luxe Life

W Club Luncheon Exclusive

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

Am I the only one that not going gaga every time the twins make their ubiquitous appearance either as a club exclusive or a convention doll? Probably so. I love the brows on this one, combined with the tan skin tone they make her look fab. 

 Item # 82107

Public Adoration

Eden Blair™ Giveaway Doll

The 2018 Integrity Toys Convention: Luxe Life

W Club Luncheon Exclusive

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

Saint Laurent vibes. Not crazy about the pink hair. They look washed out. 

All dolls pictured in these photos are prototypes; final colors and textures may vary slightly. All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2018 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission. The W Club is a trademark of Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC. All rights reserved. Layouts and graphics by Alain Tremblay, Marketing.

Integrity Toys Luxe Life 2018 Convention: Poppy Parker Luncheon

Friday began with shopping and workshops. Then, it was time for the annual Poppy Parker luncheon. Guests were greeted with the Snow Stopper Poppy Parker as the centerpiece doll. And, as is the norm, everyone received Lemon Frost Poppy Parker. Let’s check them out.

Item # PP144

Snow Stopper

Poppy Parker™ Centerpiece Doll

The 2018 Integrity Toys Convention: Luxe Life

Table Centerpiece

Edition Size: 450 Dolls

Apart from the over the top coat, the rest of the doll looks amazing. Great colours (except the orange eyebrows) and make up for the doll, nice outfit with gorgeous accessories as well. 

Item # PP145

Lemon Frost

Poppy Parker™ Giveaway Doll

The 2018 Integrity Toys Convention: Luxe Life

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

Again I’m not too crazy about the coat but dress and doll look beautiful. Attendees also got lots of information about next year’s Poppy Parker line that will be a new wave of spy Poppies, this time in Brazil.  

All dolls pictured in these photos are prototypes; final colors and textures may vary slightly. All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2018 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission. The W Club is a trademark of Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC. All rights reserved. Layouts and graphics by Alain Tremblay, Marketing

Tonner Doll presents its first Outlander doll for Metrdolls “A Novel Romance” luncheon

Fans of the Outlander series have been anxiously awaiting for the Tonner Doll recreations of the protagonists  Claire and Jamie dressed in their gorgeous Terry Dresbach costumes. The first doll in the series was presented as the souvenir doll in this year’s Metrodolls luncheon, appropriately named “A Novel Romance”.  

This is the Garden Encounter Claire doll. It’s from a scene in the fifth episode of the second season of the series, when Claire and Jamie attend a horse auction in Versailles with king Louis XIV of France. I am a huge fan of the series and it’s costume designer, Terry Dresbach, who keeps on producing one after another of gorgeous costumes for the series protagonists and especially Claire, portrayed by actress Caitriona Balfe. 

Terry Dresbach wrote in her blog the story of discovering the fabric:

 “What the hell was this?? What could I do with it. It was amazing, outrageous and so over the top, I wasn’t sure it could be a dress. It was an extraordinary woven fabric. But I was pretty sure I was going to buy it and figure out later what to do with it. But there was 12 yards, and we need 15.  I could pick up one of the colors and make a petticoat, but that still wasn’t quite enough. While it was spread across the table and I kept saying to Ron, “it’s incredible, right, is it too much??”, and the poor man has no way to answer, so he just agrees. A customer walks by and stops, “that is amazing fabric, have you ever seen a show called Outlander? That looks like a fabric they would use!” I said, “yes as a matter of fact, I’m the Costume Designer on Outlander.” She was somewhat flabbergasted, and then said, “Do you know the guys who runs it? He did my other favourite show, Battlestar Gallactica.” “You mean this guy?” I asked, pointing to Ron. It was too much, I thought she might faint (kidding).

I bought the fabric, obviously. I sat with it for a few weeks and finally decided that Claire would wear it. It felt like a 1940s chintz and fit into my overall scheme. Or it would be a riff on these fabrics from the mid 18th century”.

From Access Hollywood:

 "It's a great dress. I adore it. That's Caitriona's favorite gown," Dresbach said of the gorgeous costume.

"It's really spectacular. That fabric is actually woven. Those flowers are woven and that was a fabric I found at Britex Fabrics in San Francisco, my favorite store, so I always plug them. And I had no idea what I was going to do with it when I saw it because it's an outrageous, outrageous fabric. … I had that fabric before I had that idea of making Claire's costumes have a 1940s feel to them, so that then when I circled back to make this costume I knew that this fabric was perfect because it is almost -- for lack of a better description -- it almost looks like curtain fabric from the late '40s with those big flowers on it, so it was a very out-of-the-box choice, but really spectacular. I mean, she just looks amazing in this costume," Dresbach said.

Claire's outfit is given an additional pop of color with elegant gloves, which Dresbach said can be described as "a real butter yellow."

"Real butter is actually this sort of marigold color that you see a lot of in the 18th century French paintings. Every costume that I do for Claire is trying to weave in elements of both the 18th century and the 20th century so that you have a sense that she could have had that fabric, or she was standing in a dressmakers at some point going, 'I want that, and I want that, but put it together this way,' so that we end up with a kind of look that she has that's so distinctive."

First let’s talk about the doll. She does remind me of Caitriona Balfe as Claire but her jaw s a bit too pronounced, a thing that often happens with Tonner dolls. She is beautiful and has a hint of that otherworldly beauty that Balfe has. Can’t wait to see the Red Dress version.

And what about the dress? Hmmmm. Let’s start from the top. The hat colour is so wrong. The original hat is not dark brown but has a more natural sisal colouring to it. It also curves downwards and not upwards. It is also doubled with draped fabric underneath as one can see in a photograph of the outfit displayed at Saks 5th Avenue.

As much as I can see on the badly lit promo shots, the colouring and design of the dress do try to recreate the human sized costume...BUT! The pattern of the woven flowers is difficult to emulate but it’s close enough, albeit with fewer flowers than the original one, obviously for cost cutting. The pleats and draping of the skirt at the back of the doll dress leave a lot to be desired.  Not to mention the unsightly back fastening, which is also inappropriate for the period and is nowhere to be seen on the original - adult dresses of the period always fastened at the front.

Sketch by Terry Dresbach for Outlander  

The seams of the sleeves cut the flower pattern, something not happening on the original outfit, where they fall precisely between the pattern. The overall shape of the dress will probably need a lot of attention and fuss to come close to its inspiration. This does not bode well for the red dress, which has an even more expansive and draped/pleated skirt. And these are not cheap dolls mind you. It’s unfortunate that they only got the yellow “dishwashing” gloves right. 

UPDATE: Tonner Doll published proper photos of the doll on their Instagram. The skirt looks a bit better regarding the pattern density but all my other observations still stand. In one of the two photo collages, you can see the shoes peeking from beneath the skirt.

That back closure is so wrong...but they seem to have fixed the curve of the hat...

...even though it looks again wrong in the close up.