Hollywood Dolls

I have been crazy busy sewing a costume for the Fashion Royalty convention. It was finished today and a few hours after it was finished I decided to wear something less costume-y.  The husband unit cracked up. He actually liked the costume I made and was also impressed. I'm entitled to change my mind, aren't I?
I will still wear a 'costume' and part of it is something I made but it's better and more me.

I received a reply very quickly after sending an email to the Franklin Mint regarding their Michelle Obama doll.

Dear Terri,

Thank you for your email.

Please be advised that the Michelle Obama doll stands approximately 16.5
inches in height, and the image online is a photograph of the actual
doll. This doll does not have a wig, but rooted hair, and the clothes
are not sewn on, as there will be interchangeable ensembles offered in
the future.

If you need additional information on this matter, please call our toll
free Client Service number at 1-800-843-6468 and one of our
representatives would be more than happy to assist you.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Jennings
Client Service and Satisfaction Representative

I do not believe that the promotional image is an unretouched photograph. I think the face is Photoshopped.  Time will tell. George of Angelic Dreamz told me that release of the doll will not be too soon.

Of the three 1/4 scale Michelle Obama dolls either released or proposed so far I think that Ashton Drake's doll is the best. Their image is also touched up - hey, most of mine are touched up as well. The difference is that I am not selling dolls whose faces I have altered to make them look better.  A-D's version has more articulation and looks more natural. I think the price is also better. First Lady of Style Michelle Obama Fashion Doll Collection will be the first doll in a series that Ashton Drake plans.



I hunted around the internet with a search "Michelle Obama  Dolls" and I found a few interesting options. Each title is a link to the site where I found it.


Michele Obama First lady of Fashion Figurine Collection

Michele Obama Action Figure Set of Three
These figures are available separately for about $12.95 elsewhere.

Designed and manufactured by Jailbreak Toys

Michele Obama Action Figurine (Awful but her arms look great.)
If you put this doll in the sites shopping cart and then attempt to navigate to another page or go back, you will be offered a 7% discount.
Michelle First lady Paper Dolls


And that's that!

I'm hoping to find some time next week to take a few pictures of the Mini LiveWire I just got.

Look at these promotional pictures. They're artist's renderings. Do you remember the last artist rendering of a Michelle Obama doll? The doll turned out to be quite different and equally as unsatisfactory.


The Franklin Mint has jumped into the arena and is promoting their own "Michelle Obama Official White House Portrait  Doll" in vinyl. 

The only descriptive text they include in their strange tribute to the First Lady is as follows:

"this remarkable creation is complete with black pumps, stud earrings, double-strand faux pearl necklace and replica steel watch. An irrefutable masterpiece, our Franklin Mint artisans have truly made dollmaking history with this magnificent Michelle Obama portrait collectible. Limited Edition of 9,900 worldwide."

 I say the tribute is strange because there is no mention of her powerful intellect and impressive education only her "statuesque beauty and astonishing physique....her youthful and bold fashion choices...body hugging silhouettes and vintage-style brooches...[which] radiate Michelle's unique blend of confidence, charisma and elegance."
It's embarrassing to read.

I guess one has to write to the Franklin Mint to find out how large the doll is and about any other construction aspect.
I have sent them these questions:

Regarding the new vinyl Michelle Obama doll, I have questions. 
How tall is the doll?
Is the picture an artist's rendering or is it an actual photograph of the doll? 
Are the doll's clothes removable or are they sewn on? 
Is she wearing a wig or is her hair rooted?
Why don't you put important information in your promotional ads?



The price is $195. and they are accepting pre-orders. That's pretty clear.

                                 

Here are more of my GWTW doll collections: hair restyled, face repainted in the likeness of Vivien Leigh.

It has been quite a while since I have properly posted in this blog, I promise it will soon change. Meanwhile, I got interviewed in a Greek magazine, SOUL, about my blog, by my friend Indiktos. Below are the scans of the two page spread I got in the magazine, with photos of my dolls (most of them published in this very blog), a portrait of mine with one of my dolls (Tonner's Ghost of Christmas Future). After the scans, you can find the whole interview translated in English. I hope you like it.






25.000 Greek blogs need luck or hours of surfing to go through and discover addresses that hide something more than views or confessions. The Fashion Doll Chronicles: this is the English language blog of Stratos Bacalis', a collective explosion that will send you directly to the valley of the dolls.


What are fashion dolls? I do not have or, better say.... had any idea:

Fashion dolls are dolls of limited edition, dressed in very good quality or, rarely, porcelain.

To tell you the truth, I only know about Barbies. (laughter)

I only knew Barbies too, but not the collectibles, the ones that are sold everywhere. In 2000 I discovered, through an advertisement in a foreign magazine, that the Franklin Mint company was selling a 16 inch doll lookalike of Olivia Newton-John στο Grease. As a big fan, I had to have her. Then I found out there were more…


What dolls are you collecting?

Quite a variety. I started out with movie stars: Olivia, Liz Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Greta Garbo, Vivien Leigh, Marlene Dietrich, Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn. I also like dolls from a particular period (especially 18ος -19ος αιώνας), as well as the Gene Marshall series which are mainly in the 40-50ς. From the smaller dolls, only the Fashion Royalty series by designer Jason Wu and certain Barbies, like the Versace one. I have a fondness for Asian ladies, they...fascinate me.

This is one of the two outfits from the Gone With The Wind Tonner series released this fall. They are both Scarlett's costumes. As the actual Tonner Scarlett doll is not yet released, I tried this on my FM Scarlett, still the best likeness of Vivien Leigh in the doll market. And here she is:


The dress has a shirred white bodice, in a soft fabric, anchored by red ribbons, with short puffed sleeves with the same trim. Considering scale and all, it looks very faithful to the film. It has a shirt collar neckline, with a small cameo brooch on it. The brooch is grey and looks plastic and cheap, not much of a jewel. No other jewellery is included with the outfit, although they should have added the two bows on combs Scarlett is wearing in her hair. Here is a close up of the actual actress:

The doll is also missing the big golden comb at the back of her hairdo. As one can see in the film, the cameo is tasseled and looks expensive. Contrary to what Franklin Mint did with the film's jewellery in it's GWTW dolls, Tonner's accessories seem poor in comparison. Check out the cameo below.


The skirt is, as with Tonner Melanie's dress, huge. And I mean it: she takes so much place on the shelve, she might as well be alone on it. Or even be a lamp shade, LOL. I love this volume, it makes the doll's waist look even smaller (much like the real dresses were supposed to at the time) and the deep red colour is much more impressive up close than on the photos. It is lined in white silk. The difference with the real one is only in it's drape: the actual skirt looks more gathered at the waist than the doll version does. I do not know if this is due to scale or fabric considerations, but see the real thing here:


The outfit is completed by a white sash tied at the waist. It ends in a silk fringe with lovely detail:


The sash looks out of scale as one can see from the photo below, but with a skirt this big, it might not have looked good otherwise:


I also have it tied wrong, the knot in the film is quite different, but I made the captures after I had done the photo shoot of the doll. So please forgive that!
The outfit does not come with the undergarments to support the massive volume of the skirt. So, if you want to display it properly, you have to buy the extra underpinnings set that Tonner has released. This consists of a chemise, pantalettes and a layered hoop skirt with wired rings. Much like the ones found on the Melanie doll, this helps the skirt stay full and look its best. I did not put the chemise under the dress but it seems that it can be worn by Scarlett without a problem under it. I would have gone for a corset though. Here is the first layer of the hoop skirt:


There is no tulle layer here, but the silky second layer of Melanie's undergarments. It does not seem to diminish the ability of the hoop skirt to show the dress skirt properly, so no objections to that. Under that first silky layer with the lace trim, we can see the hoops, made in exactly the same way as Melanie's.


And of course the necessary pantalettes:


The boots, in red leather with matching red ties and black soles look great and even fit FM Scarlett nicely. Here Tonner scores high: although they are not as nice as Melanie's shoes, they are infinitely better than those hideous plastic FM boots.


In total we have a nice ensemble, one that no other company ever made for their Scarlett dolls. It will make a nice addition to the FM Scarlett collectors who do not already own it through one of the talented seamstresses making excellent versions of it out there (Alana from Doll Fashions By Alana comes first to mind-see her version here)

Tonner has the license for Gone With The Wind dolls for some time now. They released the first pictures this summer, to much dismay from collectors. That was due to the fact that the Scarlett O'Hara sculpt did not meet expectations. After all, it had to confront the successful and much applauded Franklin Mint doll, which looks particularly like Vivien Leigh, the actress that immortalized the heroine.



It was easier with Melanie Hamilton, which is the first doll to be released from the series. They did not secure the rights to portray Olivia De Havilland (the dolls are to be tied-in with the film), so they had free reign for the sculpt. The result: a very good and unusual doll face, realistic looking and very convincing as Melanie.



Her face is nicely sculpted, with a kind and thoughtful expression (thankfully not that pity-me look the actress had in the film at many times). The only drawback here is the make up: her red lipstick and blush as well as the eye shadow are too accented for the era and the character the doll portrays.



Her hairdo is a lovely knot at the back of the head, with a center part and hair gathered at the sides and pulled under the knot. It fits perfectly with the film's style and the character. Her hair color is a lovely shade of brown, not dark but not light either. She has a hat on that looks like a cross between a hat and a snood. It does not look much like the snood the actress was wearing in the film - first the doll's hat:



And this is a scene from the film with it:



The costume is the one Mellie is wearing at Scarlett's wedding: light blue silk, with applied diamond motifs on the skirt, a big v-neckline with a bow and a lace trim, short puffed sleeves with lace trim. The dress is fully lined in white. It closes with snaps at the back, which is not very appropriate for the style of dress and the era, but makes things easier for some people. It is a faithful reproduction of the film costume and looks very impressive-the volume the skirt has is huge:



And this is a photo from the film:



Here is a close up of the diamond motif:




The skirt of course has to have the proper support. I was wondering what Tonner would put under the skirt, as Franklin Mint's crinolines did not get anything more than a tulle skirt (and out of scale fabric too) with a wire near the hem, which is notorious for it's lack of cooperation. Here, Tonner pulls out all the stops: we get 2 (actually 2 and a half) skirts under the dress. And of course pantalets and stockings for underwear as was proper at the time (unfortunately no corset with this outfit under the bodice, although it looks like it can have one and still button up without problem). Here are the pantalets and stockings:



Over the pantalets is a nice underskirt with wire hoops sewn in - three of them. It is made of cotton. The bottom wire hoop did seem to have a mind of its own and turned up a bit.



Over the hoop skirt is another under skirt made of satin and tulle (hence the 2 and a half layers: one is the hoop skirt, one and a half is the satin and tulle one). The satin is trimmed with lace at the hem and the tulle is in ruffled tiers sewn over the satin. It looks great and adds to the look of the undergarments, not to mention the volume of the skirt:



Here is the lace trim detail:



The whole system works very well under the dress and it gives its skirt a huge volume, looking very faithful to the era. The accessories are fantastic too - the shoes are to die for:



She has a lovely point d'esprit lace shawl - here is a detail:



And of course she has short white gloves like a proper lady at that time would.



The worst thing is the stand: the doll comes with the infamous circular wire stand that has all of the Tonner collectors in fits. In this case it is more inappropriate as it cannot hold the doll in its place for too long due to volume and weight, plus it makes the skirt seem a bit puffed near the waist. I cannot understand how Tonner could make such a blunder and not have the newer saddle stand included with this doll. Here is a back view of the doll:



She comes in a huge green box with gold letters on it. The box is not very sturdy, probably because of weight issues, but it holds well. The doll is very good in general, and if some details were taken care of, she would be excellent. Of course, the stand makes the whole experience of having her too painful (mine has fallen countless times already and now stands on Shinyuu Mina's new saddle stand.