Hollywood Dolls

I have been wanting to do this for quite a while. A photo shoot inspired by the multi-model covers of Vogue, like the one last May (which I want to duplicate sometime in the future).
So here are some Fashion Royalty ladies, posing for your pleasure, on the August Vogue cover that was mysteriously ditched at the very last minute for unknown reasons...and got replaced by one with someone named Winona...tsk, tsk.



The models are, from left to right-standing: Nadja Rhymes (Missima model), Baroness Agnes Von Weiss (heiress, fashion entrepreneur), Kyori Sato (Creative Director at Missima). Seated, left to right: Natalia Fatalé (former director of Missima) and Adèle Makeda (W model). All styling by Stratos, outfits and accessories by Jason Wu except Natalia's dress and accessories by Givenchy. Make up on Adèle by W Cosmetics, Natalia's by Revlon, all other ladies by Missima.

Vogue logo courtesy of Conde Nast Inc.

Fashion Royalty, unlike the fashion dolls I have written about in previous posts, is a series of 12" fashion dolls. Jason Wu, a very talented designer, has created a coveted doll collection that, for six running years, has never failed to capture the fashion doll collector's enthusiasm and fantasy. All dolls of the many FR collections are highly desired collectibles, with their prices rising immediately after their release. The quality of the dolls and their outfits, their original design and style, makes them worthy of any fashion doll enthusiast's attention.



Agnes Von Weiss is a character created by Jason Wu for special event dolls. However, the Agnes presented here was an FR W Club exclusive for Fall 2006. A limited edition of 750 dolls, this is one of the most coveted dolls in the FR collection today.
The doll was presented in a special box, with the Hi Fi Theme ribbon. This Agnes is blond, while the FR Convention Agnes was a redhead and the FAO Agnes was raven haired. She has the Modern Pompadour taller articulated body.



The doll comes with a versatile ensemble. It includes a black embroidered bodysuit with an opening under the breasts,, two black skirts from the same fabric as the bodysuit (a full skirt with a tulle petticoat and a pencil skirt lined in burgundy silk,), a burgundy sash, short black gloves, a pair of shoes (fabric with plastic soles) in black with burgundy insteps, a black bag from the same fabric as the outfit, and a set of jewellery with red crystals (a pair of earrings and a bracelet).



Included in the box was a Christmas ornament, consisting of a small faceted silver ball like a disco ball in miniature, tied with a black ribbon. In its place I would have preferred a second pair of shoes - a pair of simple black pumps. The lovely slingbacks are difficult to stay in place and can easily fall off. No complaints about the rest of the outfit, it is gorgeous. The black on black embroidery makes it very elegant and stylish. The jewellery is spectacular (although a ring could have been included here).



And how about the doll itself? Agnes has a very strong personality. I find her extremely beautiful and elegant, in a sombre and demure fashion very much in the style of Lisa_Fonssagrives, the famous model wife of photographer Irving Penn. She also reminds me a lot of Nicole Kidman. She is not a face that will appeal to everyone, far from it. But that makes her even more special. Her face screening is great, with a real expression and not the classic vacant stare of many dolls. Her hairdo is impeccable, showing off her lovely face.
I do not know how versatile she can be, but I did photograph her with other outfits. Here she is wearing the FR Guaranteed Chic outfit from the Modern Pompadour Collection, 2006:



And here she is wearing the dress and shoes from Barbie Fashion Model Collection's Happy-Go-Lightly outfit by Robert Best.



This outfit is a mixed bag: silk shirt is by FR Social Call set, skirt is by Barbie



The lovely Mies Van De Rohe Barcelona chair imitation is the FR Luxury Decor Furniture Set High Definition Black Suede Couch from the Graphic Flirtation Collection of 2005.

This is one of the 2007 collection of Genes. She is catalogued as dressed doll but with the bathing suit she really is a basic, the brunette one (the other two basics being Rouge, a raven haired lady in red undies, and Swim-Suited To A T, a blond in a bathing suit).
Calendar Shot Gene has a characteristic that separates her not only from the rest of the dolls in 2007's line but also from all other Genes before her: she has a tan! Her skin tone, instead of the creamy porcelain white of all Genes, is now caramel colored! Take a look:



It makes her look like Hedy Lamar, or any of the Hollywood stars with fake tans pretending to be exotic women in far away places. She also looks a bit like the young Joan Collins in the 50s in Hollywood.
Calendar Shot Gene (the name derives from her storyline, supposedly posing for a pin up pic in a calendar for the armed forces), comes dressed in a bubbly gingham bathing suit. This costume is inspired by Claire McCardell's designs. It has a bubble shape when worn without the patent leather corset belt.



Her accessories are more than enough for a basic doll: a lovely monogrammed beach towel, a pair of pearl stud earrings, a pearl bracelet, patent leather wedge mules (to match the patent leather belt), which have fabric insteps, and a black knit snood for her hair, tied with a black satin ribbon. When she arrived, I thought she would look lovely with the Gene director's chair and the Hot Day In Hollywood accessory set. And of course she does:



Here are some close up shots of her shoes and belt:





She has broken new ground in the Gene world and it is only a matter of time to see what Mel Odom and Jason Wu make of her in this new skin color - many possibilities emerge. She is a limited edition of 800 pieces. Mine was a prize from a Gene Club competition and is one of the samples, according to her certificate of authenticity. She's lovely.

The dressed doll release of Layne has a different coloring than her Basic Black counterpart. She has thick black curly hair cascading down her back and a slightly stronger face paint: more intense eyeliner, darker brows and stronger blush. See her in close up here:



She is part of the Haute Couture dress line of the Wentworth dolls - a limited edition of 1000 pieces. While the quality of the fabrics is excellent, and the three layers of the dress are excellently made (silver "Chantilly" lace on top of silvery fabric on top of white satin)the scale of the lace in her dress is too large for a 16" doll - almost human size lace here. The finish of the edges in rough cut organza strewn with beads and pailletes is poorly done - the description of the doll said layered organza, we only get a trim. The beads and paillets are OK but get lost on the hem of the dress, while show better on her off the shoulder "sleeves". And the major faux-pas- the dress is shapeless. It looks like an A line dress but after the hips it looses shape and due to the nature of the material, does not fall gracefully to the floor.



For a dressed Haute Couture doll she has surprisingly few accessories. Supposedly she is a famous anchor, receiving an award in a ceremony. Imagine one such modern woman going to a gala without an evening bag. Or not wearing any jewellery other than a pair of earrings with this dress - a diamond bracelet would have been sufficient. Or not having a chiffon or organza wrap to anchor the dress. She does get an excellent pair of silver leather strap high heels though. She does wear them with tights, which is a bit strange - I do prefer strappy shoes on a nude leg. See her proudly showing them off here:



And a close up shot here:



Her final accessory is the award she is carrying, a badly designed and made clear plastic pyramid on a painted metallic base. I would have preferred a nice silvery leather or lace covered bag instead of this.

Both Laynes together - which one do you prefer? I like both the same- each for different reasons. Hope to see more of her in future releases.



She photographs well - born to be in the media it seems!

2007 saw a new addition to the basic body in Tonner dolls. The Basic Black dolls had an extra articulation feature: changeable feet. They come with two different sets of feet that can be changed to give a different look and pose ability to the doll, not to mention more outfit options. Fashion feet (aka high heeled arched feet) and flat feet. It is very easy to change them and the articulation is borrowed from action figures. They are an edition of 1500 pieces per character.

Basic Black Layne is part of that line, comprising of four basic dolls. Her face sculpt is the original Mameha sculpt, first used in the Memoirs of A Geisha line. She comes with a black one-piece swimsuit, with a semi-transparent panel on the front, all lined in flesh colored fabric inside. A pair of sunglasses, and two pairs of shoes complete the outfit. One pair is high heeled plastic mules, the other is flat rubber sandals with a fabric strap. Here's Layne in high heels:



And here she is in flat feet:



Her hair is auburn. It could have been a bit more dense, as it can be difficult to change the hairstyle a bit due to the quantity of hair plugs she has on her head. She has an elastic hairband too. Her face screen is nice but a bit bland for a red head. I think she needed stronger eye and brow color. Lips are painted a generic red, which could also have been a bit more adventurous. Here is a close up:



The flat feet articulation is not that good looking or functional. She cannot stretch the foot to become a straight line with the rest of the leg, as she should. She can stand on her own with them though. That makes her stand redundant. It is the worst stand I have ever encountered on a Tonner doll. If she has her arched feet on, the metal circle of the stand cannot reach her waist - she's too tall for it. If she has the flat feet on, she can stand by herself. Plus it is a cheep looking stand, with a clear plastic base that is not the solid one most Tonner dolls usually get, but a hollow one that is not heavy enough to support a doll properly. And of course it cannot be used with full skirts or gowns. Utterly useless. Here is the flat foot detail.



She is versatile enough to provide lots of fun re-dressing and photographs nicely. I like the Mameha sculpt a lot - Asian ladies are so beautiful. They could have made the ethnic characteristics more pronounced though - it would have been so much more interesting to see that in the Geisha line too. But I guess it is all a matter of marketing.

Layne has also been released as a dressed doll, which we will see in the next post. Here is a photo of Layne seated:



And one in her sunglasses-star material for sure!



The earrings on this photo shoot are courtesy of Toni Brown from Bordello Dolls.

Garbo as a doll eh? Sounds strange but here she is. Madame Alexander made two Garbo dolls, one in 2002 (along with a Dietrich and a Garland) and one in 2003. The first one was named Grand Hotel (from the film) and the second one Camille, each dressed in outfits from the corresponding movies. Each was released in 1500 dolls worldwide. I have the first one, Grand Hotel.
The body is not highly articulated - only joints in shoulders, neck, legs, waist. She does look like Garbo, especially if you play with her hair a bit. The face paint is good, the hairdo not as much. The problem is that, as in other Madame Alexander fashion dolls, the body does not seem to have proper proportions. But she does look a bit better than the highly articulated Alex doll.




She comes wearing a lovely blue satin dress, thirties style and simple, with a zipper down her back, and a single strand pearl necklace. The pearls do seem a bit large for her size. no earrings though. Over the dress she is wearing a blue wool coat with fake fur collar and big buttons. The ensemble is topped by a matching blue hat and completed by simple dark blue fabric pumps and a nondescript bag.



I like the sculpt a lot - she looks mysterious enough for Garbo and I just have to find the right outfits for her to wear to show the likeness off. Maybe from Gene's wardrobe. See her in b&w: a real movie star of days gone by.



Sans hat and coat: "Gif me a viskey, ginger ale on the side and don't be stingy!"*



* Garbo's first line on her first talkie picture.

Tyler is the Tonner company's most famous face and doll. She was launched in 1999 by Robert Tonner and has seen many changes since then.
In her latest incarnation, she has an articulated hard vinyl body with articulation in many points (elbows, neck, shoulders, side-to-side drop shoulder joint, twist waist, hips (hip joints are rotational ball joints), knees and bending wrists(BW body). This year they introduced another change in the basic line called Convertible - you can change the feet from arched to flat. Here's the official description:
"With the exception of the Convertible Basic™ dolls, 2007 Tyler Wentworth® fine dolls are available in a BW Style (Articulated Body - Bending Wrist); and a BA Style (Standard Jointing - Bending Arms). Standard BA jointed dolls feature a fully rotational neck joint, rotational shoulder joint, and jointing at the elbows, hips and knees. The BW Style adds to the BA style doll, a swivel waist, rotational hip joint that allows for leg crossing, side-to-side drop-shoulder movement; bending wrists and increased elbow movement. Convertible Basic™ dolls include all articulation points of the BW body, and they add two pairs of interchangeable feet, one with a jointed ankle and flat foot, the other with an arched high-heel foot".
My Tyler is the Signature Tyler, a doll one step further than the basic Tyler, with the fully articulated body (mine is the first that had this body). Her articulation is great, she can sit very well, as you will see in a photo below, and the poses are endless. The good thing is the joints are strong and keep the pose very well. She came dressed in her signature white cotton long-sleeved blouse with wrap knit skirt and belt, black hose with back seams, sunglasses and black faux suede lace up boots. The newest Signature comes with pumps instead. See how she came, in the photo below:



Of course she is a lovely doll, although her face is a bit too dolly like. She is a clotheshorse, ready to wear even the most demanding outfits. Surprisingly, she fits into some Gene AD stuff! So here she is with Shimmering Star, a lovely Gene gown.



Of course, the gown may look amazing but it is made of a synthetic shimmering organza that feels cheap in the hand and the beading looks a bit out of scale for a gown this size (the beads are huge). The overall effect though is nice. Here is a close up:



She can be very sultry, especially with her hair down. Here she is wearing Franklin Mint's Diana's Christina Stambolian black cocktail dress, the infamous "divorce" dress. more about this at the post about that Diana doll.