Hollywood Dolls

Here is part 2 of my interview with the talented Chewin and his sister:

FDC: Who is your fashion icon?
Chewin: No one is my fashion icon. Any fashions attract me that are suited for dolls. I can re-sketch or redesign some parts before making. Some fashions are fascinating when people wear them but look so clumsy when they’re on the dolls.


FDC: What is your favorite doll to work/design for?
Chewin: Matt O’Neil is my favorite doll to work for, because the proportion of Matt is not too big or too small though his figure is not as perfect as FR Hommes. But after dressing him in fashions, everyone can imagine that he looks great as a supermodel or any kind of people we wish him to be.


FDC: What is your favorite doll sculpt to re-paint? Is there a least favorite one?
Chewin: I think the majority of doll repaint artists prefer working on Tonner Dolls because this company manufactures such a large variety of different doll faces. Also the detail that goes into each and every doll face is rather perfect. Finally the size of head is easy to hold which make the repainting process very smooth and easy. I like the face of Daphne and Angelina, they have a perfect detail on their face, but I don’t like Betty Ann and Osmopolitan, I think their facial shapes are a little too big.



FDC: What is your all-time favorite doll?
Chewin: My all time favorite doll is the Kotalin or Elizabeth dolls which are created by Jozef Szekeres. I feel he does exceptional work creating doll clothing and is very skillful at Fine Art as well.



FDC: Do you try new techniques on spare dolls before changing a new one or do you just 'go for it', so to speak?
Chewin: Yes, I always like to experiment and try new techniques on my repainted doll such as oils, acrylic, airbrush or pastel etc. Before I apply my new techniques, I always work with a spare doll first, to see the effect after repainting and to discover any changes that may need to be made in order to create perfection.


FDC: What is your most favorite fabric/material to work with and what is your least favorite fabric/material to work with?
Chewin: The fabric that is used for creating doll clothing is sometimes different from the materials we wear. There are specific materials that are best for 16-17” dolls but not suitable for 12-13” dolls. In regards to the type of fabric, I prefer using Thai silk, wool or jeans and I don’t like making outfits with leather or velvet.





This is the end of part 2 of the interview. Next post will be the 3rd and final part.

Photo credits: all photos in this post courtesy of Pornchewin Malipunte except the Kyori Sato photograph, courtesy of Stratos Bacalis.

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.

The first male fashion doll I am presenting is the latest release from Jason Wu's Fashion Royalty Cult Couture collection: High And Mighty Darius Reid. He is an African-American male doll, the third man to be added to the FR Homme Collection (the other two are Pierre De Vries and Francisco Leon). his story card is the first to be read only on-line - the one in the box does not have the usual text printed on it.



Darius has the face sculpt of an older Integrity play line male doll, Tariq. The body is the standard FR Homme body, tall and lithe, with articulation at the neck, chest, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and knees. FR Homme dolls still do not have articulated waists, but that might be due to the fact that it gives them a better looking "six pack"! Best part of the body, apart from the aforementioned abdomen, are the hands - they even have veins!



His face paint is done very well, he has a strong and firm look. His eyes are very well designed, probably the best made eyes in the FR Homme series up to now. He has no hair, sporting the shaven head look favoured by so many African American men. It also gives him versatility, because it means he can easily wear wigs. His skin colour is a dark chocolate brown, lighter than Nadja R but darker than Adele Makeda.



His wardrobe is exceptional for the most part. He is wearing a lovely coat, supposedly velvet (FR description) but in reality it feels like felt. It has "satin" lapels and it is very well tailored (lined too), with a false single button (it has a hook and eye to close). Under this, he has pinstripe flat front pants with vertical side pockets (but no belt, a major faux pas here), a vest from the same material, which is very well made too (the satin of the back is to die for) and the white shirt we have seen before on FR men - they could have given him a purple or fuchsia shirt, or even a copper coloured one, he would have looked more edgy.



The fun part are the accessories though. He has a fedora, a flocked thin plastic moulded hat with a "silver" chain in place of the classic ribbon. It is the worst part of the outfit and it looks unnaturally cheap compared to the rest of the ensemble. Given the success of FR in making extremely good and detailed accessories, this one seems neglected. There are sunglasses - these have the same lenses as other FR sunglasses but the arms are a whole different story: sculpted to look like entwined serpents, they give the edge this doll demands. The best FR sunglasses I have seen. Darius is wearing black socks and white sneakers, nothing special there.



His jewellery is very well executed: he sports a big "silver" shark tooth at the end of a chain and a lovely "stainless steel" watch that has a secure fastening and looks very good. It is easy to put on and does not look fragile at all, contrary to the one Pierre was wearing last year. The prototype doll had a golden watch on it, which had struck me as odd, considering the rest of the accessories had "silver" tones. Luckily they corrected it on the final product. I hope they improve the hat the same way next year. See the watch below up close:



Here you can check the hat, sunglasses and pendant:



And here are the shoes - they are plain with the ends of laces inside-makes them easier to put on:



Darius is very handsome and suave. He gives the FR ladies a run for their money. With the proper accessories and outfits, he could turn out to be one of the best and most sought after FR dolls. I cannot wait to see what Jason Wu has in store for him next.



Darius is a limited edition of 800 dolls worldwide.

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!