The Poppy Parker line was a hit last year, the dolls and fashions becoming difficult to find in a short period from their release, each new doll greeted with glee from the collectors who found a new doll to feature in their collections. This year, the collection is about Poppy's arrival in New York, the naive ingénue becoming a city girl. There are four dolls and two fashions in the collection. And one of the dolls is a gift set. Poppy's make up is a little bit changed this time around, no painted separate eyelashes but eye-liner in the 60's style, a move that divided the collectors.
So the first doll is Coney Island Saturday. Poppy is dressed for a day out in Coney Island, with sailor style outfit, curled bangs, ponytail and side-glancing eyes. She's cute and reminds me of the retro styled FR gals from the Style Du Jour collection of 2007 - a mix of Bueno Sera Kyori's and High Tide Vanessa's outfits.
Of course New York in the 60's means beatnik scene is in it's heyday - so Poppy of course has the Beatnik Blues. With a blue suit and a black turtle-neck typical of the era, accessorized with the ultimate beatnik hat, the French beret, Poppy shows the intellectual side of her. Black flat shoes, tights and a leather belt complete the outfit. If I could get a second Poppy, this would have been the one. Unusually brilliant!
Up next a Poppy that looks so very grown up in relation to the other dolls of the collection. The Look Of Love Poppy wears a layered tulle beaded gown that reminds me a lot of Franklin Mint's first Elizabeth Taylor Vinyl doll. She does carry a clutch! Silver sling back shoes, a diamond bracelet and matching stud earrings complete the look.
The fourth doll is the gift-set that makes the difference. A more limited edition than the other Poppy dolls (350 while the rest are at 500 dolls each), She's Arrived! gift-set gave it's name to the collection and presents us a blonde Poppy that reminds me Grace Kelly and January Jones as Betty Draper from Mad Men - but in a younger version maybe. The set is comprised of a fuchsia typical 60's suit (very Jackie Kennedy) worn with a white sleeveless blouse, white gloves, clutch, pumps and diamond stud earrings...
... and yes, she has a nice turquoise suitcase with white trim to carry! And that is not all! She can mix and match this with a nice geometrical print dress with boat neckline with a bow and a circle skirt, turquoise belt , pearl necklace and a shopping bag. The shoes are cute pink ribboned mules.
As mentioned earlier, there are two fashions included in the collection and, as with the Fashion Royalty one, the prototype doll wearing one of the fashions became a hot topic among the collectors. A Night To Remember fashion is a belted butter yellow sleeveless gown with white bolero jacket and appliqué flowers scattered on it.
The outfit looks like something Doris Day would wear - Blizzard in the W Club forum mentioned the Glass Bottom Boat and I found this photo of Doris Day:
The other fashion is a print dress with matching short sleeve bolero nothing extraordinary but again the prototype doll looks so cute.
Poppy's boyfriend, Chip, is prominently featured in the stories accompanying the descriptions of the outfits - will we see him this year? I hope so!
