When In Paris Poppy Parker is the 3rd W Club doll of 2023!

The 3rd W Club Exclusive doll of the 2023 membership year was revealed just before Christmas. It is a mini gift set reminiscent of early Poppy Parker dolls and there's an extra-long pre-order window to accommodate the holiday season, as Integrity Toys will be closed until after New Year’s. IT designer David Buttry brings us Poppy Parker as a young ingenue returning for an important ad campaign in Paris.

Watch the presentation below and enjoy how they tip-toe around the inspiration of the doll because of licensing:

Item # 77252

When in Paris

Poppy Parker® Mini Gift Set

The Poppy Parker® Collection

2023 W Club Exclusive Doll

Edition Size: TBD

Expected Ship Date: Approximately Late Spring 2024

Head Sculpt: Poppy Parker

Body Type: PP 1.5

Foot Sculpt: High-heeled And Articulated Ankle

Skin Tone: Cream

Hair Color: Dark Brown Mix

Eyelashes: Yes, Hand-applied

MSRP: $190 + S & H

Special W Club Price*: $175 + S & H

Sales method: These dolls are guaranteed made-to-order for 2023 W Club members only- 1 per membership ($50.00 NRD deposit due now, $125.00 + S & H due in approximately late Spring 2024).

The Story:

Poppy Parker returns to the City of Light, but this time, it’s for the Noir Cosmetics ad campaign, to unveil a brand new companion makeup line for their iconic “When in Paris” fragrance!

Feeling light and carefree on the way to the photo shoot, Poppy grabbed her favourite dotted trench and wore it over a very chic, sleek black turtleneck and cropped trousers combo, which of course landed her on the pages of all the top French fashion magazines, making her fans scramble to copy the look!

Once she finally got to the studio, there was a lot of back and forth regarding the perfect gown she would wear in the ads, but everyone soon agreed that only Poppy’s friend Monsieur Mignon, her "go to" couturier, could pull this off! Monsieur was thrilled to recreate one of her most coveted dresses in black while adding some delicate embellishments, making the gown even more special for his favourite client! It was just what the Noir campaign needed, and the perfect look for Poppy to cast her charms on her French fans for the second time. When in Paris, indeed!

Included:

• 12-inch articulated doll with rooted hair and hand-applied eyelashes;

• Slim black trousers and matching black turtle neck;

• Multi-colored polka-dotted trench coat;

• Elegant black evening gown with hand-beaded bodice and layered glittery tulle skirt;

• Black satin shoulder wrap;

• Multi-colored polka-dotted handbag;

• Oversized black sunglasses;

• Golden jewelry set comprised of stud earrings, drop earrings, bracelet, and ring;

• Perfume bottle accessory;

• Lipstick accessory;

• Compact accessory;

• Black pumps for high-heeled feet (included);

• Black flats for articulated ankle feet (included);

• Pair of long-manicure hands;

• Pair of alternate gloved hands (with separate opera-length gauntlets);

• Doll stand;

• Certificate of authenticity.

She’s a recoloured version of Friend or Foe Poppy Parker, from the gift set when Ginger made her first appearance, which was back in December 2019 - so it is another Moment for Poppy. I like the dress better in black, it makes it surely more Parisian and more sophisticated, but, as you see in the photo below and will not hear or read about it anywhere from Integrity Toys…

…the doll is a double throwback: she’s got the screening of the Audrey Hepburn Sabrina dolls, which I mostly have - and they look so much better than she does, mainly because of the hairstyle and the red lipstick. The photo above mimics an Audrey classic from Breakfast At Tiffany’s, which was remade by Steven Meisel with Christy Turlington. If I did not have any of those dolls, I’d grab this one right away. Not now though. The black beatnik outfit is a typical Audrey look from both Sabrina (IT released a version there in the Most Sophisticated gift set) and Funny Face (which looks more like this one). The make up and perfume accessories have been seen before many times.

See a video with the doll spinning around - are you getting her?

IMPORTANT NOTE: Prototypes shown, the final product may vary. The acrylic column display prop is not included. This collectible is meant for adult collectors ages 15 and up only.

All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2023 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.

Photography by Bill and Shaunessey Peck. Layouts and graphics by Alain Tremblay, Marketing.

Take The Picture! - Jo Stockton in Funny Face doll by Integrity Toys

The Funny Face collection is one of the best doll ensembles that Integrity Toys (or any doll company for that matter) has ever released. Each and every doll in it stands out, portraying one of the characters of the film with one ore more ensembles to evoke certain film moment. Arguably, the most iconic scene in the film is the one where Audrey Hepburn is being photographed as Jo Stockton by Fred Astaire as Dick Avery (Dick Avedon of course) as she descends the Louvre stairs beneath the statue of the Nike (Winged Victory) of Samothrace. While she does that, she's shouting to him, "Take the picture!" as she's on the move, stepping down, waving her muslin shawl above her, in an effort to mimic the statue's pose. This is the moment that the "Take The Picture!" doll represents. And it does so perfectly.

I tried to re-create the scene by printing a retouched photograph of it (the retouching involved removing Audrey from it). Then strings, lighting and a feeble wind machine (a small heater actually with the temperature set to zero) came to the rescue. Wish I had a proper fan to blow that shawl properly.

The doll is amazing. As mentioned at the presentation, she uses the Poppy Parker body, but it is the one used for the Breakfast At Tiffany's dolls: this means no ankle joint. The foot is made for kitten heels, which absolutely fits the film and Audrey's outfits. It also offers a better looking result. I know this is not to everyone's liking but for this doll, in my opinion, works best. 

The dress is a faithful recreation of the costume from the film, with the small neat bows on the top and bottom, the slit at the back and the two panels that form trains behind. The shawl is here of course, as are the gloves (elbow length), which are slightly better than the usual mitten-type ones (and get even better with some water sculpting) and kitten heel red fabric shoes. The quality of craftsmanship is very high.

The doll has the original iconic Vanessa Perrin sculpt, used here to perfection. She also reminds me a lot of Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary from Downton Abbey, much like the Let's Kiss And Make Up doll does (with the Vanessa 2.0 sculpt). Not a bad thing at all. She also has an extra pair of hands. Her face paint is gorgeous, in two shades of brown and full red lips. Her hair is neatly gathered into a chignon at the back, with a side part at the front and her long bangs swept to the side over her forehead. 

The most impressive of her accessories is of course her necklace. It is intricately made, with lots of different colour and size stones set in it. It proves that when Integrity wants to, it can make marvels. A pair of earrings with two stones each (white and red) finishes off the set. Below is a photograph of the necklace with the top of the dress pulled down to show it off in its entire length. 

Breakfast at Tiffany's : 50 years anniversary of a legendary film

Audrey Hepburn has always been a fashion icon, even from her first forays into acting. She always attracted attention not only for her good looks and gamine figure but also her impeccable sense of style and pick of outfits. The fashion doll world could not stay away from her, although only one company managed to secure the rights for a doll in her likeness: Mattel. They did a gorgeous two doll - two outfits series about her as she appeared in the Breakfast at Tiffany's film back in 1998, which I was lucky enough to obtain some years ago. Now Integrity secured a deal with Paramount, celebrating the film's 50th anniversary, to release a series of dolls (not in the star's likeness). I was inspired by this and got one of my Audrey's out (the other is wearing a My Fair Lady costume) along with the film's outfits to make a shoot. Immediately I thought that I could show them on other dolls to make it more interesting. So here is my homage to Breakfast At Tiffany's 50th anniversary!

First of all is the original Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly doll from Mattel. This was one of two dolls released in her likeness. She was wearing the black long column dress from the opening scene of Audrey in front of Tiffany's. Here she dons the famous little black dress that came as a separate outfit set. It came with all the accessories pictured. Of course all her outfits in this film were designed by Givenchy.

The doll is a very good likeness of the actress. The clothes are very well made too, although not reaching the quality Integrity has gotten us used to. They are not cheap play-line Barbie either though and I can say that for their 13 years they have aged pretty well - the doll too.

The unfortunate thing is that the doll is not very poseable. Little articulation (the Mattel bane) in shoulders, waist, hips and the infamous click knees does little to help show off Audrey as she was in the film. I have seen one transfer of this head to an articulated body and it looked nice - I might try one but do not trust myself to do it yet.

As I mentioned earlier, this doll came originally with the black column dress. I had put that on Camera Lights Action Veronique Perrin from Fashion Royalty dolls for another shoot and it stayed there. She looks a natural for an Audrey substitute with her piled up hair and cute smile so here she is.

I used a Silkstone brooch as a tiara substitute for her hair. The necklace, earrings and shoes are Fashion Royalty, the bracelet you see in some of her photos is a Dressmaker Details Couture necklace while the dress, gloves, glasses and stole are all Mattel. This set had the coffee cup and bagel paper bag included.

She looks a bit like Angelina Jolie as well at the photo above! As the FR dolls are taller than Barbies, the dress looks a bit short for her long, lean legs. Not bad though. 

She is a natural for Audrey! I think even her new sculpt, with the right hairdo would look great in these outfits.

Of course the articulated body helps a lot. My Veronique's body has started to yellow though so it is good that this outfit has long opera length gloves and the stole to help cover it up.

This is the back of the dress with the scalloped details. I wish I had a better styled necklace (or like the one of the film) to match though.

Now it was Poppy's turn to show if she could pass as an Audrey. The Holly Golightly Integrity doll has the Poppy body (without the articulated ankles) so I was optimistic about it. Here she is sporting the Cat Mask outfit from the Mattel line (released as an outfit separate set). All accessories are from the original set, even the pantyhose.

The outfit consists of a halter neck tweed dress (the Integrity version has the top made of a different fabric but in the film it is like Mattel's version shown here) worn under an orange coat. A fur hat, leather bag, gloves, shoes, glasses and a cat mask are the rest of the accessories. The original dolls sported non-removable pearl stud earrings, not faithful to the drop earrings Audrey is wearing in the film.

Teetering on the narrow and high Mattel heels, Poppy looks great in the Givenchy designed outfits - it is her era after all, early 60s. Of course her small bust cannot fill the dress.

The Poppy shown here is As Tears Go By Poppy, from Integrity's last year convention. With her raven hair in an up-do she gets really close to being Holly - much better IMHO than the Holly sculpt.

As I really liked Poppy in these outfits, I kept her for the last one too. Pink Princess was released as a dressed doll - exactly the same doll as the original Audrey but with a pink tiara. As I did not have one, I used a brooch from a Gene Marshall Integrity outfit as a substitute - without any pink on it. 

This ensemble consists of a pink dress with transparent crystals embroidered on it, worn under a satin pink coat, a matching clutch, white gloves and pink shoes (the ones in the photo shoot are from another outfit as the originals did not want to stay on Poppy's larger feet).

The Integrity dress looks more faithful and detailed than the Mattel one here, especially regarding the embroidery and the clutch, which is small and white in the film. The top layer of the skirt also is too puffed out from the underskirt - they should have looked more like one layer.

Poppy looks like having fun - and so did I! Doing this project was a nice way to re-discover some things from my collection I had not seen in ages and also remind myself of why I do not need to buy these again in their new incarnations (although I must make a couple of cigarette holders for my dolls!). I hope you enjoyed it too and please let me know how are the Integrity Holly dolls if you get any. Here's to another 50 years for Breakfast At Tiffany's and the enduring appeal of Holly Golightly and Audrey Hepburn.