fter the blink-and-you-will-miss-it appearance of Citrine (?) Elyse on Net-A-Porter, let’s see what is coming up next as part of the 10th anniversary Jason Wu doll collection. Each of the dolls will feature the "Elyse Jolie™" sculpt. No surprise there as Jason has called Elyse his miniature "muse". The dolls have the Fashion Royalty FR 6.0 body, wearing replicas of a variety of fashions from past collections. The doll vinyl will be that of La Vie En Bleu Elyse, who premiered the line, with the matte, velvety texture. Each of the five dolls will be done in an ultra-limited edition of 200 dolls per look and will retail for $225 per doll. Strangely enough, there was a post back in 2012 where a prototype of this year’s Net-A-Porter Elyse exclusive doll shows up (photo below) between Bergdorf Goodman Poppy Parker and the Monogram exclusive to Collette’s in Paris.:
Two dolls, one dressed in an evening look and other in daywear, will be available through Bergdorf Goodman, who is no stranger to these collaborations, having previously partnered with Wu on collector dolls to celebrate "Fashion's Night Out". One was available through Net-a-Porter, one will be sold through Nordstrom and one will be exclusive to Wu's website at JasonWu.com. More details about each doll, including specs and ordering instructions from the retailers, will be available once details are finalized with each retailer.
Integrity Toys released photos of the real-life runway look that the remaining dolls will be based on:
Photo from Vogue Runway, Marcio Madeira
Jason Wu Spring Summer 2008 Prêt À Porter. The model opening the show wearing this dress, inspired by Grace Kelly in Rear Window, is Iekeliene Stange, who is the inspiration for Elyse's face sculpt. Lovely dress, one I’d love to have on a doll.
Photo from Vogue Runway Yannis Vlamos GoRunway.com
Jason Wu Spring Summer 2011 .Prêt À Porter This Is the collection that inspired the New Close-Ups Fashion Royalty Collection In 2011. We see Anja Rubik wearing a striped sweater and slacks here. I’m not sure I like the turban with this outfit but the whole look draws heavily on interwar France.
Photo from Vogue Runway Marcus Tondo GoRunway.com
Jason Wu Fall Winter 2011 Prêt À Porter.. This collection was his "baroque meets sportswear" one, a line inspired by a Robert Polidori book on the 25-year restoration of Versailles. Bergdorf Goodman Luchia's look came from this collection. Diane Kruger wore this gown at the Met Gala of 2011. Nice but not one of his best looks, for me.
Photo from Vogue Runway Filipo Fior InDigital GoRunway
Jason Wu Fall Winter 2013 Prêt À Porter. The collection was named Extreme Femininity and was the inspiration for the ITBE Light Strike Natalia, Red Strike Janay & Night Strike Monogram dresses. Chanel Iman is wearing the dress shown above, quite similar to those, so I wonder why pick this one again? I’d rather have one of the two pictured in the advertising of that season, with the gorgeous Christy Turlington below.
Since the first doll went on sale I have been reading lots of comments about how the dolls should have been made more accessible to doll collectors. My humble opinion is that these are not dolls made with collectors in mind. They are a premium item offered to Jason Wu fashion clients, who spend thousands of dollars to buy one of his clothes. They are not marketed by Integrity Toys or the W Club and are sold only through high fashion establishments. They are meant to commemorate significant moments of his career to his clients, many of whom are women who I guess would love to have one of his outfits in miniature to cherish and maybe display as a curio and memento. Maybe, alongside the “not suitable for children” warning, they should have added “not made with Fashion doll collectors in mind”.
UPDATE: it seems someone has the two Bergdorf Goodman dolls on eBay. They mention that they will be available in the first week of November and have actual photos of the dolls in their boxes.
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