Every year Integrity Toys hosts a convention in October for their fans, presenting their new lines, taking feedback from their die-hard customers and giving all an opportunity to get to know each other better. This year, marking Fashion Royalty's 10th anniversary, they named the convention Jet Set. Let us see what dolls are being presented there,either as exclusives or new lines (tomorrow there will be another post with the convention collection and convention doll).
At registration, each guest received a welcome swag bag that contained the ever popular "empty" surprise convention gift set box, a travel backpack suitable to stow all necessary gear for the weekend, a convention emergency survival pack (that has everything you need to survive at a convention, including doll shoes!), and a goody donated by Azone. There was a room available for viewing called the Museum, displaying several prototype dolls that have never seen before - this one must have been a big treat! The theme for the first evening's event was "Living the Jet Set Life" and mistress of mayhem Kyori Sato was the table cenetrpiece doll as "No Reservations". A very glamorous one I might say. This is probably the last Kyori in the original sculpt (my guess) since all the rest of the original dolls have been given a face lift. The late 50s-early 60s styling is great, although she should have had a bag and a pair of gloves to complete the nice outfit, which consists of a dress and a jacket.
There was also a gift doll for all attendees at their tables: Business Class Anja, wearing a lovely print sheath. She looks gorgeous - each new Anja looks better than the previous one! I am fond of green so the matching accessories look great to me.
One of the big surprises of the evening, was the unveiling of a new ultra limited edition IT Direct Exclusive Collection at the convention, including the debut of a new line, "Les Silhouettes". In an onstage interview with host Alain Tremblay, IT designer Chris Stoeckel unveiled the details of the mini-collection which consists of two introduction collectibles, Victoire Roux, the main character, and a fashion.
People are still talking about who's sculpt is this. Most agree that it is the old Jasper sculpt. I think she looks great, love the outfits and styling but have a question: why another line that comes too close to the Monograms? Maybe this should have been part of that line. She is supposedly a 50s Parisian Haute Couture model, discovered by a couturier that has his atelier on Avenue Montaigne, but her name is Faubourg Saint Honore - the thing is both are streets of Paris that have most of the Couture and Pret-a-Porter big names boutiques and Houses but Avenue Montaigne was not a hip spot for couture in the 50s when this is supposedly going on. It became the hot spot for fashion in the 80s. The stand-alone fashion is called Avenue Montaigne and looks great. From what I can tell, the fit should be good for FR bodies, as Integrity mentioned that the fashions should fit most fashion dolls.
Integrity says that the IT Direct collection is meant to be a fun way to add dolls and costumes to your collection at a reasonable price, direct from the manufacturer. This introductory collection is done in low numbers, however the goal is to eventually adjust quantities based on demand and popularity to reach a maximum of collectors. Future editions will only be available directly from IT Direct online and at the conventions. The rest of the dolls presented in this collection were two basic underwear dolls, one dressed Basic doll and an Homme doll. The Bare Essentials basic dolls and "City Girl" feature the IT body (first seen on the Brides of Dracula Collection), removable hands for easy dressing, rooted hair and applied eyelashes, while "Backstage Ambition" features the "Homme" body.
The raven doll is called Bare Essentials Night, while the blonde is Day. Night is Dania's sculpt, while Day has Natalia's old sculpt.
City Girl is Imogen with IT body. I do not like the outfit but the doll looks nice.
And here is the man of the collection, Backstage Ambition. He has the Count Dracula sculpt and I think it shows. I did not like it even for Dracula, let alone this one.
So this was the first night's dolls, on the next post I will feature the dolls presented on Friday.
Photos courtesy of Integrity Toys.
