The London Fashion Doll Festival 2019 was amazing - and I was there to experience it!

My second ever fashion doll convention, the London Fashion Doll Festival 2019, was held on the weekend of 8-9 June in London, at the lovely V&A Museum Of Childhood in Bethnal Green, London. I had promised the organisers that I’d join them in this second time of the convention being held, so there I was! The event took place over two days in the Summerly Room Of The museum, plus an adjoining smaller room for the workshop. 

The V&A Museum of Childhood in London

The V&A Museum of Childhood in London

The Summerly Room

The Summerly Room

A banner at the convention area

A banner at the convention area

Everyone registered upon entry, with an easy scan of our ticket. We were given our goody bags according to our registration level (with or without the exclusive Superdoll convention doll). As I found out, the bag had loads of lovely gifts!  Check them out below.

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The tables were set for eight persons and mine was named Carnaby Girl. I had the honour of being in the same table with Desmond Lingard (from Superdoll), Izzy Parker with her husband Ian, Christina Paul (who runs the Doll Club Of Great Britain website) and of course, from the organisers, Simon Farnworth, his husband Carl and Kim London. What an amazing company to be with! The tables had a folder with two lovely sketches inside by Navdeep Sikand, creator of the lovely Anouk dolls...

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...who also offered ten of them for centerpieces on each table! They were raffled off to the attendees near the end of the day, Izzy won ours. The dress and bags are made by Ineke Hintz. The gorgeous base was given along with the doll. If enough requests are made, LFDF will be able to have some for sale. 

Our centerpiece doll! There were blonde and raven versions of the doll.

Our centerpiece doll! There were blonde and raven versions of the doll.

Everyone else at the table got a small gift as well - i won the miniature chess you see below in the round box. I was lucky enough to receive some lovely gifts from my table mates too - Kim gave me the tea set (donated by her), Carl the amazing jewellery set (by Alla Dolgaleva Rapoport), Sofia the miniature Barbies and the wonderful Thomas Bartholomew Maffei, who came all the way from the USA, gave me the Sparkle Girl outfits!

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Izzy had a gorgeous doll with her, the fantastic Glory resin Sybarite from the Los Angeles Convention earlier this year (above) , while Desmond had with him the 12” House Of Zenith Avenue, introduced earlier this year. She’s not wearing her original fashion and looked better IRL than in photos I had seen (below).

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Soon enough, it was time for the workshops to begin. I had registered for both, so my schedule was full! First one was the Face Up workshop by Claudio Coronado, who was introduced by Simon Farnworth. 

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Claudio was very thorough in showing us the steps in how to begin painting a doll’s face. A slideshow helped him show the detailed work he does. 

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We got a great list of all the steps to follow when painting a doll face and helped us understand it is no easy task. Which is why you see the “before” photo of the doll head I had to paint, but not the “after”! 

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The artist at work. This magnifying glass type is perfect for detailed work, I must get one.

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After the end of the workshop, I had the chance to photograph the dolls on display. The Carnaby themed set up was beautiful.

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The items that were going to be raffled off the next day, to support a great cause, the Children With Cancer UK charity, we’re also on display. See the slideshow below. I should also mention that there is an ebay auction with exclusive OOAK creations (dolls or outfits) for LFDF 2019, to benefit the same charity, that ends on the 22nd of June 2019, so go to this link to check the offerings and bid!

If you love Sybarites, you know Desmond is an incredibly talented photographer as well. Some of his magnificent prints were on display and for sale.

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There was a small exhibition of 60s dolls as well, check them out below in the slideshow.

Emperis Dolls had a beautiful display as well and I got to meet the lovely Marcus and William who make them. They had both their new 12” dolls and their 16” ones on display and for sale. Some amazing OOAK dolls were there too, check out Cher in the slideshow below. The guys told me they almost sold out during the day.

Then it was time for the second workshop of the day: Sofia Kalaitzidi from Microsonik London showed us how to make a flower wig. These were very popular during the 60s in editorials and covers of fashion magazines. Elizabeth Taylor and members of the British Royal family were sporting them often in events.

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Here are the materials Sofia gave us for the wig plus a prepared base for us to work on.

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I managed to go as far as you can see below during the workshop (I’m hopeless with a needle). Some just threaded the larger flowers through the base as they had long wire stems, so no sewing needed, but I wanted a more delicate effect. Will try and finish it home!

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And here I am next to the lovely Francesco from Fred-Dolls at the workshop - we had so much fun!

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After the workshop ended, it was time for afternoon tea! A proper British tea, with everything necessary - tea, scones, clotted cream, jam, milk, sandwiches, sugar, macaroons and other treats! It was delectable.

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During tea time, members of the organising team (l to r: dear Ismail, Simon and Claudio) presented the people dressed in sixties or sixties inspired clothes.

The t-shirts worn by the organisers ate the official convention shirt and all attendees got one!

The t-shirts worn by the organisers ate the official convention shirt and all attendees got one!

there were eight of them, all lovely and dapper in mod outfits…

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…and the winner was Olga, who was the most popular - people voted for their favourite contestant by giving them their raffle ticket!

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Near the end of the day, it was time for the most anticipated reveal: Desmond unveiled the exclusive convention Sybarite doll!

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Her name is Dejah and she is the last Generation X Sybarite doll to be released! The edition is 30 dolls and there are two more available at the LFDF site - hurry up!

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You can see my doll below, as I opened the box right after the presentation. The last photo is the official one from Superdoll. She’s like a Motown singer from a girl group the 60s or a Northern Soul singer on a tour in Britain in the late 60s..

And here I am with dear Desmond - this one is for you Shazam Paname! Charles was in China, supervising doll production in the factory.

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This was the first day of the London Fashion Doll Festival, full of wonderful people sharing our doll passion, making beautiful memories and seeing so many gorgeous dolls. Next up, the Salesroom day.

The 2nd London Fashion Doll Festival is being held this weekend at the V&A Museum Of Childhood!

The second edition of the London Fashion Doll Festival will be taking place this coming weekend at the Victoria & Albert Museum Of Childhood, in Bethnal Green, London. After the success of last year’s first edition, the organisers are making this one even better and enriched with lots of activities. And guess what? I’m attending this year! So those of you not being able to attend will get to see lots of photos and read all the juicy stuff after I return.

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This year, the theme is Carnaby: the Swinging London fashion era, with Twiggy, Mary Quant, Jean Shrimpton, Carnaby Street fashions, mods  and so much more as inspiration! You can see the program for the two-day event below. Access on Saturday is only for registered attendees, while the Sunday salesroom can be accessed by the public via tickets bought either online or on site. 

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As you can see in the program, there are two workshops, one for making a flower wig and a second for doll face enhancement, which is already sold out. 

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Just like last year, the incredible Superdoll Collectables London people are making an event exclusive doll, a LE of 30, which will be revealed at the event. It will probably be one of the last vinyl Sybarites. I have already reserved mine and can’t wait to see her!

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The salesroom is full of amazing dolls and doll stuff:

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There are some competitions and even non-attendees can join! Take a look here

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The V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, London is once again serving as the venue for the second convention.  The MOC is the UK’s National Museum of Childhood. It is the largest institution of its kind in the world. Its mission is to hold in trust the nation’s childhood collections and to be an international leader in engaging audiences in the material culture and experiences of childhood.

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This year LFDF decided to support the Children With Cancer UK charity. They are doing this via an eBay OOAK doll auction and a raffle which will take place during the Sunday Salesroom. Last year LFDF raised almost £14,000 for the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital Charity.

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See you in London! 

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Italian Doll Convention 2018 - Day II: the Gala night

Saturday is the busiest day of IDC: seminars, presentations, the fashion show and the gala dinner! For most of us It begun early in the morning, as we had to go and get the extra blond version of the convention doll, Ciao Poppy! She’s gorgeous but I do prefer the pink haired one. This one will go to my friend Maria of Habilis Dolls, who could not attend. And that is why you see her in the box.

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Then it was time for a great presentation. My dear friend (we finally met!) Ada of Papusile Mele was giving us a lecture about Manga in Doll Culture! She showed us all the famous manga characters that got made into dolls, like Astro Boy, Lady Oscar, Sailor Moon and Candy Candy, giving us many details about manga history in between. Lots of rare and OOAK dolls were shown in the accompanying slideshow. 

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We stayed in Japan with the next presentation: the story of the doll Licca, by the lovely Kazuko Hosokawa. Not only she told us the amazing tale of how Licca came to be, with lots of details and how she developed throughout the years until now, but also brought with her part of her incredible Licca collection, with the complete original Licca family a stand out. Both this and the previous presentation had the awesome Antonio Russo helping out with the translation, from English to Italian. Some dolls and gifts were raffled to attendees, ending the presentation in a most ideal way.

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Third presentation of the day was called PoppyParkerly, this time dedicated of course to last night’s star, the lovely Poppy Parker: Daniela Ferrando talked about how the 60s are perceived aesthetically nowadays through our modern sensibilities compared to how it was back then, by using the 60s contemporary Barbies and today’s Poppies.  

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The last presentation was a much anticipated interview: dear Ada got the chance to ask the talented Linda Kyaw, Mattel designer and stylist of @barbiestyle, lots and lots of questions about her career, Barbie in the past, now and the future. The questions were send by Ada’s readers and, strangely enough, Mattel did not censor them! The interview was very informative even for people who are not even doll collectors. Linda is very intelligent, gracious and kind. She answered all questions, avoiding pitfalls and confidential information of course, and, with Ada being a wonderful interviewer, the session was a blast. It was accompanied by lots of Linda designed Barbies in displays and ended with lots of dolls and other gifts being raffled to attendees.

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Linda’s OOAK contribution to the IDC auction  

Linda’s OOAK contribution to the IDC auction  

Me with Linda Kyaw  

Me with Linda Kyaw  

After a brief interval (and a change of clothes), it was back at IDC for the Cartoonia parade fashion show! Anyone interested had registered for participating in this show, dressing up as a cartoon or doll character of his choice. The catwalk was set up in one of the hotel ballrooms. The show was a hoot: participants had incredible outfits, that had taken them countless days to make, complimented by styling, make up and hairstyles matching their characters, not to mention the choreography each one had prepared for their presentation. Lots of compliments, applause and bravos to all participants for the show that everyone thoroughly enjoyed! The photos of the show below (as a slideshow) are by another Greek collector that was there, Makis (thank you so much dearest!), as my seat was not ideal for catwalk photos.

Everyone attending the runway show could vote for his favourite costume, which was quite difficult as they were all amazing! You just had to give your favourite the corresponding coupon that was given with the rest of the registration stuff.  All participants were assembled at the hotel’s stairs for a last photo op and then it was time for the welcome drink before dinner, or, as Italians call it, l’aperitivo. An hour later, we were ushered into the ballroom for the gala dinner.

Athena was the winner of the runway show

Athena was the winner of the runway show

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Me with Antonio Russo and Oriele  

Me with Antonio Russo and Oriele  

The welcome drink space

The welcome drink space

The whole room was decorated with lots of cartoon elements. Each chair around the big rotunda tables had a transparent balloon tied to its back, lit up with a string of colourful led lights. The centerpiece was a Barbie doll made up as a comics/cartoon hero by doll design duo Lantis Kelly and Catia Destro. Each seat also has a pair of sketches made by Living Plastic Doll for the gala.

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The centerpiece doll

The centerpiece doll

I had been assigned to one of the Spanish tables, table no.20, with the lovely Lionel as our wonderful and amazing host. The table gifts were all amazing and I added mine to the bunch: cute mini polka dot dresses in various colours, with matching headband bows and earrings, all made to order by my dearest friend Maria from Habilis Dolls. I already knew Lionel and José from Facebook and got to meet the rest of the table mates there for the first time, all amazing and some of the best I could have: Christelle, Fito, Francisco, Gloria, Maria, Nuria and Pepita! My warmest thank yous and best wishes, you were all amazing!

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From left: Lionel, me, Gloria and Fito

From left: Lionel, me, Gloria and Fito

Table gifts! You can see one of the Habilis Doll polka dot dresses I gifted on the top left of this photo.

Table gifts! You can see one of the Habilis Doll polka dot dresses I gifted on the top left of this photo.

After a beautiful ballet introduction, with the dancers dressed in Disney prince and princess outfits, Mario Paglino took the stage, welcoming everyone. He talked about the recipient of this year’s charity auction profits, Dynamo Camp and introduced their team. Then it was time for a speech from Linda Kyaw about Barbie, its history and its future, as next year is the doll’s 60th birthday. There was no preview of anything regarding that front, but we got to see lots of gorgeous Barbie photos, some of which were shown for the first time in public. Then Gianni surprised everyone by announcing that there was a gift for everyone, a special limited edition book (300 copies) dedicated to Linda Kyaw and filled with photos of her Barbie dolls, exclusive to the convention and Mattel approved: The World Of Linda Kyaw. A gorgeous book, printed in quality paper, with lots of doll photos! 

The dancers  

The dancers  

Mario welcomes everyone  

Mario welcomes everyone  

Linda Kyaw speaking  

Linda Kyaw speaking  

Karl Lagerfeld OOAK doll  

Karl Lagerfeld OOAK doll  

Ralph Lauren OOAK doll  

Ralph Lauren OOAK doll  

60th anniversary logo

60th anniversary logo

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Lots of gifts were raffled off to attendees during the night, including many dolls. Our table won two of them! After dessert it was time for the convention doll. No surprises here, it was the same doll that was presented in the Paris and Tokyo conventions, Striking In Stripes Barbie. She is Gold label, has the Karl sculpt and a model muse body. Designed by Bill Greening, she wears an asymmetrical striped evening dress, with black strappy sandals, silver clutch bag and matching jewellery. It’s my first official convention doll (that I get while attending I mean), so I’m keeping her.  

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Then it was time for the extra convention Barbie, the one designed by Magia 2000, Mario and Gianni. This one was based on the Totally Hair Barbie, remade by Magia 2000, with new hairstyle, make up, freckles and a spectacular dress with an overskirt in custom printed fabric (with comic related print) and a black body hugging Lycra dress encrusted with colourful rhinestones. She wears black stockings, pink shoes embellished with crystals and star crystal earrings. Miniatures of her own special box and the official convention booklet created by Roger Corbeau were included. 

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One could see the OOAK benefit auction dolls in display in a corner of the ballroom. The talented creators really outdid themselves, as you can see in the photos below. How lucky are the people that bought them! The centerpiece dolls were raffled to each table, ours was won by Christelle - contrary to IT conventions, here you win both centerpiece doll and base for free.

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After lots of fun, laughs, raffles and doll fun, we were ready to wrap things up and call it a day - there was a disco set up in another hotel hall for people that wanted to continue but it was already late and I had to catch the last metro train back to my hotel. The next post will be about the third and final day of IDC. 

Milano Centrale station  

Milano Centrale station  

Integrity Toys convention 2015: Cinematic Part III: The workshop dolls

Each year there are several workshops that one can choose to attend. Guests who wanted to do so could sign up for this year's  workshops and they got the dolls created for them by David Buttry and Vaughn Sawyers. Let's check them out.

Item # PP096
Lash Out!
Poppy Parker™ Dressed Doll (Workshop Kit)
Cinematic: The 2015 Integrity Toys Convention Collection
Limited Edition of 450 Dolls


Judging from her name, this was a workshop for lashes on dolls. Always helpful this one, for people who want to either add lashes to their dolls or repair ruined ones. Lovely doll although her make up colours are already so prevalent in this year's Model Scene collection that it's a bit repetitive. She could be the rave Mood Changers Poppy re-rooted in white.



Item # 82067
Up All Night
Lillith™ Dressed Doll (Workshop Doll)
Cinematic: The 2015 Integrity Toys Convention Collection
Limited Edition of 450 Dolls


Best workshop doll for a while (since Elise some years ago) is Lilith, for Uriah's 3D printing for dolls workshop. Love the outfit but would prefer the bib in satin instead of vinyl. Beautiful.



Item # 85103
Director's Cut
Ace McFly Dressed Figure (Workshop Doll)
Cinematic: The 2015 Integrity Toys Convention Collection
Limited Edition of 450 Fashion Figures


Best looking guy in the convention? Definitely. I have never cared for his previous incarnations in the Color Infusion line but this guy rock all the way. The white hair, the sweater, the shoes. Yummy. He's like Alexander Skarskgard as Eric Northam in True Blood.



Note: The dolls shown are prototypes and final versions may vary slightly. All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2015 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission.

The Premiere: Integrity Convention 2013 - Day I

The annual Integrity Toys convention is always a major event both for the company and the many fashion doll collectors that covet the exclusive dolls presented during the proceedings. It is also the moment of the year when important announcements are made for the company's future collections. The first day was Thursday, 31st of October, Halloween! Let's see what happened over in Los Angeles, where the event takes place this year. It is called The Premiere, probably because the new FR doll body is officially premièring in this collection (it unnoficially made its début with the exclusive FR2 Purity Dasha doll). It also celebrates ten years of annual conventions, making it even more special.


First thing to do when attending a convention is, of course, registering! Each guest received a welcome swag bag that contained a welcome envelope, a copy of the latest DOLLS Magazine and as is the norm these past few years, a doll: this time it was an FR:Monogram doll which will probably become a giftset with various outfits and accessories given throughout the duration of the convention. She is a lovely Monogram and one of the last released as the line will be discontinued.

Item # 93032
Interlude
FR: Monogram™
Welcome Doll
2013 Convention Exclusive


Although the workshops that are part of the convention are starting on Friday, the attendees received their kits upon registration - more dolls!

Item # 76012
Victorious Glamour 
Victoire Roux™
Workshop Doll
2013 Convention Exclusive


Another beautiful Victoire, fpr me one of the best released so far. She has a dress too, although usually the workshop dolls come nude.

Item # PP058
Poppy's Makeup Makeover
Poppy Parker™ 
Workshop Doll
2013 Convention Collection Exclusive


This Poppy is ready for her make up session! Simple yet lovely. Workshop Poppy dolls are usually extremely popular.

Item # 93034
Shining Star
FR: Monogram™
Workshop Doll 
2013 Convention Exclusive


Another Monogram doll! They might be discontinued but they will go out with a bang. She's very beautiful and makes me wonder why the last couple of years of this line did not have dolls like this in their collections. Sigh.

Item # 91314A
W Cosmetics Hair Care
Fashion Royalty®
Workshop Doll
2013 Convention Exclusive


This is an Elise doll, one of the best Elise releases I have seen. She has the new FR2 body like Purity Dasha and the rest of the FR convention collection. Wish I could get this one but it will definitely have a forbidding price on the secondary market.

The evening had an event scheduled in the ballroom and attendees could wear their Halloween costume! There was a costume parade so that everyone could admire the effort and imagination of the costumed members! People who had attended all ten conventions got a silver trophy from Integrity as a memento. Of course there was a centerpiece doll for the event, and this was none other than...

Item # 91329
After Tonight
Eugenia Perrin-Frost™
Dressed Doll 
2013 Convention Exclusive Centerpiece




She's breathtakingly beautiful and very retro looking. With the grey brows, she reminds me of Gene Marshall. Pity the full skirt hides the pink booties! The centerpiece dolls are raffled to their respective tables so there were some really happy people coming out of that ballroom! But everyone got a doll: there was one as a give away and it was...

Item # 91330
Nightfall
Agnes Von Weiss™
Dressed Doll
2013 Convention Exclusive Giveaway




A tan Agnes is surely a great way to end the first day of the convention. Which also included the presentation of the convention collection, coming up in the next post.

**All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2013 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission.**