Fashion Royalty: Darius Reid - High And Mighty

The first male fashion doll I am presenting is the latest release from Jason Wu's Fashion Royalty Cult Couture collection: High And Mighty Darius Reid. He is an African-American male doll, the third man to be added to the FR Homme Collection (the other two are Pierre De Vries and Francisco Leon). his story card is the first to be read only on-line- the one in the box does not have the usual text printed on it.

Darius has the face sculpt of an older Integrity play line male doll, Tariq. The body is the standard FR Homme body, tall and lithe, with articulation at the neck, chest, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and knees. FR Homme dolls still do not have articulated waists, but that might be due to the fact that it gives them a better looking "six pack"! Best part of the body, apart from the aforementioned abdomen, are the hands - they even have veins!

His face paint is done very well, he has a strong and firm look. His eyes are very well designed, probably the best made eyes in the FR Homme series up to now. He has no hair, sporting the shaven head look favoured by so many African American men. It also gives him versatility, because it means he can easily wear wigs. His skin colour is a dark chocolate brown, lighter than Nadja R but darker than Adele Makeda.

His wardrobe is exceptional for the most part. He is wearing a lovely coat, supposedly velvet (FR description) but in reality it feels like felt. It has "satin" lapels and it is very well tailored (lined too), with a false single button (it has a hook and eye to close). Under this, he has pinstripe flat front pants with vertical side pockets (but no belt, a major faux pas here), a vest from the same material, which is very well made too (the satin of the back is to die for) and the white shirt we have seen before on FR men - they could have given him a purple or fuchsia shirt, or even a copper coloured one, he would have looked more edgy.

The fun part are the accessories though. He has a fedora, a flocked thin plastic moulded hat with a "silver" chain in place of the classic ribbon. It is the worst part of the outfit and it looks unnaturally cheap compared to the rest of the ensemble. Given the success of FR in making extremely good and detailed accessories, this one seems neglected. There are sunglasses - these have the same lenses as other FR sunglasses but the arms are a whole different story: sculpted to look like entwined serpents, they give the edge this doll demands. The best FR sunglasses I have seen. Darius is wearing black socks and white sneakers, nothing special there.

His jewellery is very well executed: he sports a big "silver" shark tooth at the end of a chain and a lovely "stainless steel" watch that has a secure fastening and looks very good. It is easy to put on and does not look fragile at all, contrary to the one Pierre was wearing last year. The prototype doll had a golden watch on it, which had struck me as odd, considering the rest of the accessories had "silver" tones. Luckily they corrected it on the final product. I hope they improve the hat the same way next year. See the watch below up close:

Here you can check the hat, sunglasses and pendant:

And here are the shoes - they are plain with the ends of laces inside-makes them easier to put on:

Darius is very handsome and suave. He gives the FR ladies a run for their money. With the proper accessories and outfits, he could turn out to be one of the best and most sought after FR dolls. I cannot wait to see what Jason Wu has in store for him next.

Darius is a limited edition of 800 dolls worldwide.

The missing Vogue cover...

I have been wanting to do this for quite a while. A photo shoot inspired by the multi-model covers of Vogue, like the one last May (which I want to duplicate sometime in the future). So here are some Fashion Royalty and NU Face ladies, posing for your pleasure, on the August Vogue cover that was mysteriously ditched at the very last minute for unknown reasons...and got replaced by one with someone named Winona...tsk, tsk.

The models are, from left to right-standing: Nadja Rhymes (Missima model), Baroness Agnes Von Weiss (heiress, fashion entrepreneur), Kyori Sato (Creative Director at Missima). Seated, left to right: Natalia Fatalé (former director of Missima) and Adèle Makeda (W model). All styling by Stratos, outfits and accessories by Jason Wu except Natalia's dress and accessories from Givenchy Audrey Hepburn by Mattel. Make up on Adèle by W Cosmetics, Natalia's by Revlon, all other ladies by Missima.

Vogue logo courtesy of Conde Nast Inc.

Fashion Royalty: Agness Von Weiss - Dressing The Part

Fashion Royalty, unlike the fashion dolls I have written about in previous posts, is a series of 12" fashion dolls. Jason Wu, a very talented designer, has created a coveted doll collection that, for six running years, has never failed to capture the fashion doll collector's enthusiasm and fantasy. All dolls of the many FR collections are highly desired collectibles, with their prices rising immediately after their release. The quality of the dolls and their outfits, their original design and style, makes them worthy of any fashion doll enthusiast's attention.

Agnes Von Weiss is a character created by Jason Wu for special event dolls. However, the Agnes presented here was an FR W Club exclusive for Fall 2006. A limited edition of 750 dolls, this is one of the most coveted dolls in the FR collection today. The doll was presented in a special box, with the Hi Fi Theme ribbon. This Agnes is blond, while the FR Convention Agnes was a redhead and the FAO Agnes was raven haired. She has the Modern Pompadour taller articulated body.

The doll comes with a versatile ensemble. It includes a black embroidered bodysuit with an opening under the breasts,, two black skirts from the same fabric as the bodysuit (a full skirt with a tulle petticoat and a pencil skirt lined in burgundy silk,), a burgundy sash, short black gloves, a pair of shoes (fabric with plastic soles) in black with burgundy insteps, a black bag from the same fabric as the outfit, and a set of jewellery with red crystals (a pair of earrings and a bracelet).

Included in the box was a Christmas ornament, consisting of a small faceted silver ball like a disco ball in miniature, tied with a black ribbon. In its place I would have preferred a second pair of shoes - a pair of simple black pumps. The lovely sling-backs are difficult to stay in place and can easily fall off. No complaints about the rest of the outfit, it is gorgeous. The black on black embroidery makes it very elegant and stylish. The jewellery is spectacular (although a ring could have been included here).

Fashion is Barbie Happy Go Lightly by Robert Best.

And how about the doll itself? Agnes has a very strong personality. I find her extremely beautiful and elegant, in a sombre and demure fashion very much in the style of Lisa Fonssagrives, the famous model wife of photographer Irving Penn. She also reminds me a lot of Nicole Kidman. She is not a face that will appeal to everyone, far from it. But that makes her even more special. The inspiration for her is model Maggie Rizer - and the original first iteration as an OOAK, was auctioned at the DIFFA charity auction for the Viva Glam Casino benefit. Her face screening is great, with a real expression and not the classic vacant stare of many dolls. Her hairdo is impeccable, showing off her lovely face. I do not know how versatile she can be, but I did photograph her with other outfits. Here she is wearing the FR Guaranteed Chic outfit from the Modern Pompadour Collection, 2006:

And here she is wearing the dress and shoes from Barbie Fashion Model Collection's Happy-Go-Lightly outfit by Robert Best.

This outfit is a mixed bag: silk shirt is by FR Social Call set, skirt is by Barbie

The lovely Mies Van De Rohe Barcelona chair imitation is the FR Luxury Decor Furniture Set High Definition Black Suede Couch from the Graphic Flirtation Collection of 2005.

Mel Odom & Jason Wu: Calendar Shot Gene

This is one of the 2007 collection of Genes. She is catalogued as dressed doll but with the bathing suit she really is a basic, the brunette one (the other two basics being Rouge, a raven haired lady in red undies, and Swim-Suited To A T, a blond in a bathing suit). Calendar Shot Gene has a characteristic that separates her not only from the rest of the dolls in 2007's line but also from all other Genes before her: she has a tan! Her skin tone, instead of the creamy porcelain white of all Genes, is now caramel coloured! Take a look:

It makes her look like Hedy Lamarr, or any of the Hollywood stars with fake tans pretending to be exotic women in far away places. She also looks a bit like the young Joan Collins in the 50s in Hollywood. Calendar Shot Gene (the name derives from her storyline, supposedly posing for a pin up pic in a calendar for the armed forces), comes dressed in a bubbly gingham bathing suit. This costume is inspired by Claire McCardell's designs. It has a bubble shape when worn without the patent leather corset belt.

Her accessories are more than enough for a basic doll: a lovely monogrammed beach towel, a pair of pearl stud earrings, a pearl bracelet, patent leather wedge mules (to match the patent leather belt), which have fabric insteps, and a black knit snood for her hair, tied with a black satin ribbon. When she arrived, I thought she would look lovely with the Gene director's chair and the Hot Day In Hollywood accessory set. And of course she does:

Here are some close up shots of her shoes and belt:

She has broken new ground in the Gene world and it is only a matter of time to see what Mel Odom and Jason Wu make of her in this new skin colour - many possibilities emerge. She is a limited edition of 800 pieces. Mine was a prize from a Gene Club competition and is one of the samples, according to her certificate of authenticity. She's lovely.

Tonner - Women In The Media Awards Layne

The dressed doll release of Layne has a different colouring than her Basic Black counterpart. She has thick black curly hair cascading down her back and a slightly stronger face paint: more intense eyeliner, darker brows and stronger blush. See her in close up here:

She is part of the Haute Couture dress line of the Wentworth dolls - a limited edition of 1000 pieces. While the quality of the fabrics is excellent, and the three layers of the dress are excellently made (silver "Chantilly" lace on top of silvery fabric on top of white satin)the scale of the lace in her dress is too large for a 16" doll - almost human size lace here. The finish of the edges in rough cut organza strewn with beads and pallietes is poorly done - the description of the doll said layered organza, we only get a trim. The beads and sequins are OK but are lost on the hem of the dress, while showing better on her off the shoulder "sleeves". And the major faux-pas - the dress is shapeless. It looks like an A line dress but after the hips it looses shape and due to the nature of the material, does not fall gracefully to the floor.

For a dressed Haute Couture doll she has surprisingly few accessories. Supposedly she is a famous anchor, receiving an award in a ceremony. Imagine one such modern woman going to a gala without an evening bag. Or not wearing any jewellery other than a pair of earrings with this dress - a diamond bracelet would have been sufficient. Or not having a chiffon or organza wrap to anchor the dress. Her “award” is a badly designed and made clear plastic pyramid on a painted metallic base. I would have preferred a nice silvery leather or lace covered clutch instead of this. She does get an excellent pair of silver leather strap high heels though. She wears them with tights, which is a bit strange - I do prefer strap shoes on a nude leg. See her proudly showing them off here:

And a close up shot here:

Both Laynes together - which one do you prefer? I like both the same- each for different reasons. Hope to see more of her in future releases.

She photographs well - born to be in the media it seems!