Magnificent Monogram - a doll with a most appropriate name

Monograms are the Integrity Toys couture fashion dolls, wearing often designs of Jason Wu translated from his catwalk or inspired by them. Other times they are dressed with brilliant sartorial creations that reflect a higher, more unique aesthetic than that of the other doll lines of the company. Magnificent is no exception to the rule; in fact, she probably encompasses all that the line stands for: elegance, quality, uniqueness, brilliance.

I had written about this doll when the company sent out the e-mails informing us about their release, the previous photos making me drool with anticipation. It is good to find out that the doll actually is better than what you expected. Magnificent truly lives up to her name. And in her limited edition of 300 she is bound to be highly coveted.

Her face is the classic Monogram sculpt, with a brilliant make up palette of light-handed smoky lids on her eyes (which are almost violet!) and red fiery lips. Her beauty spot enhances her glamour, while her hair is swept away from her face into a very imposing up-do, framed with a plait like a halo. It reminds me a lot of similar hairdos from the late 60s and early 70s, popular with the couture-wearing ladies.

Her gown is a dream. A Magnificent dream. Spun like a Dior or Charles James couture gown, it folds around her body in a soufflé of drapes and folds and tucks, the two colours making a distinct separation of front and back, while the top of the gown finishes of in a knot on her chest. Dramatic and elegant, it is a dress that does not pass unnoticed and was a favourite with many collectors, especially after seeing for the first time, in another incarnation, on the Smouldering Monogram doll in the Integrity convention in 2010. 

The back of the gown is as good as the front. The two points of the black fabric are supposed to connect at the back with the appropriately placed hook but I started the photo shoot without it for added drama.

Above is the gown unhooked at the back.

And here (above) you can see it hooked. Haute.

Her jewellery suite is a perfect compliment to her outfit: flower shaped earrings and a matching necklace set with crystals enhance her beauty and match the gown perfectly. A ring or bracelet would have been a welcome addition. A small clutch or egg-shaped bag would have been great too.

Her shoes are strappy high-heel patent "leather" sandals, great looking but a bit harsh for a gown of this style. Classic silk pumps with flower decorations at the heel and/or an open toe would have been much better IMHO. But the fact remains that Magnificent is truly a doll that lives up to her name. She will make a great addition to most fashion doll collections.

The incredible Renegade Dasha - my first FR2 doll

Integrity Toys launched the FR2 line of dolls to offer a higher quality doll to their clients and "showcase their designers' absolute dedication to detail and refinement". One of the dolls in the line was offered only as a W Club exclusive through a lottery. As the price of the dolls was a bit high for me, I decided to opt only for the chance to win the right to purchase the club doll. During the wait for that, some of the line's dolls arrived and the comments about their quality were worrying, especially considering the price of the dolls. I won the doll and breathlessly waited for her to arrive, discovering in the process that, as the people receiving her stated in their blogs and on forums, her hairdo was problematic. And then she arrived.

She looks gorgeous even while still strapped in her box - which is a very couture box too, from matt carton, with white paper inlay, like a box containing a couture gown from one of the famous french houses. How can you keep her inside then? Off with her ties! Getting her out of the box I discovered that the FR2 dolls, having a different body than the main Fashion Royalty line, also have a different type of stand: it supports the doll under the arms, much like the FR Homme stand:

She is breathtaking. I love the contours of her face (a new sculpt just for the FR2 line, unlike the other two dolls that comprise it), greatly accented by the make up - smoky eyes and bright red lips to match her gown. Her hair, the cause of much consternation to the people that bought her, are side parted and pony-tailed, gorgeously blonde (what you see is actually a mix of shades). Although the prototype images from Integrity seemed to indicate a sleek ponytail (and her description both on Integrity's e-mail and the company website say the same) , JennFL2 posted on-line a photo of the actual doll from the IDEX stand of Integrity, showing the back of her and the hairdo completely different: a bun made of the underneath part of her pulled back hair with the rest of the hair tucked under the bun at the back. How did she arrive?

The hair is nothing like the original photo from IT nor the prototype shown at IDEX back in January (although it is really close to that). It is nothing that cannot be fixed (and people have been really creative throughout the boards and club) but when you pay that much money for a doll, these things are supposed to be non-existent. If the company itself has defined this line of dolls to be a paragon of quality and detail, then something is really wrong here and I do hope it gets fixed. 

Let's move on to the rest of the doll now. Dasha looks very elegant and haute in her red gown, which is tiered with minute fringed "ruffles" from the waist to her toe-tips, while her short sleeves are ruched as is her neckline. It all reminds one of Haute Couture gowns, especially Valentino - I can very well imagine something like this coming out on one of his Alta Moda shows in Rome or Paris. The whole thing is accented with a black slim belt at the waist that has a small bow at the back. The gown zips up the back and is lined - unfortunately in red, which may cause some staining in the future. This is one of the most beautiful gowns Integrity has ever produced.

Of course the new body type helps her pose in a much better way than the regular FR ladies. More detailed articulation and a streamlined body help to achieve nice posing with the doll. She has a second pair of hands to use as well.

Her jewellery consists of a big single square stone ring (ruby red) that was very hard to put on her finger all the way up, a lovely big "silver" cuff and a pair of red drop earrings shaped like daisies. Beautiful set.

Her open-toed shoes are also incredibly detailed: red fabric with crystal embroidery and lovely red ties to finish them off. What is missing from the set is a red clutch bag. And for this price level it should have been there.

Dasha is indeed a great doll, minus that hair thing (and some members also reported a broken arm stub when they tried to remove her left arm to put on her cuff - I put mine on the right which came off easily). Quality control is very important in collectibles and more so in pricey ones. I must say that compared to their cheaper doll lines, FR2 dolls have had the most quality control problems of all. Not a good way to start a new expensive doll line. But most of it is sold out. So what now?

The return of a legend: Modern comeback Veronique Perrin

It has been two years since Integrity Toys decided to withdraw the original face sculpt of Veronique Perrin, the first Fashion Royalty doll and the "matriarch" not only of the doll line but of the Perrin family in the "saga" that the doll story cards used to tell. There was much speculation about the final outcome, we even saw some of the reject dolls appear as other characters in the Integrity doll lines. At last it was announced that the first Veronique dolls would be sold through a lottery to the W Club members: a blonde and a raven version of the doll were released to the club members, so the cat was out of the box.

I was lucky to get a chance to purchase the raven doll. She arrived in a tight corset, garters, slip, stockings and a pair of strappy heels. Sexy to the hilt. So how does the new sculpt look?

Actually she looks gorgeous. I was never a fan of the original, smiling sculpt and had only one Veronique with it, Lights Camera Royal. I never warmed up to her and wanted to wipe that out of her face. Guess what? Integrity did just that. To me she looks like it is Veronique indeed but not smiling, just pouting a bit. Sexy and sweet at the same time. I love the pink/mauve tones of her make up - it is subdued enough to look great with many different coloured outfits. Her raven long wavy hair are fabulously shiny and hold their curl tight enough to look great without much of a fuss. Major playability factor here.

Her lace corset is great - it buttons up the front with hooks and is really tight. I like that the stockings have a wider finish band than the prototype showed but I would prefer that it had the same lace as a garnish, it would add that touch of high class fitting to a Perrin lady.

The only jewellery she is wearing is a pair of black stud earrings. The whole styling is that of a basic series doll but the quality of the corset is a bit above that compared with other similar outfits from years past. Here are a couple of shots with Veronique in a sultry mood. 

So how does she look dressed? I picked for her the purple suit that was part of the gift set Festive Decadence Agnes. The jacket has puffed sleeves with great detail, the pencil skirt has a big rosette at the side and the sleeveless blouse is two-toned. There was a bag in the gift set and she borrowed Agnes' shoes as well (she must be fuming!).

This particular outfit was picked because of the colouring - it matches Vero's make up. I love how she looks chic and elegant in it. Classy.

The shoes are gorgeous (I love the red insole) and the chain-handled bag is nice and stylish. I should have borrowed Agnes' jewellery set as well but she looked at me with THAT look and I decided to leave her alone. Here is a closer shot of the shoes. 

Without the jacket the outfit becomes more relaxed and summery and Veronique truly shines in it like the star that she is. I really like her new incarnation and hope to see her getting better in her future releases!

Regal Solstice Anja

Anja was an FR doll that premièred at last year's Integrity Toys convention. Based on the Simi sculpt, it is only natural that her face reminds people of Veronique. She was also the second W Club doll for 2010, although she arrived in 2011 to those that ordered her. So here is my Regal Solstice Anja, an edition of 700 pieces, according to her certificate. Below you can see how she arrived to me, in a new type FR box (without the ribbon) with the accessories and extra hands in a a nice holder securing the doll inside.

This doll was much discussed in the forums and blogs for her eccentric outfit as well as her totally different look than her first incarnation. The dress is inspired (or copied, what do you think?) from a Dolce & Cabbana gown from their Spring/Summer 2008 collection, as a reader of Terri's blog found out.  The major difference is that Anja's dress is embroidered while the real gown has a printed fabric (with hand painted or appliquéd flowers). The silhouette and hairdo remind me of the ones Claude Montana used when he did Lanvin Couture. 

So how is the actual doll coming out of the box? A real beauty! Her face is gorgeous - the sculpt does remind me a lot of Veronique and now that I have the new Ms Perrin doll in my hands I am more convinced that Anja's sculpt was one of the rejects for the part. I love her face paint: the combination of nude lips with intense eyes (but thankfully not overdone) is almost always a winner. Her red hair is parted on the side and gathered at the back and their flame red colour reminds me of Linda Evangelista back in her heyday in early 90s when she changed hair colour almost every three months.

Her jewellery is incredible - a jet black Victorian-style necklace that covers her entire décolletage without looking too much (cannot think of anything else save something transparent that could survive this dress) for her outfit. It is complemented by dangling earrings in the same style - mine are asymmetrical but the dolls I have seen on other sites have same length earrings (the longer one is the proper length). I think a ring should have been included to balance it our. Check out her French manicure, it is impeccable.

Her dress is a multi layered gown with the top layer in a moire lime green fabric with embroidered pink and lilac flowers in a scattering pattern. Beyond the obvious comparisons, it captures the spirit of one of the Indian couture outfits I shot for Grazia years ago. The bodice is double - the green embroidered top that protrudes to the front (crump catcher is a way I have seen this style described) is over a dark blue corset-like top with straps - check it out below.

The back of the top leaves the dark blue to come out. 

The skirt is asymmetrical - the front is shorter than the back, which ends in a small train. There are three layers here: the lime green with the embroidery, a soft dark blue tulle with ruching at the hem under the green and below this one, another tulle layer, this one stiff, dark blue again and short, worn like a petticoat to make the gown puff out better. You can see the three layers below:

 

The construction looks good, especially considering the layers of fabric and the various textures and lengths - what could have looked like a pile up turns out to be a light and feathery confection that looks definitely like it came out of a couture salon.

So now we come to the last part of the outfit, the one that finishes off the ensemble and makes he final statement: the shoes. Although the pink and blue colour scheme, the straps and the platform heel looked like a good idea, the result is disastrous. The shoes are not well proportioned to the leg, they are not cut well at the sole and heel, leaving the doll balancing precariously on them, with their points looking up instead of front. I still have not found a way to make them look presentable enough. Would have preferred a strappy heeled sandal for this.

So what we have here is a very good doll, with a gorgeous dress, a bad pair of shoes and a ring that should have been included to make this one a more rounded offering. I do not know what the possibilities for re-dressing this doll are but I bet she will look good in suits too. We will find out, promise!

Barbie and Ken split over rain-forest destruction

Barbie has a nasty deforestation habit - she is trashing rainforests in Indonesia, including areas that are home to some of the last tiger, orang-utans and elephants, just so she can wrap herself in pretty packaging.

Mattel, the manufacturer of Barbie, is feeding this nasty habit by using paper packaging for the world's most famous toy from Indonesia's most notorious rainforest destroyer Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). Critical wildlife habitat and carbon-rich rainforests and peatlands are being wrecked for cheap, throw-away toy packaging. 

Creating the future of play, shouldn't mean no future for rainforests.

Tell Mattel to stop destroying rainforests for toy packaging.