Most people interested in fashion are well aware of one of the biggest on-line fashion retailers, Net-A-Porter. They should also know that the company now has its own fashion magazine, called, what else, Porter. For its launch, back in February, the magazine also launched a mobile app, asking fans to post their own photo as the cover of the magazine. All one has to do is pick the photo - the app does the rest so that you have a ready made Porter cover, with its own cover lines etc. You can also pick the colour of the logo and letters (black or white only). For the second issue, they updated the app to feature a series of Philip Treacy hats worn by Lady Gaga (she was the original cover's model). Of course, the main point was advertising the magazine: the app helped people share their covers throughout most social media platforms and encouraged the use of specific hashtags to make them more prominent. I instantly figured out that my dolls would be perfect models for this endeavour so here are the results. I am proud to say that the fashion director of L'Officiel Hommes Italia, Emile Rebek, liked the three Gaga ones (the first three below - thank you sir!).
Barbie cakes modelled after Charles James gowns
May 5th 2014 is the date of the Met Gala, this year dedicated to the Haute Couture designer Charles James, one of the best ball gown designers that ever lived. Over at Vogue they posted an amazing article about six Barbie cakes modelled after his gowns. The magazine tasked six skilled cake makers with an iconic gown to faithfully reproduce. Amirah Kassem from Flour Shop inserted Barbie into an ice cream cone cake, covered in wafer paper coated in white chocolate and painted in edible metallic blue. Penny Stankiewicz, from Sugar Couture, researched all the elements of the Clover dress for a complex construction of butter cake and passion fruit butter-cream. Michelle Doll-Olson used fondant with a chocolate truffle filling and edible pearl paint to mimic James’s emerald green silk satin gown from 1954. Melissa Torres of Cake Hero employed a combination of fondant, banana cake, milk chocolate frosting, and a luxurious metal: as she said "the dress is about the subtle play between the red and burnt orange, chocolate colours, so I dabbed tiny bits of gold on the folds to enhance the shimmer.”
Made by Penny Stankiewicz/Sugar Couture
Made by Kate Sullivan/Cake Power
Made by Amirah Kassem/Flour Shop
Made by Melissa Torres/Cake Hero
Made by Margaret Braun/Margaret Braun
Made by Michelle Doll Olsen/Michelle Doll Cakes
All cakes photographed by Grant Cornett - courtesy of Vogue.com
Tonner Doll Spring Collection 2014 release
Honestly I have given a lot of thought in posting this article. I used to expect Tonner Doll releases with much anticipation and excitement. It seems now that it won't be the case any more. With every new release, the real fashion dolls from Tonner are less and less fashion-like and their numbers are dwindling as well. Gone is the powerhouse fashion dolls of the brand (Tyler, Sydney et al) and in their place we have the "street-wise" Cami & Jon along with the time-travelling Deja-Vu. Below are photos of the fashion dolls from the Spring 2014 Tonner collection - the rest of which was dedicated to child dolls, Kitty Collier and non-fashion dolls. I am not surprised their film/comics/fantasy dolls sell better.
Party Print Liu Liu, Dressed Doll, $149.99 This is the only one I'd buy if I had money to spare. And just for the doll, not the outfit.
Party Bold Jon Dressed Doll, $149.99
Party Lace Cami Dressed Doll, $149.99. Best dress in the bunch.
Party Stripes Cami Dressed Doll, $149.99
Red Hot, dressed doll, $179.99. Deja Vu collection (like all the dolls and fashions that follow). Nice outfit but this sculpt is not one I like. Especially the bags under her eyes. She's partying too hard.
Thoroughly Modern, Outfit, $89.99
Countryside Visit, Dressed Doll, $209.99
Moonlit Romance, Dressed Doll, $199.99. The bow row on the skirt looks like an afterthought and the hem too plain for the time period and the style of the outfit.
Crisis Calm, Outfit, $89.99. Stripes again. Here, combined with checked shirt. Really?
Polished, Outfit, $99.99.
Spicy Night, Dressed Doll, $174.99. It should have been called "Train wreck". Ghastly.
All photos courtesy of Tonner Doll.
Escada by Emperis Dolls
Emperis Dolls is a new doll-maker company, in England. They presented their very first doll, called Escada, for sale, this Good Friday. It is a resin, ball-jointed 16" fashion doll in the vein of Sybarites and the rest.
Description of the doll from their website:
Introducing ’Escada’ Prima by name and Prima by nature. Stepping out for the first time in a 1930’s esque, fishtail evening dress. Evoking an image of a glamorous past. Hand finished with sequin, bead and thread detailing in splashes of pinks, golds and maroon. Walking the walk in sparkling, zipped high heels and shimmering, sheer tights that go all the way up. Talking the talk with a stunning array of accessories, including; multi brown faux fur stole, crystal inset stud earrings and a three layered gold chain necklace. Completing the look is make up that dazzles everyone, with vivid blue eye shadow that frame ’Escada’s’ piercing jade green eyes and silky pink lips that look oh so tempting. Let’s not forget her beautifully styled contrasting maroon wig, with twists and braids, subtly accented with roses. So crack open the champagne and charge your glasses to celebrate the toast of the party scene that is ’Escada’... Cheers Darlings XXX. Includes Felted joints, hard cap wig, fashions and accessories, extra pair of hands, wrist ball, doll stand and applied eyelashes.
Total price of the doll is £420.00, half on pre-ordering and half on shipment, which is late May. The edition numbers ten dolls but the website mentions that people not able to get one will be put on waiting list for the next run of dolls (new ones, not Escada).
The doll's face looks a lot like a Sybarite - I almost mistook it for one when I first saw photos of her. Her body though is a totally different story. The joints are a bit weird, especially on the knees and elbows. I know they might give excellent poseability but they are not photogenic, even with tights on.
The face paint looks amazingly well done, so does the blushing of the body.
I like the details of the dress and shoes, very opulent and extravagant. The tassels on the heels look fantastic and very scale-perfect too, as is the embdoidery.
As one can see on the website gallery, she can wear many existing
clothes from other 16" doll lines so the compatibility looks good. The
price is competitive too, and for Europeans, being an English doll means
saving a lot on customs. Best wishes to the new company on their start
and a piece of well meaning advice: next time please try to be more
original. Naming the doll after an established fashion house, ahving a
logo copying another one and a doll looking like one from another
company is not the best of beginnings. The talent is there, so I am sure
we will see better things from Emperis in the future.
JAMIEshow introduces Madra Lord and Violet Waters by Mel Odom
It was obvious that the new Gene Marshall doll line from JAMIEshow would feature the well known and popular Madra Lord and Violet Waters characters since the beloved Mel Odom fashion dolls re-appeared on the scene after a small hiatus. Today the company releases the two dolls for preorder.
Madra & Violet will both go on sale tonight Friday April 4Th at 6:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. A clock with the local time in New York has been placed right under our phone number on the top left side of the website so you can tell what time it is here locally.
The Edition sizes are 150 for Madra and 50 for Violet.
The link to shop for the dolls:
CLICK HERE - UPDATE - All sold out on pre-orders
The price of each doll is $525.00. There will be 3 payment options available, you can choose to pay 30% Down (157.50) , 50% Down ($262.50) or Pay in Full at the time of ordering. The dolls are expected to ship in two waves, first wave at the end of April and the rest by mid May. Paid in full orders will ship first. You can contact
JAMIEshow Dolls at
800-557-5939. Have in mind though that the lines tonight will be busy. You can also email them here.
Madra Lord makes her comeback premiere to JAMIEshow dolls in a Dior look, an off white silk dress with faux animal print, and a belt. Her heels are also made of animal print fabric with one strap. Her jewellery comprises of emerald green Swarovski crystal earrings, necklace and bracelet.
Her wig cap is a red updo. She also comes with a hard cap for regular wigs, and a doll stand. She is the same skin tone as Gene and Grace from JAMIEshow. All JAMIEshow dolls are hand made and hand painted in their exclusive J-Resin. Madra is lovingly sculpted from the original sculpt by Mel Odom. Madra will not be produced again. This will be her only incarnation.
Madra Lord makes her comeback premiere to JAMIEshow dolls in a Dior look, an off white silk dress with faux animal print, and a belt. Her heels are also made of animal print fabric with one strap. Her jewellery comprises of emerald green Swarovski crystal earrings, necklace and bracelet.
Her wig cap is a red updo. She also comes with a hard cap for regular wigs, and a doll stand. She is the same skin tone as Gene and Grace from JAMIEshow. All JAMIEshow dolls are hand made and hand painted in their exclusive J-Resin. Madra is lovingly sculpted from the original sculpt by Mel Odom. Madra will not be produced again. This will be her only incarnation.
Violet Waters makes her comeback premiere to JAMIEshow dolls in a satin silk dress with peplum, with an violet in her updo rooted wig cap. She wears violet strappy high heel shoes and soft pearl earrings and necklace. She also comes with hard cap for regular wigs and a dolls stand. She is the Lena/Sabina skin tone from JAMIEshow. Violet is lovingly sculpted from the original sculpt by Mel Odom. Violet will not be produced again. This will be her only incarnation
Photos and information courtesy of Jamieshow Doll USA