So what can we expect from the rest of the 10th anniversary Jason Wu doll collection?

fter the blink-and-you-will-miss-it appearance of Citrine (?) Elyse on Net-A-Porter, let’s see what is coming up next as part of the 10th anniversary Jason Wu doll collection. Each of the dolls will feature the "Elyse Jolie™" sculpt. No surprise there as Jason has called Elyse his miniature "muse". The dolls have the Fashion Royalty FR 6.0 body, wearing replicas of a variety of fashions from past collections. The doll vinyl will be that of La Vie En Bleu Elyse, who premiered the line, with the matte, velvety texture. Each of the five dolls will be done in an ultra-limited edition of 200 dolls per look and will retail for $225 per doll. Strangely enough, there was a post back in 2012 where a prototype of this year’s Net-A-Porter Elyse exclusive doll shows up (photo below) between Bergdorf Goodman Poppy Parker and the Monogram exclusive to Collette’s in Paris.:

Two dolls, one dressed in an evening look and other in daywear, will be available through Bergdorf Goodman, who is no stranger to these collaborations, having previously partnered with Wu on collector dolls to celebrate "Fashion's Night Out". One was available through Net-a-Porter, one will be sold through Nordstrom and one will be exclusive to Wu's website at JasonWu.com. More details about each doll, including specs and ordering instructions from the retailers, will be available once details are finalized with each retailer. 

Integrity Toys released photos of the real-life runway look that the remaining dolls will be based on:

Photo from Vogue Runway, Marcio Madeira 

Jason Wu Spring Summer 2008 Prêt À Porter. The model opening the show wearing this dress, inspired by Grace Kelly in Rear Window, is Iekeliene Stange, who is the inspiration for Elyse's face sculpt.  Lovely dress, one I’d love to have on a doll.

Photo from Vogue Runway Yannis Vlamos GoRunway.com

Jason Wu Spring Summer 2011 .Prêt À Porter This Is the collection that inspired the New Close-Ups Fashion Royalty Collection In 2011. We see Anja Rubik wearing a striped sweater and slacks here. I’m not sure I like the turban with this outfit but the whole look draws heavily on  interwar France. 

Photo from Vogue Runway Marcus Tondo GoRunway.com

Jason Wu Fall Winter 2011 Prêt À Porter.. This collection was his "baroque meets sportswear" one, a line inspired by a Robert Polidori book on the 25-year restoration of Versailles. Bergdorf Goodman Luchia's look came from this collection. Diane Kruger wore this gown at the Met Gala of 2011. Nice but not one of his best looks, for me.

Photo from Vogue Runway Filipo Fior InDigital GoRunway

Jason Wu Fall Winter 2013 Prêt À Porter. The collection was named Extreme Femininity and was the inspiration for the ITBE Light Strike Natalia, Red Strike Janay & Night Strike Monogram dresses. Chanel Iman is wearing the dress shown above, quite similar to those, so I wonder why pick this one again? I’d rather have one of the two pictured in the advertising of that season, with the gorgeous Christy Turlington below.

Since the first doll went on sale I have been reading lots of comments about how the dolls should have been made more accessible to doll collectors. My humble opinion is that these are not dolls made with collectors in mind. They are a premium item offered to Jason Wu fashion clients, who spend thousands of dollars to buy one of his clothes. They are not marketed by Integrity Toys or the W Club and are sold only through high fashion establishments. They are meant to commemorate significant moments of his career to his clients, many of whom are women who I guess would love to have one of his outfits in miniature to cherish and maybe display as a curio and memento. Maybe, alongside the “not suitable for children” warning, they should have added “not made with Fashion doll collectors in mind”. 

UPDATE: it seems someone has the two Bergdorf Goodman dolls on eBay. They mention that they will be available in the first week of November and have actual photos of the dolls in their boxes. ​

The seller is artsharm and the doll above is available here, while the one below is available here. Thanks to Jeff Bunn who spotted them first, posting these on The Pink Lounge Facebook group. 

All information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2017 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission. The W Club is a trademark of Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.  

Jason Wu 10th anniversary collection new Elyse doll exclusively for Net-A-Porter

Jason Wu is releasing a very special collection of dolls this year to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his human-sized clothing line.  Each doll is done in an ultra-limited edition of 200 dolls per look, and features the "Elyse Jolie™" sculpt- one that Jason has called his miniature "muse". They are on the Fashion Royalty FR 6.0 body, wearing replicas of a variety of fashions from past collections.  These dolls are being distributed by Jason's company in conjunction with various retailers and, as such, neither the W Club nor Integrity are involved in the distribution in any way. If you remember, the first doll of the line, La Vie En Bleu Elyse, was the one made for Integrity Toys 2016 Convention attendees (blonde version) and the W Club members via lottery (redhead version) way back at the beginning of the year.

The first retailer to have a doll was Net-A-Porter: https://www.net-a-porter.com. Net-A-Porter has different websites for different regions, including North America, Europe and Asia/Pacific, and they split their limited quantities (200 dolls) amongst those sites. The look is from Jason’s Spring Summer 2012 collection, seen below on the runway. Doll retailed for US$ 225.00.

Jason Wu S/S 2012, from Vogue Runway, photo Alessandro Garofalo, gorunway.com 

The retailer said their VIP customers that have personal shoppers were able to pre-order the doll through the personal shopper and preview the doll early. For everyone else, the dolls went live early in the morning on October 13th. For their European or "International" site, the dolls were up at approximately 6 am UK time on 10/13. For their North America site, 6am ET on the 13th and for the Asia/Pacific site, 5 am Hong Kong time on the 13th. They ship to 190 different countries. The dolls sold out in minutes.

Here is the text from the retailer’s website: “Before he began his career in fashion, Jason Wu worked for 10 years as a toy designer. This limited edition doll is created with high-end specialists Integrity Toys and dressed in an acid-bright chartreuse gown from Wu's Spring '12 runway show. Fully posable with a display stand, this exquisitely detailed collector's item has glossy patent sandals, long eyelashes and coordinating red lips and nails”.

While I’m really liking the doll (like Fine Print Elyse with her hair down), the dress is not wow, even though the colour is a favourite. The double layering leaves something to be desired as the bottom layer is not ruffled as the top, making it look unfinished. Same goes with the ruffle itself, which does not transfer well to this scale. The only accessories are her shoes nice but we have seen them before), belt and earrings (great). 

I guess she was made not only to channel the exact Wu Fashion but to also appeal to buyers outside the fashion doll collecting community. The stiff poses of the photos (the first one, posing more naturally, was from the club email and not the retailer’s site, so I’m guessing that one is an Integrity Toys photo while the rest are Net-A-Porter), few accessories, no fuss dress and accessories (I bet the shoes will be on the doll) make it look that way. 200 dolls for a worldwide retailer. Not easy to get. 

Love her close up but someone forgot to fix the stray hair.

Am I the only one seeing bad sewing here?

Great shoes, I hope they are already on the doll to help non doll collecting buyers.

First photo and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2017 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission. The W Club is a trademark of Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC. All rights reserved. Doll Photography (first photo) by Jayme Thornton and/or Alain Tremblay Layouts, Graphics and 3D renderings by Alain Tremblay, Marketing. Doll photos from Net-A-Porter.

Superdoll’s Gibraltar: an ode to John Galliano

On the 28th of September, Superdoll London unleashed the gorgeous Gibraltar on their customers. As usual, the doll sold out quite soon. And how could it be any different? She is one of the most beautiful Sybarites released this year. Her outfit and styling are a direct tribute to John Galliano and his Dior Couture collections of 1997, both Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. To me it looks like a combination of two gowns: the Masai inspired black gown from his S/S 1997 Christian Dior Haute Couture collection and the peacock gown from his Belle Époque inspired F/W 1997-98 Christian Dior Haute Couture collection. The hairstyle of the doll even comes from the last one. And the name of the doll? The place where John Galliano was born.

​The description from the Superdoll website.

Venus is fabulous as could be in her strelitzia Extravaganza, a late night rendezvous calls for coiffure, blossoms and very high heels.She is probably not paying attention to anyone other than herself this evening!
From the top. A gorgeous headpiece of banana yellow guipure asymmetrically sprouts from her flaming blunt red banged wig. A statement just as we get started ...fabulous!
Her eyeshadows in the spectrum of shocking green and smoke surround her eyes of translucent pistachio and blind fern with lids of unripened vanilla. Lips of fluorescent coral Macaw and beyond.
Her 1 piece frock; an ode and a nod; in electric blue sinuous silk satin custom printed with deconstructed strelitzia embellished in laser organza petals and piece d' resistance..... a beaded Massaii corset finished with a flourish of jungle bouquet. Probably not something you would wear for pre rendezvous cocktails.. unless you were a D'Royce; of course.
Venus loves twilight and loves nothing more than oozing around in skin tight satin as the moon comes out.
Always accessorised to the twenty sevens, Venus has a discreet electric blue clutch trimmed in stuff that matches her corset, opera length gloves in almost not there yellow illusion tulle, and totally uncomfortable stiletto heeled courts in magical 'just the right' blue.
Huge inspired gilt bracelets are her final accessory!
Venus knows once the beats start beating she's gonna shimmy all night long.
Could someone please hand her, her sunglasses?

Doll characteristics:
Clone: 1000 Venus d'Royce
Skintone: COSMETIQUE
She comes with the following standard accessories:
-manic_cure hands (see booklet for hand change instructions)
-booklet
-stand
PRODUCTION MAY VARY FROM PROTOTYPE SHOWN.
Price: £279.75 (Excluding VAT at 20%)

And now let’s see the inspirations... 

John Galliano for Christian Dior, Haute Couture Spring/Summer 1997, photo by Annie Leibovitz for US Vogue. 

John Galliano for Christian Dior, Haute Couture Fall/Winter 1997-98, photo by Peter Lindbergh for US Vogue.  

The goddess is here: Tonner Doll Wonder Woman in Gal Gadot’s likeness available for preorder!

Today one of the best, if not THE best superhero doll Tonner Doll has ever created is finally revealed and available to preorder. A gorgeous rendition of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, with a new 15- points-of-articulation body is now ready for preorder either from Tonner Doll or from your favourite Tonner Doll dealer. As the company website ships only to the United States, Guam, The US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, US military bases, Australia, New Zealand and Asia , the rest of the world will have to scramble to the dealers to secure one of the 500 available dolls, There was a 100 pieces Deluxe edition but that was sold out in a flash. What’s the difference? Read on. 

T17DCDD03 Wonder Woman Deluxe Set - $310.00 - SOLD OUT

16” character figure of expertly engineered injected plastic and vinyl.  The totally new body has 15 points of articulation and Gal Gadot’s likeness is captured in detail. Saran is used to create lifelike hair set off with an accurate, highly detailed crown. Accurately sculpted depicting her movie costume, the WW armor consists of a molded breast plate with a genuine leather battle skirt; her armband and gauntlets are made of real metal. Wonder Woman carries her golden lasso in a genuine leather harness.  Boots are made of detailed vinyl and resin.  Figure comes with changeable open hands, fists and gripping hands. The Deluxe set Includes, along with the WW figure, her intricately detailed metal sword, shield that she can hold and stand designed to keep her on her feet for display.  LE 100

The likeness of the face is incredible. Robert Tonner now sculpts first on a computer in 3D rendering software, so he can tweak a sculpt to perfection. We also found out that the very talented repaint artist Shannon Craven was directly involved in the process of creating the face likeness of the actress, you can read all about it in her website.  If the production doll looks exactly like this one, it will be the best Tonner Wonder Woman ever. I knew I was right holding back on buying one of their previous Wonder Woman versions.

The detail on her costume is amazing. With real metal and leather used for so many things in addition to plastic and resin, the impression it gives is that of a great recreation. Metal sword eh? Yes! Leather skirt and harness? Check. Three sets of hands to vary the poses? Sure! ​

T17DCGS01 - Wonder Woman #1 BUNDLE COLLECTION - $310.00

​The bundle actually contains the same things the Deluxe editions has, for the same price. They are just packed separately instead of being in the same box. So I suspect that the Deluxe version will have a different, bigger box, maybe made for display like the Spiderman 3 one, while the simple doll has a normal, Tonner Doll sized box. We’ll see. 

There is also the option of getting each element of the bundle separately: Doll, set of sword and shield, and stand.

T17DCDD02 Wonder Woman #1 - $225.00 - LE 500. This is the doll only, No sword, no shield, no stand included.

T17DCAC01 - Shield & Sword Accessory Pack - $50.00

Wonder Woman Sword and Shield—Both shield 4.5" and sword 7.25" are crafted in fine metal with high attention to detail. It’s the perfect accessory set to your Wonder Woman character figure.  Open Edition

T17DCAC02 - Wonder Woman Stand - $50.00

​Wonder Woman Stand—The stand base 5.5" is made of acrylic resin with the Wonder Woman logo and a black bendable rod 13" so that she can hold any number of poses. A specially designed gripper keeps her secure no matter what the pose! Open Edition.

If you order separate sets of the weapons or the stand, there is a limit of six per order. So what are you waiting for! Run!

Oh, and do you know what is on the way! Look at a sneak peek from Tonner Doll official Facebook page:

All photos courtesy of Tonner Doll Company. 

Christian Siriano shrinks some of his most famous dresses to Barbie’s size

Christian Siriano, probably the only Project Runway alumnus who has made a name for himself, is the latest designer to collaborate with Mattel​: he translated some of his most famous dresses in Barbie size. Known for his inclusiveness, he did not shy away from using every available Barbie body type and different skin colours for the dolls wearing his one of a kind creations. The five ensembles are below.

Four of them were worn by famous stars on the red carpet or for a photo shoot, while the fifth one is from one of his latest collections. Let’s check them out one by one.

First Up,is the red number he did for Leslie Jones, when no one else would give her a gown to wear for the Ghostbusters premiere in July 2016. Siriano graciously accepted to dress her and wou can see the real outfit below the doll photo. Pity thatbthe Doll does not have the same jewellery or bag Ms. Jones was wearing. It is an OOAK doll people, pile it on! Jones photo from Elle UK.

Next is a gown worn by Sarah Jessica Parker for a photo shoot with Marie Claire. Boring does not even begin to describe it. She was photographed by Tesh for the US edition in September 2011 and it was also in many international editions of the magazine that Fall, making the cover in South Africa and Hungary. Parker photo from Siriano’s website.

The third dress is again a red carpet appearance. The actress Sarah Hyland wore it at the 2014 Emmy Awards. It reminds me a lot of Mizrahi outfits but without the chutzpah. Hyland photo by Peoples Choice.

The fourth outfit looks like a variation of the previous one, different skirt colour and material. This is the most recent one, from the designer’s 2018:resort collection. Fashion photo courtesy of Christian Siriano.

And last, but not least, anothervred caret outfit. This one was worn by Solange Knowles at a gala during Art Basel 2016. Easily the best of the bunch, both in Doll and human size.

Apart from the Solange outfit, the rest look like something any little girl can do with fabric scraps found at home. No design, no shape, no style. It does not help that the real fashions on which the doll clothes are based are devoid of any kind of style or inspiration themselves. Simplicity is hard to design and even harder to translate to doll size.

All doll photos courtesy of Mattel.