The Bergdorf Goodman Jason Wu 10th anniversary dolls sell out just as expected

The next chapter in the saga that is the Jason Wu 10th anniversary doll collection unfolded pretty much like the previous one, with the dolls selling out fast and doll collectors frustrated about getting them. Bergdorf Goodman had two dolls dressed in outfits picked from Jason’s collections, while we still don’t know which retailer will have the last one. Let’s check them out.

From the Bergdorf Goodman website:

Jason Wu 10th Anniversary Collection Doll with Long Skirt

• Available exclusively online.
• Jason Wu doll from the 10th Anniversary Collection.
• Features sequined bodice and full skirt with slit.
• Accessories include fascinator and pumps.
• Approx. 14"H.
• Imported.

This item is not available.

BGF18_W0GUJ

Much better than her Net-A-Porter sister, this doll has a gorgeous gown but unfortunately that’s it. No jewellery, no bag, which one would expect in a $225 doll. The shoes have great detail at the heels and the top of the gown is embroidered net with nice detailing even though it’s quite different from the original. I love her make up and hairstyle. The veil did not translate well in doll size though. Easily the best anniversary doll so far.

And the real life gown? 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. 

Photo from Vogue Runway Marcus Tondo GoRunway.com

From the Bergdorf Goodman website:

Jason Wu 10th Anniversary Collection Doll with Trousers

• Available exclusively online.
• Jason Wu doll from the 10th Anniversary Collection.
• Features striped sweater and navy trousers.
• Accessories include turban, belt, shoes, and shoulder bag.
• Approx. 14"H.
• Imported.

This item is not available.

BGF18_W0GUK

I’m not crazy about this outfit. Wide pants do not look good on dolls with this kind of fabric and the turban looks awful. No jewellery again but there’s a bag at least. Nice shoes with lovely detail. No close up of the doll but she’s nice and I love the short sleek hairstyle. She would look great in a tuxedo. 

Let’s remember the real life outfit this came from. 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.

Photo from Vogue Runway Yannis Vlamos GoRunway.com

There’s a small paragraph about Jason at each doll listing

 About Jason Wu:After interning for Narciso Rodriguez, designer Jason Wu launched his own collection in 2006. He immediately landed on the radar of fashion's elite, who lauded his clean and sophisticated aesthetic. New York-based Jason Wu, a native of Taipei who has also lived in Vancouver and Paris, creates refined American sportswear while playfully mixing Old World and modern elements with dashes of color and feminine combinations. He won the 2010 Swarovski Award for Women's Wear at the CFDA Fashion Awards.

Third W Club doll ready for preorder- Poppy Parker Golden Holiday

W Club members were notified yesterday about the third doll of the five club exclusives​ for this year. It’s a Christmas doll that will be delivered next year, something that had some people grumbling. In order to be ready for the holidays though, she should have been presented for preorder in the summer, not the most conducive season for Christmas shopping. Let’s see the doll and the Christmas tree accompanying her.

​Item # PP114

Golden Holiday

Poppy Parker™ Dressed Doll

The Swinging London Collection

2017 W Club Exclusive

​Item # PP114A

MOD HOLIDAY TREE ACCESSORY SET

The Swinging London Collection

2017 W Club Exclusive

Edition Size:TBA

Estimated Arrival:Late Winter - Spring 2018

Doll Only: $125.00 US + S & H

(Limit of one per W Club membership)

Exclusive Mod Tree Set Only: $25.00 US + S & H

Pricing:(No pre-order limit on the tree sets).

SPECIAL OFFER PRICING!

Pre-order the doll and one tree and save $5 on the bundle.

Special Package Deal Price: $145.00 US +S & H

PRE-ORDER PERIOD ENDS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22ND, 2017 AT NOON EASTERN TIME.

Doll Tech Specs:

Head Sculpt:Poppy Parker™

Body:Poppy 1.5

Foot Sculpt: Traditional Poppy Feet with Articulated Ankles

Skin Tone:FR White

Hair Color:Vibrant Brunette

Eyelashes:Yes, Hand-applied

Quickswitch:No

Poppy Parker is a 12-inches tall doll and completely articulated, with fully rooted hair and hand-applied eyelashes. She comes dressed in a slim-fit, floor length white and gold gown, complimented by long triangular chandelier earrings that match the "pyramid" pattern on her dress. Poppy also comes with open-toe heels, three bracelets, a golden clutch purse and three holiday gift boxes. For adult collectors ages 15 and up only. This doll cannot stand alone; a doll stand is included.

This is a set designed by David Buttry in collaboration with Alain Tremblay, who probably did the dress print, the boxes and the tree. I like the doll (the dress not so much), she reminds me a little of Bergdorf Poppy, if she plucked her eyebrows. I am tempted but my wallet is empty so I probably will not get her. Why are the earrings huge? Even accounting for the exaggeration of everything in the 60s, they still look too big and distracting on her. Interlocking stars made of wire would have looked much more fitting. 

You can see the inspiration for the dress in the photograph above. It is from a 1966 French fashion magazine editorial and the description is, in French,  “robe longue recouverte de losanges dorés ( Marc Doelnitz )”, which translates in long dress covered in golden triangles by Marc Doelnitz. Who was Doelnitz? A French actor, costume designer, decorator and producer, friend of Juliette Greco, who apparently dabbled in commercial clothing as well. You can see the blog post I got the photo from here, with the entire editorial and many fashions that would look swell on Poppy and friends.

Note: The doll and the tree are sold separately. The miniature gift boxes are included with the doll, as pictured. Please note that the doll pictured in the photo is a prototype and as always, final production colors and textures may vary slightly.

All doll photos 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. POPPY PARKER and all other character marks followed by ™ or ® are trademarks of Integrity Toys, Inc. Chesapeake City MD USA 21915. All rights reserved. The W Club is a trademark of Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.

Doll Photography, Layouts, Graphics and 3D renderings by Alain Tremblay, Marketing.

Tonner Doll presents its first Outlander doll for Metrdolls “A Novel Romance” luncheon

Fans of the Outlander series have been anxiously awaiting for the Tonner Doll recreations of the protagonists  Claire and Jamie dressed in their gorgeous Terry Dresbach costumes. The first doll in the series was presented as the souvenir doll in this year’s Metrodolls luncheon, appropriately named “A Novel Romance”.  

This is the Garden Encounter Claire doll. It’s from a scene in the fifth episode of the second season of the series, when Claire and Jamie attend a horse auction in Versailles with king Louis XIV of France. I am a huge fan of the series and it’s costume designer, Terry Dresbach, who keeps on producing one after another of gorgeous costumes for the series protagonists and especially Claire, portrayed by actress Caitriona Balfe. 

Terry Dresbach wrote in her blog the story of discovering the fabric:

 “What the hell was this?? What could I do with it. It was amazing, outrageous and so over the top, I wasn’t sure it could be a dress. It was an extraordinary woven fabric. But I was pretty sure I was going to buy it and figure out later what to do with it. But there was 12 yards, and we need 15.  I could pick up one of the colors and make a petticoat, but that still wasn’t quite enough. While it was spread across the table and I kept saying to Ron, “it’s incredible, right, is it too much??”, and the poor man has no way to answer, so he just agrees. A customer walks by and stops, “that is amazing fabric, have you ever seen a show called Outlander? That looks like a fabric they would use!” I said, “yes as a matter of fact, I’m the Costume Designer on Outlander.” She was somewhat flabbergasted, and then said, “Do you know the guys who runs it? He did my other favourite show, Battlestar Gallactica.” “You mean this guy?” I asked, pointing to Ron. It was too much, I thought she might faint (kidding).

I bought the fabric, obviously. I sat with it for a few weeks and finally decided that Claire would wear it. It felt like a 1940s chintz and fit into my overall scheme. Or it would be a riff on these fabrics from the mid 18th century”.

From Access Hollywood:

 "It's a great dress. I adore it. That's Caitriona's favorite gown," Dresbach said of the gorgeous costume.

"It's really spectacular. That fabric is actually woven. Those flowers are woven and that was a fabric I found at Britex Fabrics in San Francisco, my favorite store, so I always plug them. And I had no idea what I was going to do with it when I saw it because it's an outrageous, outrageous fabric. … I had that fabric before I had that idea of making Claire's costumes have a 1940s feel to them, so that then when I circled back to make this costume I knew that this fabric was perfect because it is almost -- for lack of a better description -- it almost looks like curtain fabric from the late '40s with those big flowers on it, so it was a very out-of-the-box choice, but really spectacular. I mean, she just looks amazing in this costume," Dresbach said.

Claire's outfit is given an additional pop of color with elegant gloves, which Dresbach said can be described as "a real butter yellow."

"Real butter is actually this sort of marigold color that you see a lot of in the 18th century French paintings. Every costume that I do for Claire is trying to weave in elements of both the 18th century and the 20th century so that you have a sense that she could have had that fabric, or she was standing in a dressmakers at some point going, 'I want that, and I want that, but put it together this way,' so that we end up with a kind of look that she has that's so distinctive."

First let’s talk about the doll. She does remind me of Caitriona Balfe as Claire but her jaw s a bit too pronounced, a thing that often happens with Tonner dolls. She is beautiful and has a hint of that otherworldly beauty that Balfe has. Can’t wait to see the Red Dress version.

And what about the dress? Hmmmm. Let’s start from the top. The hat colour is so wrong. The original hat is not dark brown but has a more natural sisal colouring to it. It also curves downwards and not upwards. It is also doubled with draped fabric underneath as one can see in a photograph of the outfit displayed at Saks 5th Avenue.

As much as I can see on the badly lit promo shots, the colouring and design of the dress do try to recreate the human sized costume...BUT! The pattern of the woven flowers is difficult to emulate but it’s close enough, albeit with fewer flowers than the original one, obviously for cost cutting. The pleats and draping of the skirt at the back of the doll dress leave a lot to be desired.  Not to mention the unsightly back fastening, which is also inappropriate for the period and is nowhere to be seen on the original - adult dresses of the period always fastened at the front.

Sketch by Terry Dresbach for Outlander  

The seams of the sleeves cut the flower pattern, something not happening on the original outfit, where they fall precisely between the pattern. The overall shape of the dress will probably need a lot of attention and fuss to come close to its inspiration. This does not bode well for the red dress, which has an even more expansive and draped/pleated skirt. And these are not cheap dolls mind you. It’s unfortunate that they only got the yellow “dishwashing” gloves right. 

UPDATE: Tonner Doll published proper photos of the doll on their Instagram. The skirt looks a bit better regarding the pattern density but all my other observations still stand. In one of the two photo collages, you can see the shoes peeking from beneath the skirt.​

That back closure is so wrong...but they seem to have fixed the curve of the hat...

...even though it looks again wrong in the close up.  

Superdoll Sybcon 2017 in England: The Vanity Case

The 2017 Sybarite Convention was held this past weekend at Oakley Court Hotel in Windsor, UK by Superdoll. Once again, they presented a dazzling array of dolls to attendees. The convention was named The Vanity Case and the styles varied from Mugler inspired corsets with rear view mirrors to Louis XV era crinolines and frou frous. Horses made their appearance (doll sized of course) and the end marked the return of two old sculpts, Inque and Voltaire.

Mugler inspired corsets with rear view mirrors. 

Lucius

Tempest  

The convention doll was named Windsor and was dazzling. 

Windsor even had a visor

Sybarites riding horses made for 5 centerpieces for the lucky few who managed to get them. Shown here are the convention doll Windsor and companion doll Vienna.

Voltaire and Inque made a comeback as a gift set.

Photos courtesy of Superdoll Collectables, London.

Fashion Fairytale: Integrity Toys 2017 Convention part 7 - final gala and convention doll

The final gala of the convention took place on Saturday evening, with everyone present. The table centerpiece was an Adèle Makéda doll, standing amidst a set of acrylic mountains and channeling the Snow Queen. Attendees also received the final component to complete the "Build-a-Giftset" Nadja Rhymes; a pink little dress.

The winners of the convention design competition were announced:

Diorama Design Competition:

People's Choice: Jeanette Howard

Judge's Choice: Kelly Rinaldi

Doll Design Challenge:

People's Choice: Dal Lowenbein

Judge's Choice: Dal Lowenbein

Dal Lowenbein winning doll, photo Dal, hair realization by Dennis Allen Beltrán

Dal Lowenbein winning doll, photo by Dennis Allen Beltrán

Congratulations to all winners! Unfortunately Dal’s doll will not go into production next year, even though it is a very imaginative take on the White Rabitt from Alice In Wonderland. The doll that will will be the one winning the international design competition through the W Club.

Then, the winners of the OOAK dolls designed by Integrity Toys design team for the raffle room were picked. The dolls, not all inspired from actual fairytales, were (photos by super talented Ginny Liezert):

- #82097 Rayna Ahmadi Sirena (The Little Mermaid) designed by Jessy Ayala

- Constance & Constance Wicked Duet (Cinderella Sisters) designed by Chris Stoeckel 

- Misaki Just Right (Goldilocks) designed by Mark Tinkey

- Agnes & Elise Feast For The Eyes (Lil Miss Muffet and the Spider from the nursery rhyme) designed by Vaughn Sawyers 

- Poppy Parker A Midsummer Dream (Titania, Shakespeare’s Queen Of Faery) designed by David Buttry

- Nadja Bow Down (Queen of the Damned from the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles novel of the same name) designed by Jessy Ayala

- AA Eugenia Sweet Pea (Princess and the pea) designed by Vaughn Sawyers 

Most of these dolls were gorgeous, with the best being Nadja, giving off a strong Rihanna vibe. After that, the host city of next year's convention was unveiled, which will be Portland, Oregon, meaning the convention going west coast after many years.
Finally, special guest designer Jason Wu came on stage to unveil the eagerly awaited convention doll, Elyse Jolie channeling Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. 

Item # 91430

Frosted Glamour

Adèle Makéda® Dressed Doll

The Fashion Royalty® Collection

The 2017 Integrity Toys Convention: Fashion Fairytale

Gala Dinner Event Centerpiece Doll

Edition Size: 420 Dolls

A gorgeous silver haired Adèle as the Snow Queen! I would have preferred to have seen her as the Convention Doll though, it is about time that a company that prides itself on diversity in its product has an AA doll as the main star, no? From photos of attendees, her shoes are silver glittery sandals. A great doll. Of course the dress is similar to the one worn by Tilda Swinton as the White Witch in The Chronicles Of Narnia first film.

Tilda Swinton In costume as The White Witch Of Narnia. Photographed by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue magazine  

Item # 82090C

Sweet Dreams Welcome Multi-Part Giftset

Nadja Rhymes™ Dressed Doll

The NU. FACE Collection

The 2017 Integrity Toys Convention: Fashion Fairytale

Build-a-Giftset Part C (Outfit)

Edition Size: 600 Outfits

This is the last piece of the puzzle that was the Sleeping Beauty Nadja gift set. A pink short dress to compliment the blue one she arrived with. I did expect a gown as the second outfit though. 

Item # 91429

Malefique

Elyse Jolie™ Dressed Doll

The Fashion Royalty® Collection

The 2017 Integrity Toys Convention: Fashion Fairytale

 Official Convention Doll

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

Yet another Elyse this year. I know the anniversary ones are really rare but it does seem too many anyway. This one looks like a mishmash of many things: we have seen a really similar gown in a previous convention Giselle. Her green eyes and fuchsia lips remind me of the workshop Elyse of years ago and her hair channels Midnight Star Elyse. The jewellery are similar to Versailles Veronique’s. All this plus the purple hair leaves me a bit cold, even though I love the sculpt. I still think Adèle should have been the convention doll, either as Maleficent or as the Snow Queen. 

Overall, for me, this was not a top notch convention dollwise, as was for example last year’s Supermodel one. I expected more imaginative interpretations of fairytale characters. The fact that most were derived from Disney versions of them only lessened the effect. Original fairytales make up a fantastic world that has a lot to offer and here we saw only a glimpse of them, with occasional flashes of great inspiration. It did not help of course that earlier in the year the company had showed such a strong group of collections on its main lines. Which is exactly the opposite of what happened last year. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Note: all dolls pictured in these photos are prototypes; final colors and textures may vary slightly. All photos 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 by Jayme Thornton and/or Alain Tremblay, unless otherwise stated. Layouts, Graphics and 3D renderings by Alain Tremblay, Marketing.