The Centerpiece Dolls; Jason's Talk - 2010 Fashion Royalty Integrity Convention

The first centerpiece was at dinner on Thursday night. She is called Smoke Screen Dania Zarr. I thought it was Agnes as her hairstyle and makeup are very much like that of Firefly Agnes.

Smoke Screen Dania Zarr 2010

Integrity Photo (Exposure Adjusted by Author)

 This doll is styled in a way that's been used often on FR dolls this past year - multi-level, multi shaped and multi-styled pieces in mixed fabrics. It's not my favorite style. I don't see any grace there. I see mix and match and cute but not classy.

The Friday afternoon luncheon saw a lovely Poppy Parker "Shadow of a Smile" as the centerpiece.

Poppy Parker "Shadow of a Smile" 2010

Integrity Photo (Exposure Adjusted by Author)

I have been told that this gown is a black (dark blue?) version of the beautiful off-white "The Look of Love" fashion currently available at dealers. [Correction: The gown is deep purple and black.] Her adorable red hair and irresistible face made this a delightful centerpiece.

Integrity Photo

Friday evening we were treated to the sight of a gorgeous doll called "Provocatrice" Anja trapped inside a cage! She is extremely sought after by collectors. I wonder why. Could it be that she looks like a version of Veronique? Hmmm....why fix it if it ain't broke?
We love Veronique and she is going to be relegated to the base of the pyramid of Fashion Royalty. More on that hint from Jason later.
Is this red fabric with black lace the same as was used on the Agnes Giftset? I don't have Agnes here anymore so I can't compare.

From Agnes Giftset 2010

Successful Ascension 2009

"Provocatrice" Anja

Integrity Photo (Exposure Adjusted by Author)

Saturday afternoon's W Club Luncheon saw Elyse Jolie "Dark Swan" as the FR2 centerpiece. The last time Elyse was seen was as the convention souvenir doll in 2009. She was such a gorgeous doll, so well dressed that I haven't touched a hair on her head or a thread of her fashion.

Elyse Jolie "Blue Blood" 2009 Convention Souvenir Doll

That one had the regular Fashion Royalty body. The new one has been moved to the FR2 line.  She's wearing a little dress with a skirt which stands out due to a stiff crinoline. Her cropped jacket is double breasted. She comes with lace ankle socks, a brown rectangular handbag and very nice shoes which look better sans socks. All I can say is OY VEY.  Did anyone actually look at this doll's ridiculous hairstyle before letting it out of the gate? She sports a long, fat braid with frizzy ends. The top of her hair is center parted with one side out of the braid that's been cut shorter and curled. Did you get that?  This character went from sublime to ridiculous. There is no grace or class.  How does the train case styled, poopy-brown handbag fit in here? The FR2 have Barbie length eyelashes and underarm gripper stands.

Dark Swan Elise FR2

Dark Swan Elise FR2

The Saturday night table centerpiece is my pick for the best doll of the lot. She is called "Smoldering" and is a dark-skinned Monogram doll. Her gown is absolutely magnificent and quite obviously designed by someone who knows how to drape fabric. It is two-tone and feels like brushed satin. Just gorgeous!!! This doll is classy and graceful and I'm so happy to have her in my collection.
I wish they would have done something with her hair besides chopping it into a short, style-less do. She definitely needs to be wigged.
Someone had started a thread on the W Club board questioning the absence of a dark-skinned doll from the Monogram line. And now we have one. I wonder if there will ever be a new Monogram sculpt. 

Jason's talk on Saturday night was enigmatic, as usual. What I got from what he did say was that there was going to be a restructuring of the Fashion Royalty line. The prices would go down. Veronique will appear in that restructured line. He said they would be "growing the brand," a big marketing expression. Whatever.
He stated that there would be a return to fine-tuned details, great accessories, shoes that look like real shoes, etc. He said this last year related to the Monogram line. Why is it coming back? Where did it go? What exactly do we have now?

Alain pranced around the ballroom with a microphone to get to those who wanted to ask Jason questions.

Drawings were held for those whose winning tickets were pulled. Actually, the drawings were held behind closed doors; the winners were announced. This year the tickets had to have names on them. You couldn't just rely on the anonymous numbers which are printed on the tickets. To avoid the appearance of impropriety in the future, all drawings should be in public in front of those who spent money on chances.  This is a pretty serious issue and should be addressed.
This is not to say that the staff has favorites or resentments. Ahem.  It just looks bad.


More will be revealed.

The Day After Pittsburgh and My Workshop Experience

The blog post title sounds like a disaster movie title. It is somewhat appropriate as I haven't even gone near my suitcases except to extract my toothbrush and a doll that was packed. My clothes may remain packed for a week. I'm not kidding. It  wasn't that long ago that I finished unpacking from the Nashville event in August.
This morning I've been busy doing sales transactions. I think I may have nipped a scam in the bud. There were two confusing transactions from China with multiple addresses and I couldn't figure out who was who. Last night I refunded one of the payments and today I refunded the other. I feel relieved.  I'm not going to name names but be careful if the name on the transaction doesn't match the Paypal name and address...especially if they don't tell you up front so you have time to check. That's a big red flag!
Right now I'm uploading two videos I shot during the dance party on Friday night. You will love them!
Quite by accident, one of the videos has the band performing Jump On It which is the same song I shot two years ago and which is up there to see.
I will of course post links when the uploads are complete.
Update on Video upload - it failed. The thing took more than three hours and then failed. UGH. If anyone knows how to upload a 5 minute recording (.mov) please let me know. I know how to use a camera but this file thing has me stumped.

I know you are all waiting for pictures and reviews. I am dying to get to that. What I've decided to do is to post all my pictures from the entire event at one link. Most of my pictures identify the people shown. If you see yourself or someone's picture and there is no identification, email me with the info. Try to identify the picture by number or grab it and send it to me with the info. I'm confused enough for all of us.

Picture link will be up later. Hang in there peeps.
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I signed up for 5 workshops: Rob's Poppy head hair styling, the Design-a-Doll workshop, Alain's fireplace workshop,  Steven Fraser's art workshop and Vaughn's out of the box workshop.
Rob was supremely well prepared with a print out and finished samples. He demonstrated carefully. Most of us watched as some worked along with him. There were enough supplies to create the hairstyle on the optional Poppy head which was sold for $25. to those signed up. The Poppy body to match was $25. in the store but $30 before class. Huh? There were loads of them in the store right up to the end of the convention. The heads, however, were only one to a customer. I can't believe the prices that the heads are fetching. It's like what happened with the Madra head from the Gene convention.

The Design A Doll room was arranged like a buffet. When you entered you picked up your nude dolls.  There were four available: one AA, one cocoa colored, two white. I chose the darker skinned dolls as I thought they were the prettiest.
Then you could choose two wigs for each doll. There was a good selection of wigs.
Arriving at the clothing selection area was a disappointment. There were a bunch of cheap-looking skirts that could be paired with cute blouses. There were two different colors of hoodies but no jeans to go with them. The clothes were very crappy as were the two optional clothing packs. I've seen much better at lower prices in Fashion Fever items. There were optional wig packs which were nice. I was told that other collectors weren't able to get them because they ran out. I bought one extra nude, rooted doll for $25. When I saw a doll that someone had put together earlier in the day, I couldn't believe the clothes she had gotten. I was very disappointed that the choices varied so much. It was definitely a WTF moment. I asked David Buttry about it later on and he explained that they had to hold back items for other collectors. What am I, chicken soup? What about those of us who had that segment of time? I would never sign up again to do this because it's not fair. David also told me that there were some clothes in the store I could buy. Really? The two crappy clothing packs and the cheap stuff is what was there. The good stuff was for other collectors apparently.
Matt Sutton was available to help put wigs on for us. He combed out the two Afro wigs I chose. That was a nice touch.

Here are the two dolls I put together in the stuff I could scrounge up. The shrug on one of the dolls is from an extra pack. The  jeans, handbag and brown shoes also were in that pack with the patterned blouse. They would have been cute in 60's dresses with those Afros.
I'm sure if David Buttry had his way, there would have been enough of the nice stuff for everyone. It's too bad that didn't happen.
Steven Fraser's class was very relaxing and laid back. He talked about how anything could be art. Some of us did little paintings or used colored pencils to draw. We were given a package of die cut paper frames that are often used in scrapbooking.
Alain Tremblay and Jakki Peters held a session in which Alain displayed a stained glass mantel and electrified fire screen that could be ordered for $80 plus shipping. Jakki talked about re-purposing plastic items and remodeling styrofoam for diorama purposes. We were given a set of sturdy templates for building our own mantels from foam board.
The most interesting session was the one with Vaughn. There was an optional doll to purchase which really had nothing at all to do with the session. Vaughn hinted that she was inspired by Lady Gaga. I didn't see it but many did. What do I know?
We got to ask him questions about everything from design to creation to shipping to naming and more.
He is a really a down-to-earth, open man who comes across very honest and sincere.
There's no dog-and-pony show there. He talked about going back and forth to the factory in China to train the workers - over and over again. He talked about how things are interpreted differently and may cause production problems. It was a great session and it made me see certain things in a different light.
Apparently Vaughn was aware of my dislike for unbalanced shoes. They're reading the blog.  That's a good thing for the most part, but I do catch hostility. An attitude change from some of the Integrity people was quite obvious to me.  Maybe I don't spend enough money buying Integrity products. Hmmmm.

Reflections and Last Minute Preparations

Just about four years ago today I started blogging. My first post was on 10/20/06 and it showed my first reroot. She was a beautiful Gliteratti Veronique. I used about 4 times as much hair as necessary and chipped a tooth or two in the process as I stupidly used my teeth to pull the needle a few times. Such a genius.
When I switched to Blogger from Yahoo as the carrier of the blog, the date I switched (6/29/08) shows up in the index but the date on the post is the true date.
I made that post while the FR convention in Baltimore was taking place. We did not attend that one but tried IFDC instead that year.
There are six days before the official start of the 2010 Integrity Convention in Pittsburgh and many changes have taken place in the six years since my first convention in Toronto - not only in the event but also in my collection. It's mind boggling to think back to when I was dabbling in collecting dolls alone to now being part of an enormous world-wide group of collectors with whom I can communicate 24/7.
I think this will be the last year that Integrity will have the convention in Pittsburgh. Alain sent out an email informing us that because they will be hosting 422 guests this time, there will not be a museum room. This is going to be very interesting. That's more people than were at the last Gene convention and it was crowded beyond belief.  At one meal our table was practically in the kitchen!
My costume is ready and I am very pleased with it. My table gifts are ready and I pretty much know what I'm taking to wear the rest of the time. Rudy is ready. Bob wanted to know if, because there are so many people, they are telling non-collecting spouses to stay home. Haha.
I hope I get to meet all the people I've become friends with this year. I hope I can find them or they can find me.
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This morning George of Angelic Dreamz sent me a picture of the new and ultra fashionable Jamieshow DEMI collection shoes he now carries exclusively. They're quite fashionable. He said that he actually got the Silkstone in the picture to stand on her own. He will have a few of them with him at the convention.

Angelic Dreamz Photo

Angelic Dreamz really has it going on. George is introducing exclusive and affordable (not inexpensive) dolls, bodies, stands, shoes, wigs and more. He is making supremely useful contributions to the doll world with these items. It's not the same old tired stuff. It's new and better and different. Bravo, George!

Angelic Dreamz Photo

Angelic Dreamz Photo

Today my new Horseman French chairs arrived and I'm very impressed.  I ordered a right and a left facing chair in sage. They come upholstered in a textured solid black and a sage/greige. The legs are painted metal that look like wood. I'm guessing the back is a composite. These are for 1/4 scale dolls like the Jamieshow, Tyler, Sybarite and similarly sized dolls. The retail price is $80. each.
Horseman has filled a huge gap in this field with their 1/4 scale furniture. I would like to see more tables and other substantial props come out soon.

New Madame Alexander Alex & Paris Dolls Designed by Jason Wu

The pictures available at this time are of a very poor quality. They are lo res and very small. That being said, here they are anyway.
There are four dressed dolls - two Alex and two Paris. There is a set of accessories and the description is a little vague as to whether or not it comes with a basic doll or on it's own.

Here are the two new Paris dolls:
She looks a little like Cher.

Graphic Content Paris $149.95

Going Platinum Paris $149.95

 

 

 

 

When I saw Going Platinum, I immediately thought of the older Alex as "Gigi":

Here are the two new Alex dolls:

"Virtually Stunning" Alex $149.95

Virtually Stunning reminded me of the older Little Black Dress Alex:

"Mahogany" Alex $149.95

"Luxe Finishings" Accessories $99.95

We've definitely got signature Jason here with the short skirts and fabulous shoes. I wish the faces were clearer.
I always thought MA's Alex was beautiful. It was the proportions of the body that were awful. The head and hands and feet were too large. The quality was always superior and Madame Alexander always includes the best accessories with their fashions. Has the body been redesigned as well? Will older MA fashions still fit. We will find out.

Notice that these $149.95 dolls are complete ensembles and come with handbags, jewelry, hats. They are original Jason Wu's. They are limited editions. All good things.  
 So...
Why are we paying that price for smaller dolls without accessories in higher editions and not even designed by Jason?

Stardust ~ Saturday, June 5, 2010

Mel opened the door tonight when he said if someone comes up with a new way to present Gene, he's open. If that wasn't an invitation I don't know what is.
Today was a busy and fun day beginning with the Trent luncheon. As Alain had told us the day before, the room was originally the bank part of this historic building. It's walls are marble and the windows appeared to be at least three stories high . One of the original bank vault doors was on display and looked like a Louise Nevelson sculpture. There was a bright, airy feeling to the room which was very pleasant.
The centerpiece doll was, of course, Trent, dressed in a business suit and wearing the most fabulous black patent leather tassled loafers. Mel spoke briefly and introduced a good friend of his, Steven Hayes. Steven's presentation was a riot. He spoke lines from many different movies which were originally spoken by leading men of Gene Marshall's era. Taken out of context, these lines were hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed his talk.
The food was served buffet style and consisted of assorted hoagies and miniature cheesecakes for dessert. After lunch a few of us went with George/Angelic Dreamz to see Deneuve, the new Jamieshow doll. I was very impressed. The resin is absolutely fabulous; the dolls joints are attractive; she poses very well and looks great without clothes! The resin feels like a baby's skin. I will be photographing her in the future. I've been told that she can wear Avantguard, Gene, Alex, Cami and Antoinette clothing lines .
While many attended the movie screening, some of us went off for a sweaty, hot walk to the historic district. We gazed upon the Liberty Bell but none of us knew for sure if it was the real one or a substitute. It is worth noting that there is a huge amount of security at these historic sites and every purse and backpack is searched by gloved security guards. There are guards at the entries and exits and I assume they are armed. On the perimeter sidewalks surrounding the historic buildings are spaced concrete pillars to keep vehicles from driving onto the sidewalks. It's like living in a prison these days. Ugh. That's why I don't think it's the real Liberty Bell. It's too exposed. I remember when it was just in an open park setting and not even in a building. Of course I was just a tiny child then. LOL.
On the way back to the hotel we walked through Chinatown which is similar to Mott St. in Manhattan in that there are many restaurants and the smells are a mixture of soy sauce and garbage.
It was hot and humid but we pressed on as our goal was to get some icy refreshment at the Market.
My reward was mango/something sherbert. It was delicious. I wanted to rub it on my forehead and neck because it was so cold and I was still hot. I did refrain from that behavior, however, as I did not want to attract flies.
At the cocktail party I was impressed by the few women who were dressed up glamorously in sequins and beads. Everyone looked great!
My tablemates were very generous and gave all sorts of swag. There was a Kio wig on our seats along with the Gene doll for the giftset. The table centerpiece was a lovely Zita. During dinner the lottery winners were announced and the drawing for the Grey Gene doll was held. Our hostess won! I was really happy for April.
Back in my room, I opened the gorgeous Stardust Gene, the convention souvenir doll, to photograph her. To my dismay I discovered that her eye screening is defective. One lid is much lower than the other. I took several closeup pictures and immediately sent them to Alain with an email expressing the desire to exchange her, before I go home, for a good one. I do hope he checks at least one of his email addresses by tomorrow morning. I don't want to take home the most special doll of the convention with a noticeable defect and go through the process of waiting for a replacement. This is what she looks like:
I have several hundred photographs to upload and edit. I may even have a video or two to upload depending on the quality. Keep an eye out for future posts.
I can't wait to go home and spread out all the stuff I got. I will be selling some of the convention collection and a few other convention items but I need time to decide what stays and what goes. I can't keep it all! There's no room at the inn.

Stardust ~ Friday, June 4, 2010

Reporting live (but only partially) from Philadelphia at the end of day 2 of the final Gene convention.
Mel did say that if people were to hold a Gene party, he would come if invited so calling this the 'final' Gene event may not be accurate. He also said that contrary to some of the dioramas, Gene is not dead. In the competition room there are several dioramas (that are just spectacular) which depict a funeral for Gene and the people in mourning. In one diorama, Trent is shown dejected and about to shoot himself. These are pretty amazing and amusing as well.

Back to Day 2:
My day was supposed to begin with a class taught by Denis Bastien but, as some of you may already know, he was denied entry into the US because some nutty border guard demanded that Mr. Bastien produce a work visa which he did not have. He did not need one as he was putting on a demonstration and as far as I know, he was not being paid for his participation but I don't really know all the facts. On the surface it appears that the border guard had a stick up his ass and demanded things which were above and beyond reasonable. Denis was threatened with a 5 year entry ban if he attempted to cross the border into the US in the next few days. Unbelievable.

I spent part of the morning doing more shopping in the vendors' salesroom. The line for the official store was ridiculous so I never made it in there. At 11:30 the doors of the dining room opened for lunch. The centerpiece was a Madra entitled "Love, Madra."
Mel told the story about how Madra came to be called Madra and why a female character was added to the line before a male character. We got the second part of our big giftset and were all given an Ivy doll as well! The "Fashion Sleuth" has provided this image of the original Dior designer fashion:

After lunch I attended two workshops. The first was with Alain Tremblay who demonstrated a unique flocking technique using positive/negative electrical current to cause flocking fibers to stand up straight on a glued surface. The results are so much more attractive than shaking powder flock onto a glued surface. We got a Trent doll who had been previously flocked by Alain. Some of us had him apply beards and mustaches to our dolls. It was a fun group of chattering, joking collectors. I am very pleased with my Trent!

My next class was called Taming Her Do. We had the option to purchase a Madra head which had a beautiful mane of black hair.

The Before View of Madra

My doll came out looking like a cross between Princess Leia and Pippi Longstocking. Luckily for you, I did not take an after picture. When I got home, I had a last laugh and took out the pins and bands and rinsed out the gel. Much better.

Several of my tablemates and I went to the famed Jim's Steaks on South Street in the Waterfront District.

If you ask me, it was kind of a dive and although the food was decent, I didn't see the thrill.
The rest of South Street was pretty seedy but we had fun - especially in Condom Kingdom. No description necessary.
We walked to and visited Happily Ever After and stopped in to chat with Ed for a while. We arrived back at the hotel about 7:30. All I wanted to do was go to bed but not wishing to miss anything, I showered and changed and went down to the cocktail party. Some guests were really into the entire thing with their period fashions and poses but the ballroom was dark, very noisy and not my scene. I stayed in the surrounding area with a bunch of people and had fun.
I am falling asleep as I write so I'd better end here.

2010 Integrity Toys Debut Line of Dolls

At 5 PM EST last night approximately 400 W Club members from all over the world logged on to a webinar held by Integrity Toys for the purpose of seeing the new dolls for 2010. Carol Roth ran the event. Percy Newsome, Jason Wu, Vaughn Sawyers, David Buttry and Alain Tremblay took part.
I expected a live event with live pictures rather than just live voices and pictures. It was over after about one hour. About 6 questions were taken from attendees. The event was scheduled for two hours so I wonder what was missing.
One by one each grouping was shown. I compliment the size and quality of the images. For the first time we have been shown images that didn't try to be artsy but rather intended to display the dolls and fashions with appropriate lighting and focus.

The Event dolls are a set of two mini Avantguards, Aphrodisiac (on the left) and Androgyny and will sell for $175. That's a fair price for the two. I would have rather gotten a Fashion Royalty doll but many are pleased with this choice. They are wigged as are the original full-sized versions and are dressed in the same fashions. It's a cute idea. I think it will be fun to photograph the two Aphrodisiacs together. I don't have Androgyny anymore. I wonder if there will be a mini Goldmine. She would definitely find a place in my collection!
The Fashion Royalty Monogram Collection, in my opinion, was the winner out of all the lines. Besides the doll Brilliance, which I have previously reviewed, there is a lingerie version , two fantastic dressed dolls and another dressed doll that I will pass on. Each one is $150 except for the lingerie version which is $120.

They are Enigmatic, Incandescent, Dreamscape and Disclosure.

Enigmatic and Incandescent

Dreamscape

Disclosure

I don't like the pink gown from the waist down and that's a shame. The fabric detail on the bodice and shoulder and the cute beaded hat are lovely. I like the look of the short wig as well. The structure of the skirt reminds me of the outrageous Biltmore Hotel Gene Marshall gown from years ago. The Biltmore gown was a work of art. I don't want to spend $150. for a Monogram doll whose outfit is useless to me.
I finally found a use for Brilliance's outfit...it fits a Silkstone doll perfectly!


But I digress. Back to the debut.

Next up are the Fashion Royalty dolls themselves. They were divided into two categories, Dazzle and Foundation....whatever. Foundation would be a good name for a line of lingerie dolls.

The Dazzle dolls have 60's hairstyles and Heidi Klum type sequined dresses. They are $79. except for the Kyori giftset which is $175.

Sorry to say that Mattel did the sequin thing better.
The Kyori giftset comes with a big red ruffled gown sporting a beige bow, a plaid suit with a blouse underneath, two pairs of shoes, earrings, bracelet, ring and black potholder gloves.

Let's talk about hair. It's depressing to see those gorgeous faces under the ridiculous hairstyles. They look rock hard and are so unattractive. Adele's Afro is not to my taste either. I'd really tone it down a few inches which would still give her an ethnic hairdo but keep her from looking like she belongs in a Mike Myers movie.

Overall, the theme of the collection is a little bit of this and a little bit of that as far as fashion eras. It's certainly not like Jason's runway collections which are cohesive and relate to eachother.

The Foundation Collection
Staying Power Darius Reid and Model Citizen Lukas M., two Hommes in ill-fitting suits carrying great man bags and wearing great shoes. $139.00 each. This is not a giftset with two dolls. I have combined them into one image to save space. One can only hope that the jackets do not actually fit the way they look in the pictures.
Fire Within Jordan $139.
Jordan is very pretty and I think her outfit is adorable. I'm hoping the construction lives up to my expectations as it looks complicated. I will get rid of the pot holders immediately. I love hats for my dolls.

Tricks of the Trade Eugenia Perrin Frost $139.00
Which "trade" is that? The outfit is cute, I think. Actually I don't know what to think about this doll. I'm afraid she'll open her mouth and the fangs will come out. I am ordering her because she is so strange that she's interesting.

Private Goddess Natalia Fatale $150.
Someone is going to have to rethink the color and the draping of the fabric on that dress. The bodice has possibilities. Did Natalia's fairy godmother use the nursery room draperies for the skirt? Was she in a hurry?
Winning Ensemble Luxury Wear Fashion $69
I want the doll that is modeling this outfit. It appears to be Vanessa before the LDS hairstyle was applied. The outfit is another mini bubble skirt type dress in spring colors, a 50's bow hat with tulle, and the ubiquitous black gladiator shoes. I'm undecided.


The Three NuFace dolls below are Perk Colette, The Great Pretender Lillith and Mais Oui! Giselle Diefendorf. Each is $99.
Giselle's outfit comes with a fitted black jacket that has an interesting peplum. I think they're all adorable. The clothes are edgy eye candy. Colette and Lillith have beautiful faces. They will be mine.


Flash Star Luxury Wear Fashion $69.
Poppy Parker, the Dynamite Girls and ITBE will be covered in the next post.