Picture of the Week Award ~ December 13, 2009

I've seen the name La Pierle many times connected with beautiful and trendy doll fashions. What I didn't know was that this same person is an accomplished photographer and Photoshop user. Her real name is Valerie Humbert-Deshayes and she is a free-lance textile designer. Her photography and fashion design demonstrate and echo her passion for textures and fabrics.

Valerie's native language is French but her English is excellent compared to my French. She described the image and fashion to me and gave me permission to reword her description. The part in quotes are her words.

Valerie obtained the embroidered tulle with irridescent beads and mother of pearl sequins from her Indian textile supplier. She wanted something transparent and light even though the fabric is quite heavy due to the beading. Once she had the fabric the style of the dress came easily.
The idea behind the image's mood is "inspired by the magic of Christmas. Salvation is the concept that other higher power, as part of Divine Providence, saves Humanity from spiritual death or eternal damnation by providing for them an eternal life."

Post processing was done in Photoshop through the use of multiple layers and lots of skill!

You can see more of La Pierle's work at Etsy and Flickr. 

Congratulations, Valerie, on the Picture of the Week Award.

Happy Chanukah to Everyone

May your days shine brightly and may your hearts be filled with warmth.

Celebrity Doll - Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie was an Olympic ice skating champion from Norway. With her blonde girl-next-door looks and athletic abilities, she became a natural for the cinema and starred in several motion pictures in the 1930's and 40's.

Given her prominence and popularity (it's said that at the height of her acting career, she was one of the most highly paid actresses in Hollywood), it was natural that a doll was made in her likeness. In 1939, Madame Alexander released the Sonja Henie doll (a few years after Ideal released Shirley Temple and around the same time that the Deanna Durbin doll was released.)

Sonja Henie is an all composition doll with blonde curly hair and brown sleep eyes. She was available with several skating outfits, and also came with skiing outfits and skis. Sonja Henie dolls range from 14 to 21 inches tall, with the smaller sizes having a twist waist. Her toothed smile and dimples give her face a soft appearance, and her face mold was used for other dolls including a bride doll and some WW2 military dolls. Arranbee also made a Sonja Henie doll with the Nancy Lee head mold.

My Sonja Henie is 18 inches tall. She wears a skating outfit that I haven't been able to identify, new ear muffs, and her skates are original. Her wig is a soft mohair wig. My doll is marked MADAME ALEXANDER SONJA HENIE on the back of her head.

I love these old celebrity dolls. They're great reminders of days gone by.