A major change for Fashion Royalty: new FR body is coming! And new logo too!

A major streamlining is happening at Integrity Toys' doll line up. Earlier this year when the company announced details about the 2013 convention, it was hinted that some exciting news would be released closer to the convention. And that seems to be this streamlining, which basically has a new FR body as the cornerstone. The last major update of the FR body happened in 2006 (the "tall" body as it is called). Starting with the 2013 Convention Collection, the regular articulated Fashion Royalty body will enter a retirement process and will be replaced by a newly refined version of the FR: Squared (FR2) body. Dolls in other brands that had been planned using this body will be marketed in the near future. 

First generation FR Body (2001)

What does newly refined mean? Probably the FR2 body will have minor tweaks and changes to either accommodate a lower price than the FR2 have compared to regular FR, or to bring it closer to the FR body type (larger breasts, smaller feet, higher waist joint, narrow waist). That remains to be seen this autumn. Also starting with the convention collection, Fashion Royalty and FR2 will be unified as one doll line, which seems logical as otherwise they would be sharing very similar bodies. The W Club exclusive Dasha that was recently released is officially the last FR2 branded doll. However, the Dasha character will now find her place in the lineup of Fashion Royalty, alongside characters like Adèle, Véronique, Vanessa, Agnes, Natalia, Elise and all of the others. 

The 2nd generation FR body, called Expressive (2005)

As far as the Monogram line is concerned, the last dolls from this will appear at this year's convention, after which time, the brand will also be retired. It seems that Integrity wants to give their main doll line a newly revamped, more unified visual image, thus making a stronger statement. Also it was announced that no replacements bodies of any type will be available. The renovated FR2 body will be compatible with all FR2 clothing manufactured so far and some of the older garments as well, although not all (the Classic Tall Body torso shape and the FR2 torso shape are a little different). 

The third generation FR body, called "The Classic Tall Body" (2006)

With all the upheaval, Nu.Face and FR: Homme couldn't remain unchanged. A refreshed Nu.Face body will be unveiled in approximately the Spring of 2014 and a refreshed FR: Homme body the following Fall. These timelines are subject to change, but that's the best information available right now. So any Nu Face or Hommes released this year will be the last of the current body type. 

The FR2 body

With all these changes, a new re-branding was deemed necessary, so here is a sneek peek of the newly designed Fashion Royalty logo. The convention collection will be the first to have a sleek, newly redesigned package sporting this new banner.

It looks classy and fashion-y, as it should, although the "metallic" effect gradient is passée. It reminds me of some well known fashion house logos, like Givenchy, Tom Ford and the new Saint Laurent branding, which is a good thing. Cannot wait to see the packaging. 

Lorrence also mentioned that it looks a lot like the Fendi logo and I totally agree:

Integrity Toys Tropicalia Convention 2012: W Club luncheon

Saturday morning: a few more workshops to attend, the Souvenir Shop to visit for those last minute items, the raffle room with all of the fabulous goodies available, the museum and the Style Lab to do some incredible creating. And let's not forget the always popular competition room. Guests could view all of the entries made by their fellow attendees and vote on which doll they liked the best. But, everyone would have to wait until the final gala event to find out which entry won.

One of the perks of being a W Club member is being able to attend the popular W Club luncheon that takes place during the Integrity Convention. W Club members had already been given a clue that a very special collector favourite character would be making her appearance at the luncheon and no one would want to miss out on this surprise. It was an FR2 centrepiece doll, none other than...Elise Jolie! Each member also found a beautiful FR2 shoe pack as their thank you gift for attending at each place setting.

Item #57024
Escapism
Elise Jolie™  
FR: Squared Dressed Doll
2012 Troplicalia Convention Exclusive Table Centerpiece  

I love this one! Elegant and ethereal, she would look great on any couture catwalk - again no tropical connection for me here (which is not necessarily bad). With the right posing, she will look amazing. The FR2 shoe pack again was really a great gift as shoes matching these ladies are hard to find.

Then it was the turn of Carol Roth and Chris Stoeckel to unveil the mystery doll to the members and everyone was thrilled to see that it was Victoire Roux. Keeping to the theme of the convention (someone should tell them that Saint Tropez is far from tropical though), Victoire sports a golden tan and wears a cute lavender fashion. All W Club Luncheon attendees were not only able to purchase the Elise Jolie doll, her being a centrepiece, but they could purchase Victoire.

Item # 76006
Saint Tropez
Victoire Roux Dressed Doll
2012 Tropicalia Convention Exclusive

Members were also given a sneak peek at the latest collection that Integrity Toys will be offering to collectors from the movies! Funny Face is the latest classic movie that Integrity is bringing to plastic! Photos and information will be coming soon! Good news there (not for my wallet) - after the success of Sabrina, the Funny Face is a natural sequel to the Audrey theme.

**All text (with modifications and my comments added) and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2012 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission.**

Nouveau Régime Tatyana

Integrity Toys FR.Squared series is dedicated to producing high fashion dolls (with Jason Wu on the helm), with couture like clothing and styling. This year's series was very close to what the line stands for. Nouveau Régime Tatyana is one of the line's three dolls, probably the most glamorous of them. Her sculpt is the one presented at last year's convention and I think here it reaches near perfection.

She has of course the FR.Squared body - elongated, slimmer, more articulated than it's regular Fashion Royalty counterpart. All the better to showcase the magnificent red dress she is wearing. Draped on the side and finished with a small bow on the shoulder, it also has a golden filigree detail on the bust. The draping is good considering the scale but I would prefer it a bit tighter on the skirt.

Check out the quality of the workmanship at the back - the way the draping ends at the zipper is incredibly made. Her outfit is completed with tights (with a back seam), a red clutch, "crocodile" red shoes with straps, buckles and golden chain, a cuff, a ring and a pair of earrings.

The earring has a single red stone on a golden setting. The clutch has a golden button with a black stone that matches her hair. You can see the cuff better here, with it's modern sculpted design. It reminds me of Elsa Peretti's designs for Tiffany. The golden filigree on white background bust detail is visible here too.

Her earrings are matched to the outfit: golden drops with red stones, they look Byzantine in inspiration. Considering Tatyana is a Russian character in the FR storylines, it fits her to a T. Her make up is bold, like all the dolls in this year's FR.Squared line (and Jason Wu's Fall/Winter 2012 collection too). Dark, smoky eyes, with arched brows, bright red lips and pronounced rouge on the cheekbones. I think this looks great on her and is almost perfectly done. Of course the whole look is finished with fire engine red nails. Her hair is gathered at the back in a big chignon and has Marcel weaves at the front, perfectly done. There were a few flyaway hairs but nothing serious. Below is a photo of her still in her box:

And a close up of her shoes:

I could not help using some of my new filters and effects on the photos I took of her. She is incredibly photogenic; it is very hard, if not impossible, to take a bad photograph of her.