Integrity Toys Jet Set Convention 2011 Part II

Friday was a day dedicated to the Poppy Parker line (for the luncheon) and the Color Infusion line (dinner party). The final instalment of Design-A-Doll studio was also open, giving a chance to attendees to make their own doll. At the Poppy Parker luncheon, the centrepiece doll was a Poppy called Ready! Steady! Go! - a mod Poppy with long blonde hair. If she had a pixie haircut, she would have been so Twiggy.

But there was also a Poppy Parker doll handed out as a gift to all attendees: In The Air Poppy is a Basic dressed doll and looks lovely. She reminds me so much of my god-daughter!

But that was not the only gift - a second fashion for their gift-set box (Thursday night an embroidered bustier with pants was given as well) was handed out to all participants. And it looks great. From the fashion styling, I am guessing it might be a Les Shilouettes doll. Both outfits look 50s to me. People actually attending say that the plastic torso underneath feels FR body size. A sneak peek of an upcoming Dynamite Girls collection was also shown. It will be available soon for pre-orders.

The dinner on Friday night was Pucci-themed. Pucci is a venerable Italian fashion brand, famous for their extravagant and bold prints, so it made sense to have the Color Infusion line event inspired by it - and it fits the mod mood of the whole day too. Guests were encouraged to dress mod and prizes were given to the best dressed attendees! The table's centrepiece was Erin as Psychedelic Splash.

Of course there was also a gift for the attendees: another doll, Ayumi (her third incarnation so far) as Sunset Rave. Not my cup of tea but lots of people love this kind of doll so there is something for everyone here.

During the event, Vaughn unveiled a holiday season Monogram line that will be available for pre-order very soon. Three dolls in three different evening gowns, in basic colours (red, blue, green), ready to attend any glamorous party of the upcoming holiday season.

From the top we have: Fascination (red & fuchsia), Illumination (blue) and Jubilation (green). I love the green one (surprise, surprise) and think she will make a great contrasting match with my Monogram Magnetism doll. I hope I can get her. They are all on editions of 300 pieces and will be shipped late October. Tomorrow you will read about the convention collection and doll from the final day of the event.

All photos courtesy of Integrity Toys.

Integrity Toys Jet Set Convention 2011 - part I

Every year Integrity Toys hosts a convention in October for their fans, presenting their new lines, taking feedback from their die-hard customers and giving all an opportunity to get to know each other better. This year, marking Fashion Royalty's 10th anniversary, they named the convention Jet Set. Let us see what dolls are being presented there,either as exclusives or new lines (tomorrow there will be another post with the convention collection and convention doll).

At registration, each guest received a welcome swag bag that contained the ever popular "empty" surprise convention gift set box, a travel backpack suitable to stow all necessary gear for the weekend, a convention emergency survival pack (that has everything you need to survive at a convention, including doll shoes!), and a goody donated by Azone. There was a room available for viewing called the Museum, displaying several prototype dolls that have never seen before - this one must have been a big treat! The theme for the first evening's event was "Living the Jet Set Life" and mistress of mayhem Kyori Sato was the table cenetrpiece doll as "No Reservations". A very glamorous one I might say. This is probably the last Kyori in the original sculpt (my guess) since all the rest of the original dolls have been given a face lift. The late 50s-early 60s styling is great, although she should have had a bag and a pair of gloves to complete the nice outfit, which consists of a dress and a jacket.

There was also a gift doll for all attendees at their tables: Business Class Anja, wearing a lovely print sheath. She looks gorgeous - each new Anja looks better than the previous one! I am fond of green so the matching accessories look great to me. 

One of the big surprises of the evening, was the unveiling of a new ultra limited edition IT Direct Exclusive Collection at the convention, including the debut of a new line, "Les Silhouettes". In an onstage interview with host Alain Tremblay, IT designer Chris Stoeckel unveiled the details of the mini-collection which consists of two introduction collectibles, Victoire Roux, the main character, and a fashion.

People are still talking about who's sculpt is this. Most agree that it is the old Jasper sculpt. I think she looks great, love the outfits and styling but have a question: why another line that comes too close to the Monograms? Maybe this should have been part of that line. She is supposedly a 50s Parisian Haute Couture model, discovered by a couturier that has his atelier on Avenue Montaigne, but her name is Faubourg Saint Honore - the thing is both are streets of Paris that have most of the Couture and Pret-a-Porter big names boutiques and Houses but Avenue Montaigne was not a hip spot for couture in the 50s when this is supposedly going on. It became the hot spot for fashion in the 80s. The stand-alone fashion is called Avenue Montaigne and looks great. From what I can tell, the fit should be good for FR bodies, as Integrity mentioned that the fashions should fit most fashion dolls.

Integrity says that the IT Direct collection is meant to be a fun way to add dolls and costumes to your collection at a reasonable price, direct from the manufacturer. This introductory collection is done in low numbers, however the goal is to eventually adjust quantities based on demand and popularity to reach a maximum of collectors. Future editions will only be available directly from IT Direct online and at the conventions. The rest of the dolls presented in this collection were two basic underwear dolls, one dressed Basic doll and an Homme doll. The Bare Essentials basic dolls and "City Girl" feature the IT body (first seen on the Brides of Dracula Collection), removable hands for easy dressing, rooted hair and applied eyelashes, while "Backstage Ambition" features the "Homme" body.

The raven doll is called Bare Essentials Night, while the blonde is Day. Night is Dania's sculpt, while Day has  Natalia's old sculpt.

City Girl is Imogen with IT body. I do not like the outfit but the doll looks nice.

And here is the man of the collection, Backstage Ambition. He has the Count Dracula sculpt and I think it shows. I did not like it even for Dracula, let alone this one.

So this was the first night's dolls, on the next post I will feature the dolls presented on Friday.

Photos courtesy of Integrity Toys.

It's shaking! Youthquake Poppy Parker rocks the house!

As you might have gathered from previous posts, I adore the Poppy Parker doll line from Integrity Toys. The doll reminds me of Jean Shrimpton, the famous 60's model and it gives me an opportunity to revisit that era's style and glamour, while having a slight connection to the Mad Men alluring ladies as well. When I first saw Youthquake Poppy Parker at the on-line presentation of Integrity doll lines, I knew she was the one doll from that line coming home. 

Being in Greece means that I get my dolls much later than most of the other collectors do, so I see actual photos of the dolls on other blogs and forums before they arrive to me. Imagine my surprise seeing that the actual Youthquake production doll's hair do had nothing to do with how she was presented to us way back in February.

As you can see in my photos, the Poppy that arrived to collectors had her hair gather snugly at the back, curled up, with a transparent elastic band keeping it in place. I do like this hairdo but it is not the doll I saw and fell in love with earlier this year. Beautiful, yes. But different. Should I sent her back? I think one would have been entitled to do so, and ask for their money back too - it is not a slightly different hairdo (and hair colour) but something else all together. Even so, giving her back would mean no Youthquake Poppy for me as there was not a replacement. I let the doll on my desk for quite a while, until I made up my mind.

Seeing the doll, I kept telling myself "she reminds me of someone" but I could not quite put my finger on it. The prototype was pure Shrimpton for me but this one was someone else. And then it hit me: "A young Joan Holloway!" (for those who do not watch TV, she's a character from Mad Men played by Christina Hendricks). Minus the breasts though. And that was it - I decided to keep her.

The doll is actually very beautiful and she is the first red head Poppy I own (the others are blonde, raven, brunette) and her make up compliments her hair colour quite nicely. I must say that this red is actually better than the prototype doll's colour, which was a lighter shade. Pale pink lips and a touch of yellow eye shadow (the actual colour on her eyelids is much paler than it photographs) with a nice blush on her cheeks fit her to a T.

Her outfit is quite funky: she is wearing a knit turtle-neck under a one-strap jumper dress that fastens around the neck. The black and camel colour combination looks great. The dress is not perfectly made though - there are some problems with the sewing on the strap and also at the back closure of the skirt. Fishnet tights compliment the outfit, along with a pair of ballet flats with bows.

I have some Barbie Fashion Model Collection outfits (for Silkstone dolls) for years and most of them still in their boxes. I wanted to put Poppy into one for quite a while and this time I decided to just go ahead and do it. The one I picked is True Brit: trench-coat, scarf, boots, hat, sunglasses, umbrella, bag, newspaper, passport, wallet and a Yorkie (Miss Honey) on a leash with her own food bowl! I thought her complexion and hair colour would compliment the outfit perfectly.

I think she looks great in it. I know I should have fastened her belt tighter but  I was afraid I would destroy the lovely tied knot at the front (and my big fingers are no use for this kind of work). I left her own turtle-neck and tights on to give her a beatnik edge. Miss Honey was really happy too!

Here she is without the glasses. The boots slid one quite easily - her ankles are articulated so they adopted to the Silkstone shoes quite nicely. They are slit at the back so they were easy to put on. 

She looks ready to step out in the rain! I love how the hat looks on her with this hairdo and hair colour - the green tartan contrasts the red hair so nicely!

I finally decided to let her hair down, remove the elastic band and comb it out. A transformation I did not expect! I like the fact that they can be styled in may different ways but it will probably take some time and lots of styling spray! She's definitely a keeper!

The chair shown is Integrity Toys from The Dynamite Girls collection.