Integrity Toys Luxe Life 2018 Convention - welcome dinner

As customary for the first day, a welcome dinner was held at the hotel hosting the convention. The ballroom was decorated by Alain Tremblay and there were two new dolls for the attendees: the centerpiece and a gift doll. Both dolls were designed by Jason Wu.

Item # 91452

Walking On Gold

Adèle Makéda® Centerpiece Doll

The 2018 Integrity Toys Convention: Luxe Life

Edition Size: 450 Dolls

Beautiful Adéle but reminiscent of older centerpiece Adéle dolls. What’s with the short bubble dresses this year? Not enough Lacroix in the world darling. 

Item # 91455

Luxuriously Gifted

Natalia Fatalé™ Giveaway Doll

The 2018 Integrity Toys Convention: Luxe Life

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

Same hairstyle and face up as Eugenia but in different colours. I don’t like pink and purple on eyes, they make them look bruised. Great jacket. 

Note: All dolls pictured in these photos are prototypes; final colors and textures may vary slightly. All text and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2018 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.Layouts and graphics by Alain Tremblay, Marketing

IFDC 2018 - four new Poppy Parker dolls unveiled!

The IFDC convention took place from 27 till 30 of June 2018 in Las Vegas. This year, as usual, Integrity Toys made the convention and companion doll’s as well as the centerpiece plus one more IT Direct doll- and they were all Poppy Parker dolls! They were unveiled late Saturday night by the company team, another small collection created by the talented David Buttry. Every attendee also received a table gift from Integrity Toys, an exclusive Poppy scaled guitar designed just for the event. The four dolls make a very coherent group, all hippie themed, appropriately enough for the psychedelic theme of the convention. I like the variety of skintones and styles, even though a Darla with a big afro would have looked better than another black Poppy. They have different feet between them, the first has the high heeled foot, while the rest of them have the articulated foot to better match their shoe style. Always remember that lower legs are interchangeable and can pop out to be replaced with another type, if you desire. Regarding the new hand sculpts introduced for this collection: meh. They have no use than maybe one or two poses and that’s it. Plus they do not look as realistic as her normal hands, but more cartoony and almost weirdly squished. What do you think?

Since the number of dolls made is larger than the attendees, the remainder is to be available through lottery to W Club members only. So if you are not a member, you will have to try the secondary market for them. The lottery will be held approximately in ten days and members have until the 25th of July to pay the dolls. Let’s see the dolls that were presented.

Item # PP133

Free Spirit

Poppy Parker™

2018 IFDC IT Direct Exclusive Doll

Approx. Ship Date: In-stock, ships once the lottery winners have paid

Retail: $160.00 + Shipping

Edition Size: 500

Head Sculpt: Poppy Parker

Body Type: Poppy 1.5

Foot Sculpt: Industry high heel foot

Skin Tone: FR Black

Hair Color: Black/brown mix

Eyelashes: Yes, hand-applied

Quickswitch: No

Included:

• 12" fully articulated doll with fully rooted hair and hand-applied eyelashes
• Fashion (Bell bottom low-cut jeans, paisley printed cropped-top with lace-up detail and bell sleeves)
• Cork sandals
• Faux-suede purse with fringe detail
• Jewelry set (necklace, earrings and ring)
• Large brimmed hat
• Pair of regular hands
• Alternate "peace sign" hand
• Alternate "I love you sign" hand
• Doll stand

I like this one, although, as mentioned earlier, a Darla with a huge afro would have looked better for me. Doll and outfit are great and would make a nice addition to the collection. Love the hat, it is very Jacquemus and will match other summer styles well. I’m still undecided about which doll I will enter the lottery for, but this one is ahead at the moment.

Item # PP132

Peace of My Heart

Poppy Parker™

2018 IFDC Companion Doll

Approx. Ship Date: In-stock, ships once the lottery winners have paid

Retail: $160.00 + Shipping

Edition Size: 500

Head Sculpt: Poppy Parker

Body Type: Poppy 1.5

Foot Sculpt: Industry articulated foot

Skin Tone: Japan

Hair Color: Auburn

Eyelashes: Yes, hand-applied

Quickswitch: No

Included:

• 12" fully articulated doll with fully rooted hair and hand-applied eyelashes
• Fashion (Empire waist, pleated chiffon mini-dress)
• Knee-high lace-up sandals
• Sunglasses
• Faux-leather shoulder purse
• Jewelry set (peace sign necklace, hoop earrings and "mood" ring)
• Large sun hat
• Pair of regular hands
• Alternate "peace sign" hand
• Alternate "I love you sign" hand
• Doll stand

A beautiful girl with lovely colouring and a cute outfit. The hat and sandals are again great. I’m a bit on the fence for this one as I already have the Swinging London Poppy that has the same hairstyle but more intense red hair and paler make up. Hmmmm...

Item # PP130

Time of the Season

Poppy Parker™

2018 IFDC Centerpiece Doll

Approx. Ship Date: In-stock, ships once the lottery winners have paid

Retail: $160.00 + Shipping

Edition Size: 350

Head Sculpt: Poppy Parker

Body Type: Poppy 1.5

Foot Sculpt: Industry articulated foot

Skin Tone: FR White

Hair Color: Light blonde

Eyelashes: Yes, hand-applied

Quickswitch: No

Included:

• 12" fully articulated doll with fully rooted hair and hand-applied eyelashes
• Fashion (long-sleeved printed satin dress and fringed faux-suede vest)
• Pink fishnet stockings
• Kitten-heel faux-suede shoes
• Jewelry set (earrings and ring)
• Pair of regular hands
• Alternate "peace sign" hand
• Alternate "I love you sign" hand
• Doll stand

This was the centerpiece doll so her edition is the smallest, only 350 dolls. I’m not entering for this one, the dress print reminds me of a couple of previous dresses and her colouring matches a couple of my Poppies too. Easy pass.

Item # PP131

Summer of Love

Poppy Parker™

2018 IFDC Souvenir Doll

Approx. Ship Date: In-stock, ships once the lottery winners have paid

Retail: $175.00 + Shipping

Edition Size: 500

Head Sculpt: Poppy Parker

Body Type: Poppy 1.5

Foot Sculpt: Industry articulated foot

Skin Tone: Hungarian

Hair Color: Ash blonde mix

Eyelashes: Yes, hand-applied

Quickswitch: No

Included:

• 12" fully articulated doll with fully rooted hair and hand-applied eyelashes
• Fashion (cream colored maxi length lace dress with halter-top and waist wrap)
• Lace-up sandals
• Flower-covered head piece
• Handbag
• Jewelry set (earrings and bracelets)
• Pair of regular hands
• Alternate "peace sign" hand
• Alternate "I love you sign" hand
• Doll stand

If her hair colour was darker, she’d be a dead ringer for Lana Del Rey, flowers on the head etc.  She’s beautiful and has the Hungarian skintone that makes her different from blond Poppies with pale make up I have. Her earrings and bag are gorgeous. I’m not crazy about the dress though and the braids in her hair mean less versatility. 

As I mentioned earlier, all IFDC attendees received an exclusive bonus souvenir gift, a 60's themed guitar designed to fit with this quartet of dolls. This accessory is not available online,but  there's a picture of the centerpiece doll with the guitar in-hand.

The dolls pictured are prototypes. Final fabrics, colors and textures may vary slightly. For adult collectors ages 15 and up only. 

All photos and information contained herein are copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2018 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission. FASHION ROYALTY, POPPY PARKER, NU. FACE, EAST 59TH, THE INDUSTRY, FR: Nippon, Misaki 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 by Jayme Thornton. Layouts and graphics by Alain Tremblay, Marketing.

Italian Doll Convention 2018 - Day II: the Gala night

Saturday is the busiest day of IDC: seminars, presentations, the fashion show and the gala dinner! For most of us It begun early in the morning, as we had to go and get the extra blond version of the convention doll, Ciao Poppy! She’s gorgeous but I do prefer the pink haired one. This one will go to my friend Maria of Habilis Dolls, who could not attend. And that is why you see her in the box.

Then it was time for a great presentation. My dear friend (we finally met!) Ada of Papusile Mele was giving us a lecture about Manga in Doll Culture! She showed us all the famous manga characters that got made into dolls, like Astro Boy, Lady Oscar, Sailor Moon and Candy Candy, giving us many details about manga history in between. Lots of rare and OOAK dolls were shown in the accompanying slideshow. 

We stayed in Japan with the next presentation: the story of the doll Licca, by the lovely Kazuko Hosokawa. Not only she told us the amazing tale of how Licca came to be, with lots of details and how she developed throughout the years until now, but also brought with her part of her incredible Licca collection, with the complete original Licca family a stand out. Both this and the previous presentation had the awesome Antonio Russo helping out with the translation, from English to Italian. Some dolls and gifts were raffled to attendees, ending the presentation in a most ideal way.

Third presentation of the day was called PoppyParkerly, this time dedicated of course to last night’s star, the lovely Poppy Parker: Daniela Ferrando talked about how the 60s are perceived aesthetically nowadays through our modern sensibilities compared to how it was back then, by using the 60s contemporary Barbies and today’s Poppies.  

The last presentation was a much anticipated interview: dear Ada got the chance to ask the talented Linda Kyaw, Mattel designer and stylist of @barbiestyle, lots and lots of questions about her career, Barbie in the past, now and the future. The questions were send by Ada’s readers and, strangely enough, Mattel did not censor them! The interview was very informative even for people who are not even doll collectors. Linda is very intelligent, gracious and kind. She answered all questions, avoiding pitfalls and confidential information of course, and, with Ada being a wonderful interviewer, the session was a blast. It was accompanied by lots of Linda designed Barbies in displays and ended with lots of dolls and other gifts being raffled to attendees.

Linda’s OOAK contribution to the IDC auction  

Me with Linda Kyaw  

After a brief interval (and a change of clothes), it was back at IDC for the Cartoonia parade fashion show! Anyone interested had registered for participating in this show, dressing up as a cartoon or doll character of his choice. The catwalk was set up in one of the hotel ballrooms. The show was a hoot: participants had incredible outfits, that had taken them countless days to make, complimented by styling, make up and hairstyles matching their characters, not to mention the choreography each one had prepared for their presentation. Lots of compliments, applause and bravos to all participants for the show that everyone thoroughly enjoyed! The photos of the show below (as a slideshow) are by another Greek collector that was there, Makis (thank you so much dearest!), as my seat was not ideal for catwalk photos.

Everyone attending the runway show could vote for his favourite costume, which was quite difficult as they were all amazing! You just had to give your favourite the corresponding coupon that was given with the rest of the registration stuff.  All participants were assembled at the hotel’s stairs for a last photo op and then it was time for the welcome drink before dinner, or, as Italians call it, l’aperitivo. An hour later, we were ushered into the ballroom for the gala dinner.

Athena was the winner of the runway show

Me with Antonio Russo and Oriele  

The welcome drink space

The whole room was decorated with lots of cartoon elements. Each chair around the big rotunda tables had a transparent balloon tied to its back, lit up with a string of colourful led lights. The centerpiece was a Barbie doll made up as a comics/cartoon hero by doll design duo Lantis Kelly and Catia Destro. Each seat also has a pair of sketches made by Living Plastic Doll for the gala.

The centerpiece doll

I had been assigned to one of the Spanish tables, table no.20, with the lovely Lionel as our wonderful and amazing host. The table gifts were all amazing and I added mine to the bunch: cute mini polka dot dresses in various colours, with matching headband bows and earrings, all made to order by my dearest friend Maria from Habilis Dolls. I already knew Lionel and José from Facebook and got to meet the rest of the table mates there for the first time, all amazing and some of the best I could have: Christelle, Fito, Francisco, Gloria, Maria, Nuria and Pepita! My warmest thank yous and best wishes, you were all amazing!

From left: Lionel, me, Gloria and Fito

Table gifts! You can see one of the Habilis Doll polka dot dresses I gifted on the top left of this photo.

After a beautiful ballet introduction, with the dancers dressed in Disney prince and princess outfits, Mario Paglino took the stage, welcoming everyone. He talked about the recipient of this year’s charity auction profits, Dynamo Camp and introduced their team. Then it was time for a speech from Linda Kyaw about Barbie, its history and its future, as next year is the doll’s 60th birthday. There was no preview of anything regarding that front, but we got to see lots of gorgeous Barbie photos, some of which were shown for the first time in public. Then Gianni surprised everyone by announcing that there was a gift for everyone, a special limited edition book (300 copies) dedicated to Linda Kyaw and filled with photos of her Barbie dolls, exclusive to the convention and Mattel approved: The World Of Linda Kyaw. A gorgeous book, printed in quality paper, with lots of doll photos! 

The dancers  

Mario welcomes everyone  

Linda Kyaw speaking  

Karl Lagerfeld OOAK doll  

Ralph Lauren OOAK doll  

60th anniversary logo

Lots of gifts were raffled off to attendees during the night, including many dolls. Our table won two of them! After dessert it was time for the convention doll. No surprises here, it was the same doll that was presented in the Paris and Tokyo conventions, Striking In Stripes Barbie. She is Gold label, has the Karl sculpt and a model muse body. Designed by Bill Greening, she wears an asymmetrical striped evening dress, with black strappy sandals, silver clutch bag and matching jewellery. It’s my first official convention doll (that I get while attending I mean), so I’m keeping her.  

Then it was time for the extra convention Barbie, the one designed by Magia 2000, Mario and Gianni. This one was based on the Totally Hair Barbie, remade by Magia 2000, with new hairstyle, make up, freckles and a spectacular dress with an overskirt in custom printed fabric (with comic related print) and a black body hugging Lycra dress encrusted with colourful rhinestones. She wears black stockings, pink shoes embellished with crystals and star crystal earrings. Miniatures of her own special box and the official convention booklet created by Roger Corbeau were included. 

One could see the OOAK benefit auction dolls in display in a corner of the ballroom. The talented creators really outdid themselves, as you can see in the photos below. How lucky are the people that bought them! The centerpiece dolls were raffled to each table, ours was won by Christelle - contrary to IT conventions, here you win both centerpiece doll and base for free.

After lots of fun, laughs, raffles and doll fun, we were ready to wrap things up and call it a day - there was a disco set up in another hotel hall for people that wanted to continue but it was already late and I had to catch the last metro train back to my hotel. The next post will be about the third and final day of IDC. 

Milano Centrale station  

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.