Anna Sui Japan does Barbie as part of her Swinging Tokyo Collection!

Anna Sui, the well known US fashion designer, has launched a new project called "SWINGING TOKYO". Taking inspiration from the 1960s London street culture "Swinging London", which is the origin of her creation, she proposes a fashion that can be enjoyed freely and urbanely for the next generation of Tokyo. In this project, she initiated a collaboration with various other creatives. From May 1st, 2019 (Wednesday), sales begin at Isetan Shinjuku and the official online shop (Japan).

One of the project’s collections is a collaboration with Barbie. There are four types of dolls combined with an outfit designed by Anna Sui and an original mug, comprising a set of Barbie Doll and Anna Sui collection-ware that will be cherished by all ages. The combination of the catchy and girly world of both brands is a must-see for fans. Each set is sold for ¥21,600 (about US$194.00). There are some T-shirts too. The title below and all information are translated from the Japanese site.

Barbie and Girlish Chemical Reaction Collection 

According to the Japanese website, special items created from the "SWINGING TOKYO" project will start being sold sequentially at the Isetan Shinjuku Store and Anna Sui Official Online Shop from Wednesday, May 1st, 2019. I could not find any Barbie items online yet. The price is expensive for the doll quality: it is just a $5.00 play line doll repackaged in a Sui branded box. You do get an Anna Sui dress with her plus the mug but $190.00 for these is just too much. Remember that a Barbie collector designer doll is usually $100-150. And they are very limited. I wouldn’t pay even half the price for those sets, knowing of probably discard the doll. My favourite is the black dress with the bow. And for that price, they could have given each set a differently coloured mug, no?

© All photos 2019 Mattel. All Rights Reserved.

Joey Versaw's A Little Head can be ordered specially customized for a very limited run

I have written before about the talented Joey Versaw and his amazing colourful dolls. His more recent release was titled "A Little Head" and consisted of both boys and girls in eye-popping colour. Due to popular demand "A Little Head" has opened up custom commissions for an extremely limited run. There will only be 10 females and 10 males available for this special custom order offer. 

With this special offer you will have the choice of five hair colors: they are Blonde, Burgandy, Brunette, Blue, and Pink. You will also be able to choose make up colors, eye colors, and eye direction: you can request either a flirty side glance or a straightforward look. The girls will come in their original side part settings with beautiful long hair and the boys will come with the option of long hair or short.

Each doll will be hand-painted to the customer's specifications. Orders will take four weeks to complete once purchased. Each doll will come in an original fashion with accessories to complete the look. Nicely packaged in a clear plastic box that offers up a beautiful display case and easy in and out assessability with the logo on the front.

This offer will not be made again with these specific sculpts in vinyl so once this limited offer has sold out that is it. Joey is very excited to offer this up for those who have very specific tastes and likes. This will be a great way to have one of his creations exactly how you would like it to be. Links to order are below.

 order a custom "A Little Head" boy

order a custom "A Little Head" girl

All photos and information courtesy of Joey Versaw

V.JOHN releases his first doll - Devoted Affair Molly Hayward

Most fashion doll collectors are already familiar with the name V.JOHN - they snap up his limited edition fashions for their dolls the moment they become available. Now he has designed his very own resin doll, named Molly Hayward and she is a limited edition of 20, available on his website. She is a beautiful doll with a distinct personality and a mixed Asian/American style. I love that he picked copper/auburn hair for his first doll. She looks good posing too.

Devoted Affair - Molly Hayward
$550 / preorder deposit $300
Skintone_Regular Caucasian
Body: 20 Joints
Material: Japan Resin

Hair: Copper auburn centre parted handmade cap wig.
Light brown eye brow
Light Grey handmade glass eyes
Rose and berry lips
Grey fly up eye shadow blended with peach tone shadow

Fashion :
Black lace lingerie knee long dress
Gold and crystal earrings
Black and white horse fur effect drop shoulder coat
Python effect high platform ankle buckled heels
Wooden base doll stand

Dimensions:
Head circumference 12cm
Chest 160mm
Waist 110 mm
Hips 175 mm
Height 415 mm
Foot length 50 mm
Foot width 17 mm
Glass Eyes 8 mm

All photos and information ©  V.JHON DOLL DESIGN  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

ITBE Fashionistas by Integrity Toys - 16" basic dolls!

Integrity Toys decided to release 16" ITBE dolls for the very first time. These, as is the norm for their ITBE releases in the last few years, use bodies and sculpts already in use in other lines, either older or current. Here we see the two old AvantGuard sculpts used (open and closed mouth) as well as the original Elsa Lin sculpt from the original FR 16" line-up. After a 24h period of them being available only to W Club members, now they are available on the IT-Direct website for purchase at approximately noon Eastern Time. They are all sporting the FR 16" body and wear a simple dress, a pair of stud earrings and plain shoes. The price for each doll: $99.00! I like them all but I will try and get Reflective. I have the sculpt in other versions but not in that skin tone.

Item # 15073
Decisive
ITBE 16-Inch Capsule Collection
Limited Edition Size: 200 Dolls 
Estimated Ship Date: Immediate (in-stock)
Retail Price: $99.00 US + Shipping and Handling (and sales taxes for Maryland residents)

Doll Tech Specs:
Head Sculpt: Elsa 1.0
Body Type: FR:16™
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: New Hispanic
Hair Color: Brunette
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied

Item # 15075

Forward

ITBE 16-Inch Capsule Collection

Limited Edition Size: 200 Dolls 

Estimated Ship Date: Immediate (in-stock)

Retail Price: $99.00 US + Shipping and Handling (and sales taxes for Maryland residents)

Doll Tech Specs:

Head Sculpt: AvantGuards™ (Open Mouth)

Body Type: FR:16™

Quick Switch Feature: No

Skin Tone: FR White

Hair Color: Raven

Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied

Item # 15068
Reflective
ITBE 16-Inch Capsule Collection
Limited Edition Size: 200 Dolls 
Estimated Ship Date: Immediate (in-stock)
Retail Price: $99.00 US + Shipping and Handling (and sales taxes for Maryland residents)

Doll Tech Specs:
Head Sculpt: AvantGuards™ (Open Mouth)
Body Type: FR:16™
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: Light Honey
Hair Color: Light Brown
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied

Item # 15074
Illusive
ITBE 16-Inch Capsule Collection
Limited Edition Size: 200 Dolls 
Estimated Ship Date: Immediate (in-stock)
Retail Price: $99.00 US + Shipping and Handling (and sales taxes for Maryland residents)

Doll Tech Specs:
Head Sculpt: AvantGuards™ (Closed Mouth)
Body Type: FR:16™
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: New Hispanic
Hair Color: Sable (Dirty Blond)
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied

Note: The dolls featured in the product pictures are prototypes. Final production may vary slightly. All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2016 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission.

Graphics and Layouts by Alain Tremblay Marketing.

The Andy Warhol Barbie: a new storm is brewing

Back in early November, a story appeared on WWD about the Ron Robinson deal with Mattel for an Andy Warhol/Barbie collection, exclusive to the Ron Robinson shops: the one in Fred Segal on Melrose Avenue and the flagship in Santa Monica. The collection has many items in small quantities, designed by various artists and inspired by Warhol and Barbie. The collection will become available in the shops on December 1st but pre-orders have begun from November 15th online. What interests this blog is of course the doll. It is a Platinum edition of 999 dolls but they are nowhere to be seen on the Robinson website. What is really strange though is that the doll surfaced on the Bloomingdale's website on the 18th of November. I do not know if it was possible for anyone to make a pre-order (I did read in Facebook that some people did but nothing concrete), but the site shows the doll unavailable. Having in mind that it is supposedly an exclusive for Rob Robinson, it looks even weirder. I suspect a new storm will hit Barbie Collector with this one.

UPDATE: Barbie Collection will have the doll for sale on the 3rd of December, 10am Pacific time.

Doll details:
Platinum Label collector's piece with commemorative box and certificate of authenticity
Set includes signature Warhol Barbie doll, stand, accessories, decorative paint set and canvas
Doll measures approx. 11.5" tall, box measures 13.5" x 12.5" x 2.5" 
Plastic; accessories: acrylic/plastic/polyester 
Hand wash or spot clean 
Imported 
Web ID: 1560278 

There is no price mentioned. Fro mthe packaging I'm guessing it will be around $150. The sculpt is the Mackie sculpt, made to look like the iconic artist. To me it looks cheap and hastily made. The fact that it includes painting brushes and colors shows either how ignorant is the one who designed the set (Warhol never painted but silk-screened the polaroids he took to add colour and effects) or it was a company decision to make the doll look more "artistic" - i.e. "let the ignorant buyers know that Warhol was an artist, let us include some paintbrushes and colours". It is insulting to the collectors and mainly to the artist. 

If you really want this one, get another Mackie Barbie cheaper, give her a razor cut and buy clothing and accessories to make the set yourselves. I bet one can find even a polaroid camera in scale from companies that make action figures - maybe even an older Barbie set. You can find the iconic Warhol Barbie portrait easily to print in scale too.

Photos courtesy of  Mattel.