Instagram is the medium of the moment for lots of celebrities and professionals alike: it's so much easier to share a photo of something you're doing or your newest creation than writing about it or staging an elaborate presentation. Especially if it can reach thousands of people in an instant. It is not surprising then that it has become the social arena of choice for fashion people. most notably stylists and models. Cindy Crawford is one of the original 90s supermodels that is active on the platform. Just the other day she posted a photo of a Barbie made to look like her:

Since there was nothing published about the doll from Mattel, I did a little on-line search and came up with the goods: the doll is an OOAK creation, It was presented to Cindy way back in 2003 at the CAAF (Children Affected By AIDS Foundation) benefit in Santa Monica, California. The doll is dressed in a Roberto Cavalli gown, the same one Cindy was wearing during the event.

I don't know what made Cindy remember the doll after all this time and post it again (in the text accompanying the instagram post she mentions loving Barbies as a child), but it sure made me wish for a series of dolls in the likeness of supermodels from that era: Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Tatjana Patitz etc. They would be the ultimate fashion dolls. One can only hope. And it doesn't have to be Mattel making them. Looking at you Integrity Toys.

Top photo courtesy of Cindy Crawford (Instagram), middle and bottom photos from Daily Mail/Wireimage

Tonner Doll just released their 2015 mainline collection on their websites. We are going to have a look at the fashion dolls from the release and any other doll that could be described as fashion doll as well. First up is the Marley Wentworth collection: Tyler's younger sister is all grown up and has taken her place as the fashion plate of the Tonner universe. She has her own sculpt (which looks good, especially with certain make up colours) and the 16"Chic Body which is a  variation of the Antoinette body, with broader shoulders and a fuller bust. It was first seen on the Carmen Dell'Orefice doll (which we are still waiting to see as a commercial release). 

Marley is a doll with a face that includes hand-painted details, made of  vinyl and hard plastic. She has the Marley Wentworth™ head sculpt with the 16" Chic body in the Bisque skin tone. She has green painted eyes with applied eyelashes, chestnut rooted saran hair. She is wearing a black and white stripe sequin knit dress, accessorized with nude pantyhose, a pair of rhinestone earrings and silver faux leather shoes. She comes with a stand. LE of 500 dolls.

I like her, I really do. So much so that I am pre-ordering her. She looks great. Her face strucks a nice balance between conventionally beautiful and model style, and this colouring fits her well. I have not ordered a Tonner fashion doll since Short n' Sassy Peggy Harcourt back in 2013. The dress is not perfect (at least in the production photo) but the doll looks so good I can get over it if it is not good. No earrings shown in the photos and the pumps look like someone photo shopped the heels). That's not the way to do promo shoots Tonner. And it has been like this for quite some time now.

Skyline Blue Marley is a dressed doll again in the bisque skin tone, with blue painted eyes and applied eyelashes. sporting raven non-removable wigged saran hair. She is wearing a royal blue dress under a matching royal blue coat with assorted blue gauntlets. Her accessories include nude pantyhose, pink metallic shoes and a purple metallic bag. Stand included. LE 500 dolls.

The third Marley dressed doll has the bisque skin tone, with hazel painted eyes with applied eyelashes and strawberry rooted saran hair. She is wearing a pink and red knit dress with flower trim, which comes with a white tulle petticoat. Her accessories include nude pantyhose with attached panties, black faux leather shoes, a green faux leather bag and black sunglasses. Stand included. LE of 500 dolls.

This one looks good. I love the outfit and the doll. If she had earrings and a bracelet/watch, she would be perfect. Her colouring is gorgeous. It seems that red hair in any shade fit Marley well. Can anyone explain why she is $10 cheaper than the previous ones when she has more accessories than they do?

This is the basic doll version of Marley Wentworth. She has a face with hand-painted details, she is made in vinyl and hard plastic, has the Marley Wentworth™ head sculpt on a 16" Chic body in the bisque skin tone, with blue painted eyes with applied eyelashes, She comes with  two wigs: short raven saran wig and long platinum saran wig (that's nice!)/ She is wearing a black lace slip dress over nude panties and black faux leather shoes. She comes with a stand and is a LE of 500 dolls. A nice basic doll but wigged - which does not always go well with collectors. Coming with two wigs though is a plus. Pity they did not include a face close up shot - come on guys, this is a basic doll, don't show me the pumps! Her face makes or breaks her.

The collection includes two outfits but only this one was photographed. They have put up a sketch for the other one (a black sequin and net dress with gladiator boots called Crazy Nights) but I do not like that - if you are pre-ordering something, it has to be at least upon seeing a photograph of the finished product. This outfit consists of a black faux patent leather coat with white faux fur collar over a white knit bodysuit and a black faux patent leather skirt. It comes with a pair of black boot tights (veeery fashionable right now, Karlie Kloss rocked a pair a while ago), a white and black faux leather bag and black sunglasses. LE of 300. I do not like the fastenings but the rest looks great. Wonder how well the boot tights will look in real life.

Re-Imagination is the Tonner Doll line where dolls are inspired by fairy-tale characters with a twist. Some times they are gorgeous (Vassilissa, The Christmas Carol ghosts come to mind) and sometimes not. This time the collection has Alice In Wonderland as inspiration (again) with quite a twist. Bianca Lapin is of course the White Rabbit (Bianca is white in Italian and lapin is the rabbit in French). She is a dressed doll with the Duchess head sculpt on the 16" Chic body (it seems this is the main body for fashion dolls with Tonner now) in the lily skin tone. She has light blue painted eyes and platinum rooted saran hair. She is wearing an off white knit coat with faux fur trim over a matching faux leather dress with belt over nude pantyhose with attached panties and off white faux leather knee high boots. She comes with a stand. LE of 500 dolls.

This one has the Jon head sculpt (from Cami & Jon) on the 16" Chic body in the honey skin tone. She comes with brown painted eyes and mink with red rooted saran hair. She is wearing a white and black stripe knit bodysuit under a black shantung dress with attached red tulle petticoat. Her accessories include white and black stripe knit thigh highs, a black and white choker, nude pantyhose and black faux leather boots. Stand included. LE of 500 dolls.

The third dressed doll of the Re-Imagination release is a twist on the Mad Hatter character from Alice In Wonderland. She has the Liu Liu head sculpt on a 16" Chic body in the cameo skin tone, with blue painted eyes and mink rooted saran hair. She is wearing a black multi-coloured top with ruffle trim over a matching multi-sequin chiffon skirt with ruffle trim. Accessories include a hat (not mentioned in the description - THE important accessory of the Mad Hatter), black faux leather shoes and nude pantyhose. Stand included. LE of 500 dolls.

The Asian of the group is the most extravagantly dressed, aptly enough for this Mad Hatter inspired extravaganza. Pith her shoes are black instead of rainbow striped coloured. She sports one net gauntlet since the jacket has only one sleeve. Would be lovely to see her with a tea-pot shaped bag and a pair of opera binoculars.

The only male character this time, he has his own Charlie Dodgson head sculpt on the 17" Matt O'Neill™ body in the Tyler skin tone, with blue painted eyes and sandy blonde non-removable wigged saran hair, He is wearing a blue stripe shirt under a dark grey suit. He has grey knit socks and black molded plastic shoes with laces. Stand included. LE of 500 dolls.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson is the real life name of the famous Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and other beloved books. Here he becomes a dashing young man in a suit, a bit too plain compared to the rest of the line up. I know he's supposed to be taking on the Alice role in this re-imagined version of the story but he could have been styled a bit more eccentric. After all, Tonner has released tons of male dolls in plain suits. He looks fit to take Marley out for drinks! Handsome face though. Tempting. 

There is a new addition to the Jem And The Holograms line and it is the Lindsey Pierce character, a VJ responsible for making the group very famous. She is a fan favourite and was awaited eagerly by collectors of the line. She will be available to pre-order from IT Direct  (Integrity Toys). I like the outfit - it reminds me so much of the early 80s pop star look - Debbie Harry or Olivia Newton-John and pretty much most of the era's ladies were wearing variations of this. Again W Club members will have a day ahead to pre-order. General public will have a chance to buy the doll directly from the Jem & The Holograms dedicated webpage on March 20th 2015, if any dolls are left that is.

Lindsey is a fully articulated vinyl doll with thick rooted curly blond locks and hand applied eyelashes. She comes dressed in an iconic look from the hit 80's animated TV series, which is composed of a one piece bright orange mock neck sleeveless dress accessorized by a wide, low hanging contrasting vinyl belt, bright green tights and gauntlets, a head band, booties, bracelets and gold earrings. She also has a microphone and portable tape recorder. For adult collectors ages 15 and up. Doll cannot stand alone; doll stand included.

**Note: Prototype shown, final production may vary slightly. All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2015 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission.**

Color Infusion is an Integrity Toys fashion doll line that, up until now, was only available in conventions. Their secondary market prices (for those not able to attend an event) were normal or really high, depending on the doll's desirability - but never as cheap as one could buy it from the company. For the first time they are available through dealers to pre-order! W Club members had a day ahead to do that but now they are available for everyone. I am not collecting the CI ladies as they have a different body (the same one as Jem) and larger heads than FR dolls but they are really popular. The collection title is Leading Ladies. Let's see the ones available to pre-order from dealers NOW.

Nyasha is a fully articulated vinyl doll with thick rooted curly locks and hand applied eyelashes. Nyasha sports a one piece jumpsuit cinched at the waist by an elaborate tone-on-tone metallic faux-leather belt. She finishes it off with gold platform heels, large hoop earrings and an oversized finger ring! For adult collectors ages 15 and up. Doll cannot stand alone; doll stand included. 

I like the outfit and accessories, very disco - she could easily have been part of the Gloss convention. Cute face - too cute for me.

Jacqueline is a fully articulated vinyl doll with blond locks and hand applied eyelashes. Jacqueline is is wearing a black hooded dress that comes with intricate opened toe strappy pumps and large hoop earrings. For adult collectors ages 15 and up. Doll cannot stand alone; doll stand included. 

The dress reminds me of the OOAK Erin from Gloss convention - that was in red and much shorter. I like the dress but the doll's head looks weird. Could be the bangs.

Zara is a fully articulated vinyl doll with full rooted hair and hand applied eyelashes.She is wearing a cocktail dress, accessorized with a black faux leather belt, two cuff bracelets, hoop earrings and a pair of strappy sandals  For adult collectors ages 15 and up. Doll cannot stand alone; doll stand included.

A very beautiful doll with a lovely dress and accessories.

**Prototypes shown, final production may vary slightly. All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2015 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission.**

Asher Of New England is Leigh Slaughter's company, specializing in fashion doll jewellery for 1/4 scale dolls. Today Leigh officially presents his first ever BJD doll, a male called Kent. Asher of New England Homme (as the line is named) will consist of urethane resin male fashion Ball Jointed Dolls created by R.L. Slaughter. These dolls are hand sculpted and produced in limited runs by the artist, made to compliment current female fashion BJDs. Let's meet Kent.

Kent is a fusion of popular modern male fashion models, and actors. These dolls stand 17.5" tall and are made of urethane resin. With hand painted faces, full body blushing, and applied eyelashes. Kent has 21 points of articulation (one of which is his penis!), and comes in hand made fashions. Kent is cast in pale urethane, and is hand blushed, and strung, with hand painted blue eyes, dark brows, and has hand applied eyelashes. Included is a black pompadour wig by Ilaria of timeofdoll.it. Kent's outfit consists of dark fitted denim jeans, a hand knitted black merino funnel neck cardigan sweater jacket, with hand applied leather patches, and a working zip, Turquoise geometric cut work scarf, white undergarments by Karen Kolkman of Kolkman Kreations and harness boots by Dalila Meece of DalilaDolls. Kent will arrive in a custom padded box with stand. Kent Fall/Winter 2014/2015 is a limited edition of 5 dolls in stock and ready to ship. Order him here.

Kent is indeed a handsome doll: I love his sculpt and he poses so well - even stands by himself! Wish I could afford him! Cannot wait to see photos from people who will buy this lovely male doll.

It is a common know fact to doll convention attendees that the dolls they are getting as the best perk of participating at such events are kept secret up until the moment they are given to them, mostly at the last dinner/gala/party of said event. Nothing beats the ooooohs and aaaaahs of happy conventioneers unpacking their dolls and marvelling at their beauty and style. Well, it seems that Mattel just took away the very pleasure. As from this year, they took over designing and making the dolls for all official Barbie conventions in the world. And just a few days before the Japanese event, they released on Facebook photos of the convention dolls - the ones that will be given to ALL conventions this year (I understand that the Spanish and Italian ones will be slightly different). I see no rationale behind this - it is not even making them any favours on social media. I'm not a Barbie collector (I do buy some dolls from Mattel but I'm not a regular collector of them) so it does not bother me at all, but I guess it does bother the actual collectors.

The doll (in its variety of hair and skin colours) clearly is inspired by Marlene Dietrich and her tuxedo from the film Morocco:

The problems that the dolls are still non-articulated. Having done the pivotal Jazz Barbie dolls some years back, I think they could have done the convention dolls like them too. So instead of looking like elderly ladies with their canes, they'd have the jazzy, crazy style in all their glory. Alas. It would be nice to secure the outfit in the future - let's hope the top hats are not plastic.