Yes, it's this time of the year: the Integrity Toys convention is taking place in Chicago and I will be posting all news related to it and the avalanche of new dolls coming our way. Wednesday is the early arrival and registration day, so we get the chance to see the welcome gift set. It is back again, as in previous years there was only a doll and some time it was only part of an early registration event. Integrity Toys picked the new Industry series for it, and here's Tulabelle. Attendees will be getting more outfits and accessories for her during the convention to complete the gift set.

Wonder which super model she is supposed to be. The fashion is very late 80s - early 90s in style, as are most of them from a few photos that have popped up online. What I noticed in some photos of this doll from people that got her, is that her head and body skin colour do not match, a problem that the first Industry doll had as well and was recalled/delayed because of it. She looks a lot like Hanne Erikson in miniature.

It was about time the W Club presented its first doll for this year - it's mid-April already! It is a Poppy Parker doll, clearly in the Bon Bon style of this year's line. Let's see the doll:

Item # PP101

Ooh La La!

Poppy Parker™ Gift Set

The Bonbon Collection

2016 W Club Exclusive

Limited Edition Size: TBA 

Estimated Ship Date: Mid to Late Summer 2016

Special W Club Price: $150.00 + Shipping, Handling and Applicable Sales Tax*. 

Head Sculpt: Poppy Parker™

Body Type: Poppy Parker™

Quick Switch Feature: No

Skin Tone: FR White

Hair Color: Platinum

Poppy Parker is a 12-inch fully articulated vinyl fashion doll with a fully rooted hairstyle and hand-applied eyelashes. This gift set includes Poppy's mix-and-match separates, colorful bracelets and silver hoop earrings, her printed tote, two pairs of interchangeable hands, a pair of authentic cork wedgies, bright red slingback shoes and a doll stand, all packaged in a window box gift set. A numbered certificate of authenticity is also included. For adult collectors ages 15 and up.

I am glad I skipped the upgrade Poppy, as this is a much better doll, both in design (well done David Buttry) and as a complete offering.  Her new eye screening is more mature and sexy, but so much better than previous efforts in this direction (IFDC, IT Convention). I love the platinum hair (it looks different than the silver of Mistress of Disguise). Her outfits look lovely and very versatile, the jewellery looks nice, except from the earrings. The bag is pure fun and the shoes are to die for - thankfully not another flat classic Poppy shoe in sight. I love the rockabilly vibe with just the right touch of French finesse and joie-de-vivre. Cannot wait to see how the rest of the line will look. And what about the numbered certificate? That is a first for Poppy as far as I know.

Pictures of prototype shown; final production colors and textures may vary slightly. Any staging props are not included. 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. Poppy Parker is a trademark of Integrity Toys, Inc. All rights reserved. Graphics, photography and Layouts by Alain Tremblay Marketing.

As it is the 10th anniversary of the W Club, it could not let the year go out without a bang! The final club exclusive doll was announced to its members and it is a stunner. Hearkening back to the good old days of the early gorgeous gift-sets from Integrity Toys, Elyse Jolie will be available to pre-order (members only of course) until the 5th of January 2016, in a fabulous gift set called  J'Adore La Fête. It includes an evening gown, a suit and lingerie, and it is packed inside a lovely suitcase.

Elyse Jolie is a 12.5-inch fully articulated vinyl fashion doll with a fully rooted hairstyle and hand-applied eyelashes. This gift set includes three complete outfits for Elyse: a lingerie set, a two-piece suit and a gown. A jewellery set, a clutch purse and two pairs of faux-leather shoes are packaged in a carry-on trunk. A doll stand is also included. For adult collectors ages 15 and up.

She is gorgeous! Only the second Elyse in FR White skin tone (the first was a convention workshop edition), she has the A Fashionable Life screening but (unfortunately) not the hair style. The dress top half looks a lot like a Dior gown worn by Charlise Theron at the 2014 Oscar Awards ceremony:

Her "tweed"suit looks like Chanel, even with the flounce - I'd rather have it with a longer pencil skirt though. Her bag does not look like something extraordinary but we will see when she arrives (end of Spring 2016). There is only that one bag unfortunately, the suit really needs another one - it has its own shoe pair, why not another bag? A miniature version of the trunk would have been great. 

Pictures of prototype shown; final production colours and textures may vary slightly. Dress form and other staging props are not included. 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.

October is the month that Integrity Toys organises their convention every year, each time drawing a larger crowd. This year was no exception. It was held in Long Beach, California and produce a large number of dolls, all inspired or influenced a bit by this year's theme, Cinematic - Hollywood films and stars. The following posts will provide details and official photos of the dolls that were available in the convention.

Let's start with Wednesday and the early-bird welcoming cocktail. This was a first in the convention - a doll was available for the early bird registered attendees at the 20th anniversary cocktail that was given to celebrate. The staff of Integrity Toys was on hand to chat with guests. The price of the welcome cocktail ticket included a complimentary drink and the choice between one of either of two ITBE dolls. Guess which doll everyone wanted (but did not get).

Everyone of course wanted the Eden/Lilith sculpt but there were only 215 of them so the rest had to make do with the other doll available. I have no information about the body these dolls have but I'm guessing it is the new Nu Face one.

As guests picked up their registration goodies, they each received a little black box that featured a complimentary issue of Haute Doll magazine, a free gift from Azone (an FR Nippon miniature tote if I remember correctly), their badge holder and a Fashion Royalty outfit sized to fit the FR2013 body and created as a companion piece to the Agnes Von Weiss mini gift set offered in the convention collection. The doll that is wearing it in the photo is the convention collection Agnes - more about her in the next post.

Lovely outfit, very 30s Hollywood (Adrian style) and with beautiful jewellery. It should have had a jewelled clutch to finish it off perfectly.

Note: The dolls and outfits are prototypes and final versions 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.

Each time Integrity Toys makes an on-line presentation, they include an event doll, available for all attendees (i.e. W Club Members) to purchase. This is a doll made in an edition that's determined from the number of the people that order the doll. It is usually an Agnes doll but, since this year Agnes was one of the upgrade W Club dolls, the only core-8 character not represented so far was Veronique. And as this year marks the 10th W Club anniversary and the 20th Integrity Toys anniversary, it seemed appropriate that this iconic character would be honoured with this special release.

In this event exclusive gift set, Véronique comes complete with a black lace teddy, a yellow linen look belted sheath dress with a black and white chenille coat and a black and white polka-dot dress with organza overlay and black lace contrasting bands, cinched at the waist by a narrow belt. The set is accessorized with a black bag, black strappy faux patent leather sandals, black painted glove hands, earrings and a bracelet. Véronique Perrin is a 12.5-inch fully articulated vinyl fashion doll with fully rooted hair (the back looks like Eugenia's) and hand applied eyelashes. A doll stand is included. For adult collectors ages 15 and up.

If this is considered a royal treatment, I'd better remain a pleb. This is the most boring gift set since that poor Deceptively Yours Kyori back in 2010. Not only is the gown a bad reinterpretation of the Escapism Elise one, her coat is shapeless (or at least if photographs this way) and she has the minimum accessories for a big gift set. Last year's Agnes had three bracelets, sunglasses, two pairs of shoes and a hat even though she had only two outfits (if you think of the teddy as the third outfit for Veronique).So excuse me but I do not see anything special or elaborate in this gift set other than the hiked up price - it's more expensive than the Funny Face gift sets which had three outfits with more accessories plus a license fee on them. Compared to the rest of the collection, this one seems to be an afterthought, hastily brought together to be included in the event. 

Please note that this doll is a prototype and the colors and fabrics may differ slightly on the final production doll. 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.

Just a couple of nights ago, W Club members received news of the very first doll to be offered to them for 2015. And it is none other than Poppy Parker, making it a sneak peak into this year's line of Poppy dolls that will be inspired by the top models of the 60s, Model Scene. The surprise was that she is not just a doll - she is a gift set with three different outfits and three different heads. Yes, the quick-switch system is alive and well and makes an appearance again this year, despite the problems with last year's Loni/Poppy doll, Sabina Havoc, that had her heads wobbly on the switch neck; Integrity Toys had to replace many bodies (including my doll's). The set is called Mood Changers (fitting) and two of the three fashions are mod-inspired (with a space-age hint) while the third is more early 60s. Let's see what's in-store:

Poppy's first look is an elegant party dress in black satin with silver and black organza overlay. Glittering jewellery, a matching bolero jacket and black hose and shoes complete this "Jazzy" ensemble. Her hair is in a side swept low bun in a shade of auburn and her make-up is in smoky shades of grey. I think this is the best version of this gift-set, she's the winner hands down. I'd get her even if she was just this one single doll. Pure perfection.

The second look is a delicate lace pant-suit in a vision of sea foam. Satin trim details finish off this look on Poppy. Her side parted raven wavy hair accentuates her make-up in complementary shades of sea foam. This one looks great - it would look even better if the outfit was in white or black. This is straight from Courrèges in 1964, as you can see below (photo by Ronald Falloon):

It is also very similar to what Diane Kruger wore to the Met Gala on Monday, by Chanel. Her face looks gorgeous, even with this particular eye-shadow. She could be Meghan Draper from Mad Men on a night out.

The last look is a pale pink mini dress with silver sequin trim.Completing the look is a smashing hairstyle in a subtle shade of lilac and pink make-up making for an over the top, space age look. A Poppy with lilac hair!

She looks a bit weird in this hair colour and make up - if she was not in the gift set, I do not think I would buy her as a stand-alone doll. Which is precisely why she's offered like this.


This outfit is a Pierre Cardin original from 1969, a pink silk-crèpe mini-dress with puffed metallic trim around the hem and collar, as we can see in the photo from L'Officiel below (photo by Roland Bianchini):

Poppy Parker is a 12-inch vinyl/plastic articulated fashion doll with three fully rooted, interchangeable heads. Comes complete with accessories and a doll stand. For adult collectors ages 15 and up only. Pictures of prototype shown; final production colors and textures may vary slightly. All photos (unless otherwise mentioned) and doll 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

March 9th is the official Barbie birthday. This year it is her 55th anniversary. So what better way to take part into the celebrations than photographing one of the best Barbie dolls Mattel has released: the Hervé Léger Barbie. I had written all about the doll and the release in this post, so here I am just going to post a selection of photos I took of her and comment on the actual doll.

The quality of the doll dresses is incredible. Of course having them made by a fashion house instead of Mattel played a major part and it shows. Top notch craftsmanship, flawless outfits, amazing standards of quality of fabric and stitching. The brand said they used their original yarns and machines to make theme and I do believe them after having seen them with my own eyes.

The boots are made of plastic but they have nice detail and are made very well. They slide of the feet without too much effort but one has to be careful to not tear them apart.

The clutch that comes with this outfit is a hard-edged, "metal and leather" design, edgy and modern. It is not functioning and has no way to be fastened to the doll's hands. The stiff Model Muse body without joints does not help either. 

Here is the dress without the corset. The doll is wearing the second pair of boots that comes in the gift-set, ribbed ankle boots.

The second dress is a black and white short one, with wide shoulder to chest bands that stop right under the breasts. It is as well made as the other one and looks amazing too.

The one big flaw of this gift set is of course the doll's body. Without joints, it quickly becomes really boring as it has a very limited ability for posing. It may show off the dress nicely in the box but there are many people, like me, who like to pose and display their dolls outside of the box. I am probably going to rebody this one.

The bag for this outfit is a large, "crocodile leather" concoction, a bit cumbersome to hold, definitely not suited for un-articulated dolls. Wonder how a real human would carry such a bag. Below you can see all the accessories of the gift-set.

For me, this is the direction that the collectors-only Barbie dolls should take. Modern, edgy fashions and doll design, without the cutesy and frothy stuff that is associated with the brand. But I am sure I am a minority in voicing this. Happy 55th birthday Barbie!