Strawberry Shortcake Mini Dolls

Strawberry Shortcake Herself

The best part is that they come packaged in their very own cute little purse

So it seems the being little is back in style. As I took a stroll down the toy isle last night I came across a plethora of new small dolls! One of which, is Strawberry Shortcake. Now trust me I've always been a fan of Strawberry herself, and for that matter her friends. What can I say, I love dolls with wild colored hair, and their scent is intoxicating. I used to keep a Strawberry Shortcake doll in my office just to smell. It was like crack. I had to put it away for fear of being ostracised by my co-workers. With that said, the new mini dolls look like their going to be the perfect little holiday gift.

Barbie Peek-a-boo Petites

It looks like Mattel has just released the Peekaboo Petites™ version of the Barbie® dolls through the decades, all in one set! Gift set includes six mini Barbie dolls: Barbie and the Rockers™, Brunette Bubble Cut™, Superstar Barbie™, Twist 'N Turn™, Malibu Barbie® and The Original Teenage Fashion Model®! I've been a fan of the Peek a boo Petites since the beginning, but these are absolutely a must have!!

Twilight Madness

Tonner Doll Company's Comic Con 2009 Exclusive Twilight Doll, Hungry Edward

The new Twilight inspired Clothing Line that will be in NORDSTROM department stores come October.

Well it looks like Stephenie Meyers has done it once again. I can't lie and say that all of this hype over New Moon hasn't made me just a tinsy bit excited. Alight fine, I started reading the entire series again from the beginning. Of all of the things that I'm missing at Comic Con this year the pre-screening of New Moon is definitely in my top 5.

Tonner Doll Company has a Comic Con exclusive Twilight Doll, Called Hungry Edward that is currently retailing for 129.99. Only 200 were made.

For those of you who aren't willing to shell out the 129.00 dollars for your very own Hungry Edward doll, Nordstrom's is launching a "Twilight Saga: New Moon" clothing line that will debut in the department store come October. The line features a variety of graphic tees with messages like "Bet You Can't Read My Mind," (Which is definitely the one I want) "Forks High School," and of course "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" You'll also find jewelry (like a Cullen crest necklace). Feel free to check them out at:

http://www.instyle.com/instyle/package/general/photos/0,,20241149_20293044_20649351,00.html

Lala Pullip Doll; A Comic Con Exclusive

Jun Planning has a Pullip doll named ‘Lala’ this year as an exclusive at the San Diego Comic Convention going on right now. She retails for $70, limited to 300 with special packaging. And I want one. Sigh.

ART-TITUDE Moxie Girlz Fashion Packs

I've had my doubts about MGA's new fashion doll line; Moxie Girlz, however if all of their fashions look like this I might be inclined to change my mind. I LOVE how customizable these fashions are! Check them out.

Best Friends Club

It looks like MGA is at it again. Their new doll line, Best Friend's Club, will be released at both Target & TRU in the weeks to come. The dolls are a whooping 18" in height and in true MGA style seem to be very fashion forward. I wondered if a trend of larger dolls was on the horizon... looks like I was right. Kaitlin Addison

Introducing...The Moxie Girlz

There has been plenty of speculation and buzz surrounding MGA's new fashion doll line Moxie Girlz. The website stills leaves a lot to the imagination. However, the official launch seems to only be 33 more days away. It will be interesting to see how all of MGA's loyal BRATZ fans take to the line. MGA has previously attempted to release several other fashion doll lines in the past (Yummi-Land, Best Friends 4Ever, America's Next Top Model) All of which failed to generate the same impact as the BRATZ line. The image below is a screen shot from the current website. It still leaves a lot to the imagination...

http://moxiegirlz.com/

Luna & The Martians

Celestral, Starla, & Zippie The baby Martians

Luna

Luna & The Martians is Tonner's newest FAR OUT collection!

Luna is 16" & is of course the universe's most fashionable alien.


Her skin color changes to match her outfits. However, please note that her changing skin tone is part of the fictional story line not an actual feature.

NYC

And I finally made it to get my little brown bag!! The Bloomingdale's show was absolutley amazing.

Barbie at Bloomingdale's

Barbie seems to be celebrating her birthday all around the globe,and lucky for me in New York as well. Bloomingdale’s on 59th will be helping Barbie celebrate by exhibiting 120 Barbies through the decades in 60 vitrines on the third floor, with some first editions valued between $25,000 and $27,000. From Feb. 11-22, Bloomingdale’s Third Avenue windows will be dressed in Barbie under the theme “My Boyfriend Is Back” and inside the store, a 242-square-foot Barbie boutique will display Barbie T-shirts, accessories, jewelry, DC Super Hero Barbies, a Barbie Book by Assouline, and the dolls, among other merchandise. There will also be an event with live Ken and Barbie models. Similarly, Bloomingdale’s SoHo will have window displays and a Barbie shop. IN addition to the Bloomingdale’s events for the first-ever Barbie runway show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on Feb. 14, Barbie’s parent, Mattel Inc., has hand picked 50 designers, Diane Von Furstenberg and Anna Sui among them, to create looks inspired by the doll, some of which will be displayed at Bloomingdale’s. In addition, the first-ever Barbie store is set to open in Shanghai on March 6; an eight-story flagship in a former movie theater. The store comes equipped with a spa, a restaurant for the older girls as well. Perhaps the best part however is the strapless wedding gown that Vera Wang has designed for Barbie fro the bargin price of $16,000. For any woman who buys it, Mattel will also create a doll in her likeness in a miniature version of the gown! Interesting considering Barbie has never been married… hmmm.

Juku Couture

Kana

Jun showing off one version of her customizable fashions

Jun in all of her gear

Super fun packaging

Check out JAKKS Pacific’s new line of fashion dolls, JUKU Couture. This doll’s style originated from fashion trends seen in Harajuku, Japan. Four dolls have been released and are available for 19.99 at both Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us. I’ve posted a link below for your convenience. All four dolls have multiple points of articulation, as well as glass eyes that portray an incredibly realistic look and feel. Each doll comes with a multi-layered outfit that can be mixed & matched to create 10 different looks. Right now my favorite is Jun. As I'm sure you can tell by the number of images I posted of her above! She is from Seoul, South Korea. Super girly, and loves any pink and lacey.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10242574

April 2009 Pullip: Clarity

The April Pullip releases are officially out. Say hello to Clarity. This one could quite possibly be my favorite Pullip doll yet. I LOVE her. There is something about her sophisticated style, and her amazing eyes that is just stunning. She has the new type 4 body type as well. Which I would love to see up close, I love all of the articulation that she is capable of. She actually looks like she could be Lizbel's mother... they are both sporting cowboy boots. Hmmm. You never know.

Pullip Lizbel

Ok so how sweet is this little Pullip!? I would so wear this outfit! She looks so sad though.

Barbie Turns 50!

Well it looks like Barbie is offically in her 50's. She made her first offical debut almost 50 years ago at the New York Toy Fair. I wonder what Mattel will have in store for her at this years show? Our beloved Barbie has taken on more forms than you can imagine over the course of the last 50 years, held over 110 careers, including president. On average 3 Barbies are sold per second!!! Go Barbie!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/shopping_blog/2009/01/at-age-50-barbi.html

Ginny. The All American Sweetheart

I was recently inspired to write a piece about one of the fashion dolls that helped to create the fashion doll industry that we all know and love today, Ginny!

As most of you may know, Ginny dolls were a hard plastic doll that came about in the late 1940’s. The story of Ginny began with a woman named Jennie H. Graves who brought her dolls to life in Somerville, MA in 1948. One of the novel things about Ginny was that this was the first time that doll fashions were sold separately from the actual doll. Mrs. Graves designed all of the fashions, which I might add are all incredibly adorable and detail oriented. In addition, perhaps one of the best things about the vintage Ginny dolls is that they were made in the USA.

A part of the story I find particularly interesting was that Ruth Handler of Mattel had actually begun negotiations with Mrs. Graves to buy Vogue Dolls and Ginny. However, negotiations were unsuccessful. If Ms. Handler and Mrs. Graves had been able to come to a compromise doll history as we know it may have been changed, and Barbie may never have existed.

http://www.voguedolls.com/

TD Monthly Covers Beverly Hills Puppy Club!

https://www.toydirectory.com/monthly/newtoys/newtoys_results.asp?pro_month_diff=7&pro_year_diff=2008&formType=advanced&age=0&category=57&price=0&gender=0&Submit2=Search&onlyvideos=0&page=1

It looks like we're not the only ones that love these little fashionistas!!

New Barbie Thumbelina Line

Interesting how these mid sized fashion dolls make their debut right as MGA is getting ready to pull Bratz off of the shelves. Barbie's new line of Thumbelina dolls hit shelves just in time for Christmas. All of dolls seen here were featured in Barbie's new Thumbelina movie. I've posted all three of the dolls currently avaliable below. Chrysella is my favorite :)

Joybelle

Chrysella

Janessa

All dolls come with three sets of wings to mix & match.

Customization is Key

FAO SCHWARZ just opened the first “Styled By Me Barbie Boutique”. Which for those of you who are unfamiliar, this is a 1500 Square foot retail space with in the store that leads girls through a step by step design process to create the Barbie of their dreams. Average retail price for dolls is 65 dollars. You can bet that this is on the top of my to do list for New York Toy Fair!

check out the full article here

http://www.shoppingblog.com/cgi-bin/sblog.pl?sblog=705071

Bad Day for Bratz

Well it looks like this holiday season will be Bratz last. You might want to run out and get them while you can!! I've posted an article regarding the final ruling between Mattel and MGA below. As a tribute to the little fashionistas I've also posted a few of my favorite dolls from over the years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081204/bs_nm/us_mattel_bratz

Remember this one? I loved the Pampered Pups line. Everything from the heart packaging to the millions of tiny accessories. Not to mention the cool pet factor. I mean c'mon what hollywood starlett doesn't have a fashionable pup with her?

Then there were Baby Bratz. Who wouldn't want to take home Sasha!? With her cool little afro puffs, and her tiny little bunny??

And last but not least the new collector's series Bratz dolls. This one is my favorite, Anyssa. She's is currently on shelves for 49.99 at both Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us.

Pullip

Pullip is a fashion doll that expresses today’s present feeling. She stands 30cm tall (about 12 inches), and she is fully articulated. Pullip can open and close her eyes, and look side to side. A new Pullip Fashion doll is issued every month. Each doll comes with a unique outfit and accessories, trading card and a doll stand. Pullip means, “leaf” (young) in Korean. This particular doll is one of my favorites.