Nothing like cooler (colder) weather to get dollectors in the mood for play. As winter progresses and the days grow shorter and our dwelling spaces are aglow with tiny lights, dolls wanting to be part of festive displays may be regaled with new togs to wear this winter season. Inspired by this idea, Dolldom profiles the work of Julian Kalinowski and his latest line of exclusive fashions offered to dollectors on his current Lilli Lalka dolls.
To celebrate the holidays, Dolldom presents an exclusive feature profiling dolls created by Kalinowski since 2013 who proudly model utterly captivating fashions that take us back to the days of Japanese and even Sears' Wishbook exclusive designs.
Dolldom wishes all its readers love, peace, and health and, most importantly, everlasting child-like wonderment.
Introduced in 1964, the Swirl Barbie doll presented a sleeker version of the previous ponytail style by replacing the curly bangs with a band of hair brushed to the right side of the doll's face. The shorter ponytail was curled at the ends in a single swoop and finished with a yellow ribbon, attached with a bobby pin.
The Swirl Barbie doll was an expression of elegance at a time when Mattel was also presenting Fashion Queen Barbie and Miss Barbie, dolls that introduced the concept of wig play to the Barbie doll line. By 1965, the Swirl Barbie doll became the American Girl and one wonders what factors propelled the shorter production cycle. Difficulty in creating the style? Popularity? Or the desire to keep Barbie's first sculpt reflecting the rapid pace of fashion?
Dolldom appreciates Mattel's decision to celebrate the Swirl Barbie doll with a Silkstone reproduction on the 60th anniversary. Dressed in "Black Magic" ensemble (stock number 1609) and sporting platinum white hair, the reproduction doll also has a beautiful face-up palette with soft pink lips, still found today on some surviving samples, although most vintage dolls have lipstick that has aged to milky white fabulousness.
Doll restorer and styling magician Bobby Taylor, director of the ever busy Pink Bubbles Doll Spa, reflected on this unique look of the vintage platinum Swirl Barbie and decided to impart the same aura of sophistication to the reproduction of a client. Dolldom was captivated by the idea and kindly asked Mr. Taylor to execute it for this first entry of December 2024. Mr. Taylor also styled the reproduction doll's hairstyle to the standards of the vintage counterpart as the current iteration's hair was lacking precision in its realization. Dolldom thanks Mr. Taylor once again for sharing his immense talent.
For fashions, Dolldom selected utterly glamorous fashions in a palette of blue by Marirose, Tania Lawrence, Sylvia Campbell, and Julian Kalinowski to compliment the icy gorgeousness of this beautiful evocation of early Barbie doll style.
Flight attendant Rie-chan is Licca-chan's sister and was introduced by Takara in 1972 with a storyline that is as rich as the doll's fashion style.
The websites Barbgirl and Cutiedolls mention Rie-chan reuniting with her mother Orie on a plane as the latter was on her way to a fashion design competition in Paris. Orie, suddenly not feeling well, was attended by Rie-chan whose specifically placed beauty mark quickly brought memories to Orie and the realization that the kind flight attendant was indeed her daughter. A storyline not unlike one enjoyed in a telenovela.
Early advertisements by Takara show Rie-chan's professional wardrobe options along with her younger sister following her footsteps. Others offer a colorful variety of dresses and gowns that capture the fun vibe of early 1970's fashion. But the ad that captures the joyful repercussion of the chance encounter on an airplane to Paris shows both Orie and younger daughter, Licca-chan together with Rie-chan. A happy family reunited at last.
Rie-chan's availability on the market was brief, from 1972-1974. Barbgirl conjectures that Takara reconsidered how the dramatic reunion would lead to questions as to why the daughter and mother had been separated for a considerable period. The same ambiguity that created the drama was perhaps the cause of Rie-chan's disappearance from the market. Ironically, the character's unexplained departure left dollectors in the same situation as her mother Orie had been prior to the coincidental meeting.
Dolldom wishes to play at extending Rie-chan's story and offers a photo portfolio showing the beautiful young woman, whose eyes are as full of dreams and illusions as ever, as a famous singer wearing a unique array of dresses designed for the Blythe doll (with whom Rie shares body dimensions) by the sensational Endangered Sissy.
Rie-chan is now free to sing melodies of love harmonious, of familial bonds, and of understanding one's role in the story written for us by fate.
Under the careful management of George González, the JAMIEshow Muses line features a handsome cast of coded-as-male, 1:6th scale, BJD characters made of beautifully matte resin and subtly hand painted countenances.
Dolldom appreciates the attention to detail both anatomical as well as structural that allows for a doll unlike any other in that scale in the market. The fashions offered by the company focus lavishly on the fantasy of current trends, but, luckily, the sobriety of a well-cut black suit has occurred twice since the line's inception. It is in this style, refreshing with the absence of shirts and combined with complementary garments by The Confusion83 and Integrity Toy's Fashion Royalty, that Dolldom constructs this October entry. From suits to jackets to underwear, it's a tribute to the severity of the color of the night, for it is at nighttime and amongst the shadows, that the Muses by JAMIEShow express their willingness to engage in the emotional maelstrom of the ultimate human pursuit.
The Human League's 1986 hit and sempiternal classic, "Human", beautifully contextualizes this photo portfolio.
Come on, baby, dry your eyes. Wipe your tears. Never like to see you cry. Won't you please forgive me?
I wouldn't ever try to hurt you,
I just needed someone to hold me,
To fill the void while you were gone, To fill this space of emptiness.
I'm only human,
Of flesh and blood I'm made.
Human,
Born to make mistakes.
So many nights I longed to hold you,
So many times I looked and saw your face
Nothing could change the way I feel,
No one else could ever take your place.
I'm only human,
Of flesh and blood I'm made.
Human, Born to make mistakes. (I am just a man) Human (Human) Please forgive me.
The tears I cry aren't tears of pain, They're only to hide my guilt and shame. I forgive you, now I ask the same of you, While we were apart, I was human too!
(Human, human)
I'm only human, Of flesh and blood I'm made (I am just a man!) Human, Born to make mistakes. (Human, human).
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