Barbie - How I'd restyle her.

Barbie by alison-boyd-rasmussen on polyvore.com

This is how I'd style Barbie, if I were given the chance. Scroll through the photos below, and you can see the wardrobe I've selected. And why hasn't there been a Betsey Johnson Barbie yet? Wouldn't that be perfect?

I've been staying far away from Polyvore lately, due to budget restrictions and how much I recently spent on Urban Decay products at the Ulta store recently. (Why can't I just have one hobby?) But really... when you change your hair color as often as I do, you sort of need to update your wardrobe and makeup. Right?

Anyway--let me know what you think. And try it out! Polyvore is a LOT of fun. :)

My morphing collection

My morphing collection, a photo by alington on Flickr.

It's happened again! Not only have I been shuffling around my fashion dolls, but my BJD collection is going through a change as well.

In addition to adding more realistic sculpts to the line up, I've found that my fascination with Alice-themed and historical/Rococo era outfits have fallen by the wayside in favor of more contemporary styles. These can be a little difficult to find. However, I like several things about them:

• First, they take up a lot less room to display and store.
• Second, they are fun to mix and match. It's fun putting together pieces from several fashions and creating a new look. The versatility reminds me of playing with fashion dolls.
• Third, you have the option of formal wear in additional casual looks, so you aren't stuck with a single style.

Here, Peak's Woods Briana and Lottie are modeling two new outfits from Angell-Studio. Briana is in Modern Forest Suit, and Lottie is wearing Blooming Rose. Briana is in a DollHeart wig, and Lottie is in a Leeke wig and DollHeart shoes. I think the outfits are really cute--well made, and simply adorable.

Poppy Plays Dress-Up

I'm still working on trying to reduce my doll collection to a manageable size. For now that means gathering items, photographing them, and then listing them on eBay. I'm currently concentrating on parting with fashion doll clothing. However, I can never seem to manage to do any of this in a straight forward manner. Hence this post. Between stage 1, "Gathering" and stage 2, "Photographing", I seem to have snuck in stage 1.5, "Try the outfit on Summer Magic Poppy, take a picture, and then decide to keep the outfit."

The first picture in this post is Poppy in a Barbie Fashion Fever strapless dress and an orange net top which I believe is also Fashion Fever. In the midst of this little photography session, it dawned on me that I've never tried Fashion Fever items on any Poppy. I think a lot of that is because I was stuck in storyline mode, i.e. outfits needed to support Poppy's story of being a young, wide-eyed, mid-Western girl transplanted to New York City in the early 60's. Fashion Fever outfits, however, reflect a more current trend in clothing. While it's not a perfect fit, I think it looks cute enough to keep. Poppy looks very fresh and summery in the outfit.

Next up were outfits taken from the America's Next Top Model (ANTM) dolls by MGA Entertainment. These outfits just barely fit Poppy. Apparently the ANTM dolls have a smaller bust than Poppy. If you look on my Flickr photostream you can see pictures of the back of the dresses. You can see where the white velcro doesn't completely match up. Of course, the fix to that is, just don't look at Poppy from the back! I have to say, I really love Poppy in the bathing suit. Although, once again, don't look at Poppy from the back. She shows a little more of her derriere than she'd like. So, the two dresses and one bathing suit from the ANTM dolls are also keepers.  Good grief, aren't I going to get rid of anything?!

Lastly, I tried some vintage Barbie on Poppy. Once again, what took me so long to try this line on her, especially given her storyline? Here Poppy models Sorority Meeting from 1962 - 1963 and Peachy Fleecy Coat from 1963. These items fit very nicely. The bust of the dress is a little large for Poppy, but not a show-stopper. The coat fits amazingly well and is not at all bulky even though Poppy is wearing two additional layers underneath. I realize the hat is on backwards, but it's a little misshapen and seems to fit better this way.  Also, I kind of like the little flourish of the cording showing in the front.  It adds a little more interest to the hat. Once again, two outfits that will not be leaving my house. I do have an immediate use for them though.  Once Halloween is over, I'll start work on a Thanksgiving display and I think Poppy would look adorable as a dinner guest in her new togs.

Style Setters: Vidal Sassoon

Sassoon was born on born January 17, 1928 in Hammersmith, London. His father was from Salonica in Greece, and his mother, whose family was originally from Kiev, was born in London. Vidal Sassoon spent six years in a Jewish orphanage in London after his father abandoned the family. When his mother remarried, the family re-united. Although too young to serve in the Second World War, Sassoon became a member of the 43 Group, a Jewish veterans' militia organization that broke up Fascist meetings in East London after the end of the war. In 1948 he joined the Israeli Defense Forces to fight in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Organize & Style!

I thought I'd do a little post on organizing and styling for your dolls.  This is my absolute favorite thing to do with my dolls other than photographing.  My doll room floor is always in disarray with bags of clothing, bins of accessories and bead containers full of jewelry all scattered on the floor.  Throw in several dolls in all states of undress and that's my doll room on any random day. 

So I want to share a little with you about organizing your dolly goodies so that you can style your dolls more easily.