Today I have the enormous pleasure to
describe a long awaited doll that I wanted so badly ever since a certain
idea sprang to my mind that having a Barbie collection of my own would
be amazing. At that time, it was only a dream, now this beautiful doll
is my reality standing gracefully amongst her friends. Her name though,
is very unfortunate. Enchanted Evening Barbie probably instantly brings
to mind a majestic beauty of vintage features clad in gorgeous pink
satin. That one I’d love to own and perhaps I will one day but strangely
enough I’ve chosen this hardly recognizable Barbie.
Enchanted Evening 1991 was Mattel’s
collaboration with J.C.Penney whose joint efforts resulted in many
stunning releases over several years. I’ve already described another
J.C.Penney Barbie in one of my very first entries. Now, I’ve searched
long for any reliable information on the J.C.Penney Barbie series, but
very little is to be found except for a multitude of pictures showing
amazing dolls most of whom, if not all, dressed in elaborate winter
outfits and gowns. Much thought, time and effort were employed in their
clothes design and this doll is no exception.
Everything about Barbie’s outfit is just
spectacular, but the coat is absolutely the best. For one thing, it’s
enormous and I don’t know if it’s for the fabric it’s made of or the
many, many years it had been put in the box in one position, but no
matter how much I try to straighten it, the coat just returns to its
shape, as if blown by the wind. The coat is very shiny, the pink,
purple, blue, red, orange, green, black and gold rectangles are randomly
distributed. The fur trim and the “shoulder pads” evoke all the glamor
of the preceding decade and bring Dynasty to my mind. Oh yes, Alexis
would wear it!
The coat comes with a matching hat that
from all the online pictures I devoured with my eyes I got the
impression, was made entirely of faux fur, but the top of the hat is
actually made of the same rectangular fabric as the coat. There’s a
single pink, plastic gem to finish the look. Underneath the coat,
there’s a gorgeous Lame dress with thick straps. The dress is very
fitting and the overlapping layers create an opening up front. The Lame
is flawless, no cracks or any other imperfections I had expected. My
experience with this kind of fabric hasn’t been very good, but this time
Lame is much thicker and sturdier than before and it makes me very
glad.
Barbie’s jewelry is this typical 90s
plastic type, only this time it was painted pink and the color makes it
unique. It’s also very rich, there’s a ring and a pair of matching
earrings but also a necklace. But one of my favorite elements of the
entire outfit are the shoes! These are much daintier than the classic
Barbie pumps and will not stay on her feet no matter what you do, but
the color makes up for the wrong size. They are metallic purple and very
shiny! I love this amazing attention to detail that the old Mattel once
manifested even in budget dolls and those shoes and the coat are the
prof and one of the reasons I decided to purchase Enchanted NRFB,
another is more simple than that, she was just unavailable in a used
condition! All the auctions I followed for several months offered the
doll new and in box but also very affordable! I guess it’s because she’s
one of those obscure beauties that few recognize.
Even without her spectacular outfit, the
doll’s simply divine! Her almond shaped lavender eyes with eyelashes on
both eye lids have this softness of expression typical for the early
90s editions that was later replaced with the cat eye look that I also
like very much. Her lavender, metallic eye shadow complements her eyes
and her blush and Magenta lipstick give warmth to the overall look. Her
kanekalon hair is rather short but wild, boxy and unruly, but I don’t
fight with it or try to style it in any way. I’ve wanted to have this
doll for so long that it’s hard for me to be unbiased and find any kind
of flaw about her, but if you consider her hair an imperfection, then
it’s nicely covered by the hat and the fur.
We’ve just moved into our Dreamhouse and
our home library, where I intend to display my dolls, is not yet
furnished, so Enchanted and all her friends temporarily occupy two large
cardboard boxes, but every once in a while I just take Enchanted and
some other precious dolls just to admire them. Then they return to their
boxes that prevent them from getting dusty. Not for long now.
And here's a bonus: my two J.C.Penney
Barbie dolls, the regal beauty is the Evening Majesty 1996 that I
described in one of my early entries.
No comments:
Post a Comment