The first anniversary of my blog

I can hardly believe it’s been a year since I published the first post on my dolly blog. It had been barely two months earlier that I set up my doll collection. The word “collection” seemed hardly appropriate for what consisted of maybe 5 dolls back then but to me it was something! Something big. I had been planning to collect for so many years. Although my collection was not large, I loved every single one of these dolls and they were the evidence that I may be an adult woman, but somewhere deep down there I was still a kid. I craved for more and more dolls so as you can see, the kid had no intention of growing up. So much has changed in the course of the past year but one thing hasn't – I still want more dolls and they give me the same joy. Now this post is going to be long, and the pictures aren’t the best but the weather has been awful and photographing this many dolls is not an easy task – but so much fun!

My collection began with a series of favorable circumstances – I was actually looking for a picture of a doll that I dreamed of when I was a child, with no success. By chance, I found a similar doll that was for sale and her price happened to be very low. This doll was the Malaysian version of Sun Sensation Skipper that I preferred. The doll was nude, but coincidentally, I had bought a perfect outfit for her some time earlier. The doll was clean and her hair was perfect, but she was faulty and I just happened to know how to fix her. All this was too much for me to ignore and before I knew, my collection had begun.

I was in a state of absolute euphoria and disbelief. I just bought a doll for myself and I’m a grown woman after all. The doll that my mom couldn’t afford when I was little. It took me some time to adjust to the unexpected event before I could even think that the seller might have some other interesting dolls and she sure did. As a result, my Skipper didn’t have to make the journey alone. She came with her older sister – JCPenney Evening Majesty 1996. Barbie was pristine. Her hair, face and outfit were in a perfect condition. And that face! The Superstar face! That has always been the true Barbie face to me. I remember being a student and visiting my family in NY over summer holidays. My little sister had asked me to bring her a Barbie doll and I was more than happy to oblige her. I went to the nearest Toys’r’us. I had never seen so many Barbie dolls in one place. That was shocking and overwhelming. To you it may seem noting out of ordinary, but I was brought up in a different world. When I was a child Barbie dolls were sold exclusively at something you could call a chain store - Pewex and their number wouldn’t normally exceed 5 dolls! Anyway it took me some time to process what I was seeing at Toys’r’us and then I could focus on the dolls’ faces. They looked nothing like the Barbie dolls I remembered playing with. Of course it would be naïve to think that Barbie would never change, but the change was disappointing. The dolls looked old and many of them might as well have been cross dressing males. I finally picked up a doll I thought would be appropriate for my little sister. Barbie as Rapunzel 2001 had a gentle face, subtle make-up, impressive hair and a beautiful dress. From this perspective, my Evening Majesty looked even prettier to me.

I’ve always gravitated towards dolls that were over the top- huge dresses, big hair, lace, sequins, glitter and ribbons – the dolls that were precariously close to tackiness. Happy Holidays Barbie 1997 was just that and she was the third doll in my collection. I wanted more of this, I wanted a ball! The Happy Holidays series just mesmerized me and so did the beautiful and extravagant dolls of the Winter Princess Collection. I hope to add them to my collection by the end of this year, but this is what my lowest doll shelf holds at the moment. Of course nobody would deny that these are upper class dolls, but the tall stands that those gowns require would fit nowhere else.

Having collected several Superstar molded Barbies, I craved for versatility and above all - a Steffie! Back then I wasn’t on friendly terms with eBay and getting a hold of a Steffie through my local portals was not an easy task. The ones that happened to be available were not my favorites and they were too expensive anyway. Their number was very limited and once they appeared, you could be sure they would not be there tomorrow. So I snatched my Nurse Whitney when her previous owner decided to part with her and so far, I’ve managed to collect three more. I was just extatic when my precious Dream Date PJ arrived despite the lack of her stock outfit and now I’m hunting for the first edition Parisian Barbie.

Since we’re at the topic of versatility, once I got my first Steffie, I focused my attention on Christie and Oriental and I found my perfect examples of these headmolds in the Dolls of the World series. The Moroccan and Japanese Barbies are my favorites. Whenever I planned to add a new mold to my collection, I was sure to find it in the DotW series and my two Teresas and a Hispanic are perfect examples of that. In the photos there’s a new arrival that hasn’t been presented on my blog yet and I have some plans for another Asian doll. But DotW has some beautiful Superstars as well and they look gorgeous in regional outfits.

Contrary to what may seem, boxed dolls are a minority in my colleciton. Since the beginning of my adventure with Barbie, I have come across many dolls that needed love and care … and a bath! I learned how to use boiling water on their hair and curl it. Sometimes the hair was too damaged to be salvaged and they called for a reroot. I’ve rerooted two dolls so far and although they aren’t perfect, somehow I can’t let go of them, they feel more mine for all the time I spent fixing them. Since these dolls still have their heads, I consider my reroot attempts a success. Below you can see some dolls that arrived in a state of neglect and needed more time than others. I’m very fond of them and the’ve appeared on the blog several times already presenting new hairdos and outfits. They’re very graceful models. So far I’ve parted with only one rescued doll and it’s the very over the top Blossom Beauty Barbie 1996. She didn’t go far. She lives upstairs on my little daughter’s chest of drawers.

One of my initial objectives was to collect at least 3 out of the 4 Barbie dolls I used to own as a child. I gave them to my little sisters and the original dolls are … no more. My very first Barbie doll was the gorgeous and pink beyond measure Super Star Barbie 1988. I remember the day when my Mom and I went to Pewex for my first Barbie. She let me choose the one I liked most and I didn’t pick up the pretty and elegant Fashion Play in a slim box. I chose the most expensive and extravagant Barbie in the store in a very impressive box. Of course I’ve seen more beautiful dolls since then, but the childhood sentiment cannot be suppressed and Super Star 88 will always be the Queen. The Queen needs her Ladies of the Court and she has two – United Colors of Benetton 1990 was also a gift from my Mom, and the Cool Looks 1990 was a present from my NY family. When I got my Super Star 88, my Mom had another surprise in mind, she let me choose a furniture set for her. There were two sets at the store and I selected the Living Pretty Roll-on top Desk with Bookcase. With luck I may collect all the furniture sets I used to own as well as the white Ferrari and the Barbie Furnished Townhouse. This is a little farfetched  but hey, just a little over a year ago I thought Barbie collecting was just that and now I have a cabinet full of dolls so anything is possible.

My collection not only grew in number within this past year but it also changed in terms of the dolls I focused on. At first I had only ball-gown-type-of-dolls on my mind and it wasn’t just the dresses that made them so amazing to me. Their hair was perfect, their make-up was perfect and their jewelry and accessories were so high quality. These were mostly collector/ special editions and I loved the perfection and attention to details that described them. Their splendor strongly appealed to me. But at some point, an ordinary looking Redhead squeezed between the rustling dresses and she screamed of the 90s with all their denim and neon colors. Here’s some of the dolls that I consider to be casual … more or less. 

I love the crazy 90s but if I were to choose just one decade – that would be the 80s with all its elegance and Dynasty sort of style. These dolls are so universal and I think that every Barbie collector knows them and most of them own them. My 80s classics are beautiful but they were hardly perfect when they arrived. It may seem that nothing’s wrong with my Dream Date Barbie 1982, but her skirt covers some nasty green spots. Magic Moves 1985? One was smelly and filthy, the other has teeth marks on her legs. Peaches’n Cream 1984 was so incredibly dirty and frizzy I hardly recognized her. Angel Face 1982 needed just a bath and some boiling water because her hair was all greasy and sticky, but her state wasn’t the worst and she was still dressed in her stock outfit. Crystal Barbie 1983 was clean and smelled nice. She still had her dress though her boa and her shoes were missing, but she didn’t need any special care, her previous owner – a collector – must have gone through this with her as her body had been swapped. The early 80s and very late 70s have some irresistible charm to them and this chapter in  my collection is hardly closed. I’m still missing the Golden Dream, Day to Night, Twirly Curls, Magic Curl AA and many more.

The missing 80s remind me of the fact that I still need to expand in some other areas. For one thing, I need more gentlemen. Doctor Ken, Japanese Ken, Shavin’ Fun Ken, the silly looking Toy Story Ken and Jack Sparrow – err sorry – Captain Jack Sparrow as well as Kevin for my Skippers are next on the list. Jazzie seems so lonely, she would have a companion already, but somebody had overbid me. I definitely need more Midge dolls and the Wedding Day Midge and Native Barbie 1992 are next to come if I’m lucky. And the contemporary dolls? They mostly make me feel sad, but not Krystle and Alexis. I need them desperately. And then there’s Mod and Vintage eras. There’s so much ahead of me, so much to discover!

Now a quick summary of 2018/2019:

The oldest doll: Standard European / Canadian Barbie 1976

The youngest doll: Victorian Barbie with Cedric Bear 1999

The most curelly neglected doll: Jewel Hair Mermaid Midge 1995

The first doll: Sun Sensation Skipper 1991

The longest sought after doll: Dream Date Barbie 1982

The most pink doll: Super Star Walmart Special Edition 1993

The least pink doll: Magic Moves 1985 made in the Philippines

The best articulated doll: Teen Looks Cheerleader Jazzie 1988

The most beautiful doll: Dream Date PJ 1982

The most important doll: Super Star Barbie 1988

Though it was quite difficult do photograph all these dolls for their number as well as for the lack of good light (it’s been raining for days on end) I still took far too many pictures, so here they go, my dolls.

Victorian Barbie with Cedric Bear 1999

Have you ever heard about a dolly virus? I surely have, but it wasn’t until very recently that I came to realize how deadly it is. The virus strikes fast and the victim is completely helpless against the illness that spreads momentarily. It’s transmitted electronically so there’s no way you can protect yourself unless you decide to forsake reading dolly blogs or refuse to even look at dolls. Me? I got ill before I even knew what was going on. When I read the intro to the post on Neytiri’s blog I was still fine. The first symptoms manifested themselves when I saw the doll’s pictures – my hands were shaky, my pulse was quickened and there was that brightness to my eyes that usually speaks fever. The next several weeks were not so dramatic and my state could be described as stable. I would notoriously look at the doll’s pictures online and I knew her youtube review almost by heart. Once in a while, I would heck Barbie’s availability on eBay for fear that some lunatic may prevent me from purchasing her by buying all existent copies. The fears turned out to be groundless of course. The doll was still there, her availability quite steady. When she finally arrived after what seemed to be a century of waiting, I got miraculously cured! The doll was none other than Victorian Barbie with Cedric Bear 1999.

I purchased Victorian Barbie as NRFB and she was packaged in such a way as to enable admiring her without the need of unboxing. The box has a removable lid with a large cellophane window. Though I really like the doll against an imitation of an old-fashioned wallpaper, I had to take her out of the box. That’s just me – I think 20 years is long enough. The doll came with a certificate of authenticity with a serial number, a warranty that’s long expired and some questionnaire. There was also a doll stand for her and all this was hidden behind the inner cardboard. No brush though. Not that I really needed, it’s really insignificant but it’s like a sign of a new era for Barbie. The good old superstar was gone. There’s a description of the doll in the back of the box. It tells the story of her bear too.

Now, Victorian is a Mackie of course and I have to admit that at first I wasn’t all so thrilled about this headmold. In time I came to appreciate it, Mackie is a beautiful mold, there’s no denying as to that. But in all honesty, admiring the dolls from afar was enough for me. I liked to look at Mackie’s pictures on the blogs of other collectors but I didn’t really need to own one myself. Until I saw Victorian Barbie. And she is pretty like a porcelain doll, just look at her complexion, so pale and her cheeks, so rosy. Her eyes have that striking look and they’re green and brown, the color further brought out by the light green eyeshadow. The lipstick is a very natural pink color. The face is beautiful, but so is the hair and so elaborate too. The hair is brushed with simplicity in the front, one section is twisted in a twirly braid at the back of her head while the rest was held with some ribbons, curled and secured with some products. It holds beautifully.

Victorian Barbie is about to go to sleep so she’s wearing a satin (polyester), burgundy dressing gown and it’s very elaborate. The top of the dressing gown is trimmed with heavy lace that also goes around her puffy sleeves. There’s also a mauve ribbon and some rosettes to the sleeves. The bottom of the dressing gown trails behind the doll and it’s adorned with some finer lace. Underneath the dressing gown Barbie’s wearing a mauve night dress without sleeves. The design is exquisite and it’s executed with perfection and attention to detail. The neck part is trimmed with the finest lace and pleaded organza. The middle part of the night dress is embroidered and its lower sections are embellished with lace, ribbons and rosettes. I really like the combination of burgundy and mauve.

There’s satin, lace, rosettes, ribbons and whatnot. There are shoes too and those are very pretty indeed. These are stilettoes with open heels and white rosettes to the toes. They completely refuse to stay on and the rubber bands that secured them have come undone in those 20 years and so have the bands holding the Bear to the doll’s arm. Cedric is simply adorable, he’s brown plush with articulation and he’s wearing a mauve nightcap trimmed with ribbon and lace so it’s coordinated with Barbie’s outfit, how cute is that.

I really hadn’t expected a Mackie to join my collection, not for some time at least – my beloved Krystle is still out of my reach and the Bard on my wish list is going into obscurity and I’m beginning to think I don’t need her all that much, but Victorian? She was simply a must! And so this way I stepped out of my most favorite Superstar era, but the quality is still there. Barbie is a TnT with click-bending knees and vinyl legs. So have a look at some more pictures, but on your own responsibility, and don’t say I hadn’t warned you.