I’ve recently taken a stock of all my Skipper and Courtney dolls. It turned out I have 15 dolls with the 1987 head sculpt. There are blondes and brunettes, they have crimped, curled or straight hair. They are rooted with saran, kanekalon or both. They differ in terms of eye color, some are more made up others present a clean and more natural look. There’s also one AA doll. However, they all have the same headmold, the same face. Not that I mind it, the big-eyed Skipper is my most favorite version of Barbie’s little sister, but it was high time I introduced some variety to my Skipper collection. At the beginning of January I purchased Great Shape Skipper and Phone Fun Courtney 1995 followed her soon after.
The signature at the back of her head informs the headmold comes from 1993 and collectors worldwide call it the Pizza Party mold. The name comes from the first series it was used for. This head sculpt is favored by many as it’s considered to be more realistic and more mature looking than the cartoony 1987 Skipper. Pizza party headmold was very short lived because in 1995 Skipper grew up and changed completely and I personally feel she looks too much like Barbie almost like her clone rather than a genuine Mattel product.
The 1993 Skipper version seems to be very popular amongst collectors and she’s highly sought after, but Courtney is a bit more rare because there’s been only two Courtneys produced based on that headmold. They are Pizza Party Courtney and Phone Fun Courtney and they’re easy to tell apart. In 1993 Skipper’s face changed but her body mold was the same with the exception for Phone Fun dolls – Skipper, Skipper AA and Courtney have one arm bent to hold the phone by the ear.
My Courtney is incomplete. She’s lost her stockings, both doll-sized phones, a gimmicky phone for the little owner and her brush. She’s also seen better days – she had the wobbly head syndrome. She did however, still have most of her original outfit and shoes so I snatched her. Phone Fun Courtney is hard to get and she tends to be pricey. I’d been regularly checking ebay for her to no avail. So even if she’s not perfect, she’s worth having.
Courtney needed a bit of work. Her head was loose because the plastic around the head knob cracked and chipped. This is a common ailment of the 1987 body mold. The neck is too long and the weight of the head and long, thick hair is too much. But there is a simple remedy to that problem – a bit of acrylic nail compound solves it. It does however have an unpleasant smell … ok it’s absolutely pungent, but it works and the scent isn’t long-lasting. Courtney’s hair is wonderful – it’s silky and soft, it only needed a bit of conditioner. It did resist gravity with all its might because it was styled in a mess of a ponytail but a little boiling water helped and it fell softly on her shoulders and her back.
Pizza Party head sculpt may not be my favorite because the 1987 Skipper is so close to my heart and so nostalgic that it makes me positively blind to all the other versions of the doll. However, this Courtney is so lovely, nothing would do but I had to get her for my collection. She has a pair of very happy and lively looking green eyes and a wide smile that makes you smile back. Her overall color scheme reminds me of the Babysitting Courtney from 1990. I’d love to own the AA Phone Fun Skipper too but the blond one seems to be the least interesting and for the reasons unknown she reminds me of … a piglet.
Courtney’s outfit is quintessential 90s when crop tops were in fashion and girls loved to show off their pierced belly buttons. I myself was no different at that time and I proudly wore a diamante in my belly button and showed slightly pronounced stomach muscles. But that was 20 years and 3 pregnancies ago. Well, back to reality and my doll. Courtney is wearing a lovely pink fluffy top with light green trim and a pleated sea foam and pink houndstooth check skirt with some faux leather accents and plastic buckles. She should be also wearing a pair of thigh high lace stockings but those, being so fragile, probably got torn at some point.
Courtney’s outfit would be perfectly pastel and cotton floss were it not for the atrocious black shoes that look heavy and don’t seem to match her clothes. But that kind of look was very popular back in the 90s and I had a pair just like this myself. I used to wear it with skirts too. Now this sight is almost painful to behold but it’s also nostalgic in equal proportions so I’m hesitating whether or not to give her some white tennis shoes. They would definitely look much better and more harmonious with her overall style and more ordinary at the same time. It wouldn’t be so much 90s anymore. Oh what a silly thing, if all the world’s problems were so trivial like what color shoes to put on your doll … Still, with all that’s been going on on top of your usual difficulties, problems and vexations it does give you a respite to ponder on such insignificant things from time to time.
To wrap it up, here’s a few more pictures of my new doll. I was planning to take all my Courtneys out for a group picture but the project overwhelmed me. Not that I have THAT many Courtney’s, it’s just my Skipper shelf is so cramped I would have to take all the dolls off to dig the ones I needed. I really have no more space to display my dolls. I promised myself that when I reach that point, my dolls would start to rotate between boxes and display shelves but I just like the sight of all of them. So I concocted a clever plan and asked my Hubby to install some shelves over the couch in our study but I requested that they have glass cupboard doors. The official reason is that I wanted to put some pictures there. But my Hubby can see right through me – “but why put pictures behind glass, that is so unnecessary…” I think I tell him it’s for dolls haha! Take care and stay safe!
No comments:
Post a Comment