With the international supply chain so out of whack and the Integrity Toys' doll drought reaching epic proportions, there have been a few joys of collecting sprinkled about. One of those comes from Chris Stoeckel who designs the East 59th/Victoire Roux line.
At the height of Victoire Roux's popularity, the edition sizes edged up from 300 to 500 to a resting place of 600. Unfortunately, dealers had trouble selling these dolls at the higher edition sizes with some of them discounted to the public. In 2017 when Chris revitalized the line with additional characters and changed the name to East 59th Street, the edition sizes were lowered to a conservative 400 each. As popularity increased, the edition sizes climbed to 500 in 2018 and 2019. As more sources of collecting dried up and Vintage/Silkstone collectors sought alternatives, we saw editions sizes of 550 in 2020 and early 2021. Although promoted in 2021, the La Femme Godiva Collection finally made it into collector's hands within the last few weeks and was produced in "sold out" edition sizes of 750 each!
I adore the East 59th Street line and own most of the dolls and ensembles. They are a personal favorite of mine. When the La Femme Godiva Collection was promoted last year, I immediately ordered my two favorites.
In 2018, Victoire Roux copied Fashion Royalty counterparts Natalia, Veronique, Vanessa, and Kyori by getting a mold change. This new mold has become very popular with collectors. In 2020, Victoire Roux got a darker skin tone and became a separate character, Della Roux. (In the early days of Integrity Toys, a character mold could get a skin tone change and become a different character - Isha/Luchia, Nadja/Colette. Most characters remained true to their original skin tone with slight changes to represent being tanned. That has all changed with characters being produced in every skin tone in the book and keeping their original names.)
There were four dolls in the La Femme Godiva Collection of which three were sold directly through dealers.
Della Roux is very popular with collectors. Her previous version, Merry & Bright, was an immediate sell-out and rarely becomes available on secondary market. It was no surprise that Frosted Passion Della Roux was the stand-out success of the La Femme Godiva Collection.
Here is the Integrity Toys promo photo of Frosted Passion.
Chris is very generous with his accessories (photo by IT)
Frosted Passion was an easy choice to add to my collection. Here is a photo of my doll still NRFB.
La Femme Godiva included two new characters. The first, Maeve Rocha, is reminiscent of the original Victoire Roux sculpt. This dolls' min-giftset is just gorgeous. Here is an IT promo photo of Pink Mist Maeve Rocha.
As this was a mini-gift set, some incredible capri pants were included. Another IT promo photo:
The accessories (photo by IT).
I love pink - always have - and am not ashamed to admit it! Another easy purchase. This doll is more beautiful in person than in the promo shots. The ensemble is total perfection! The photo of my doll.
The third doll, Pressed Perfection Evelyn Weaverton, came in under the radar. Many East 59th Street collectors compared her to The Americano who has similar hair and faceup. Here is a photo of my The Americano.
Like so many other collectors, I initially passed on Pressed Perfection Evelyn Weaverton. Here is a promo from IT.
Accessories continue to be impressive (photo by IT)
When IRL photos started appearing of this doll, collectors had to do a "double-take". Me included. Fortunately, I found one at retail and added her to my collection. Here is a photo of my Pressed Perfection Evelyn.
The fourth doll in the La Femme Godiva collection was offered through a right-to-buy W Club lottery. She is also a new character, Arctic Moon Coralynn Kwan. I'm not sure why, but I'm not a fan of this doll and am waiting for her next version. Here is a promo photo by IT.
And her accessories.
Part of me feels like I should love this doll. She reminds me a great deal of one of my very favorite IT dolls ever produced, Ginza Blonde Kyori Sato (photo below), although I still think Ginza is more beautiful and exotic. Recently, IT opened a waitlist for this doll, so I caved and put my name on the waitlist. We'll see if she makes her way into my collection.
The retails prices of these dolls have consistently increased in price. In 2017 - 2019, they cost the collector $135 (not including larger gift sets or convention exclusives) which was a great deal for the quality of the ensembles and accessories. The 2020 spring line brought a $10 increase which jumped an additional $15 for the winter line. Presently, these dolls are selling $160 + shipping.
Additions #30, #31, and #32 to my collection in 2022.
