The First Convention Doll Out of the Hangar - #30 of 2020 Red Hot Evelyn Weaverton

Make no doubt about it, Chris Stoeckel knows a thing or two about designing doll clothes.  Unfortunately for those who love his work and the East 59th Street line, there was only one offering at The Integrity Toys (IT) Legendary Convention, Red Desire Evelyn Weaverton.  Chris has shared with collectors that the Evelyn mold is a personal favorite as the character was inspired by his grandmother, the lady who actually taught him to sew and instilled his love of fashion design.

I have collected the East 59th Street line ever since its humble beginnings as the Victoire Roux line back in 2011.  Victoire was introduced at the IT Jet Set Convention with Fauboug St. Honore and a separate fashion entitled Avenue Montaigne. 

One of my favorite things about his doll is that, not only does Chris offer new fashions based on vintage designs, the Victoire Roux body can actually wear Vintage Barbie clothing.  Here is Honore wearing a pink pak skirt, body suit, and belt.

Connecting the dots, it was soon realized Victoire Roux's body could wear the incredible IT clothing made prior to 2006 since the original IT body was shorter and had similar proportions to the original Barbie.  Here is St. Tropez wearing the 2005 Lustrous Silhouette Adele Makeda ensemble (edition size 500).

In 2017, new characters, Evelyn Weaverton and Constance Madssen, were introduced and the line was officially changed to East 59th Street.  I was all over that!  My doll collection increased quite a bit.  Here is a compilation of my Victoire/East 59th Street collection:

As you can see, I'm not a "casual" collector of this line.  When a W Club member generously offered to help other East 59th Street collectors get Red Hot Evelyn Weaverton at retail convention cost, I jumped at the opportunity.

Here is the promotional photo by IT.

Here is a closeup of the doll NRFB that arrived last week.  There has been a lot of criticism this year about the quality of lighting in the promotional photos of The Legendary dolls.  As you can see, Red Hot Evelyn's dress is no where near the shade of red as originally shown.

I knew that dress had to be released from that little box!  When I got her out and started putting everything together, I quickly realized there were just too many shades of red on this one doll.   The factory was unable to execute Chris's design faithfully.  The shoes, gloves, purse, jewelry, train, and mani/pedi were not all the same shade of red.  Here is a photo of the accessories from IT.

I opted to leave off the gloves and change the shoes to an older FR shoe.

I prefer this look.  (Note:  I do not use a flash.  Most of my photos are taken in natural light and I try to capture the true colors in the ensembles.)

And here is a better closeup.  

Many collectors are bothered by the high forehead on this doll.  The production team created the hairlines a little too high.  My doll's forehead didn't bother me as much as the hairline problem over her left ear.  No one's hairline is like that.  Another collector referred to this as, "looking like her wig was blowing off".   

Have I mentioned how much I love Chris Stoeckel's work?  I really do.  I believe there was the potential for this doll to be a stellar stand-out at the convention.  The dress is perfection!  The faceup is breathtaking.  Sadly, the lack of quality control continues to be a serious issue at the IT factory.   Do I contact Customer Care?  We all know how that goes ... remove the head, ship to Canada, wait for weeks or months for a replacement, hold you breath when it gets returned in hopes it's not worse than what you sent off.  I'm tiring of the dance ...

Until I make up my mind, here is #30 of 2020 Red Hot "Mess" Evelyn Weaverton ....

 

Best of 2018 - East 59th Street/Victoire Roux - A Year in Review

I have been a tremendous fan of the Victoire Roux line since its introduction in 2011.  I LOVE the vintage clothing styles.  I love the body and how it can wear Vintage Barbie and the oldest Integrity Toys (IT) ensembles, even the pants.  Here is Avenue George V wearing the Mattel Christian Dior Walking Suit.

And here is Faubourg St. Honore wearing Vintage Barbie Saturday Matinee.

St.  Tropez is wearing the IT Lustrous Silhouette gown from 2005.   The length still works!

I actually own eleven versions of Victoire Roux and have the newest on pre-order.   She is due to arrive in early 2019.  I was very excited that she was returning after a four year hiatus.

NOTE: From this point on, I only include photos of dolls that either joined my collection in 2018 or were actually shipped to consumers in 2018.

Convention attendees were able to purchase a version this year, Divine Evening. (Photo property of Integrity Toys)

There have been so many beautiful dolls this year, Divine Evening was not a "must have" for me.

While Victoire was "getting work done", IT introduced a supporting line called East 59th Street in 2017 which gave us two additional characters to the Victoire line, Constance Madssen and Evelyn Weaverton.  I purchased one of each that year and was very pleased with my choices.  I reviewed this line; here is the link East 59th Street 2017

In 2018, I played "catch up" and purchased Wicked Glamour Constance Madssen from the 2017 Fairytale Convention.

I just couldn't live without that gorgeous purple cocktail dress and she was selling very reasonably on secondary market (and still is if you can catch one!).  Additionally, I needed her to go with Midnight Glimmer Evelyn Weaverton which W Club members were allowed to purchase following the 2017 Fairytale Convention.  She didn't arrive until 2018.

In 2018, The Cocktails Collection was released and introduced us to a male character named Laird Drake wearing Cocktails for Men.  (Photo by Integrity Toys)

Another female character was introduced later in the year named Aurelia Gray, the first black character in the Victoire Roux/East 59th Street line.  She will not be shipped until 2019.  The other dolls from the The Cocktail Collection that I did not purchase were Mai Tai Sizzle Constance Madssen.  (Photo by Integrity Toys).  She also came a cute yellow shorts/jacket combination.

And Turquoise Sparkler Evelyn Weaverton.

For some reason, I think of Evelyn Weaverton and Constance Madssen as twinsies.  They always show up in pairs in my collection!  The two I ordered from this collection were The Americano Evelyn Weaverton.

And Tangier Tangerine Constance Madssen.

The only reason I purchased these two dolls were I took a chance on an eBay seller that was selling them for $80 each, NRFB.  I thought it was gimmick, but they arrived in perfect condition.  Great deal on some beautiful dolls!

... So who is the Best Victoire Roux/East 59th Street of 2018?  I have been completely smitten with Tangier Tangerine Constance Madssen.  Here she redressed with a change in her hair.

And representing Doll #18 of 2018 wearing Mattel's Fabulous Forties ensemble.

Definitely a Best of 2018 doll.  Tangier Tangerine is gorgeous!

East 59th - Vintage Feeling

One of the reasons I've been playing with my vintage items is the anticipation of the East 59th dolls' arrival.  When these dolls were revealed in early April, many collectors who love Victoire Roux were excited about adding additional characters to her line.   The designer is Chris Stoekel who is famous for his vintage flair with fashions.  There were four dolls revealed with two different NEW face molds.

The first face mold is Constance Madssen.  She came in two versions:  Captivating Cocktails (this fabric reminds me of the skirt for Venus Secret Eugenia).

and Luxurious Leisure.

The second face mold is Evelyn Weaverton.  She also came in two versions:  Classic Glamour:

and Glittering Gala:

Integrity Toys reported that these ensembles could be shared with the current Victoire Roux line, so I decided to take a chance and purchase one of each face mold.  I've been collecting Integrity products for a very long time.   I remember how much I loved opening the boxes because there was so much detail involved in the packaging.  They have brought that back!  I actually squealed when I pulled the box out!

Here is the back.

And the box opens to look like a little dressing room!!

And the little "card stock paper" doors actually pull open with ribbon tabs to reveal areas for the accessories!

I guess you realized that Glittering Gala was my first choice to purchase!  Here is a closeup of her face.  (I'm afraid she does suffer from a "suspiciously large woman head".)   But her makeup palette is gorgeous!  I wish her eyes were a couple mm farther apart; she would be perfect.  Her head mold is a tad bigger than Victoire's and even Constance's.  It's not "huge" or even "too big"; it's just a little bigger.  I think she would rock a Color Infusion body!  I may even put her on a FR2 body!

Look at all those accessories!  You get a lot for your money!!

My second choice was Luxurious Leisure Constance Madssen...

This ensemble is exceptional quality.   Here is a closeup.

She photographs better than she looks in hand.  She is a very pale skin tone.  Her sculpt is a closer to the scale of Victoire's.

I'm trying to decide if I am going to keep the dolls, redress them, etc.  What do you think?