2017 - The Year of Gigi

I've been collecting Integrity dolls for over a decade now, but I still find myself making mistakes in choosing which dolls to add to my collection.

When the 2016 NuFace Collection, Reckless, was advertised I decided to skip AKA Gigi Giselle Diefendorf.  I already owned Glam Addict from 2012 which is one of my favorite versions of this mold.  I reasoned that Glam Addict was so much like AKA Gigi that I didn't need both. 

Months went by and I had put AKA Gigi completely out of my mind.  Then, this spring, IRL photos started being posted.  I kept telling myself that I didn't care for the ensemble.  When another collector posted photos of the braids in her hair, I did a double take.  Of course, by that time, there were none left at retail and the secondary market prices were just too high.

In October, a retailer listed one for sale at almost $50 more than the original price.  It has become a disturbing practice that many dealers are beginning to mark up dolls above the suggested retail price.  I've even read where dealers are canceling orders on collectors and then are found selling dolls on e-bay.  I'm not sure how to think about this practice.  I wonder why IT isn't monitoring this practice, but, then again, there is one seller on e-bay who has been doing this for years.

Here is a photo of AKA Gigi full length in her box.

IT should be giving a nice Christmas bonus to Jessy Ayala.  He really has brought the Nuface line to the front of collections.  Unfortunately, there was a "film" of glue over my doll's right eye.  This is exasperating since I paid more than retail from a dealer.

I always hate finding a  problem with a new doll.  It means I have to contact Customer Service, warm up a heating pad and remove the head, mail the head to Canada, and wait months for a replacement from China.  It sucks the joy right out of buying a new doll.  I decided to go online and look for another (with the intention of selling the replacement when it arrives).

Someone was selling one nude for a reasonable price which had a perfect screening.  As a collector, I have actually paid more on secondary market for a doll with perfect screening - since IT dolls are finished by hand there are many opportunities for mistakes and many differences can be found within one version of a doll.  Here are the accessories:

Just look at all these accessories:  extra set of hands, beret, cute little quilted purse, two rings, fresh interpretation of earrings, necklace, socks, and yellow spike heels.  That's a lot of loot!

I had to undress the original doll to put the ensemble on my replacement.  (You will immediately see the difference in the screening - I LOVE the one I purchased nude online.  Her screening is perfect!)  The green blouse is actually a bodysuit!

Here is a full length version of AKA Gigi dressed in stock.

And a closeup.

The "proof in the pudding" for any doll is how it looks redressed.

... Apparently, I totally missed the mark by passing up AKA Gigi Giselle Diefendorf.  This doll has one of the most beautiful faces ever created for this mold.  I love the hair with the two little braids.  I actually prefer her over Glam Addict.

This year there have been five Giselle versions produced by IT (two of which were advertised in 2016).  I have already reviewed Majesty, Feeling Wild, and Sister Moguls.  The fifth was the Convention doll, Wanderlust.  Each of these versions is very beautiful in its own right, but I believe AKA Gigi is extraordinary!

The Tale of Rumpelstiltskin ...

Once upon a time there was doll who almost didn't make it to the Integrity Toys (IT) Convention.  The doll's designer, Jessy Ayala, had created a hair design so intricate that it took production workers more than two hours to recreate it.  Similar to the real story of Rumpelstiltskin, one individual stepped up who could obviously turn straw into gold in about an hour, thus saving the day.

Most of my followers know that I usually like to open dolls with a "countdown"; starting with my least favorite and building dramatically to my most favorite.  This isn't the case for the IT Fairytale Convention.  On the first day of the convention, all of the convention collection and salesroom dolls were announced.  There was one standout from the entire collection in my eyes, 24K Erin Salston.  I immediately purchased this doll at a very good price from a convention attendee.

Here she is in her box.

Many believe that 24K Erin Salston represents Rumpelstiltskin, but I think she is the miller's daughter from the fairytale.  Here is a closeup.

In the fairytale, a miller boasts to the king that his daughter can spin straw into gold.  This relates to the fact that the daughter has beautiful blonde hair that looks like gold when it catches the sunlight.  The king locks the daughter in a dungeon room filled with straw and threatens to cut off her head if she doesn't turn the straw into gold.  She is rescued by an imp who trades his talent for her necklace.  The next night, the king locks the daughter into an even bigger room filled with even more straw.  This time the imp trades his skill for the daughter's ring.

Here are the accessories.  It appears the designer knows the story well as the jewelry consists of a necklace and a ring.

The ring is a little big on her finger, so another collector shared a trick for keeping rings on fingers.  You take a small clear rubber band (often used in packaging dolls and accessories) and slip knot it through the ring shank.  Then you take the other end and bring it around the hand tab before putting the hand back into the arm. By putting the rubber band on the palm side, it doesn't show in most photos.  Neat trick, huh?

The third night, the king promises to marry the daughter if she can repeat this feat a final time.  Having no jewelry to trade with the imp, she makes a deal to give him her first born child.

Here is a photo of the dressed doll standing next to the coat.

After the king marries the daughter they eventually have a child.  When the imp appears to take the child, the girl doesn't want to give her up and is so overwrought with sorrow that the imp feels sorry for her.  He gives her the chance to keep the child if the queen can say his name out loud.  She has three days and three tries each day.

There are different versions of the story here ... some versions have the queen sending someone out to try and discover the imp's name, another version has the queen sneaking out of the castle at night and finding the imp celebrating before a bonfire.  He is so joyous that he will be getting the child that he inadvertently mentions his own name.  

If the designer was using the version of the fairytale where the queen sneaks out, that would explain the coat and boots, as well as the stars and moons on the bodysuit.  This ensemble would represent what the queen wears when she sneaks out of the castle at night to find the imp.  This coat is a true miniature piece of fashion art.  

When the imp arrives the next night to claim the baby, the queen says his name "Rumpelstiltskin".  The imp gets very angry, stomps his foot so hard that it sinks into earth, and pulls himself into pieces trying to get his foot unstuck.  (In some versions, he flies out of the castle window.)

The body suit 24K Erin Salston wears is just amazing.  The pants are a velvet like texture.  This doll, from head to toe is just perfection.  The modern interpretation of Rumpelstiltskin is spot on.

Way to go Integrity Toys!  One of the best Fairytale dolls I've ever seen in my life and a must have for an IT collector.  Her price has been rising consistently; I believe we have a true grail on our hands.

The only thing I would've liked to see would've been some sort of fur head covering.  But that would've hidden the detail of the hairstyle, so I understand the choice to not include one.

Whether Rumpelstiltskin or the miller's daughter, 24K Erin Salston was definitely the golden doll of the entire collection in my opinion.