Fashion Royalty Convention 2011–Day Two
Well I’m off and running this morning. The schedule is as follows:
Sales Room( picking up the new silhouettes!!), Competition Room and Raffle Room in the morning
Poppy Parker Luncheon
Rerooting workshop in the afternoon
The Color Infusion Dinner and Pucci Fashion Party
I will try my best to get photos processed and posted but it may well be tomorrow before I am able to post. Keep an eye on my flickr for cell phone snaps of the centerpieces at todays functions.
Fashion Royalty Convention 2011–Living the Jet Set Life Welcome Dinner
All I can say is WOW what an evening!! I started out meeting up with some friends before dinner. Here are the lovely Barb of Windy City Dolls, Steven Fraser of Dressmaker Details and Hilda of Bellissima Couture.
Someone had dressed the new Most Wanted Elise in Steven’s new convention fashion and she looked fabulous!
We entered the ballroom and saw that the centerpiece was a gorgeous Kyori in red and black with a black hat. You know me and hats. LOVED IT…and…I won the right to purchase her. Yipeeee.
After dinner, Integrity introduced a couple of new direct exclusive products that would available to conventioners in limited editions of 300 per item.
First up were Bare Essentials Night and Day dolls. ** pictures are screenshots of photos that are property of Integrity Toys, Inc. **
Next up was the City Girl
Then a new guy…Backstage Ambition
The next couple of products literally had me hyperventilating. The new line is called Les Silhouettes and it is so exactly what I love that I was instantly in love. The first new character in this line is called Victoire Roux.
And there is one new fashion in this line called Avenue Montaigne
Because of the limited availability of these direct IT products, each table host handed out envelopes to each member at the table with 4 random tickets for the right to purchase these products. I was so wanting to get tickets for the silhouette products and I was lucky to get tickets for both plus the right to purchase Backstage Ambition and Bare Essentials Night. I can’t wait to see these dolls!!! We will have the opportunity to purchase these in the sales room tomorrow. I hope to have real life photos up tomorrow!
Last but certainly not least, we all received a beautiful doll with Anja face sculpt and I am sorry to say I did not catch her name because I was too busy admiring the doll LOL!
We were also given the first piece of our convention gift set which was a lovely yellow pant outfit with peach shoes. I believe I heard that the doll will be a new sculpt but don’t quote me on it.
The beautiful things I brought back to my room from this dinner are amazing.
The amazing collection for the day is mind boggling!!
And this is just for today!!! I am officially having an amazing time. 
Fashion Royalty Convention 2011–Registration and Salesroom
Registration went very smoothly. Here is a picture of what we received
We received our nametag, a sling backpack ( very cool!), mini combs, a little survival pack with band aids, Tylenol and wetwipes ( very useful ) and the all important empty box. This box signifies we will be getting components to fill it. Exciting!
After Registration, we waited in line for the sales room to open.
For many, the waiting was a fun party and a chance to visit with friends.
Kimberly is excited about the box….or more importantly what is going to go IN the box.
I love the interactive maps they have at the hotel. Clarence is checking it out.
Finally the wait was over and we could enter the sales room. The convention collection was as follows
Vivid Impact Agnes Von Weiss Dressed Doll
Most Wanted Elise Jolie Dress Doll FR2
Style Counsel Adèle Makéda and Véronique Perrin Two Doll Giftset
Mission Control Imogen Dressed Doll ( Nu.Face Collection)
High Toned Rayna Dressed Doll ( Nu.Face Collection)
Brightness Calls Isha Dressed Doll
Simply Simpatico Poppy Parker and Darla Two Doll Gift Set
I would have to say the Elise Jolie is my favorite so far.
I love the ball gowns so she really stood out for me. I also liked Agnes
I left the sales room with some gorgeous Dressmaker Details outfits and the DD Convention exclusive “ Beautiful Beaux”. They had some new shoe packs for FR2 and Poppy Parker. Here is the sales room loot for the day
That’s it for now. I will try and post a short entry this evening to share the evening events. I will be attending the “Living the Jet Set Life Welcome Dinner”
Fashion Royalty Convention–Day One
I arrived in Chicago yesterday evening and am looking forward to sharing the experience of my first F.R. convention. The schedule this morning and afternoon is as follows:
Registration 9:00AM
Run around taking pictures until 11:00AM – (let’s be honest folks…I’m going to be talking to people for a good chunk of this too LOL!)
Grab some lunch 11:30AM
Get in line for Salesroom 12:00PM
Sales Room Opens…..what we are all waiting for! 1:00PM
I hope to be able to post photos soon after I leave the salesroom so everyone can see real life photos of the convention collection. Will see how it goes.
In the meantime…here is a little glimpse of how Rebecca starts her day….command central for convention.
Live from Chicago….It’s Fashion Royalty Convention 2011
I will be flying to Chicago today for my very first Fashion Royalty convention and I am sooooo excited. I can’t wait to reconnect with and meet the many new friends I have made online and at other doll conventions. This convention is smaller than the mega convention that is Barbiecon. There will be 450 attendees and it is a sold out event. I will be attending a workshop on rerooting (very excited to learn a better technique) and a workshop on the Integrity doll process – how things are made. I am not carting my big camera gear to this convention so will have to make do with my trusty point and shoot. I anticipate uploading some photos directly to my flickr account from my phone. I hope to update the blog daily but will have to see how it goes.
Let’s hear it for the boys.
I was able to procure the highly sought after Aiden from the new Fashion Royalty NuFace line. I knew I wanted to photograph him but I was having a hard time finding the right lady to pair him with. He has been spending time on display with quite a few of the lovely ladies in my doll room but when I paired him with the fabulous Engaging Elise, I knew I had a winner for my photo shoot.
Models: Fashion Royalty NuFace Aiden and FR Squared Engaging Elise
Outfits: NuFace Aiden in his original outfit. Engaging Elise is in F.R. NuFace outfit “ True Blues”
Passionate and Envied redressed
Model: Fashion Royalty Monogram “Passionate”
Dress: Bogue’s Vogues ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/boguesvogues )
Shoes: Mattel
Earrings: Fashion Royalty Monogram “Passionate”
Model: Fashion Royalty Monogram “Passionate”
Gown and earrings : Mattel 2003 Collector Barbie
**note** gown is pinned to fit Monogram body. The dress on it’s own is a little big on this body type.
Model: Fashion Royalty Monogram “Envied”
Gown: Randall Craig “ Fancy” ( available at http://www.windycitydolls.com/randalcraig.htm )
Necklace: Randall Craig RTW collection
Earrings: Fashion Royalty Monogram Envied
She is Passionate
The second lovely lady in the latest offering from the Fashion Royalty Monogram line is called “Passionate”. I just love her color palette and I adore the little purple print dress she wears with the bright purple accents. Adorable!
Available at Windy City Dolls ( http://www.windycitydolls.com/frmonogram.htm )
Monograms redressed coming soon…….
Envied in the Sunlight
Many people ask me about my photography and how I light my shots. Many of my photos are taken in a photo tent with diffused lighting from the sides and a soft box light from the front. Sometimes I will use an overhead ( highlight or hairlight) lamp. I find that I use this setup many times because the light where I live is…well..crap. I live in the Pacific Northwest of the United States where we get rain 7 out of 12 months a year. Don’t get me wrong, I love living here. When it comes to photography , however, it can be a challenge. Yesterday, I was so very excited. We had one of those beautiful Indian Summer glory days…bright blue sky and abundant sunshine. I was redressing Ms. Envied after doing some redress shots, The sunshine was coming in the window at a perfect angle to project a grid pattern on the carpet so I just posed Ms. Envied on her stand, laid down on the floor and started snapping. You can make a tripod out of your arms by bracing both elbows on the floor or any stable surface. Just goes to show yet again….you don’t need a fancy light tent to take good doll photos. I love this shot. Sooooooo dramatic.
Oh, and yes, we are back to gloomy and overcast today. ;-(
Her name is Envied
I am a big fan of Integrity Toy’s Fashion Royalty Monogram line. I love the haughty expressions and the smaller body type that can wear most of the Silkstone Barbie clothing as well as my other OOAK Bogue’s Vogues and Bellissima Couture outfits. When IT announced that they were coming out with three new Monogram offerings this year my response was “Where do I sign up?” I received all three lovely ladies this past week from my fantastic dealer Barb from Windy City Dolls and I could not be happier. I know that the Caucasian one sold out in most places but the other two Latin and African American ladies are readily available. The golden skinned Latin lady (Envied) and the African American (Passionate) were the ones I was looking forward to the most. Here is Ms. Envied with Ms. Passionate and Ms. Bemused in the background. Ms. Passionate will be getting her own photo shoot in the next few days.
As of this blog posting, all of these beautiful ladies are available at http://www.windycitydolls.com/frmonogram.htm
Monaco Royale Vanessa has arrived!
I knew when I first saw photos of this lady that she was something that would fit right in with my collection. I have eagerly anticipated this first club doll offering from the W Club for 2011. She arrived this past week and I have to say….the promo photos did not even come close to doing this lovely lady justice. This lady harkens back to the high glamour days of Fashion Royalty’s earlier collections. She just drips style and elegance. I hope my photos are able to convey this. Her jewelry is gorgeous and extremely well made. I love the chunky necklace. There is an additional bracelet that came with the set but I didn’t feel she needed it ( It is sure nice to have extra though ). I love the fact that she came with her own cocktail..I keep wanting to remind her though “ don’t spill that on your gorgeous gown…I mean that’s cranberry juice in there and that is peach silk you are wearing…Danger!”.
The ornate gold table in the photo was a find on ebay. The picture behind Vanessa was a flea market find and the little red foo dogs were found at a Chinese import store.
Extravagant Bellissima Couture
Model: Fashion Royalty Monogram Extravagant
Gown: Bellissima Couture ( http://bellissima-couture.com/ )
Shoes: Mattel Barbie Louboutin shoe pack
It is always a pleasure to showcase the amazing work of Hilda of Bellissima Couture.
Poodle: Randall Craig
Chair: PureDreamfordolls (http://stores.ebay.com/PureDreamForDolls?_trksid=p4340.l2563)
Table: Jim Coates Collection ( http://stores.ebay.com/JIM-COATES-COLLECTION?_rdc=1)
Face Time–using props as inspiration.
I don’t know about others but when I photograph something, many times the inspiration for the set up comes from one prop. In many of my dioramas, I will start with one piece that will set the entire tone for the whole room. In this case, it’s all about the face. I saw these very interesting figures at my local Z Gallery and just had to have one for a prop. I don’t normally go for the contemporary pieces but this one appealed to me so home with me it went and into the studio for a photo shoot.
Model: FR Squared Engaging Elise
Dress and bracelet: Trace of Lace Silkstone Barbie
Shoes: FR Squared Engaging Elise
Wineglass: Ocara
And because I just couldn’t leave my macro lens sitting all lonely on the table…….
I just love the face on this Elise. **Note** Her hair has been slightly restyled from her original style. I took the the side down and pulled it over her forehead a bit. I had seen some other collectors do this on Flickr and on the WClub and loved it so I copied the style.
Haute Couture for Elise
Model: Fashion Royalty Squared Dark Swan Elise
Gown: T.D. Fashions (http://www.ebay.com/itm/T-D-FASHIONS-DOLL-Fashion-Royalty-Silkstone-/180685810534?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a11b6ab66)
Shoes: Mattel Market Day Silkstone
Hat: …..um…It’s a secret
Secret…..the hat is a fabric scrapbooking element. “ Shhhhhh!” Don’t tell Elise that….she thinks it’s the highest in haute couture.
It’s that time again….Bogue’s Vogues Vendredi
I have had this crisp little lemon yellow number for a couple of months now and simply did not have the motivation to photograph it until after convention. I am glad I waited because the flowers in the hat have so much more meaning to me than they did before convention. I believe these flowers were given to James Bogue by two special sisters who found these gorgeous vintage miniature flowers in their late uncles things and gifted them to Mr. Bogue. I dedicate these photos to Joan and Pinky(Denise) for their generosity and for being just some of the nicest people I had the pleasure of getting to know at convention. I also dedicate these photos to their late uncle and the warm memories they have of him. Thank you so much for sharing the story about where the flowers came from!
Model: Fashion Royalty Monogram “Extravagance”
Dress and Hat: Bogue’s Vogues ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/boguesvogues )
Shoes: Mattel Christian Louboutin Barbie shoe pack
W Club has a new Poppy Parker exclusive!!
Integrity Toys W Club announced a Poppy Parker exclusive to it’s club members a couple of days ago and most Poppy Parker fans are in agreement….WE WANT IT LIKE YESTERDAY! I have been a member of the W Club for the past couple of years and I have to say…each year gets better and better. I think I broke my own personal speed record ordering this beauty. They had me at…POPPY…and a tan skinned one at that!
Sweet Confection
Poppy Parker™ Dressed Doll
2011 Exclusive W Club Doll
Limited Edition: TBA
Estimated Arrival: Fourth Quarter of 2011
**All photos are property of Integrity Toys, Inc.**
And alas….the waiting begins.
It’s all about the hat…..
I love hats. I love to photograph these diminutive fashion ladies in hats. If there is a cool hat with an outfit….I’m usually buying it. When the recent royal wedding festivities were on, I tuned in….to see the hats! In fact, it was the royal wedding that gave me some ideas. I had seen these scrapbooking fabric flowers in my local craft store recently and I thought “ Hmmmmm, I wonder if these would work as a hat?” They do! Or at least I think they do. You can find these online under “scrapbooking fabric embellishments” or “fabric flowers”.
Here is Ms. Poppy Parker to model my repurposed hat. I imagined her out on the terrace before a formal wedding.
Model: Restyled Pillow Talk Poppy Parker
White Suit: Fashion Royalty Monogram Incandescent
Monaco Royale !
Integrity Toy’s Fashion Royalty W Club has announced their first official club doll for 2011 and she is divine. She appears to be a reinterpretation of the “Midnight in Monoco” doll from the 2003 IFDC. She is sporting the new Vanessa face sculpt and is available only to W Club members. LOVE the little martini in her hand! I do however want to say to her “Honey, be careful not to spill that on your gown….cranberry and peach just don’t mix well.” This lovely lady is definitely coming home to my collection. I can’t wait to get her in front of the camera. I already have the background scene in my head. 
Monaco Royale
Vanessa Perrin™ Dressed Doll
2011 Exclusive W Club Doll
Limited Edition: TBA
Estimated Arrival: Fall 2011
Suggested Retail: $135.00 US
Photos are property of Integrity Toys.
If anyone wants to peruse photos of current and past Fashion Royalty dolls, please visit Jason Wu’s Doll Reference List at http://woodsky.free.fr/LBX/listeFR.html It is an excellent source!
Bogue’s Vogues Vendredi! Poppy Parker
Poppy has not had a Bogue’s Vogues Vendredi yet so I thought she should have her day. Not to mention I just received this adorably frothy number from Boutique de Bogue last week and fell in LOVE. I was doing another photo shoot with this set for Dressmaker Details “ A Starry Night” ensemble and I just had to continue using it. I am also trying out a new way of posing my girls that allows for more flexibility in positioning. The jury is still out on this method though as it seems to take more time in post editing to make up for it so we will see how things work out. So….without further ado….here is Ms. Parker
Model: A Shadow of Her Smile Poppy Parker
Outfit: Bogue’s Vogues ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/boguesvogues)
Dark Swan Elise is Parisienne Pretty
There is just something about a redhead in blue. I had wanted to do this photo a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of the royal wedding. I felt for sure Ms. D.S. Elise could have been attending the wedding in this. The kicky little hat would have most certainly been appropriate.
Model: Fashion Royalty Squared Dark Swan Elise
Outfit: Parisienne Pretty Silkstone Barbie
Metropolitan and Discreet
I received the new Fashion Royalty Squared Metropolitan outfit last week. I also received La Boutique’s POTM for May. LOVE!
Model: Fashion Royalty Monogram Discreet
Outfit and shoes: Fashion Royalty Squared Metropolitan
Purse: La Boutique May 2011 POTM http://www.la-boutique.ca/
Sunglasses: Fashion Royalty Vanessa Perrin Cruise Control
Extravagance visits the studio
Some musings about this set of photos and what I was thinking while doing it. There is something so rich and elegant about the Fashion Royalty Monogram line of dolls. Whenever my imagination comes up with an elegant set or background, I tend to go for the monograms to help finish the picture that is in my head. When I first received this black Bogue’s Vogues black silk dress, I immediately thought jewelry shopping. Don’t ask me why….just did. The hat, also a Bogue’s Vogues creation, was so wonderful it needed a strong face but not too strong because… let’s face it…it’s all about the hat. I felt I needed a blond model to set off the beautiful black dress and I wanted sunglasses because nothing says “I’m famous and fabulous!” better than a big pair of designer shades. With those things decided, I needed some amazing accessories to match but not too many. First I settled on this fabulous bracelet that came with the Mattel ‘s Anemone Barbie by Christian Louboutin . With that decided, the earrings could not compete with the bracelet so I decided on simple but bold diamond( okay rhinestone ) clusters With such a sleek and elegant dress, I figured I could go all out with the shoes. I wanted to use a fabulous silver pair of shoes that came in the Barbie Louboutin shoe pack. To my complete amazement, the shoes actually fit the Monogram foot so that’s what she is wearing. To complete the outfit, I added a La Boutique Dior purse of the month. Fantastic!
The set was simple because I wanted most of the focus to be on the model. The checkerboard floor was added for some interest but the rest was all tones on black. The mannequin and necklace were the only things I wanted to stand out amidst the background and now that I look back on the photos, I wish I had chosen a necklace with rubies instead of sapphires but, oh well.
Renegade Dasha is in the House!
I did not win the right to purchase this lovely lady in the lottery but thanks to a fellow collector and a fabulous trade, Renegade Dasha is in the house! I really love the styling of this particular FR Squared Dasha. She is very sophisticated and sleek. Yes, the half bun half ponytail hairstyle is a bit of a mystery but it is fairly easy to work around. I really like the blond hair, pale skin and red, red lips. She seemed to me like she needed a sleek and sophisticated backdrop so I imagined her at a swanky wine bar with a lovely merlot. We live in wine country so I will use wine many times for my props.
R.E. Agnes Welcomes Spring in Gwendolyn’s Treasures
I have been a big fan of Gwendolyn’s Treasures for quite a while. I just love the fabrics she uses and the classic styling not to mention the impeccable execution. It was no surprise that when I saw this pink dress and accessories, I said “gotta have it!” With Easter coming up and Spring limping its way into our neck of the woods (wish it would hurry up already!) I wanted to pull out the pastels and go for “girly”. I recently acquired this Agnes and boy am I glad I did. I think she is one of the most beautiful variations of Agnes that Integrity has ever done. It is so easy to go for a dark and sexy shot with this lady so I wanted to go the exact opposite and try sweet and simple.
Model: Regal Estate Agnes Fashion Royalty
Dress, hat, gloves and purse: Gwendolyn’s Treasures
Shoes: Monogram Redefined Accessory set
You can contact Gwen of Gwendolyn’s Treasures at sidorak4@telus.net for more information on her amazing creations. She also sells on Doll Divas http://members.boardhost.com/DollDivas/
Inside the Fashion Doll Studio 