More Silkstone News!!
So right after I posted yesterday, Mattel posted new images of the BFC exclusive Silkstone for 2016. We have all had a gander at the sketch for many months and many of us had a chance to see the doll in person at the NBDCC 2016. Here are a few images I took of her at NBDCC
And here is the information and official pictures
Designer: Robert Best
Release Date: 10/12/2016
Retail: $100.00
- Body Type: Posable Silkstone®
- Facial sculpt:
- Fashion Sewn On: No
- Fashion: Pink satin gown with flowing organza train
- Accessories: Black satin opera gloves, chandelier earrings
She is a BFC exclusive which means you need to be a BFC member to purchase.
Things to take note of….The IRL doll at NBDCC was sporting pink shoes not black and the fabric on the IRL doll did not show the same kind of fabric as the promo shots are indicating. Just trying to keep it real folks and set expectations appropriately. You be the judge but to these eyes, the ruffle material on the promo shots looks like it lays very nicely, whereas the IRL doll at NBDCC did not. The beading also looks very different but there are always differences between the promo shots and the actual production doll. The difference here is that the production doll was actually seen BEFORE the promo shots so, it feels kind of humorous to me. It’s like saying “ Yeah…this is what we could have done…but….we didn’t”
All else being held equal, I’m still buying the doll. She is a platinum updo with a pink gown…of course I’m buying. Whether or not I feel very good about it is another thing. I have a hard time supporting a company who is making some really unfortunate decisions regarding their collector line. I find it hard to plug a product in this blog when I have a very real concern for the direction of this Mattel division.
-Rebecca
Barbie and Oscar
No, Barbie isn’t stepping out on Ken but she has been spending a whole lot of time with Oscar de la Renta recently. In the past week, Mattel released the ODLR Bride Barbie through dealers and their Barbie collection website.
Oscar de la Renta Barbie® Doll
©2016 Mattel
This past week, Barbie has also been exhibiting an definite Oscar de la Renta affinity. If you are a fan of the @Barbiestyle Instagram account, you may have noticed quite a few ODLR designs making an appearance.
This one is my favorite….
Wish we could get this suit produced!! Here is the inspiration I think.. Oscar de la Renta PreFall 2016 collection
As Barbie enjoyed the Tribeca Film Festival this pastt week….
And from the Oscar de la Renta Pre Fall 2016 collection
Barbie also enjoyed some time in New York City prior to the the film festival…
And another look straight off the catwalk, from the ODLR spring 2016 runway.
Last but certainly not least…this weekend at Grant a Wish Convention, the 2016 Silkstone BFMC exclusive was debuted. Her name is City Chic Suit. Here she is… A big Thanks to Aleshia Hunley for letting me use her photos {Hugs}. No information on when she will be available or what her price will be.
Hmmmmmm….not sure about this one folks. The drawing is divine. The production…not so much. I guess it will depend on the price point but I’m thinking…..Pass. The inspiration for this one also seems to also be Oscar de la Renta. This time we go to the 2016 Resort collection of ODLR.
-Rebecca
Blush Beauty Making Her Entrance
The Barbie Fan Club announced a Silkstone exclusive being offered up to members next Wednesday, October 7th. We saw sketches of her back in February and Rogier of Dutch Barbie Word shared a photo a couple weeks ago of a production doll that Mattel auctioned off for Charity. Mattel is finally sharing the promo shots and I think she is a winner.
I love the silver surprise under the coat!! I was wondering why they were not showing the dress under the coat in the sketch. I am thrilled with the silver topped sheath underneath the pale pink coat. I also adore the brunette ponytail with braid. I believe this one will redress well but am not sure how quickly I will change out this fabulous pink outfit. Let’s hope Mattel has fixed their irregular eyeliner issue from Boucle Beauty or there will be more unhappy campers on this one. Also, The Barbie Collection has announced that they are instituting the “Waiting Room” for this sale. There are instructions about the “waiting room” and what you can do to ensure a smoother purchase here. The starting gates will open to BFC members only at 9:00AM PST on Wednesday, October 7th. They are allowing 2 dolls per membership and ,according to Mattel, they are producing 4,400.
After trying to do research on this doll for the article, I am left with absolute bewilderment over this new Barbie Collection website. This new site is SLOW to respond, it has so many broken links and dead ends that I am honestly scared to click on pretty much anything because I am never sure where it will take me. I get sent to the login screen with alarming regularity. I am recognized as a logged in member one moment and when I advance to a new screen, all of the sudden, I am no longer recognized….and am asked to login AGAIN!! If this website were a person, I would be sending it to therapy and hoping there were some antipsychotic meds available. Here is my story today…at the time of this post, I went to the Barbie Collection website to grab the link for their waiting room protocol. You can’t get to the product page but you can get to a “waiting room” page complete with countdown clock. How did I get to the waiting room page you ask? Well…not through clicking the active link on the BC Buzz page. Here is the Buzz page. I have highlighted the Blush Beauty active link that you would click on.
If you click on that product link, you will find quickly enough that it is a broken link.
This is the message I got when I tried to click on the link. Notice the highlighted error message…”make sure the web address http://http is correct. Well…I have limited programing experience but I can tell you that is not appropriate protocol for a link. Somebody didn’t check the link for errors before putting it on the website. This is programming 101 people. If this were a class in high school or college, you just missed an easy one on the test. The CORRECT link is here. Your best bet to find the sales page right now is to Bing or Google it LOL…you won’t find it on the actual site until they fix the link. I hope Mattel ends up with happy collectors feeling the first blush of love with this new Silkstone. I hope they don’t experience the heated blush of embarrassment over a poorly functioning website on sale day.
Valium Wasn’t Enough
Nope…Can’t touch this
Classic Evening Gown Barbie® Doll
Apparently even Valium wasn’t enough to carry the day for Mattel’s latest scheduled platinum sale. According to Mattel, a server error before the sale even started was enough to cancel the entire thing for that day and no date has been named for its release as of this posting. I have experienced Mattel and Barbiecollector system issues for years (YEARS!) before this hence my previous blog post “Get your Valium Ready” but even I did not anticipate a complete customer fail.
Customer Fail = to fall short of success or achievement in something expected, attempted, desired, or approved.
What?!!! This begs the question, if one server error was enough to bring this sale down, exactly how many servers were allotted to this event? I am thinking….2. Come on people. It is a platinum sale. You hold it once a year. You know…I can believe that weird system things happen. Believe me, I have experienced just such a thing. The system issues that Mattel and BC experience at these platinum sales are consistent not just a “one-off” thing. To come in two minutes before kick-off and say “We are sorry, but we have a system problem”, just comes off as poor planning to me.
Don’t want to arm chair quarterback here but, if you don’t have the server capacity or you have had problems previously with the capacity, one would think you would have a back up plan…perhaps RENT some additional server space or start to question the ability of your system to handle the load you place on it during these high volume sales. There are companies like Amazon and Microsoft that offer up services to handle and solve such issues each and every day. If you can’t diagnose and treat the issue, perhaps it is time to seek outside help. Just a thought. In the meantime, Mattel and the BFC have left their most avid and loyal collector customers with a decidedly sour taste in their mouths. I have no idea if it is the IT staff at Barbie collector who plan poorly or Mattel Inc. itself that simply has not allocated the funding and resources necessary to handle these sales. It is entirely possible that Mattel has told Barbie Collector and its IT staff they must make bricks with no straw on this one. If that is the case, I feel for them. Either way, it leaves the collectors questioning whether they want to purchase the product or not. Not a positive customer experience. Not a good day for Mattel and the BarbieCollector brand.
As of this posting, no available date of sale has been given by Mattel or Barbiecollector for this doll.
Get Your Valium Ready
Mattel is serving up their first platinum edition doll of 2015 to BFC members next week. You have to be a BFC member to have a chance at this doll and you have to be a prepared and ready BFC member to have a chance at her. I highly recommend valium while doing this LOL! There will be system delays ( cough…crashes…cough), there will be frustrated collectors, there will be disappointed collectors and there will be euphoric “ I made it through the obstacles and got it” collectors. There will also be, I suspect, a fair number of scalpers in there just trying to score a doll they know they will be able to make a profit on later. It is the nature of the beast when you have low supply and high demand. So what is all this fuss about you ask…..let me show you.
Classic Evening Gown Barbie® Doll
Designed by Linda Kyaw
Release Date: 5/13/2015
Product Code: CGT31
No more than 1000 units produced worldwide.
Retail: $85.00
Doll Details
Body Type:
ModelMuse
Skin Tone:
Neutra
Facial Sculpt:
Aphrodite
Fashion Sewn On?:
No
Eyelashes:
Painted
Included with doll:
Shoes, Earrings, Bracelet, Doll Stand
I have to admit…she is pretty. I would not expect anything less from Linda and her beautiful and classic sense of style. The jury is still out in my mind if I will enter the shark tank for this one but I wish luck to everyone who wants to try for her. May the force, fast internet connection and the healthy spirit of the hunt be with you.
Happy New Year!!
No…Rebecca has not been hitting the bottle nor does she have her dates wrong. Mattel just announced that the highly anticipated next installment for their Holiday Hostess line will be up for sale Wednesday, October 9th. She is Happy New Year Barbie and she is a BFC exclusive.
There has been much speculation today as to what type of doll this is. Namely, collectors were asking “ Is she Silkstone or vinyl?”. A Mattel representative finally answered conclusively that this fabulous lady, though she looks very much like Silkstone, is in fact vinyl….just like every other doll in this very popular line. She may be residing currently in the category of Silkstones on the Barbiecollector website but that is an error and they are working to fix it. If you watched the video of Bill Greening I posted a few weeks ago, you saw quick photos of this one. If not, the promo shots are finally available to the public.
Retail: $75.00
Available to BFC members only at Barbiecollector.com beginning 10/09/2013 at 9:00AM PST
The chatter on this one would indicate she will sell out quickly. I know what I will be doing next Wednesday.
A Glimmer of Inspiration
Many of you may remember the platinum edition BFC exclusive Glimmer of Gold™ Barbie® Doll. I was lucky enough to be able to get this one.
source: www.barbiecollector.com 
While engaging in my favorite pastime {cough} obsession {cough}, I came across a photo on Pinterest (Thank you Ana Labato!! http://pinterest.com/anaquell/the-world-of-fashion/)that showed me a likely inspiration for this doll design.
sources: Style.com and barbiecollector.com
Cool! And since I know a friend of mine is anticipating the arrival of the platinum edition AA Golden Gala into their collection, I took some photos with her in the Glimmer of Gold fashion. And it’s in THE window. 
Get Your Valium Ready….
…There is a platinum release Barbie available for purchase to BFC members next week.
** Photo credit: Mattel Inc. **
Her name is Beaded Gown Barbie® Doll and she is the first in a new series of black and white themed Barbies®. Linda Kyaw is taking over the drivers seat for the platinum editions and I would say she did a beautiful job with her first in a series design. This elegant lady was designed exclusively for the BFC and at $85 she will go on sale online Wednesday, May 22nd, at 9:00am Pacific Time. BFC exclusive means you have to be a member of the BFC to purchase her and platinum edition means there will only be 999 available for purchase. Typically these are extremely hot sellers and they have been known to sell out within minutes.
I swore that Pinch of Platinum was my last platinum purchase because I needed a bucket o’ valium after fighting to purchase her online. I am hoping that for those who are going to try for this beauty the phrase o’ the day won’t be “SERVER ERROR”.
Have the tums and the valium ready for this one folks…it’s going to be crazy at 9AM on May 22nd.
Hope everyone’s experience is this…
rather than this….
Yuletide Yummies Barbie
If you are a member of the BFC ( Barbie Fan Club) and a fan of the Holiday Hostess Barbie series Bill Greening has been giving us over the past year, tomorrow is a day you should have marked on your calendar. The next installment for this series will be available tomorrow and the fun begins at 9:00AM PT. As this is not a platinum edition….I don’t expect to need my valium. 
She will set you back $75.00 and I suspect this one will sell out quickly so if you want her, get her soon. Christmas is my all time favorite holiday so I plan to be online at 9AM PT with bells on for this one.
** Photos are property of Mattel, Inc.**
How cute are these accessories I ask you??!!! It’s almost worth it for the Santa mugs alone! Here is a shot I took of her at Barbiecon. Hair on this one at Barbiecon looks like its been messed with quite a bit. I am kind of liking the promo shot better than the one we saw at Barbiecon although…the IRL photo makes her look softer. LOVE the cat eye eyeliner and holiday red lips on this one.
Fun for the Francie Collector
If you are a Francie collector and a Silkstone collector, today was your day. The Barbie Fan Club opened orders for the much anticipated Fuchsia N’ Fur BFC exclusive Francie Silkstone .
** Photos are property of Mattel, Inc. **
There are only 4,000 of this lovely lady so if you are BFC member, check her out here http://www.barbiecollector.com/shop/doll/fuchsia-n-fur-francie-doll-w3517
She retails for $74.95
Photo I snapped of her at Barbiecon. She is really cute in person.
Another offering for those Francie collectors in our midst is Kitty Corner Francie. She is also Silkstone and the IRL ( In Real Life) photos that are surfacing of this lady show something better than the promo shots would suggest. She is really quite adorable and I think I might have to get this one too.
Photo snapped at Barbiecon….
She is not a BFC exclusive and you can find her on the Barbiecollector.com site at http://www.barbiecollector.com/shop/doll/kitty-corner-francie-doll-w3469
She retails for $85.00. Those Silkie Francies don’t come cheap now do they?!
Barbie Fan Club 2012 Registration Begins 2/8
We just finished the registration for Integrity Toy’s WClub so now it is Mattel’s turn. The Barbie Fan Club has many perks and another active forum of collectors to participate in but…and you know the drill by now…you have to be a member. One of the lovely things about the BFC is that there is no time limit to sign up. There is , however, a membership limit. Their literature states that they will sell 7500 memberships and that is all. The club doll will also be limited to a specific number and the club doll has sold out the last couple of years. This year, the BFC has a wonderful lineup of club exclusive dolls. The highlight for me is the club doll itself “Afternoon Suit” Barbie. She is a Silkstone and her suit looks to have been inspired by Dior. If you are at all interested in the BFC, I would recommend joining early. My prediction is that this lady will sell out.
** photos are property of Mattel Inc. **
Inspiration? Dior Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2009
Other dolls in the works for the club are: “Rush of Gold ” and “Holiday Hostess”
Rush of gold is listed as a platinum doll ( get your valium ready!)
Whoever inspired the club doll, my hat is off to them. LOVE this lady!!! Will I be buying? Yep! As fast as my little keys can hit the keyboard. Not sure about the doll with her pageboy and bangs hairstyle. In my experience, this hairstyle on the Silkies rarely comes out as nice as the promo photos but I will be more than happy to be wrong on this. She has the look of Anna Wintour don’t you think? Mattel will be releasing additional information on 02/01/2012. For information now , feel free to go to the Barbie Collector sight or just click on the picture bellow.
Pinch of Platinum?….How about a bucket of valium!
Photos are property of Mattel
I managed to get one in my cart and purchase her although…I don’t know how I feel about it. To be honest, after 30 minutes of the “Oooops, maintenance”screen each time I tried to add this BFC exclusive doll to my cart, I was ready to pack it in. I don’t even spend that much time trying to get good concert tickets. I almost walked away and felt good about it because I said “ If it is this difficult just to purchase a doll….soooooo not worth it.” I thought I would try one last time after walking away from my computer for ten minutes. I was literally out the door and just decided to try one last time. Wouldn’t you know it…it worked. But, as I said, I am not sure if I am happy about it now.
I understand that a heavy traffic incident can put a burden on servers. I get the tech part of this, believe me. I just don’t understand why this wasn’t anticipated and certain measures were not taken to ensure a smoother process. Maybe it is the former business analyst in me but it just floors me that they did not seem to be prepared for this. For a company of Mattel’s caliber to have a major sale event and not have the server capacity or at least a workaround in case of server failure absolutely stuns me….stuns me. I know I am not alone in my feelings. The rantings going on at many of the doll boards are a testament to that. I just wonder what Mattel really plans to do about it. This is not the first or even second server crash issue during a big sales event over at Mattel and yet….not much appears to be changing.
This may be my last platinum doll purchase through Mattel. I have a strong urge to vote with my feet on this one and simply not put up with the hassle any more.
The Gang’s All Here
The Russian Silkstone gang that is. Well…not all of them. Darya will be here sometime in late summer but I just couldn’t wait to do a group shot. I received Verushka today and I was so enthused I just had to get the gang into the studio. First of all, let me just say it took a little while to warm up to Verushka. That hat! I guess I am just not the floppy sides down Elmer Fudd hat kind of girl. I was going to just take the thing off except I had heard stories that she is sparsely rooted under the hat. I decided to just tie the floppy sides up ( like any good hunting hat and much more like the Elmer Fudd we know and love) and I have to say I like it WAY better. I love the platinum blond with the black on this lady. Very dramatic and that is just what I was looking for with this line.
After seeing many amazing photos that people have taken of Ekaterina with her hat off, I decided to remove her hat and reposition it. LOVE it now. I had thought I might replace the hat with a fur Dimitha hat but for now…she will keep her original hat. Finally, I am so excited to be using these amazing Russian stacking dolls I found at a doll show recently. I was encouraged to purchase this particular set by a dear Barbie friend ( cough, cough Silkyfever, cough, cough) and I am so glad I listened to her.
Nicolai is adorable!
And last but not least….little Mila.
Inside the Fashion Doll Studio 