Hi everyone,
Whew, I came back in one piece from the Paris Fashion doll festival! It is always three days of crazyness packed with events and people to meet. I'll type down some quick impressions and post some photos from my cell phone camera which are unfortunately always of insufficient quality but better pictures will follow and at least they kind of capture the event.
You might already have seen these photos in Terri Gold's fashion doll blog
http://terrigoldphoto.blogspot.com/ which is always a great read- Terri asked me for permission to share and I am running a bit late posting my own photos ;)
Friday event
I attended the Sybarite Cocktail event on Friday. There was also a Tonner event with cami, Ellowyne and Evangeline Ghastly dolls which I did not attend sicne I do not collect these dolls.
First off, I was extremely lucky to receive the last of the event gown, called eau d' Hong. It is a limited edition of 21 and basically sold on first come, first serve basis. It deserves a better picture soon- a gorgeous black gown with deep neckline and rose shaped decorations on both hips. The neckline is also lined in hot pink like the roses to add some contrast while the gown itself is lined in a beige coloed fabric as you can see.
The Sybarite event itself is always a curious mixture of die hard collectors and really awesome friends and the other fraction of scalpers carrying out several dolls to put them on ebay immediately. I know that reselling is always a difficult topic but I personally would not attend a doll event just to sell the doll afterwards. I feel it is bad behaviour towards those who really collect. It is another topic if you do not like the doll (since you basically buy unseen when traveling to the PFDF, the doll is unveiled that very evening) or if it is an event oyu have to attend (like everybody has to attend the Barbie event at the PFDF if they want to go to the Sybarite event, too).
The doll itself is a beautiful Venus sculpt called Gateau (cake). She looks very gentle and sweet and like last year's Fidele, she comes with a lot of accessories (hat, hat box, stole, earrings, necklace). There are also awesome silver sparkling shoes. She should be a limited edition of 100. Again, better pictures to follow.
Also, every attendee of the event who got a doll also got this cute little souvenir t shirt:
The highlight of this year's sybarite event was a preview of ten beautiful one of a kind chalk white dolls by Superdoll. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed on Friday but I learned that the same display was made awailable on Sunday in the sales room and pictures were allowed then. I was gone already but maybe I can get the permission to repost some. Otherwise, searching "glamping", the moto of the collection, combined with sybarite related terms on e.g. flickr should do the job. I will not try to describe them right now because I know I cannot do it adequately. Seeing a chalk white Sybarite is always etheral.
Saturday
Saturday is the day of the Barbie event luncheon. This year it did not take place in the convention hotel but on a boat cruise which is a great idea by itself but unfortunately that also meant that there was no power point presentation opportunity e.g. when the exclusive Barbie doll was presented. You could basically miss the unveiling of the doll when you were not seated in the middle of the boat.
Also, there was no opportunity to organize seating in advance and so it was pretty much impossible to sit with the people you wanted to once the boarding of the ship had started. Some people ended up in groups on tables the did not know at all which is unfortunate when you only get to meet fellow collectors only once a year, anyway.
The Barbie is a limited edition Silkstone and a color variation of a doll that is already available, Luncheon Ensemble. Sorry, I am not a Barbie expert so I cannot really comment on her. One thing I realized is she seems to come with the Box of the more common version since the picture on the back of the doll does not show the doll inside but the regular one. I thought this was too bad but then again, who am I to comment. Mine will be for sale as I tried to love her but it wouldn't work. I guess I am not falling in love with barbie any more in this collector's live but the luncheon is included with any type of registration, too.
Sunday
Sunday is the day of the salesroom at the PFDF. For Sybarite collectors, it means getting up early and trying to get a good spot in the waiting line to have a chance to purchase the Sybarite companion doll which is normally a color variation of the doll available on Friday but much more limited.
I was under the impression to have a decent (not great) spot in the line but missed out. I guess that the edition was probably less than 20 otherwise I would have exptected things to work out. But I guess I also learned over the time I collect now that Sybarites work in mysterious ways and I try not to obsess about it. There are always people who get up earlier and/or have more money and/or better connections than you. Or as me at least ;-) And that's ok. The next doll release and the next opportunity is always coming up. This year I was lucky with the event gown and next year I simply will get up at 6 instead of 6:30 or so ;-) Or stay at the convention hotel which I avoided so far since it is pretty far off the Paris city center and I simply do not find it very inviting. Then again, I know I could spend some more time with dear fellow collectors staying there. Hmmm.
Otherwise, the sales room is always worth having a look if you collect fashion, baby or antique dolls. Since I buy some other dolls besides the Sybarites, too, I enjoyed having alook around. You typically see a lot of Barbies, Fashion Royalty and Tonner dolls and sometimes items have really good prices since we are dealing with collectors selling to fellow collectors here. I will confess openly that most super realistic baby dolls and some antique dolls scare me but I respect that other people adore them just like I adore my Sybarites that some others might find disturbing ;-)
