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April 26, 2006
April Newsletter
Hope you received our email Newsletter (you can sign up on our Home Page). . . in case you didn't, our Customer Appreciation Sale is on NOW through Friday 4/28/06.
Have a look at our latest News through this link:
DollCloset.com April Newsletter
Posted by dollcloset at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2006
Denver Doll Convention
The Tonner and Effanbee Doll Companies are holding a Doll Convention in Denver the first weekend of May . . . and I will be there! One of the big draws is the opportunity to own limited edition dolls that are exclusive to the Convention. We are all wondering what dolls we will be bringing home! It sounds like one will be a Mary Engelbreit doll inspired by her new Mother Goose book . . . my friends and I are guessing it's Jack & Jill.
There's also a Betsy McCall Western luncheon honoring one of the original artists of the Betsy McCall Paper Dolls. (It's her 85th Birthday) Sure hope I get a new Tiny Betsy there! Another doll we've received hints about is a new Wizard of Oz doll . . . I've heard guesses of the Wizard himself . . . we shall see!! Stay tuned as next I'll talk about costumes we're to wear and the doll contests we can enter.
Posted by dollcloset at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2006
Felicity and Molly Birthday Specials
It's here! A double birthday celebration for Felicity (April 21) and Molly (April 22) . . . with fantastic specials on our Birthday page. Outfits, books, charms etc - all to celebrate the special days for our American Girl dolls - Join us!
Specials effective through April 29 . . . while stock lasts.
Posted by dollcloset at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2006
American Girl Place in Los Angeles
The newest American Girl Place opens this weekend in Los Angeles . . . and next week I get to go there!! I'm very excited and looking forward to taking pictures and sharing my fun and finds with you. We made reservations in advance so will attend the Afternoon Tea in the Cafe and the Revue in the Theater.
Last week several of my doll-lover friends on the East Coast (all over 18 years old!) met at the AG PLace in New York City and had a wonderful time . . . they had planned well in advance so had lunch reservations in the Cafe - which they really enjoyed. But first, they shopped and found special goodies that were just for the New York store - I hope to find the same in Los Angeles. If I can, I will bring some back for you to purchase.
Look for my report in just over a week! Millie@DollCloset.com
Posted by dollcloset at 11:16 PM | Comments (1)
April 14, 2006
Madame Alexander Sale!
ALL Madame Alexander dolls in stock are on sale now through April 19th . . . of course, then on the 20th it's Customer Appreciation Day and everything is reduced 15%! (Minimum purchase %15.00) So - lots to look forward to for these fabulous spring days -
Posted by dollcloset at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)
April 13, 2006
Doll Collecting Myths
Most of you are here for play dolls but some of you are also collectors (or want-to-be collectors). We read an interesting article by Denise Van Patten on About.com - here are a few highlights:
** All doll collectors are old, and like your favorite eccentric grandma.
Actually, people of all ages collect dolls. Its true that many women don't discover doll collecting until their 30s, which is a very common time to discover collectibles based on past playthings.
** All doll collectors are women.
Although women outnumber men as doll collectors, more and more men are interested in dolls - often as antiques or as artwork.
** All collectible dolls increase in value.
Most collectible dolls don't increase in value. There are a few exceptions to this but only a few. That leads to one of the greatest truths about doll collecting: buy what you love, and buy to enjoy your dolls.
** Dolls should be purchased for investment
We at DollCloset.com strongly believe that dolls should be purchased to play with and love. Don't buy dolls to stuff in a closet in boxes!
When my daughter was small, she had a favorite book about a girl that received a rag doll . . . the girl was very disappointed because her cousin's doll DID things and her doll just sat there. Her mother told her the doll did just what is was supposed to do and soon the doll was the beloved companion of the little girl.
Imagination and Love are the only ingredients needed to make a doll special.
** All old dolls are valuable
Sorry but the condition, the rarity of the doll itself plus the demand for the type of doll influence which of the very few dolls are deemed valuable. (Again - dolls are to enjoy!)
Posted by dollcloset at 09:48 PM | Comments (0)
April 08, 2006
Birthday Wishes for Addy!
We're celebrating Addy Walker's birthday now through April 12th . . . If you remember, because Addy was a slave she didn't know the actual day she was born but she knew it was in April. She selected April 9th because that was when the Civil War ended!
Posted by dollcloset at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2006
American Girl Dolls . . . Not Quite a Rainbow
Article by Anita Creamer
Sacramento Bee Columnist
Midori Owata was an American Girl girl.
When she was 9, she fell in love with American Girl's historical dolls representing different eras in American history, each with a set of entertaining books that showed slices of the past through the eyes of a spunky female character.
A few years back, Iwata even modeled in two local American Girl fashion shows. And with her parents and twin brother, Sean, she toured historical displays in Williamsburg, VA and Washington D.C., purporting to show the lives of American Girl dolls from colonial and Victorian times.
At 17, the Christian Brothers senior from Elk Grove is much too old now for American Girl. But she's thinking of majoring in history in college - that's how strongly American Girl influenced her.
Still, she says: "I wanted to see an American Girl doll with an Asian American story. I felt like only half of me" - the half she inherited from her mother, who is white - "was represented through their dolls."
"I hope they come up with an Asian American doll before I have kids, so my daughters can have what I didn't."
That hope is echoed by Asian American parents and activists alike, who have launched a campaign to pressure the American Girl company into producing a historical doll that showcases America's Asian history.
Real American girls, after all, come from a rainbow of cultures, all of which have contributed to what America is today.
With its characteristic emphasis both on diversity and independent female role models, American Girl - which is owned by Mattel - added Addy, an African American doll from the Civil War era, to its historical collection in 1993. Josefina, a Mexican American doll from the early 1800s. appeared in 1997, followed by Kaya, an American Indian doll from the 1700s, in 2002.
The company, which also produces a line of contemporary dolls, promotes its eight historical dolls with the phrase "Every Story Has a Star."
The point, of course, isn't just to let girls of various ethnic backgrounds know their culture matters: It's to educate children of all races that in a multicultural society, we can learn from one another.
But where's the Chinese American doll with the story line set in San Francisco at the turn of the century? Or the Japanese American doll? Or the Vietnamese American doll?
"It's absolutely necessary," says Christina Fa, a Sacramento activist and pediatrician. "I hold the American Girl company to a higher standard. They claim to be a different kind of doll company. But what about Asian American history?"
There's a unique power in seeing yourself - your face, your culture, your people - represented in a positive way in pop culture, even in toys. It's a simple enough equation: when you're included, you count. When you're not, you don't.
White Americans take that for granted, because they can. Americans of other ethnicities cannot.
"Part of the reason I do what I do is that I grew up with a dearth of media images and toys," says Fa. "It can potentially shatter you to the core. This isn't just about dolls. It's deeper. This is a reflection of American culture."
When your history includes being excluded from the mainstream - and in too many instances having that exclusion enshrined in law - you come to realize that diversity isn't a buzzword. It's a necessity.
Even when it comes to dolls.
"We certainly understand how passionate people are about wanting historical dolls added to our collection," says Julie Parks, spokeswoman for Wisconsin-based American Girl, which sold 11 million in dolls last year. "We get hundreds of requests every year for characters representing different backgrounds and cultures and races. It's a laundry list, and it's difficult to please everyone."
Yet every other major racial group is already represented in American Girl's premier showcase, its collection of historical dolls and books. You can understand why some parents find the exclusion striking.
Allison Branscombe can laugh about it now. When her daughter, Lianne Remen, was only 3, the girl came to her one day with deep concern.
"I need a new mommy who looks like me," her daughter tod her.
Lianne, now 12, and her sister, Julie, 9, were both adopted as babies from Jiangxi province in China.
"I was crushed," says Branscombe. "But that was about her developing sense of ethnicity and racial identity."
Branscombe edits the newsletter for the Northern California chapter of Families with Children from China, a nonprofit that supports adoptive families and encourages them to honor their children's heritage.
As a new mother, she learned the importance of including her children's ethnic background in family life - because race matters. And children notice race even if adults pretend not to.
"I'd like to think we're more open-minded and aware of racial and ethnic stereotypes," says Branscombe. "But there are still subtle things."
Dolls, for example. Along with the usual assortment of blond Barbies, Branscombe and her husband, Bob Remen, made sure their daughters had Asian American dolls specially ordered from niche companies. Little else has been available.
The Remen girls never played much with American Girl dolls; Julie only recently received a doll from the contemporary line. Still, Julie and Lianne know about the unique subculture of the historical dolls, because what little girl doesn't?
"The historical dolls have their own stories, and they teach good things," says Lianne, a sixth-grader at Leonardo da Vinci School. "But it bothers me that none of these dolls looks Chinese. They sort of show off Caucasian culture and not anything different."
So when a fellow FCC newsletter editor from Kentucky forwarded Branscombe a copy of the e-mail she's sent to American Girl protesting the lack of Asian American historical dolls, Branscombe fired off an e-mail of her own. And she made sure that FCC chapters throughout the country as well as Asian American organizations in Northern California were aware of the budding campaign.
"I think it's wonderful," says Fa. "Rest assured, Asian American moms and girls and dads are concerned about this issue too. People are upset, and they're very adamant about advocating for this."
Branscombe says she received an immediate reply from American Girl in early February, acknowledging receipt of her e-mail and saying a longer reply would be forthcoming.
"I haven't gotten any other response," she says.
American Girl is hardly any stranger to controversy. Last year, for example, many parents protested when the company introduced a Mexican American doll in its contemporary collection whose story included what many saw as demeaning references to her neighborhood.
Yet American Girl's Parks says the company has seen no recent outporing of requests for an Asian American historical doll. An equal amount of letters come from people requesting Jewish dolls, she says.
For now, she says, the company's marketing strategy is focused on a "Best Friends" line of companion dolls for existing historical characters. But she points out that parents can custom order "Just Like You" dolls with a selection of skin tones and facial features. And she says the company has had good response to its first biracial doll - a contemporary doll named Jess, described as having a Japanese American mother and Irish American father.
That's the doll featured on the cover of the current American Girl catalog.
In Elk Grove, surrounded by her collection of American Girl books and memorabilia, Midori Iwata carefully examines the catalog's cover.
"She looks almost Native American or Hispanic." says she.
But she's supposed to be Asian American.
"That's crazy," she says.
Her family was pleased when American Girl initially opened the door to diversity in its historical dolls.
"We thought, "We can't wait until they come out with one representing Asian American culture," says Midori's father, Chris Iwata, Sacramento City College's dean of humanities. "And we're still waiting."
Published March 24, 2006
Posted by dollcloset at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2006
Gossip about Only Hearts Club
Just received our new catalog - some lovely and fun items coming your way! Unfortunately they won't arrive until June but look for fairy and mermaid costumes . . . and Rock Star Pink outfit complete with mini-guitar. Brand new in stock NOW is a purple swimsuit, sarong, sun hat, beach towel and tote bag!
Apparently the magazine In Touch had a little spread that the daughters of Teri Hatcher, Cindy Crawford and Kelly Preston are all fans of Only Hearts Club dolls!
Posted by dollcloset at 09:33 PM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2006
Doll Play Began in Egypt
A recent article from a Brazil publication summarizes the custom of playing with dolls as follows:
Egypt, the country considered the cradle of world civilization, plays an important part in one of the most popular and oldest customs among girls: playing with dolls. It was in Egypt, around five thousand years ago, that dolls started being used as toys, according to advertiser Cristiane Von, author of the book "A History of Toys for Children to Learn and Adults to Recall", released by publishing house Alegro.
Up to then, the objects that reproduced images of people were considered idols. They normally had characteristics similar to those of the upper classes. "The Egyptians then started making dolls that recalled the labourers," explains Cristiane. The production of images for worship began much earlier, around 40,000 years ago, in Africa and Asia, she explained.
It was an Egyptian custom to bury the dead together with their objects, in tombs, which made it possible for the researchers to discover the origin of dolls. "They were found in tombs, beside children," explained Cristiane. At that time they were made out of wood and also clay. "Due to the custom of keeping objects with the dead, Egypt has the oldest registers in various areas," she explained.
According to the author, before the 19th century there is little information about the history of toys, as they broke in the hands of children. Regarding dolls, however, there are reports that in the Greek and Roman societies, some centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, they were already made out of many more products, like terracotta, leather, bone and cloth, as well as wax and ivory, in the case of more wealthy families.
It was during the Renaissance, however, that dolls gained greater value. Although their shape was still a little rough, they gained ornaments that made them almost artwork. At that time the German cities of Hamburg and Nuremberg started growing in the production of dolls, also exporting them to other parts of the world. Germany became the world hub for doll production.
Dolls, as they are known today, made out of synthetic material, started being produced after World War II, when the economic crisis installed started spreading the use of plastic, also for the production of toys. "Before that, plastic was a synonym of bad products," stated Cristiane. The other great change in the doll market was the creation of Barbie dolls, by the North American company Mattel, in the early 1950s. "From the Middle Ages on, dolls were given infant characteristics. Before that they had adult features. Barbie brought back dolls with women's faces," explained Cristiane.
Today, toy and doll factories are spread all around the world. To gain the market, industries have adapted to customs and to the consumer's culture. In the Arab world, for example, in 2003 a doll called Fulla was released, wearing Muslim garments. In Brazil there are around 300 doll factories.
Translated by Mark Ament
Posted by dollcloset at 12:39 AM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2006
April First
15% off purchases at DollCloset.com over $15 ALL day - no fooling!!
Also effective for MysteryGamers.com and FashionDollClothes.com
Posted by dollcloset at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)