Happy Haute Couture - January 2020

Greetings Friends!

I hope you had a happy and healthy holiday season and are ready for a fresh start with this new year. 

In the 2019 Barbie Haute Couture Calendar we had one extra doll that was featured. There is a final page with the first four months of 2020 in the calendar. 

Tea Time With The Girls

Beautiful floral dresses just scream "Tea Time." I have a few dolls in my collection with the title "Tea" in them and they all have a pretty floral dress. Love. 

I could not find this exact dress anywhere but I found one that was similar called Garden Party.

barbie.mattel.com

This dress is so simply elegant. And while not exactly like the dress above, this one still has the hat and the delicate bow around the waist. I love it. And I guess this one was just for purchase as a fashion pack so there is no picture of it on a doll. 

But I did find this!

www.pinterest.com

Here it is on a doll but it was sold as a fashion pack. Robert Best says in the lower right hand corner "Beautiful elegant fashions sold separately. It was the perfect way to add fun and flair to the collection."

I agree! Want to spice things up a bit with your silkstone collection? Here you go!

Here is the excerpt from the Mattel website:

"A pretty daytime ensemble, featuring a rose print organza dress, pink chiffon cardigan, straw hat, and straw handbag."

Ok, not much of an excerpt.   

Well, that is it for the Haute Couture calendar! I hope you had as much fun as I did reading about some of our beautiful silkstone dolls. 

Before I close this series of posts, I did hear a few months ago that they (Mattel) is discontinuing the Barbie Fashion Model Collection (BFMC)/Silkstone line of dolls. Which is truly a sad time for collectors as these are beautiful dolls! In a statement I read by Robert Best himself, he did say that he is excited to see what is coming for collector dolls and excited to be a part of it. So maybe we will have more Haute Couture in the future? We can only hope!  

Happy New Year!

The Year of Haute Couture - April

Welcome to the newest installment of Haute Couture Fashion from the Haute Couture calendar. You will recall that all these designs were by the master of Haute Couture, Robert Best!

For April we have a beautiful Springtime outfit. I present:

April - Garden Party Barbie (2009)

When you think of spring tea or garden party, do you picture something like this? Light, airy, floral print dress, white gloves, pearls, and wide-brimmed hat? She is absolutely beautiful. I wouldn't mind having a dress like this (except it would never look as good on me as it does on Barbie!)

Well friends, this is all I could find for the real doll.

barbie.mattel.com

Can anyone confirm that they did not make an actual 'doll' for this beautiful creation? It's sad because this is such a beautiful dress. They did decided to add a pink cardigan for the outfit. But I want to see it on a doll. I want to see it on a doll because of the pearls!

But we do have some other "Garden Party" ensembles that have made an appearance through the years.

1962-1963 Vintage Garden Party (#931)

barbie.mattel.com

This is the 1964 Barbie Vintage Garden Tea Party (#1606) similar to the one shown above. It was only made for one year so it is extremely hard to find.

barbie.mattel.com

1988 Garden Party Barbie, with so many flower-pretty looks!

www.dollyshouse.ru

Well, that's all for today. Let me know if anyone finds a good picture of Robert Best's Garden Party on a doll!