It's a Mod, Mod, Mod world!

I wouldn't have it any other way. Mod. My favorite fashions. My favorite era. My favorite to wear when I can pull it off. And that's just it. I usually can't. So, much more fun to dress the Blythes and Barbies in vintage mod fashions.

At top, my Jane (right) wears her Skipper "Twice as Nice," while Maggie's Ava wears "Twice as Nice" in their more familiar color combo. This is an early 1970s Skipper felt dress and coat set. Next, Brigette looks pouty perfect in Skipper "Quick Change," a mod 1968 outfit that also came with a mini dress, tassel'd knee socks and ankle boots. I am on a quest for the socks. So, here I substituted some slouchy socks and mock Converse high-tops with floral lining.

And lastly, my gorgeous "flip" Francie is wearing her own "Tenterric," a pleated wonder I've had at least three times now: childhood, a Blythe phase a couple years ago, and now. This time I have the purse (not shown here), but need to find the bonnet thingy, stockings and squishy lime bow shoes. This dress, however, is pristine! Here, I have used the lime-y Fashion Avenue accessories pack to add hose (baggy), slingbacks, a chain purse and scarf.

A couple excellent reference sites to vintage fashions can be found here and here.

Another interloper...here to stay!

Besides the vintage Barbies which have been claiming a piece of my free time, a.k.a. "Blythe Time," now we have Ms. Poppy Parker on the scene. I had been coveting her pouty face ever since I saw her announced in Haute Doll magazine last fall.

She is produced by Jason Wu (yes, the same Jason Wu of Michelle Obama's wardrobe) for Integrity Toys. She is 12", fully articulated, and has been released already in a variety of hair styles, colors and outfits. This one above, called "Beatnik Blues," just spoke to me, as did her reasonable price!

Here she is wearing a striped tunic dress from a Taylor Swift doll (sorry, Taylor. I luvs ya anyway), Poppy's own black tights, Francie's fuschia Culotte Wot boots, Barbie's 1960s white canvas Resort Set hat (yes, that hat is almost 50 years old!) and the perfect accessory--a Vera Bradley style handbag made in glorious detail by the ever-so-talented Diana Weiler, one-half of La Boutique.

I think Poppy will be a great model for my vintage mod Barbie and Francie fashions, many of which are being restored or repaired by another talent, Libby Sherman of Pistachio Libby. However, Poppy is going to need a padded bra to pull off some of the Barbie fashions! Calling Jason Wu....

The Mod Squad is Back in Town

Mod Squad
Originally uploaded by Gina2424

Need I say more?

The ultimate in purse pets!

The ultimate in purse pets!
Originally uploaded by Gina2424

Take that, all you pint-size chihuahuas out there. And you, too, Yorkies, even though I wuv you. Make way for the purse pet of the next decade: mini Wonder Frog! No pooper scooper bags required, no crumbly dog biscuits, no expensive grooming (hey, no fur, and you can't paint toenails that don't exist)! Can't find a prince? Just get a frog. Jessica Simpson, we're talking to you. Basic Barbie wears, in addition to her fab frog, a very vintage Barbie Dreamy Blues dress, vintage boots and lesser vintage Fashion Avenue sunglasses, furry coat, and purse. She's all that, and together, they're all that and more.

The Barbie-Blythe overlap finally sucked me in and won't let go!

No, these 10 pictures are not of Blythe (as in Blythe-O-Mania, the title of this blog). They are of Francie, Barbie, Teresa, Casey, a host of "barbies," (small 'S'; different than 'the' Barbie, some of you understand that), a vintage Barbie case cover, and okay, one Blythe (Buffy) in pink with Superstar Barbie.

So what have we here? I guess I have to accept it. It's my newest obsession. Although it looks, feels and smells like my childhood of the 1970s, it's really my second childhood, circa 2010. And it's going well. Lots of fun. No angst about boys, zits or homework. Well, less angst.

It all started simply enough. Blythe bodies are the same as Skipper bodies, and as such can wear the vintage Skipper fashions of the 1960s and 1970s with special aplomb. Call it attitude. Call it whatever you will, but I have been slowly collecting my favorite Skipper fashions, many of which I had once before, for my Blythes to wear.

Then I discovered some of the Francie fashions also fit and looked mod. Francie was perhaps even more of a favorite than 'the' Barbie barbies I had. Francie was fun and mod and hip and had a cool friend Casey, whereas Barbie with a big 'B' was always a little severe looking to me with her arched eyebrows, pursed lips and stilettos. Barbie intimidated me the same way she probably intimidated Midge. And Ken.

Francie was my cool pal when I was about age seven to 10. And now she's my cool pal when I'm about ^%&^%*#@. Oh well, never mind that. Anyway, after accumulating a nice stash of vintage fashions, I realized I could enjoy them more if I could display them on their rightful vintage 'owners.' Suddenly, I had a new old Barbie collection (big and small 'S'). And as fate would have it, they display perfectly on top of my Blythe doll house. So now I can have an ever-changing montage of my first and/or second childhood. Or, as the next-to-last photo demonstrates, I can have a "Who Wore It Best" dress-off, a la Us magazine, any time I want.

Fashion Fun & Blythe Friends

If I reported how many hours I spent preparing late on a Friday night so I could take pictures of each Blythe (and now, each Barbie, Frog and Tom, Dick & Harry, it seems), some one of you would try to have me committed. So, suffice to say, the photo shoot took much less time than the preparation. But then the after-work--editing, uploading, emailing, Flickring, blogging, etc., took the better part of an eight-hour day!

Some of the results are above. I recently received a few lovely things via trades with other Blythe fans (fanatics). In red in the middle, cream mohair Molly wears an incredibly detailed and well-made coat and dress set with hairpin by Trio, which I got from Trish in the U.K. by trading a crochted set by Blanki seen here.

Jane, below Molly, wears a lovely peachey orange hat I received from Judy in Canada in a trade. She sent tiny socks she had made and this perfect hat in exchange for a blue Madeleine coat I had, and some other stuffs.

Daisy is wearing a darling dress made out of cut-up vintage curtains; the fabric I either got in a trade or at a thrift shop. The dress was made by Pistachio Libby, "our" seamstress and tailor on Etsy, and now an IRL (in real life) friend I recently met up with for a play day. I asked her to make a "1978 Gunne Sax Prom Dress," and she interpreted that perfectly!

Phoebe is in a tennis outfit by Bon Bon Blythe that I got second-hand on Plastic Paradise, along with the V-Smash tennis racket, bag and can of tennis balls. She's keeping up her tomboy act so far.

In the same PP sale, I got the amazing new hair/scalp for Joey, at the very top. Joey grew up! See her before here and here! Now she's all sassy with a "leather" Harley Davidson vest snatched from Barbie, a tulle tutu, fishnets, purple suede motorcycle boots from Cool Cat and a shiny silver Barbie jacket with purple fur. Next thing I know she'll want a tatoo. The scalp is from a Disco Boogie. Excellent cutting job, Mnemone!

Black bob Bunny is looking rather stylish in slim black flares, a black Megipupu top with delicate crochet edging, and a standout purse from the lovely Diana at La Boutique. The bag is a scale replica Louis Vuitton Murakami roll bag. Makes Bunny look like a million bucks- or at least a couple thousand!

Lastly, FROG in a Kelly top and Strawberry Shortcake shoes and tights, admires the tiny Barbie house ornament by Hallmark while one of the LPS dachshunds checks it out also. Hey, don't your toys play with toys?

Still Feeling Froggy!

We Interrupt This Re-root

My mohair re-rooting for my Save the Animals Blythe, which I started a couple days ago and blogged about here came to a sudden stop at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. I sort of missed the rubber scalp and stuck myself with the very sharp and somewhat big embroidery needle. When I pulled the needle out, because it was stuck, there was a little, okay big, gusher of blood and a big, weird goose-egg thing of blood formed immediately. Then I was left with this lovely bruise. So, today I moved on to lip-painting.

And FROG says Hello

FROG, who remains nameless, could hardly wait for me to sew tiny snaps on the 1960s very vintage Tutti top, which he/she/it paired with Strawberry Shortcake tights and Azone shoes, snagged for us by Auntie Maggie at the International Fashion Doll Convention in Las Vegas in July.

I am thinking FROG will remain nameless because 1) the Blythes have names which must be remembered and kept straight. When one has a few Blythes, getting the right name out can be something like a grandma "calling the roll" when trying to call one of her children by name. Why do grandmas do that? Does yours? I know of a "BernDanMax" combo that comes out now and then, as well as a "JackPaulBruce," and then there's me--calling my cat Alex instead of my son.

And 2) since Vogue magazine refers to those of great taste as 'fashion arbiters,' FROG can just be a Fashion R-r-r-ibbiter Of (all things) Green. Makes perfect sense to me.

A W.I.P.: Work in Progress

My new Save the Animals is getting a major overhaul on my vacation. So far I've sanded away her shiny face, painted her eyelids, changed all her chips (from blue, green, gray and brown to green, red, purple sparkle and Hello Kitty glitter sparkle, the latter two from Milky Way Blythe on Etsy), pulled out her stock eyelashes and replaced them with sideswept lashes with glitter rims, added sleep eyes and changed her pull rings.

I've gotten her put back together successfully--always a scary moment--and now I'm finishing her green mohair reroot, after painting her Cool Cat scalp. The mohair is from a sheep on the farm of Elizabeth's Fiber & Yarns in Washington state. Re-rooting was temporarily halted about 1:30 a.m. today when I stabbed my hand instead of the scalp with the very sharp embroidery needle.

The lips you see above--a combination of a lip sticker and nail polish--have already been sanded off again as I saw how crooked and lumpy they were. Time to try again soon. Hope to have her done this week. Then she will need a name!