Guest post: Victorian Elegance Barbie

Today I have something different and, I think, pretty exciting for you! A friend of mine from grad school, Maggie, contacted me a little while ago about doing some posts reviewing her small collection of vintage collector Barbie dolls, and of course, I said yes! Today, I've got the first one to post, and with that, I'll hand it over to Maggie, on the other side of the jump.

Okay, so for those of you who enjoy Christina’s blog, I will be contributing as a guest for three posts.  Why? Well that’s simple.  I have three Barbies whom I’d like to blog about, but not enough to start my own blog.  So, I hope those who enjoy Christina’s posts won’t be too upset by mine.

So around the age of ten or eleven, the Hallmark in my little town in BC started selling Holiday Barbies.  I was still in a Barbie phase, so one of my parents bought the Victorian Elegance Barbie for me.  I will fully admit right now that until an hour ago this Barbie was never removed from her packaging.  Even now, I’m contemplating putting her back in said packaging.  But, I will most likely leave her out and place the packaging in my closet.

Christina would be introducing the box now, so here it is.  The box is a dark shade of teal with gold lettering.  You can open the front to look in at Barbie (which may explain why I never took her out of the box).

I also appreciated the two little Christmas post cards that come with this Barbie.  The other accessories include a stand (which I figured out how to use after a few attempts!), the postcards, and a pair of ice skates.

Ok, enough of this.  I love Christina and her posts, but I need to make mine a bit unique! 

Alright we’ll start with the top.  This Barbie has fantastically soft hair.  I love the feel of it.  I’m a bit scared to take it down for fair I will never manage to get it in this pretty of a bun again.  Brunette Barbies are a favourite of mine, so it’s no surprise her hair is a favourite aspect of her.  They used just a regular elastic to hold up her hair in this style. 

She also comes with a burgundy…head band that helps keep her hair out of her face. I’m uncertain what to call this head piece, but it has a patch of fake fur on the side. It ties underneath her chin with a burgundy ribbon. She has simple gold balls for earrings.  They match her gold ball ring perfectly, the only other piece of jewelry she is wearing.

We will move to her face.  Her skin tone is a bit darker than I’d picture for a Victorian lady.  I would expect her to be ivory, but she’s a shade or two darker.  Her makeup is pretty simple.  They’ve given her a lovely pink blush.  Barbie’s lips are a dark pink, though lighter than her outfit and her eye makeup is a lovely silver highlight.

Barbie’s dress is my favourite shade of red, a deep burgundy colour.  It’s going to be long, obviously, since this is the late 1800’s early 1900’s.  The top portion of her dress has gold buttons going down the front, and is obviously form fitting.  I think we’re to assume she’s wearing a corset?  Since it’s winter, she has full sleeves, which end in fake fur.  The fur trend continues around her neck and shoulders.  She comes with a fur muff as well, so she can look like a lady AND keep her hands warm while skating.  The back of her dress is Velcro, so the dress could be removed if desired.  I’m not sure why someone would want to do that, though.

The skirt portion of her dress is formed to look like layers.  On the left side (while facing Barbie), the skirt falls in a way that looks like a bow.  On the right side it comes from the top layer of the left and almost forms an over skirt.  The material of her outfit is soft, like the fleece jackets we can wear.  Her outfit is complete with a pair of black ice skates, so she can join her friends in a fun outdoor activity. The other aspect I liked is that her stand says Victorian Elegance Barbie on it in lettering to match her dress with a gold background.

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A big thank you to Maggie for sharing her review today! I never collected actual collector Barbie's as a kid, but I remember seeing them so it's really fun to get a better look at them now, through someone else's eyes. I hope you enjoyed it too, and I know I'm looking forward to seeing more of Maggie's collection!

And if anyone else would like to do a guest post, please drop me an email, I'm always open to learning more about dolls I might not have myself!