Kanani in Review

A Kanani has come to live with us! 

Kanani was 2011 Girl of the Year and since then she has become a very popular doll on the secondary market. My Kanani was a NRFB find, and she certainly lives up to her billing. I was specifically looking for a fairly symmetrical face, especially her eyes, because I had seen and heard several reviewers complain about how their Kanani's left eye was significantly smaller than the other. While I looked closely at all the pictures before buying her, I knew the real test would have to happen in person. My first glimpse of her was a happy one and I am very satisfied with the shape of her face and eyes!

Her flower is such a simple touch but nicely done. It can be removed and replaced easily.

Kanani looks sweet even with her hair still bunched up in a net. Her coloring--from her hair to her skin to her meet outfit--is gorgeously balanced. Her green eyes are warm and inviting.

If I were to criticize anything about Kanani out of the box, it would  be her sandals. The leatherette ruffles show a lot of the white underside for an overall sloppy effect. Additionally, Kanani arrived with clear plastic bands around the sandals. Upon inspecting the shoes it became clear the sandals were too large for her feet and the bands were included to keep them secured to her feet while in transit. I have seen these clear bands in other Kanani unboxing videos, so this seems a common issue with this doll. She stands fine in her shoes, but they are very loose.

Kanani's hair feels particularly silky, especially when compared with my other long haired dolls (Saige and Caroline). Her hair has only a slight wave, but because it is so incredibly long, it does tangle easily. Patience is the key. This is her hair after about five minutes of fussing.

I love the tilt of her head to the right. The tilt seems more jaunty and pronounced than any of my other dolls. I am uncertain if this is a Kanani thing or just the doll to doll variation in all the lines, so I will have to investigate this further.

Kanani might be a 2011 GOTY, but she still seems fresh and relevant today in 2014. 

Meet Gjertrud! A Modern Kit

Graduation has meant I am now able to return to some celebratory doll fun! Gjertrud, a modern Kit, has been added to my family of girls as a college graduation gift to myself. Her name is in honor of my paternal grandmother.

Meet Gjertrud! (Gjerta or Trudi for short.)

Color Quest: Lanie's Color Palette

Lanie was GOTY for 2010, and her wardrobe is bright and bold with stripes and plaids!

While Lanie's wardrobe design only takes three of the hot colors of the Spring 2010 season--Ampero Blue, Aurora (yellow), and Tomato Puree (red)--it uses them enthusiastically. The wardrobe pieces stick almost entirely to the this primary color triad, and when adding other colors, the designers chose bright secondary colors (green and orange) for contrast.

Though one has to look at the meet shoes to really get the blue/yellow hit in her Meet Outfit.

Her nightgown repeats the blue and yellow pairing.

The bold Tomato Puree makes a splash in her Butterfly Outfit.

Ampero Blue is in this plaid, but really, plaid is the main event in her Garden Outfit.

And rounding out her wardrobe is her Nature Outfit, which capitalizes on the bright and bold combination of Ampero Blue and Aurora.

Next week in Color Quest:  Chrissa & Friends!

Isabelle: A Hair Raising Experience! (Pink Highlights)

Friday fun! I finally had a chance to try Isabelle's pink highlight extensions. I used my new AG Salon Chair that I received from my sister for Christmas this year. I have an awesome sister!

After I placed Isabelle in the salon chair and used the velcro strap to secure her in place I used a few hair clips to pile the majority of her hair on top of her head.

I needed to find the three fabric tabs in the wig. After her hair was clipped up it only took a minute or two to locate the tabs. The right tab was just above the corresponding ear (and same placement for the left tab).

The fabric tab in the middle back of he wig was a bit harder to find as it was tucked under a fringe of clipped hair.

Slipping the actual pink highlights hair piece in her hair onto the fabric hooks only took about 15 seconds total!

Isabelle is being so patient!

From the back, one can barely see the pink highlights.

Voila!

Overall, the pink highlights were easier to install than I had anticipated. I had been somewhat anxious about the whole procedure. So far, the extension has stayed in place just fine, but I do not play vigorously with my dolls. It was also easy to comb and arrange her hair, though I have not taken her hair out of her "Meet" style yet.

I thought I would be able to see more of the pink highlights, and the fact that they are so subtle underneath her mane of blonde hair is a bit of a surprise--all the buzz about the highlights, yet the impact of the pink highlights on her appearance (so far) is minimal. However, what I like is what the highlights imply in terms of Isabelle's creativity and youthfulness more so than their (limited) visual impact.

Kanani's Color Palate

Over the past few weeks I have been sharing my observations of the possible connection between Pantone's Fall or Spring Fashion Color Reports with the color design of wardrobes of the respective Girl of the Year (released between the two seasons on New Year's Day). Some GOTY color palettes seem to look back to the prior fall season, like Saige, and others, like Isabelle, look forward to the spring colors of the upcoming year.

Kanani's color palette, while definitely showing a connection to the spring color forecast of her release year, does not show as strong of a correlation as new GOTY releases, prompting the need for further analysis. (It should be noted, the Fall 2010 color forecast fared even worse against her Hawaiian themed wardrobe.)

I will start by saying that I still remember Kanani's release in 2011. I was not in the market for a GOTY doll, but each year the hype around GOTY seemed to increase and like many AG fans, I was very eager to see the new doll and her wardrobe. My first impressions were "Wow, that is a lot of purple and fushia," and "I guess that is what little girls like." To be completely honest, I thought maybe the AG design team had tossed up their hands and decided to deliver a "crowd pleasing" (for young girls) purple-and-fushia bonanza.

So is there a correlation between Kanani's colors and the Spring 2011 color forecast? Or did AG designers unleash a purple-and-fushia blitz? Maybe a little of both. More analysis below.

Let's start with an outfit with the purple-fushia mashup, her Hawaiian Lu'au Outfit.

As you can see, I did not select any of the Spring 2011 colors as being specifically alluded to by Kanani's outfit. Pantone's versions of pink (Honeysuckle) and purple (Lavender) in the Spring forecast are far too light and muted to be considered as showing up in this outfit.

Examining Kanani's meet outfit offers very little correlation, either, though the case can be made for the Regatta blue found in her dress--a  blue that appears extensively in her collection.

One might be ready to decide that the designers of Kanani's wardrobe palette went rogue that year--until looking at her pajamas!

Blue Curacao sleeveless tunic! Regatta leggings! Peapod slippers! Jackpot! This combination is just unique enough to indicate a deliberate nod to the spring season's hot colors.

Regatta shows up strong both in her Party Dress above and her Beach Outfit below.

So is the Pajama Outfit a convincing enough nod toward the Spring 2011 color forecast? Or did AG just pick colors that evoked the blues of the Hawaiian ocean waters and the purples and fushias of its gorgeous native flowers? I am inclined to believe it was a combination of the two, where the stunning natural setting of Kanani's home needed to trump the color palette offerings of the year--but without totally abandoning the forecast, either. And a bit of purple whimsy never hurts. 

Isabelle's Closet: AG T"AG" Game!

There are a lot of "Isabelle" tags sewn onto this year's GOTY doll clothing and soft accessories. A lot. Almost every outfit has at least one, if not two, "Isabelle" tags sewn onto it. So far I count 16 fabric tags. And that does not even count Isabelle's name embroidered in silver thread on the front of her Meet jacket.

Like some people, I was at first concerned by all of the tags. Would it be odd to dress a non-Isabelle doll in a jacket or wrap with a large "Isabelle" tag sewn onto a sleeve?

I decided to treat the brand of "Isabelle" exactly as that - a brand. A sweet, well-designed line of dance and active wear clothing for 18" dolls. And my non-Isabelle AG dolls (and I) are quite happy with this approach!

So, have you found all 16 fabric "Isabelle" tags on the outfits and accessories released so far? Have I missed any? Let me know!

Isabelle Meet Review - Part II (Accessories & Pink Hair Extensions)

I have been so enjoying Isabelle. She is such a sweet girl! As promised, here are the rest of the pictures for Isabelle's Meet Outfit and the doll herself.

Here is another look at the Meet pants and shoes. I love the detail stitching on the pant front to mimic real jeans. The shoes can be very hard to slip on (especially over tights during a wardrobe mash-up), but I found I could use a long thin plastic handle as a make-shift shoe horn! I can create a video of my technique if there is interest.

The jacket is a soft cotton, easy to get on and off of Isabelle. Originally I was put off by the "Isabelle" stitching on the front of the jacket, as I like to be able to have other dolls be able to wear GOTY clothing, but I have come to peace with it and perhaps even like it now. More on the "Isabelle" tags in a future post!

I love her silky hair. The color really suites her and her wardrobe color palette.

I have not ventured to place her pink hair extensions into her wig. Above are the side and back view of her wig and closeups of the pink hair piece itself (front and back).

The directions seem pretty straight forward. I will try this out next weekend and let you know!