WWOG: Midsummer Report

So much to note about GOTY Grace this summer: her third book, her movie, rumored new clothing and accessories, and more!

On May 21, her third book Grace Makes it Great was released. 

Will the above outfit be part of an upcoming midsummer outfit for Grace? The striped top and white skirt has been seen on the grey market (Taobao.com), which makes this outfit a likely candidate. Also spotted was black boots with Grace's swooped heart design embroidered on them. Perhaps a boot-and-umbrella combo to coordinate with her Travel Coat? But when will these speculated items arrive?

How about on June 23, when her movie Grace Stirs Up Success launches?

And now the newly announced partnership with Williams-Sonoma also features Grace:  

Join Williams-Sonoma and American Girl® for a hands-on baking class inspired by Grace™—the 2015 Girl of the Year™! Each student will learn Grace’s favorite French Madeleine recipe, then finish the pastries with dark chocolate, white chocolate, and a few other toppings. We’ll also make and decorate sugar cookies from scratch. Each child will take home a special American Girl® goodie bag! $30 per child.

As for Grace's current offerings, GOTY Grace still has us waiting…as her items continue to be placed on backorder online and the in-store availability of her items also continues to fluctuate.

Since the early weeks of her release in January, we have seen many of her items bounce in and out of backorder status. As of today, four of her items once again show up on the website as temporarily out of stock:

Grace’s Travel Set – backordered until June 19

Grace’s Pajamas – backordered until June 26

Grace’s City Outfit – backordered until July 2

Grace’s French Bakery – backordered until July 10

On my last visit to AGPSF on May 23, Grace's Travel Set was out of stock and its mini display left empty. And I can't remember the last time I've seen the French Bakery displayed or available in store.

Since her debut month, almost every outfit and accessory for Grace has shown up at least once as backordered. This began in January when her big ticket item, the French Bakery was temporarily out of stock in stores and online and her Pastry Cart soon followed.

Some fans have met this ongoing backordered status of Grace's collection with skepticism—could AG be manipulating buyer purchasing behaviors by making the items seem in high demand? Or perhaps it is a matter of AG being more conservative on how much stock they manufacture, store and stock—after all, on December 31st of this year Grace officially retires and any leftover stock becomes a financial liability.

(Above: Travel Coat but no luggage!)

For myself, the constant changing status of item availability of Grace’s items has affected my purchasing timeline. With GOTY Isabelle, I did not worry about completing my collection until early December of her year. With GOTY Grace, while logically I am confident that her wardrobe and smaller accessories will remain available into the first weeks of December, I have made the majority of my purchases much earlier in the year and I may complete them when her next release of items arrive this summer (not confirmed, but highly anticipated).

Interestingly, the box Grace now comes in has a small design change. Like the new Truly Me doll boxes, her box now features a picture label on the lower right hand corner.

For fans of Grace and/or her collection, when do you plan to complete your list of GOTY 2015 related purchases this year? Are you excited about the possible new summer release items for Grace, or are you already"burnt" out on Grace's World?

And finally a question I barely dare to ask...when will we discover the first hints of GOTY 2016? Are we ready for and enthused about another round to begin sometime in the coming months?

WWOG: Baking Outfit

Today for The Wonderful! World of Grace my new poppet is modeling her Baking Outfit. While I have no idea which of Grace Thomas' six major ensembles is the most popular with the consumer, it seems to me that this outfit is destined to be an iconic outfit from her line.

Her outfit comes with a teal tshirt with an artistic cupcakes and swirls designb, pink leggings, a black jumper-style apron, teal shoes, and a pale pink elastic headband.

The black "apron dress" features an embroidered heart and a snappy stripped bow, so this outfit already hits two of the three big design embellishments from Grace's collection (the third being the Eiffel Tower).

The back of the apron is quite unique with more bows as a design element. The poppet must step into the skirt and pull the ladder-style straps over head, securing the straps at the waist with velcro.

The pink leggings are not the soft brushed cotton of the leggings from a lot of the AG offerings and instead the fabric has more waffle weave texture. It is nice to see this level of attention to every detail in the outfit.

The teal ballet-flats style shoes are perfect--and topped with black bows made of string.

The headband is a soft pink and topped with another bow.

The GOTY designers have chosen once again to heavily brand Grace's outfits with tags. This outfit has two--on the bottom of the pink leggings and on the end of her sleeve on her teal "cupcakes" shirt.

I know some collectors dislike these tags, citing that it makes it difficult to use these outfits with other non-Grace dolls. My recommendation is to simply treat the "Grace" tags as an overall brand of which the doll simply does or does not share the same name. 

Both of my GOTY Isabelle dolls are renamed and still wear the "Isabelle" branded clothing. Similarly, Grace has been renamed and will continue to wear the "Grace" branded clothing--as well as some of my other poppets.

I really enjoy having my new poppet in something other than her Meet outfit. I feel like I got to know more of her personality in the process, not to mention getting familiar with the play of her hair as well as learning her "good angles" for photography. 

The Baking Outfit is extremely cute and every piece was terrific. Highest recommendation. A+

Waiting for Grace: Baking Outfits

In Grace Thomas’ third book, Grace Makes it Great, due to be released May 21, 2015, Grace learns that

her grandparents' bakery might close after thirty years and wonders how her own business, which they inspired, can survive if theirs cannot, but she and her friends use their talents and newly-acquired business skills to try to save the day.  (Library of Congress)

So today’s speculation will be on baking outfits!

As I imagine it, the broad options for AG’s design team were

*A traditional French baker uniform, complete with a white double-breasted jacket and a tall white toque (chef’s hat)

*An apron and cooking mitts combination, with or without a toque

*A more modern play outfit, perhaps a bright colored tshirt emblazoned with the name of her new business, La Petite Patisserie, paired with summery shorts and tennis shoes

A traditional French baker uniform would be unique and bring something new to AG’s offerings. I am certain the designers could add a few flairs to the white uniform, such as hints of color in the trim or embroidering Grace’s signature swirl or item (like Lanie’s dragonfly or Saige’s cactus flower) on the jacket.

In support of this option, I have recently seen doll sized chef’s jackets and toques offered on Taobao (non-AG) as well as by other non-AG doll lines. Additionally, with the success of the reality tv cooking show Masterchef Junior, the visual of children in traditional chef uniforms is no longer far-fetched and is arguably on trend.

The second option, an apron and cooking mitts, has been offered before by AG in other configurations. An apron and mitts would be cost effective in terms of sales (simple, therefore inexpensive to manufacture) and if well designed could have a lot of visual impact—though no new ground would be broken.

Lastly, a more casual tshirt and shorts outfit would offer plenty of playability and start a foundation for mix-and-match between outfits, something that seems to have been very effective for GOTY Isabelle’s mix-and-match dancewear items.

Personally, I’d love to see all three! But if I have to pick only one, I have my fingers crossed for a chef’s jacket and toque!