Hot Looks Zizi - Looking Back

"I'll buy almost any black doll that is not nailed down." 

In my black-doll-buying infancy, the above quote was my basic motto.  My collection suffered severely as a result.  I purchased black dolls of all types until the eventual elimination and exclusion of certain ones commenced in the early 2000s.  We collect and we learn.

During my early 1990s, black-doll buying frenzy, I purchased a preloved (played-with) Zizi made by Mattel in 1986.  Zizi, from the Hot Looks collection, was still in relatively good condition, but her clothing and shoes were missing.  The original doll wears a "hot" pink and black, zebra-print jacket and pants, a white blouse, and black shoes.  Underneath the zebra-print fashion, Zizi wears a sewn-on yellow bra and panty.



An original Mattel Hot Looks Zizi, source: Black Doll: An Identification and Value Guide, p. 204,  M. Perkins (Collector Books, updated values 1995)



Preloved Hot Looks Zizi

My daughter was about 13 or 14 at the time Zizi arrived and exclaimed, "I wanted that doll (news to me), let me have it."  As an admitted, self-absorbed collector, I told her I would find a Zizi for her.  A year or two later another Zizi surfaced that was mint in box. 



Mint-in-box Hot Looks Zizi

Instead of doing the right thing and giving the boxed doll to my daughter, the still self-absorbed collector gave her the preloved doll!  Yes, I did that.  At 15 or so and very vocal about her opinions, Dear Daughter accepted the doll after chiding, "Oh, so you're giving me the played-with one, huh?"

Zizi, the preloved doll, and I reunited a couple of years ago when I inherited my daughter's childhood dolls.  My immediate plan had been to find clothing and shoes for Zizi because the boxed doll is still boxed. Using a colorful scarf, copper bracelet, and copper wire, I finally accomplished this goal without sewing a stitch.



Preloved Zizi wears a scarf dress and headdress, copper belt, and copper bracelet

 Looking back, if I had it to do all over again, I probably would not have purchased the preloved Zizi or the boxed version.  This type of doll has long been eliminated from the types I currently desire.  Still looking back, had the purchases occurred, I am not sure if I would have given my daughter the played-with doll at the time she asked for it, or if the self-absorbed collector would have held on to it until upgrading to the boxed version.  The latter is the most likely scenario.


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