Friday, October 19, 2012

UFDC's Doll News Catches the Wave

I have been a UFDC member-at-large since 2005, which includes a subscription to their quarterly publication, Doll News.  In the past seven years, I have never been as fascinated by a Doll News issue as I am with the current one.  I reveled at the following:

  1. A black fashion doll graces the cover. (There may have been one issue of Doll News in the past seven years with an antique black cloth doll on the cover, but never a modern black doll of any type), 
  2. There are four (count them:  1, 2, 3, 4) articles on black dolls in this issue, and
  3. A black paper doll is also included!
What?
This is history.

Deva Dolls 2010 limited edition Malaika is a lovely cover girl for the Fall 2012 Doll News!


The gorgeous cover doll of the Fall 2012 issue of Doll News is Deva Dolls 2010 limited edition Malaika redressed in Summer Nights Cami and Jon fashion by Robert Tonner with wig by Michael Hawaii.  Malaika and several other haute couture dolls, many if not all have been restyled, are featured in the 24-page article, Black in Fashion by Ian Price. Yes, there are 24 pages that comprise mostly full page images of beautiful black dolls! (In a doll periodical, this was unheard of before now.) 


The Lady of Sudan Goes to Paris, a paper doll by Peggy Jo Rosamond from 1988 follows the Price article.  


A Doll Jambalaya is a two-page feature on Cynthia Orgeron and Northshore Doll Club's special doll exhibit held at the UFDC Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana this past July.   Several black cloth dolls are shown in the included images.


A Stitch In Time Folk Art Black Cloth Dolls is an image-intense, eight-page report of the special black-cloth doll exhibit curated by Joyce Stamps at this year's UFDC Convention. 

Among several other genres, a nice collection of South African Ndebele dolls is featured in the fourth article in the current issue of UFDC's Doll News.
 Curator, artist, and educator Nashormeh Lindo talks with Ian Price about the exhibition she curated at the African American Art and Culture Complex in San Francisco.  This 12-page article features several genres of vintage-to-modern African and black dolls.  The article also references my first book, The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls, along with other noted black-doll reference books.


In Black in Fashion, Ian writes:  "Nowadays, doll makers have embraced the diversity of our culture and black fashion dolls are represented as never before."  I hope the publishing industry catches up and rides the black-doll inclusion wave as successfully as Doll News did in their current issue.   Collectors of black dolls not only understand and appreciate the significance of all black doll genres, they also enjoy and deserve to routinely see the dolls they love in print.

dbg

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8 comments:

  1. Wow! That sounds like an amazing issue.

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  2. Surprise! Nice photos. I like that the cover doll is a modern one even though she is a big 'un. Nice to see Integrity Toys' Fashion Royalty Nadja in a photo. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Nice! That cover girl is gorgeous! Nice to see Doll News stepping up.

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  4. Limbe dolls - It is an extremely nice issue!

    D7ana - The cover doll is indeed larger than what you collect, but gorgeous nonetheless and a joy to see. There are so many more that are playscale size included in the 24-page article written by Price. His conversation with Nashormeh Lindo unveils images of some vintage to modern playscale gems as well.

    Vanessa -- Yes indeed. It is wonderful to see what has been for so many years a "good old girls" organization stepping up to the plate to include dolls in their publication that represent a society of collectors and the dolls they collect.

    dbg

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  5. Wow. I am glad that the magazine has featured African American dolls.

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  6. I would love to get this issue. History in the making...

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  7. And people wonder why I'm deliberately hunting for big A/A fashion dolls. Hehehehe.

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