A Mondrian Color Block Dress

This Mondrian color block dress fits 18-inch dolls

After Christmas, I wanted to redress (once again) She's That Girl Reign in a Mondrian color block dress. I searched the Internet and found the dress at a price I was willing to pay. It arrived almost three weeks after it was ordered. Unfortunately, the dress cannot fit Reign's overstuffed body. 

Curly Girls United was redressed for Christmas 2023.

I browsed the doll room for a thinner 18-inch doll and selected Honey (part of the Curly Girls United doll line from 2016). Honey had been redressed in Christmas attire since Christmas 2023. So, a redress for her was long overdue.

Honey wears the Mondrian color block dress with white boots.

The dress fits well on Honey's slender body as illustrated above.

Honey usually wears her hair down, but it's pulled up into a loose curly 'do for now.

A few weeks before Christmas, I redressed my Made-to-Move Barbie in a similar polyester dress. The two took the following photo.

Made-to-Move Barbie and Honey are twinning in their Mondrian dresses.

Here is a close-up of Made-to-Move (MTM) Barbie. 

The two will not be displayed together in the doll room, but both look so retro 

1960s in their Mondrian color block dresses. MTM Barbie takes it a notch further by pairing white fishnet stockings with her dress. 

About Honey's dress—I was disappointed with the twill-fleece-lined fabric used for the dress which resists raveling when cut; but if not for the fleece-type lining, the dress can easily tear. I almost pulled it apart at the stitched sleeves when attempting to try it on Reign. Other than the flimsy fabric, I'm pleased with Honey's new look. 

Mondrian squares and triangles

Mondrian fashions are inspired by the abstract art of Piet Mondrian (March 1872 – 1 February 1944), a Dutch painter and one of the pioneers of abstract art. His paintings extended to design architecture and fashion. "Mondrian fashions became popular in 1965 when Yves Saint Laurent released his Mondrian collection. The collection was a tribute to the work of Piet Mondrian and featured cocktail dresses with geometric lines and bold colors" (OpenAI).

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©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

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Journey Girls Alana

Journey Girls Alana

(This post had been in draft mode since 2023. I decided to publish it now after some minor edits since the doll is still available on Amazon, and because my Internet was temporarily down due to severe storms in my area. I had to use my phone to edit and publish this post.)

After seeing Journey Girls Alana discounted on Amazon, I shared the sale in a separate blog post. I had no plans to buy this doll, but she kept calling my name. It was the hair color, complexion, and freckles combination that won me over. 

After Alana arrived, I inspected her and took a few photos. It was then that I decided I would give her to a doll friend for her birthday. I proceeded to order a couple of dresses, matching tights, shoes, and jewelry for Alana to include in the nice box she arrived in which would also be used to ship the doll (but I wrapped the box in postage paper to conceal the contents).

Alana's Photos

Alana arrived in her mock-gift box from Amazon (without the use of an outer shipping box).

An inside cover describes Alana as a film lover.

As indicated on the inside cover, "A movie and TV buff Alana loves all things related to film! She even wants to be a producer when she gets older. She's creative, ambitious, and her go-getter attitude makes her a great friend to look to when you need an encouraging word!"

The inside cover is shown in full in this photo. 

Alana obviously loves pink.

She wears a pink dress with a floral print jacket. Pink slides and a purse with a headshot image of a tiger on the front complete her fashion statement.

Alana's green eyes have a tendency to photograph blue, but they are actually green. Hair auburn hair has pink highlights and is very soft. The pink lip color works well with her sunkissed café au lait complexion. She also has a sprinkling of freckles.

Alana's Clothing and Jewelry

Dresses, tights, shoes, and jewelry were placed inside Alana's box before everything was shipped to my doll friend. I believe I substituted the pink ensemble for another color because the pink in the pink and white tights was not the same shade as the dress.  

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

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Brilliant Girl Sugamama

Brilliant Girl Sugamama

Brilliant Girl Sugamama is one of the dolls I received as a Christmas present in 2023. This doll is one of the last entries on my 2023 Doll Inventory worksheet. The Excel description cell for this doll is recorded as follows:

18-inch all-vinyl doll has black rooted wavy/curly hair styled in two side pigtails, brown inset eyes with painted eyelashes in the outer corners of each eye; closed pouty mouth with pink lip color; wears a pink and purple dress trimmed in yellow with a pink, yellow, and purple striped apron, and pink knee-high boots

Photos Taken in the Box and Photos of the Back and Side Panel of the Box

Brilliant Girl Sugamama is described by the company as a superhero.

The doll is delightfully illustrated on the back of the box

A side panel of the box provides Sugamama's backstory.

Out-of-the-Box Photos

Sugamama's first photo outside the box illustrates the style of her apron and her pink knee-high boots.

Another close-up was taken, this time after she was freed from the box.

The back of the apron and top of the dress are illustrated here.

For this picture, Sugamama's apron was removed to fully illustrate her dress.

A Quick Redress

After the 2023 Christmas holiday, I purchased the dress shown next from J. C. Penney, which was discounted from $18 to $8. It arrived the day before this post was published, and Sugamama "begged" to try it on

This A-line doll dress by Bonnie Jean was made for 18-inch dolls to match a toddler-size party dress and coat.

The doll dress is made of a shimmery polyester plaid fabric of black, gold, and white.

Sugamama models the dress with off-white tights and gold sparkly shoes that were already on hand.

I'll need to change her pink hair ribbons to white or off-white. Other than that, she looks ready to attend a party or another dress-up event. 

*Announcement* As I indicated in my Happy New Year post, I am taking a break from this blog to focus on my Virtual Black Doll Museum.  If you have not already subscribed to the museum, feel free to do so by adding your email address to the subscription box located in the footer of any page of the museum. New museum installations are published each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

My return to this blog is planned for February 2024. 

Happy dolling!

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

HBCYoU Doll Sale

Some of the Purpose Toys HBCYoU dolls that represent Historically Black Colleges and University cheer captains are drastically reduced on Amazon. The link to each buy page is below each picture.

Clark University Cheer Captain 

The Clark University Cheer Captain  is priced the lowest at $10.14.

Morehouse Cheer Captain 

The Morehouse Cheer Captain is $18.33.

Tuskegee Cheer Captain 

The Tuskegee Cheer Captain is $16.71.

These 18-inch all-vinyl dolls are an excellent way to introduce children to Historically Black Colleges and Universities especially now in light of the Supreme Court's June 29, 2023, decision to overturn Affirmative Action admission into some institutions of higher learning.

Designed by Hampton University graduate Brook Hart Jones, the dolls retailed for $34.99. The three listed above and others are installed in DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum here. 

#ad

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

American Girl Claudie Wells

Screengrab of Claudie Wells' reveal on CBS Mornings

Claudie Wells, the newest 18-inch American Girl doll, was unveiled today on CBS Mornings. This doll represents a 9-year-old girl from the 1920s Harlem Renaissance era.

Watch the CBS Mornings reveal below.

According to a Toy Insider article, "Mattel says that its American Girl designers were inspired by a host of authentic, 1920s archival materials and other resources like The Brownies’ Book, a magazine for Black children published by W.E.B. Du Bois, a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance."

African American author Brit Bennett penned Claudie's story. 

American Girl Claudie Wells and Makena Williams

Claudie appears to have a new-ish head sculpt which is very similar to Makena Williams' sculpt as illustrated above.

Read more about Claudie and purchase the doll, her book, and accessories (including Harlem Row Fashions designed for the doll) here.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
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Girly Fashion Doll Kayla Removed from the Box and Redressed

I'm a Girly Fashion Doll Kayla

Recall that one of the new-to-me dolls that I posted about previously was still in the box at the time of that post. Recently, I'm a Girly Fashion Doll Kayla (shown above in the NRFB state wearing the original unbecoming wig), enjoyed a couple of redresses.

Kayla tried on this wig first.

Before redressing took place, after Kayla was removed from the box, she tried on the wig I made for Heidi Ott's African girl. It looks so nice on her that I "might" make a similar wig for Kayla in a different color. We shall see.

The Heidi Ott doll tried on the wig Kayla had been wearing. I was surprisingly quite pleased with this wig on her, but she willingly gave it back to Kayla and resumed wearing her own wig.

Kayla tried on this shorts set with a pair of white sandals. We thought she would continue wearing this until she tried on the second fashion.

This is part of the second fashion that Kayla models.

The second fashion, partly shown above, consists of a gray short-sleeved knit turtleneck, denim "jeggings," and a plaid jacket (shown next). The red leatherette boots were sold separately.

The tweed jacket of red, navy blue, tan, and white-plaid completes and complements this fashion quite well. Kayla and I decided she should continue wearing it since it is more season and weather appropriate now than the shorts.

I have more 18-inch doll clothes to try on Kayla, but I decided to stop with these two redresses for now. Kayla will definitely be back soon. 

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There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________
Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

To Follow This Blog: If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Facebook page or bookmark the home page of Black Doll Collecting and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published at midnight CST.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

Kayla Brownie Scout

Kayla as a Brownie Scout

In a recent Zulily.com campaign, Kayla by GSUSA/Adora was offered for $49.99, $20 less than retail.  I fell in love with her facial expression some months ago after seeing another version at PattycakeDolls.com, which has now sold out.  They appropriately captioned the doll:  A Face to Fall For.  I had to have the Zulily.com offering.    

A portion of Kayla's entry in my Excel doll inventory spreadsheet reads as follows:

Manufacturer/Artist/Year Made

Name

Description

Price

GSUSA 2013 (Adora dolls)

Kayla Girl Scout (Brownie)

18-inch vinyl doll with vinyl breast plate, cloth body, wears Girl Scouts U.S.A. Brownie uniform, beanie, brown leggings, and denim lace-up sneakers; has black rooted hair styled in two side ponytails, brown sleep eyes, and an adorable facial expression (slight smile with closed lips).

49.99

Back of box

The back of Kayla's box features other scout dolls by GSUSA/Adora where Kayla is shown as a Camp Fire Girl (Blue Bird).

Related Post:
Girl Scouts Celebrate 100 Years


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