A Gift of Candi and Shoes Before Christmas

Box front illustrates all seven 11-1/2-inch
 Vintage Candi dolls

The Candi:  Vintage Candi by Hamilton Toy was a surprise gift received from doll-friend, D. Spears.  The doll arrived approximately three weeks before Christmas at just the right time to lift my spirits.  After I opened the box and read D.'s note card explaining the reason she sent the doll to me, I went into an immediate "ugly Oprah-cry."  D. has often expressed her dislike for going to the post office and avoiding it at all costs, but she made an exception to physically mail this doll to me.  Further illustrating the angelic nature of this gift, the doll is from her personal collection!  How special did this make me feel?  Very!

It was not until she shared photos of her Vintage Candi months earlier that I even knew the doll existed.  Of course I was familiar with Helena Hamilton's dolls.  I own the first one, Candi Couture, from 1994, and several others she created under her original company's name or in collaboration with other doll makers, such as the Paul David/Mikelman team and Integrity Toys.  Somehow, this one, Vintage Candi, slipped through my black-doll radar.

African Swirl Vintage Candi

I had mentioned my desire to own this doll in a Facebook (FB) comment to the photos D. shared of her doll.  The doll's presentation, particularly the brightly colored yellow box with illustrations of all dolls in the collection, is so reminiscent of the boxes my childhood Barbies arrived in.  Additionally, the doll, dressed in black bathing suit with red and white stripes at upper bodice and shoulders, side-swept bangs and high ponytail, deep complexion, and beauty mark below her lower lip, is stunning!

So after Vintage Candi arrived, I studied her box, which attributes the box graphics to artist, Miki Gross, whom I found on FB.   The box illustrates and indicates in writing that the collection includes seven styles, which are shown on the box top with additional images of different dolls on the four side panels as shown in the following photos:

The left side panel of the box top illustrates Danish Bubble.  Swedish Swirl is on the right side panel. 

The top panel illustrates Asian Swirl.  A sketch of  Hispanic Swirl is on the bottom panel of the box with the names of all dolls listed.  African Swirl is checked to indicate the contents of my doll's box.

African Swirl Vintage Candi's accessories are black pumps and black sunglasses.

Online research about Vintage Candi ensued.

The most helpful Internet source regarding this line and the dolls which preceded and succeeded it was the article, Blast from the Past:  Candi Girl by Hamilton Design Systeme, published on the blog, Dollville, USA (link to the article at the end of this post).   Through reading that article, I discovered the year Vintage Candi was produced, 2004.  According to the writer, prior to Vintage Candi's creation, Hamilton had partnered with a series of doll makers, some of whom I mentioned above, the last of whom appears to have been Jason Wu.

The collaboration between Hamilton Design Systeme and Integrity Toys ended some time after 2001. By 2004, Hamilton Design Systeme became Hamilton Toy, and released a new line of retro dolls called Vintage Candi. The line consisted of seven dolls, with bubble cuts and swirl ponytails, in either black or white bathing suits. Vintage Candi fashions were sold separately.

As a result of receiving this doll, conducting research about it, and reading Blast from the Past, I discovered Hamilton created and hand painted a 16-inch articulated doll named, Candi 16.  Several different hair colors were available; however, an African American version was not included.  In 2011, she collaborated once again with Jason Wu to create Candi International (not to be confused with International Candi from 2001).  I have not seen African American versions of Candi International or know if one even exists  If an African American version exists, I'd like to own one, but it is doubtful that the line was as diverse as Hamilton's initial offerings.  It seems toward the end of her doll making, her attention shifted from a multicultural doll focus to black-doll exclusion, which is very disheartening.  I am still thrilled to own (possibly one of the last) African American dolls Hamilton created, Vintage Candi.

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Pink Mary Jane-style Madame Alexander doll shoes

The Shoes:  Using the doll's original dress, hat, socks, undies, and replaced shoes, in September 2015, I pieced together the Madame Alexander "Thank You" doll (seen here).  Because D. Spears knew my doll's shoes were not original to the outfit, along with Vintage Candi, she sent an original pair of pink Madame Alexander shoes.  Thanks to D., "Thank You" is now complete.

Madame Alexander 8-inch "Thank You" Wendy

Thanks again, D. Spears, for your thoughtfulness and for all you do.

Feeling quite blessed,

dbg

Here is the link to the article, Blast from the Past:  Candi Girl by Hamilton Design Systeme

The following links are previous posts about Candi dolls posted on this blog:
Hamilton's Candi
Throwback Thursday:  The Original Candi Girl


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Throwback Thursday: The Original Candi Girl

Hamilton Design Systéme Candi Couture ad, Doll Reader, August 1994

While searching through my doll article archives, I stumbled upon a xerographic copy of an article a doll friend from Novia Scotia sent me in 1998.  I was pleased to see the headshot of the creator of the original Candi Girl dolls, Helena Hamilton.  Of course I read the article when Kim sent it to me, but had forgotten all about it and had definitely forgotten that I had seen the lovely image of Ms. Hamilton.


After scanning the two-page article, "Hey There Candi Girl! Barbie Doll's Sophisticated Competition" by Beauregard Houston-Montgomery, published in the December/January 1998 issue of Contemporary Doll Collector, I decided to share it here along with a link to a post I published in February 2010 on Hamilton's Candi. 

Enjoy!


dbg

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MIBDH: Hamilton's Candi

Hamilton Design Systéme Candi Couture ad, Doll Reader, August 1994

After seeing this colorful ad for a new black fashion doll and reading the caption: 

End Racism.

Collect the Multicultural Dolls of

Fashion Candi Couture,

I immediately dialed the 800 number and spoke directly with Helena Hamilton for a while about  her doll and doll fashions, before placing my order for Candi Couture.  Since the details of my 1994 phone conversation with Ms. Hamilton are foggy, I referred to the Black Doll-E-Zine, Vol. 1, Issue 3, Summer 2002, "Dolls in the Spotlight" article, which is shared here (revised only to bring readers up to date on Candi's current status).

The 11-1/2-inch fashion doll of the 90s: Candy Girl, Candi Girl, Candi Couture, Candi, has a name and appearance that are in constant evolution. However, the fact that she was also created by a BOO [black owned and operated] company remains constant. This 11-1/2-inch, fashion doll was brought to life by Helena Hamilton, president, founder and creative director of Hamilton Design Systéme. According to my Internet research and my memory of a telephone conversation held with Ms. Hamilton shortly after the original Candi Couture doll was advertised in a 1993/94 doll publication, "Helena's enterprising journey began in 1988 while she and her daughter, Nina, spent quality time together playing with Barbie dolls. She soon started to sew for her daughter's dolls and had a lot of fun doing it. However, being an artist, she soon wanted to do more. Her idea was an ethnic fashion doll with realistic features" to which her daughter could relate.

Candi Couture (pictured above) hit the doll scene in 1994 dressed in a black spandex cat suit, the bodice of which bore the name "Candi Couture" in pink lettering. Wearing pink high heel shoes; an upswept, dark brown, braided ponytail and a "serious-sister" facial expression, this doll had a look that was hers alone. Her fuller-than-the-Plastic-Princess's hips also distinguished her from any other 11-1/2 fashion doll. Pictured [below] is 1996s Candi Girl, aka Popular Price Candi. She wears a red spandex dress that has "Candi Couture" imprinted on the bodice and red heels. She has long, black rooted hair. The original black cat suit-wearing Candi evolved into a highly collectible, 11-1/2-inch fashion doll and was available in a variety of ethnicities as well as a variety of African American skin tones.



To appeal to women whose childhood doll play commenced in the 1960s, Retro Candi made her debut in 1998. Sporting a retro black and white swimsuit, black sunglasses, and black high-heel shoes, she arrived in a full cardboard box that contained illustrations of her various fashions. Her accessories and fashion-illustrated box enhanced Candi's retro appeal. There were several versions of Retro Candi available.

Pictured [above are two honey skin tone Retro Candi dolls, the bubble cut and ponytail versions, and a  darker skinned [bubblecut] version that was also available with a ponytail.



Honey skin Candi wearing the St. Tropez Separates outfit (pictured left), also from 1998, was another auburn haired version of the ever-evolving Candi.   Pictured to the right of Honey Candi is International Candi from 2001. Her caramel colored skin with contrasting short, platinum blonde afro wowed collectors. This doll was a huge success and sold out quickly.



AA Candi dolls wear "Candi Secrets" fashions by Mikelman; Hispanic Candi wears a Barbie fashion

Candi certainly carved a niche of her own with collectors. Before the last dolls were produced, Ms. Hamilton worked briefly with Paul David and Mikelman to produce several lines of dolls that wore Mikelman-designed fashions. [Retro Candi, Honey Candi in St. Tropez fashion, and Candi Secrets dolls resulted from a collaboration between Hamilton and Mikelman.]  In a 1997 Paul David Fashion Dolls catalogue, he writes:

Welcome to the world of Candi!  It has now been over a year since Mikelman and myself joined with Hamilton Design Systeme (Helena Hamilton CEO) to help create the ultimate fashion doll collection!...

Later and/or simultaneously, Ms. Hamilton teamed with Integrity Toys and Jason Wu. That teamwork produced several fashionably attired dolls one of which includes International Candi.

Inspired by fun-filled doll play between a mother and daughter, Candi developed a huge fashion-doll collector following.  While her doll life was short lived , she managed to make a mark on the doll-collecting community worldwide as one of the first, you-know-I'm-fierce-and-glamorous-and-you-want-to-be-me, black fashion dolls!  Candi most definitely set the pace that others wanted to follow.

Read More About Candi:
The Candi Story


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