I thought I would make my first post on this blog about my muse and favourite fashion dolls of the last several years, Integrity Toys' "Erin Salston", founding member of Model Behavior and NuFace lines, and now even included in a Nu.Fantasy line! My ultimate goal here is to not only give a comprehensive review of the things I cover here, but to really explain how they can be used in your collection, as far as clothing sharing and other things important to de-boxers go. Wherever possible, I will attempt to include photos of the doll or item in question in use, in different situations or outfits, so you can get a good idea of the play potential I've found with the doll.
At any rate, back to 2006 and the premiere of the Fashion Royalty: Model Behavior line...
Back in 2006, when these dolls made their first appearance, life was kind of dull. I was already getting rather of bored of the rarefied look of the main line of Fashion Royalty dolls, they just weren't "me", and Barbies had been a yawn for a few years at that point, with only the odd fashion-forward doll to reinvigorate things now and then. They just weren't working for me on that most primal of doll levels: redressing. I wanted something leaner, like a real supermodel! Someone edgier, who wouldn't look silly with, say, piercings and tattoos. A doll whose attitude was bigger than her shoes.
As if in answer, there she was...
Young, Rich, Beautiful Erin S.
here, YRB Erin is wearing the outfit from the Model Muse bodied Jeff Gordon NASCAR Barbie(In the world of fashion doll collecting, this doll is commonly abbreviated as "YRB Erin".) Wow. Look at that face! The great face jewelry! The tattoo, (though you can't see it here), and the fabulous model-like build! I was in love! As you can see, she redresses in a fun way, always with her big personality showing. My husband named her 'Jolene'.
here, Erin wears the jacket from the Park Avenue Monsieur Z doll, jeans from a regular bodied Barbie, and Misaki's beltIsn't she amazing? Everything I put her in, she was more and more full of personality. She could wear leathers and denim with the best of them, and yet you still had the feeling she could totally pull off a gown, too! Her face made her look somewhat haughty, like she knew she was in charge of the world. All the other dolls in my house shivered in terror, hehe!
here, Erin is dressed in a dress, scarf and shoes from the Park Avenue Monsieur Z dollShe dresses up really smartly too! She could run any business meeting, and then turn around and go play with her band at a seedy club! What more could a girl want!
According to the Integrity site,
Erin Salston doesn’t know how to take “no” for an answer, so Kyori Sato had to real choice when the time came to hire her for her team.Well, after reading that, and seeing this first doll, I was smitten. Completely smitten. Clearly her personality was modeled (somewhat) after real people, but she was an edgier, smarter version of everyone's favourite hotel heiress. With much better fashion sense, too! :)
The richest American woman under age twenty-five, Erin S. (as she likes to be called) buys her image, and every bit of her public persona is calculated. Reared in some of the most prestigious schools in both American and France, Erin doesn’t care for business and money; she just wants to spend it, and it drives her daddy crazy. Erin being his only daughter, Mr. Salston had strong hopes that she would take over the family’s hotel chain after his departure from this world. However, Erin prefers having fun and causing trouble; to her, hotels are just good for room bashing and causing scenes at the bar.
Much to the exasperation of their ultra-rich families, she and best friend Nadja R. left their native Palm Springs a year ago in hopes of a brighter and definitely cooler future in Europe.
Ms. S. doesn’t have any real talent other than knowing whom around her does, and then taking all the credit for it. Rich enough to buy Missima for herself, Erin needs Kyori and Natalia for the moment: They know something about her that she doesn’t want to come out, so she goes along with their little schemes, although she truly enjoys every minute of it. Definitely a heap of trouble for W!
Young, Rich, Beautiful Erin S, first in the Model Behavior line, sold originally for 99.99 in an edition of 1200.
She came wearing:- White Tank Top
- Black Tank Top
- Fur vest
- Denim Capri(-ish?) pants
- Suede upper tall boots with fur trim at top
- Purple and black messenger bag
- Black bra and panties with turquoise trim
- Silver necklace
As far as the doll and her outfit go, there's good and bad here. Way more good than bad, but still, there's some things you need to be aware of if you're going after YRB Erin.
For starters, be careful playing with her hair, and don't get it wet, (unless you want to get rid of her visible 'roots',). The colour applied to her hair comes off really easily, even to an extent through brushing. Her body is just old enough to be starting to show the kind of discolouration, at least on some examples, that has been plaguing early Fashion Royalty dolls. The necklace breaks *very* easily, I broke the necklace from my first YRB Erin trying to remove it from the cardboard it was attached to.
The furry vest is of limited use, generally, as are the weirdly length-ed jeans. They're too short to be Capris, yet they're too long to be, well, anything, lol. They really only work with the boots, is what I'm trying to say.
For the good, the face paint on every example of this doll I've seen has been amazing. She has so much personality, you'll find, I'm sure, that she will wind up running your doll room and the way clothing is distributed to her tiny minions, hehe. Her hair is thick, which is great if you like brushing, and it doesn't tangle super easily. It's a little too thick to do any really intricate up-dos with or things, but it's fun to do little braids in, etc. I love the torso size on this line, the bodies really lend themselves to being clothes horses, they look great in outfits or parts of outfits from:
- FR Model Behavior
- FR Nu.Face/Nu.Fantasy
- Dynamite Girls
- Monsieur Z
- Misaki
- Silkstone Barbies
- Model Muse Barbies
- Jenny
- Azone
- some Momoko (really small in the torso though)
- some Susie
- some Teen Skipper
- and of course, some regular Barbie and Fashion Royalty outfits and shoes
The only thing you really have to watch for is the length of things, as Model Behavior/Nu.Face dolls are, generally, 12" tall. Most other US dolls are 11 1/2", and most Asian dolls are 11" or less. Please also bear in mind please that I'm really really picky about the fit of things, and I know other people dress girls this size in all kinds of other things, these are just the clothes I find fit the best, in my opinion.
Also, be aware that, if you are thinking of making your first foray into slim-build 1/6 scale dolls, there are a large number of fantastic dressmakers for this size of doll. Among my faves are Souol by Louos and Karen Kolkman, but there are many many others.
At any rate, YRB Erin was a great start to a new line, and still one of my favourite dolls ever. Also, the start of a mild obsession, hehe. But I'll get to part two in the next week or so. :)
If you have pics of your redressed YRB Erin, feel free to post them in the comments section! Also, friend me on flickr!
photo credits: two photos by checklist of contents are promotional photos, property of Integrity Toys LLC, all rights reserved by them. all other pictures property of rabidpoodle, all rights reserved by me.
note: if you make outfits or other accessories for Model Behavior or other 1/6 scale fashion dolls, please let me know for a link on my blog!
