2023 in review 5: 11.5" and 12" fashion dolls

 

The population feels like it grew fast, but it's still only 7 dolls.

Simply Fresh Kylie, now on her MTM body, is what touched off this wave of doll collecting. I still like the idea of the Fresh Dolls/Family Dollar collab, but I keep making changes to the actual doll. Kylie's face is very much in line with the mainline Fresh Dolls faces, though.

Delilah, now Kylie's mother because her new short wig makes her look older, was indulgence in a Dollar Tree Beauty to celebrate the new jointed knees.

Only the original head remains of Cinderelsa, because her concept ($2 at a thrift store) was compelling yet terrible. She is improved by a wig and a cheap articulated body. Cinderelsa is married to Kenzo, the Manbun Ken in the back row. He's my grail Ken and the only survival of Ken culls.

Teresa is the longest-owned doll in this group, as I found her in a thrift store and improved her back around 2014. She's Kenzo's half-sister by a common Latina mother, while Kylie is Kenzo's half-sister by a common father. Teresa's father was Latino. Kylie's mother is Delilah (Black) and her father was Hawaiian. 

The back row gals, the two Kid Kore Kelseys, are where the fresh excitement is, but first, let's look at bodies, arranged from least to most articulated.

The 1990s girls really stand out from the post-2000 body molds. Kenzie's 1997 mold also varies significantly from Kelsey's 1991 mold, with a larger waist and lower bosom. (Yes, the second Kelsey is now Kenzie. This gives me Kelsey, Kenzie, Kenzo, Kylie, and Kelly, which is ridiculous! But no other name I try sticks, and I've called the original Kelsey "Kelsey" for so long that I can't make it a species name and give her a fresh name.)

From the back, we get to see different eras' views of doll buttocks. Kylie's MTM body is ridiculously modest, while Teresa has junk in the trunk.

The dolls who most need comparison are Kelsey and Kenzie, since they're iterations of the "same" doll: Kid Kore Kelsey, the big-sister equivalent to Barbie.

Kelsey definitely is the older and more sophisticated of the two!

The original appeal of Kenzie -- the reason I was eventually going to get one -- is the inset eyes. I took a look at FashionDollz to see what changed in Barbie head molds in 1996-7, and the answer is... nothing. The new CEO head mold for Barbie is marked 1998. The change isn't Bratz-driven, either, as those aren't released until 2001. Kid Kore just launched a new head mold with inset eyes, using it largely on cheerleader dolls, because... they felt like it?

Combined with her eBay lot-mate, Babysitters Club Kristy, and my Creata "Today's Girls" Hillary, Kenzie makes a reasonable "sisters" set! 

She's quite a different look from her more sophisticated cousin, Kelsey, though. I envision Kelsey as being in her early 20s, while Kenzie seems at most college freshman age.