Anouk in Queen of Dolls!

Im very excited. I was just reading Silke Knaak's book "Queen of dolls". And then i saw she has included a photo and referenced Anouk! This marks Anouk's first entry into a doll reference book. Im very proud and excited. The photo features a redhead Anouk dressed in her Helsinki outfit from series 3.

The book is fabulous if you don't already have it.

Some new hairstyles for Anouk

 Some new looks for Anouk, from sophisticated to casual. I think they give her great personality and charm.

Then just for the fun of it I dressed a lovely Brunette Anouk and boxed her up in the 50th Anniversary Francie Miss Teenage Beauty Queen ensemble. I think she looks great in it!

Anouk and Les Poupees D' autrefois!

Anouk dolls with some vintage Caprice and Sophie de Peynet dolls.

I am extremely proud to announce that Anouk has been endorsed by the premiere vintage doll shop in Paris, Les Poupees D' autrefois. This shop specialises in extremely rare antique, and vintage dolls. Their inventory reads like a who's who of doll royalty.
I am extremely honoured and flattered, because the owners are extremely discerning and ordinarily never deal with modern or reproduction dolls. The fact they have endorsed and purchased several versions of her, is a great compliment for both myself and Anouk.

A few words form one of the shop owners Sylvie:
I will resume our shop history : Birthday in July 2007. My husband lost his job in the famous English agency "Agency Reuters" two or three years before and had the idea to create a website and to find a shop in Paris. We were both collectors and a big part of our collection came into the shop stock. I am not in name, the shop belongs to my husband and I only help him in all activities, to send responses to clients (I am known as Sylvie), to update the website, to find new dolls...Our main activity is to sell and buy dolls, antiques and vintage dolls from 1860 to 1970's. We can do some restoration works. We send the dolls worldwide, USA, Japan, Europe, Australia, and so on... I love Barbie dolls, and especially french Caprice (my favourite), Mily, Sophie de Peynet, Tressy, the very rare Kiraz...I never buy (and don't sell) reproduction dolls or new dolls, Anouk is an exception because she is sooo 1960's !!!

As you will see form the following photos only the creme of the crop makes it into their shop, including such vinyl heavyweights as Vintage Barbie, Francie, Mily de Gege, Sophie De Peynet, Caprice, Bella Tressy, Cathie etc.

A big thank you to Sylvie and the guys at Les Poupees D'autrefois, for endorsing and adding Anouk to their prestigious collection.

Anouk - Pre-Order madness!!!

So finally the factory have sent the pre- ordered dolls so I can get them out to all the patient clients who had ordered their Anouk dolls in advance. This is also my first opportunity to see the beautiful production dolls . I had a slight fear that the production dolls would not match the charm of the prototype sample dolls but they actually do. Each one has her own charming personality just as I had wished. The various skin tones and hair shades are exquisite and there are so many interesting variations, depending on what they are dressed in.

It took three solid days to style, dress, and assemble each package with the relevant accessories, booklets etc but it was finally done and all the dolls went out Thursday, Friday and Saturday (today) this week.
Shipping them out I realised how Anouk has gone Global :-) The packages went out to:

America
France
Italy
The Netherlands
Switzerland
Finland
Belgium
Germany
Australia
New Zealand

Including England that is 11 countries. I am a happy man indeed :-) :-) I will now of course, be on tenterhooks to hear from my clients! Watch this space!

First I checked off the outfits against the stock spreadsheets

Then I had to pack the accessories for each outfit

Then to style and dress the dolls themselves

Then packaging, booklets and labels

Capri, Printemps, Lingerie and Trotteur

Opera in both Gold and Silver versions

Capri, Lingerie, and Printemps

Trotteur dolls

Printemps

Capri girls

More ladies in Opera

A beautiful Titian sporting Anouk's short pageboy hairstyle.

#007 "Swim" dolls

Fianally packed them up in their shipping tubes, ready to fly to their new homes :-)

Anouk's Fashion Parade

Anouk sporting some nifty Mod era style Flight attendant fashions by Monsieur Z.

To demonstrate that Anouk is truly versatile, I worked on a photo shoot of her modelling the clothes of other vintage fashion dolls. Anouk's proportions are a cross between Barbie and Francie. She is slightly shorter than Barbie, with a smaller bust and curvier hips. However because she is not anorexic and skinny, she can fill out Barbie's clothes well enough, even though she is a little more diminutive than Queen B.

The following photos show Anouk dressed in Monsieur Z, Vintage Barbie, Tressy, Francie, and generic vintage clone clothing from the 1960s. As you will see, they fit Anouk very well. Although you may need to wiggle very fitted garments over her generous hips! But they will fit :-)

In Barbie's Pan Am outfit

In Barbie's Student Teacher

In Barbie's Invitation to Tea

In a vintage Barbie dress.

In Francie's It's a Date.

In Francie's Wild Bunch outfit

In a clone version of Francie's Gad Abouts

In a Hong Kong Lilli clone dress

In a vintage Tressy outfit, Surprise Party.

In a brocade dress for HK Lilli

In Tressy's Executive Sweet

In Tressy's Evening Date outfit

A becoming Beehive

In Barbie's Evening Splendour

Anouk in aTressy dress, After Six

Bookish, yet glamorous!

For all slaes enquiries please contact NAV at navsikand@aol.com