This fall, Mattel introduced another Silkstone Barbie BFMC. She’s the second in the series of new dolls that launched with the Sapphire girl, who moved in here in the summer.

Here’s their latest girl.

Here’s a link to the landing page at Mattel.

I had mixed feelings about her, even though she’s pretty. I don’t love the articulated body, I wasn’t sure I liked the pink velvet scrunchie bit and I wasn’t loving the price. (She was $175CAD plus shipping and now is $190CAD plus shipping.) Someone in a forum noted that they could buy a vintage Silkstone for the same price, and I had an AHA! moment.

Silkstone Barbie Continental Holiday Gift Set from 2002 joined my collection. Here’s one of the promo shots of her from the original launch.

I like the gift sets because they come with more accessories and garments. Here’s how this one was packed:

She has lingerie and stockings, a second pair of shoes, the outfit in the first picture plus a pair of pants, the overnight bag and the clutch purse, plus sunglasses and other goodies. (A passport! How cute is that?!) Mine was NIB and I think she was glad to get out of the box after 22 years in there. We tried on her clothes, but it was hard to get her coat over that blouse with the wide collar.

Here she is, chez moi. She’s wearing the Trench Setting coat in shot linen and the dress that matches the lining in Tana Lawn.

I’m not sure what to make of her hair arrangement. It’s kind of a double ponytail. The two sides at the front are pulled back into a low ponytail, then there’s a higher ponytail and a bunch of loose hair in between. Here’s the back.

At least it isn’t stiff with glue or spray. I’ll leave it as is for now, but the elastics on her ponytails are over 20 years old and will degenerate soon. Then I’ll have to decide about her ‘do.

Behind her in these pix is my latest DIY carrier for the girls. This one has all of the girls’ original garments, accessories and shoes, sorted and labelled. Instead of putting braces for the dolls on the door, I covered the inside of the door with hooks (each made from a head pin with a bead) to hand and organize all the goodies. It’s lined with the same Italian paper as the first one. Putting this together and hanging everything up gave me enormous satisfaction. (There’s another clothing bar behind the front two for longer gowns, too.)

I also have been fiddling with that Advance pattern again, In Paris 4750. (You might remember that I made the Balenciaga ballgown with lace overlay.) I printed out the pieces for the Bar Suit (Christian Dior’s iconic New Look) but it ended up too big. I’ve reprinted it at 90% and the fit is better. Still fiddling with this one, but should be able to show a result to you soon. I made it of cotton this first time and will remake it in silk once I have the details right. It’s also made me realize that all of the girls have their hair down, and I need one with an updo to model the Dior suit.

That also meant I had a good look at this new girl’s clothes and bags, with a mind to copying them. I never like the fabrics chosen, and there are shortcuts that I might not emulate – the skirt, for example, isn’t lined – but there are other potential take-aways. At the very least, I may remake some of the original garments in fabrics that I like better. There’s always something with the girls!