ModBarbieLover
FASHION CANDI
The 1970’s were a golden age for fashion dolls… Kids and collectors alike had a huge amount of choice, even here in out-of-the-way Australia. There was of course, the reigning queen Barbie, Sindy, Dusty, Tuesday Taylor, Darci and about a million clones available … and then there was this gal. This from Carmen Varricchio’s wonderful book on clone dolls of the 70’s and 80’s, ‘Doll Junk’: - “Fashion Candi was Mego’s last, most ambitious and I think, most interesting attempt to nudge Barbie from the top of the fashion doll heap…” Indeed, her gimmick was that you could paint her hair different colours to be a redhead, brunette or even a raven-haired beauty. She also inherited nearly all of Sindy’s amazing accessories, furniture, playsets and even her extraordinary three-level townhouse, when Sindy’s US company Marx went bankrupt, so she too had her own ‘world!’ In an interview on the Mego Museum website, it was noted that she was apparently a huge success for the company the few years she was on sale.
She has one of those very odd clone-ish bodies with wire in her very light, hollow plastic legs that make them bend in very bizarre ways, (no ‘click-click’ here! LOL) but IMO she has one of the most beautiful face sculpts that Mego had ever produced, and one of the most sophisticated faces out of all the fashion dolls of that period. She reminds me a little of an American model who was my favourite back then named Kelli Wynn, who was the face of Elizabeth Arden in the very early 80’s, though Kelli was a brunette, so I am tempted to change her hair colour to see the resemblance! As you can see, she came complete in her box with the instructions, booklet, sponge applicator (with the sponges all still intact!!!) and her ‘hair makeup’ kit, which is also intact. I also love the cut-out pattern for her hair salon-style cover-up! I had the 18-inch version of this gal as a kid and loved her (she also came with makeup, and a very scary stencil mask so you could apply her makeup accurately! LOL) so it was great to get the classic 11 ½ inch fashion doll size of her! Her face has faded just a tad, but that HAIR!!! So incredibly lush, thick, silky and, just like Darci’s, incredibly easy to style. I also love that very Disco side-tied tunic and shimmery Lycra leggings, with those wedge heels! I also have some favourite NRFB fashions for her on their way soon, (and a clone sister from the early 80’s that used the same moulds after Candi departed the fashion doll world) so stay tuned!
FASHION CANDI
The 1970’s were a golden age for fashion dolls… Kids and collectors alike had a huge amount of choice, even here in out-of-the-way Australia. There was of course, the reigning queen Barbie, Sindy, Dusty, Tuesday Taylor, Darci and about a million clones available … and then there was this gal. This from Carmen Varricchio’s wonderful book on clone dolls of the 70’s and 80’s, ‘Doll Junk’: - “Fashion Candi was Mego’s last, most ambitious and I think, most interesting attempt to nudge Barbie from the top of the fashion doll heap…” Indeed, her gimmick was that you could paint her hair different colours to be a redhead, brunette or even a raven-haired beauty. She also inherited nearly all of Sindy’s amazing accessories, furniture, playsets and even her extraordinary three-level townhouse, when Sindy’s US company Marx went bankrupt, so she too had her own ‘world!’ In an interview on the Mego Museum website, it was noted that she was apparently a huge success for the company the few years she was on sale.
She has one of those very odd clone-ish bodies with wire in her very light, hollow plastic legs that make them bend in very bizarre ways, (no ‘click-click’ here! LOL) but IMO she has one of the most beautiful face sculpts that Mego had ever produced, and one of the most sophisticated faces out of all the fashion dolls of that period. She reminds me a little of an American model who was my favourite back then named Kelli Wynn, who was the face of Elizabeth Arden in the very early 80’s, though Kelli was a brunette, so I am tempted to change her hair colour to see the resemblance! As you can see, she came complete in her box with the instructions, booklet, sponge applicator (with the sponges all still intact!!!) and her ‘hair makeup’ kit, which is also intact. I also love the cut-out pattern for her hair salon-style cover-up! I had the 18-inch version of this gal as a kid and loved her (she also came with makeup, and a very scary stencil mask so you could apply her makeup accurately! LOL) so it was great to get the classic 11 ½ inch fashion doll size of her! Her face has faded just a tad, but that HAIR!!! So incredibly lush, thick, silky and, just like Darci’s, incredibly easy to style. I also love that very Disco side-tied tunic and shimmery Lycra leggings, with those wedge heels! I also have some favourite NRFB fashions for her on their way soon, (and a clone sister from the early 80’s that used the same moulds after Candi departed the fashion doll world) so stay tuned!