I believe I've mentioned my thoughts on Gabby's collection as a whole, but if you want a refresher, here's the tl;dr version: it's a mess cohesively and I'm not actually interested in most of it.
The only thing I managed to snag from her collection (thus far) is her Celebration Dress. It was on sale for some insane price ($10? $15? I swear it has shown up for both prices) and I caved despite having a few misgivings about the style, namely that crisscross top.

But the color was pretty and it reminded me of Kanani's party dress which is a dress I really like (maybe not quite as much as I thought I would on Kanani herself but it works beautifully on other dolls) and for the price, I pulled the trigger.

Annnnnnd it's just... I... I don't like it. Or maybe I haven't found a doll I do like it on, though I don't think I've tried beyond the one doll I've got it on now (Cecile). I just do not like the style as it somehow manages to make the arms and neck look even more awkward than I ever thought possible. This includes the tank tops that all but have arrows pointing to the 'joints' like "HEY, HERE'S WHERE THE CLOTH BODY STARTS/ENDS!"

This dress basically has the arrows. It's just a style that I do not think works on the AG dolls. When the promo pictures are the best I've seen this outfit look, there's a problem considering AG's photography fails are legendary. It looks weirdly bunched and I just want to fix it but there's no way to fix it because that's how it's supposed to be. I guess. Fashion, you are beyond me.


I didn't take any pictures of the outfit in the box but in case you wondered what the boxes were like... voila.
I didn't have to clip mine out because by the time they put this dress out, they'd realized they could not fucking t-strap their outfits into the boxes because those things leave holes. Holes you might accept in Barbie fashions but you will not accept in AG because it costs more than the clothes I buy for myself.
I mean, the box is fine. I get why they went this route for the dolls being offered in other stores like Kohls and TRU. I get why they decided to have it be the same across the board for those dolls and outfits. Until we moved into this place, I kept the boxes. When it came time to move here, I decided nope, I was done and chucked (recycled) them and it's what I continue to do. People who still keep the boxes are not pleased about these types of boxes and I get it. *shrug*

The netting and underskirt to give the dress a little oomph.

The back of the dress looks. Like most of AG's outfits, it Velcros up the back.
The shoes have ankle straps and the glitter is under a layer of plastic so you don't need to worry about it shedding everywhere. They also Velcro up the back.
Pardon the numerous shots of the headband but I have some thoughts on this. One: it actually sits pretty well in the hair, so the size works rather well and I have no complaints there. Two: the stars feel like glitter foamboard you get at the craft store. They're sewn to the plastic headband and people aren't thrilled about the construction of said headband. If I'd paid full price ($36), I'd probably be less than thrilled, but as it is... eh? It works and there's no freakin' obnoxious tag of doom to snip off... unless there was and I did and I've forgotten... but I don't see anywhere it could have gone so no. I'm not a kid carting the doll around so the foam should be okay.
Overall, if I could go back and tell myself what I know now about this dress, I probably would have passed on it, even if I did grab this at the $10 price point. I should've known that the style wouldn't be for me and yet I bought it hoping it would surprise me.
To not be as harsh, if not for the bodice of the dress, I'd like it fine. The color is really beautiful, the dress feels soft and I'm a sucker silver and teal together. Maybe I should break out the shrug from the black sparkle dress and just cover the top. Now there's an idea...
Speaking of the Black Sparkle Outfit...
Argh. It figures that I thought the pictures were turning out okay and nope. No they did not. But I am too lazy to take them over so hopefully I'll be able to babble enough to convey the goodness going on here. Maybe? I mean, it's worth a shot, right?
I bought the Black Sparkle Outfit the day it appeared (during their 12 days of Daily Deals or whatever after Cyber Monday) after being most disappointed that it didn't appear during Cyber Monday. I paid the full price ($28) and I regret nothing. More than once I considered buying a second one because it's a dress I enjoy that much. Not enough to apparently shell out the sale price of $14 to get a second one, but enough to seriously consider it.
I haven't used the shrug and because I'm not 100% sure where I left the box, I don't have pictures of it.
Ignore the necklace as that's Emily's holiday necklace, I believe. It just happened to look pretty with this. ;) It's hard to tell, but the material for the bodice of the dress has silver metalic threads running throughout so it doesn't look quite as plain in person as it might look in pictures. It's still not the weirdest part of this dress though, as I think this kind of balances out the sequins if you weren't going for full on sequin glam (but why not).
WTH, self. What the hell. Sigh. The outfit, including the shoes. I guess I could blame the sparkles for distracting me, or the cat for making noises in the closet that I had to keep hoping didn't mean she'd knocked everything over.
The back of the dress shows off more of the unusual hemline. Also, more sparkles!

The underskirt has a t-shirt material with two layers of netting: the top one has white polka dots and the second layer is black.
I'm having 80's flashbacks because I had a ruffle skirt thing that was very similar to this.

Simple glitter flats that are like Gabriela's and not going to shed glitter everywhere.

Side by side with the Happy Holiday dress it shares a patern with. To be fair, the original is miles prettier but it's also alllllllll sequin gloriousness and a shade of blue I need more of in my life.
The blue one seems floofier but I'm not sure if that's simply the material at work or what. Also, in doing this shot I realized that Jade has two dots that are likely dye transfers (but from what?) so she'll need me to break out the zit cream and Ruthie's got a paint smear on her elbow so I'm going to need to dig out the Mr Clean Eraser. Sigh.

And the undersides of the dresses.
I really like the Black Sparkle dress, despite (because of?) the weird mix of fabrics they went with. It's slightly more casual than the blue version but there's a shrug if you want to fancy it up a little more, as it hides the top part so you just get faux fur and sequins and glitter shoes. I think for $14 it's an excellent deal and at $28 it wasn't bad either, considering it was a remake of an earlier dress. It doesn't highlight my least favorite bits of the dolls and there's plenty of sparkle to make my glitter loving heart happy.
The only thing I managed to snag from her collection (thus far) is her Celebration Dress. It was on sale for some insane price ($10? $15? I swear it has shown up for both prices) and I caved despite having a few misgivings about the style, namely that crisscross top.

But the color was pretty and it reminded me of Kanani's party dress which is a dress I really like (maybe not quite as much as I thought I would on Kanani herself but it works beautifully on other dolls) and for the price, I pulled the trigger.

Annnnnnd it's just... I... I don't like it. Or maybe I haven't found a doll I do like it on, though I don't think I've tried beyond the one doll I've got it on now (Cecile). I just do not like the style as it somehow manages to make the arms and neck look even more awkward than I ever thought possible. This includes the tank tops that all but have arrows pointing to the 'joints' like "HEY, HERE'S WHERE THE CLOTH BODY STARTS/ENDS!"

This dress basically has the arrows. It's just a style that I do not think works on the AG dolls. When the promo pictures are the best I've seen this outfit look, there's a problem considering AG's photography fails are legendary. It looks weirdly bunched and I just want to fix it but there's no way to fix it because that's how it's supposed to be. I guess. Fashion, you are beyond me.


I didn't take any pictures of the outfit in the box but in case you wondered what the boxes were like... voila.
I didn't have to clip mine out because by the time they put this dress out, they'd realized they could not fucking t-strap their outfits into the boxes because those things leave holes. Holes you might accept in Barbie fashions but you will not accept in AG because it costs more than the clothes I buy for myself.
I mean, the box is fine. I get why they went this route for the dolls being offered in other stores like Kohls and TRU. I get why they decided to have it be the same across the board for those dolls and outfits. Until we moved into this place, I kept the boxes. When it came time to move here, I decided nope, I was done and chucked (recycled) them and it's what I continue to do. People who still keep the boxes are not pleased about these types of boxes and I get it. *shrug*

The netting and underskirt to give the dress a little oomph.

The back of the dress looks. Like most of AG's outfits, it Velcros up the back.
The shoes have ankle straps and the glitter is under a layer of plastic so you don't need to worry about it shedding everywhere. They also Velcro up the back.
Pardon the numerous shots of the headband but I have some thoughts on this. One: it actually sits pretty well in the hair, so the size works rather well and I have no complaints there. Two: the stars feel like glitter foamboard you get at the craft store. They're sewn to the plastic headband and people aren't thrilled about the construction of said headband. If I'd paid full price ($36), I'd probably be less than thrilled, but as it is... eh? It works and there's no freakin' obnoxious tag of doom to snip off... unless there was and I did and I've forgotten... but I don't see anywhere it could have gone so no. I'm not a kid carting the doll around so the foam should be okay.
Overall, if I could go back and tell myself what I know now about this dress, I probably would have passed on it, even if I did grab this at the $10 price point. I should've known that the style wouldn't be for me and yet I bought it hoping it would surprise me.
To not be as harsh, if not for the bodice of the dress, I'd like it fine. The color is really beautiful, the dress feels soft and I'm a sucker silver and teal together. Maybe I should break out the shrug from the black sparkle dress and just cover the top. Now there's an idea...
Speaking of the Black Sparkle Outfit...
Argh. It figures that I thought the pictures were turning out okay and nope. No they did not. But I am too lazy to take them over so hopefully I'll be able to babble enough to convey the goodness going on here. Maybe? I mean, it's worth a shot, right?
I bought the Black Sparkle Outfit the day it appeared (during their 12 days of Daily Deals or whatever after Cyber Monday) after being most disappointed that it didn't appear during Cyber Monday. I paid the full price ($28) and I regret nothing. More than once I considered buying a second one because it's a dress I enjoy that much. Not enough to apparently shell out the sale price of $14 to get a second one, but enough to seriously consider it.
I haven't used the shrug and because I'm not 100% sure where I left the box, I don't have pictures of it.
Ignore the necklace as that's Emily's holiday necklace, I believe. It just happened to look pretty with this. ;) It's hard to tell, but the material for the bodice of the dress has silver metalic threads running throughout so it doesn't look quite as plain in person as it might look in pictures. It's still not the weirdest part of this dress though, as I think this kind of balances out the sequins if you weren't going for full on sequin glam (but why not).
WTH, self. What the hell. Sigh. The outfit, including the shoes. I guess I could blame the sparkles for distracting me, or the cat for making noises in the closet that I had to keep hoping didn't mean she'd knocked everything over.
The back of the dress shows off more of the unusual hemline. Also, more sparkles!

The underskirt has a t-shirt material with two layers of netting: the top one has white polka dots and the second layer is black.
I'm having 80's flashbacks because I had a ruffle skirt thing that was very similar to this.

Simple glitter flats that are like Gabriela's and not going to shed glitter everywhere.

Side by side with the Happy Holiday dress it shares a patern with. To be fair, the original is miles prettier but it's also alllllllll sequin gloriousness and a shade of blue I need more of in my life.
The blue one seems floofier but I'm not sure if that's simply the material at work or what. Also, in doing this shot I realized that Jade has two dots that are likely dye transfers (but from what?) so she'll need me to break out the zit cream and Ruthie's got a paint smear on her elbow so I'm going to need to dig out the Mr Clean Eraser. Sigh.

And the undersides of the dresses.
I really like the Black Sparkle dress, despite (because of?) the weird mix of fabrics they went with. It's slightly more casual than the blue version but there's a shrug if you want to fancy it up a little more, as it hides the top part so you just get faux fur and sequins and glitter shoes. I think for $14 it's an excellent deal and at $28 it wasn't bad either, considering it was a remake of an earlier dress. It doesn't highlight my least favorite bits of the dolls and there's plenty of sparkle to make my glitter loving heart happy.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-31 03:58 am (UTC)I am definitely digging the Black Sparkle Dress (and the Happy Holiday dress)! Love the metallic accents.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-31 09:29 am (UTC)Huzzah for metallic goodness in dresses and that sounds weird so I'll hush. :p