The American Girl Create Your Own Line, Meeting Sonja Busse, and Clothes and Accessories Reviews: The Let's Smile Outfit and Accessories (2017)

Four Pretty Maidens, all in a row.

Did I say Tuesday? I meant not Tuesday. I forgot Tuesday that I was going to pick up my new glasses and I spent the rest of the day adjusting to my new lenses. I can read better again! I now have fancy new progressive lenses to read more clearly in that massively nearsighted left eye of mine, because in a battle between "seamless trifocals" and "having to remember to carry reading glasses everywhere and swap them in and out" I went with "seamless trifocals." No shame in the game. Also this post took a few days to write anyways because it's long and I'm excited. Let's talk moddies. 

American Girl Moddies--as I call them--have had a shitty assumption hanging over them their whole time they've existed, going all the way back to launch when they were called American Girl of Today in 1995. This became even more of a problem when the line was called Just Like You from 2006 to 2010,¹ but to be fair it has really been an assumed perception for the past twenty-five years. That assumption being? That the dolls were designed, customized, or intended at purchase to try to look like the recipient getting the doll.

Mind, American Girl has never pushed the idea that any modern doll should specifically or exactly resemble the intended consumer. They've tweeted that the dolls aren't customizable, corrected purchasers in stores and over the phone, and even stated in so many ways that the first moddie line is not and never has been available as customized dolls. The first name--American Girl of Today--initially was selected to reflect how history was happening in Manhattan (or wherever) and that a child of "today" was as tied to current historical events going on as a child of the 1940s was to the event of her era which was as far back as they went back then. The first ones even came with a set of six blank books and writer's guides to encourage writing a story about a character of today. While I generally don't give a shit what Pleasant Rowland intended for anything, the initial intent of the line was, to quote from a line in my 1996 Doll Reader magazine, "for [children] curious about their place in today's world" and to "link past to present and empower [children] to take pride in this, their moment in history."² 

Yes, moddie dolls can, as the statement goes, have their skin tone, eye color, and hair color chosen. From what initially was a pool of just twenty dolls, fourteen of which were light skinned with the Classic Mold face.

Having 70% of the available dolls as "white" is not, in fact, widespread customization.

If you were a child--or, like me, a teen--in 1995 looking over the selection of American Girl Today dolls and you were not white or light enough to be assumed as white? Your options were #1 and #18 for black; #2, #11, and #15 for All Other Brown, including lighter toned black people and anyone else; and if you were East Asian you only had #4 until 2006 when Jess came out. Every other option was was light and assumed to be white. There were more options for blondes than there were East Asian people. Even as more dolls became available--we're up to over ninety total that have ever been released--the majority of available dolls have had light skin and resemble young white girls. The first main 18" modern line wasn't customized or designed to look like kids, the deal was that that white girls had many more options than anyone else. And that's a form of privilege in society.

But AG saying what isn't, wasn't and never has been done with the now-titled Truly Me line doesn't mean that people don't assume stupid shit about AG dolls. (Just wait til I have the energy and focus to write about how your Molly from 1998 is not, in fact, going to sell on eBay for thousands of dollars, regardless of what some article on USA Today tells you.) This has led to thousands of parents over the past two and a half decades who have either bought dolls that they got to look like their kids and thought they did themselves a custom, insisted that the lack of diversity in the line is accurate to the population, or complaints up and down the board that there's no doll that looks exactly like their child and why isn't there one, because my white child has straight blond hair in a bob with no bangs and hazel eyes, and there isn't a doll just like that right now and these dolls are supposed to be like them. Boy howdy when white privilege occurs, hmm?

There is a much more customizable--to be little more accurate, designable--line now, though, and has been for about three and a half years. Back after it launched I only mentioned it slightly back then in my post about Z, but I'll go in because it's been four decades since 2017 and three of those happened in 2020. 

The American Girl Create Your Own Line--which the fandom tends to abbreviate as CYO--launched in August 2017 and is the most customizable American Girl product outside of doing the thing your damn self. For Two Hundred Dollary-Dos--plus tax--you can design a doll's entire look, select her meet outfit from the options, add in matching--or not, it's up to you--accessories, and get the whole kiddy caboodles in a fancy box along with a code to make a Design Your Own T-Shirt for free shipping--and that was free shipping available before AG offered that up for the low cost of buying $135 worth of stuff. (The offer used to include a six-month/three issue subscription to American Girl Magazine as well, but the magazine stopped publishing in 2019 so that's no longer a perk.) And while it does pull from a pool of their available options to mix around, it's a wide pool of options. American Girl boasts that there's--via every possible combination of hair, eyes, face, and extras--more than 2.4 million possible combinations of dolls available.

All those options, mind, and some people's creativity is limited to either whitewashing the Addy and Sonali Molds with no sense of irony (y'all probably didn't care black people came in albino until you decided you wanted a white version of molds that have never been used by the main line in white) or spending almost twice as many monies as a regular off the line moddie to remake another version of #27. Oh, but the collector said on her Instagram account, you don't understand, this one is a blonde and blue eyed classic mold but this one is a blonde blue eyed, classic mold who has slightly different and longer hair! Miss Ann, you might as well be telling me this mayo is slightly more creamy than the other. Bitch, if I'm going to blow $200 to get an AG doll I design, I'm not going to get one that looks like one I can get at the store, but with slightly longer hair and a hazy shade of winter. I wish her--and 99% of everyone who has ever designed a white Addy or Sonali mold for no good damn reason because they have European Beauty Standards Poisoning--a very unhappy evening. 

That being said, after you place the order they put the dolls together in Mexico--each doll has a foot mark stating they're One of a Kind unlike the common ribble rabble--and then ship them up to Laredo, Texas; from there they go out and arrive at your house in fancy packaging. When orders are low, a design can take up to three weeks or so to arrive; early in the pandemic, people were looking at ten weeks, and creation and shipping time can take even longer when items are backordered and/or it's closer to the Winter Holiday season. I had never gotten a CYO of my own that I'd designed. I'd gotten four of them secondhand, yes, and they're all super adorable. But I'd never gotten one that I designed myself, start to finish.

Until Monday. 

This is a multipart post. Bring snacks.

 Part One: The CYOs Neth Didn't Design

The first four members of the CYO branch of the AGGiRL.

How, you may ask, did I get four CYO girls before making my own? Short Answer: MCM. Long Answer: American Girl Benefit Sale purchases from 2019 and 2020. Starting in 2019, returned CYO dolls became available at the MCM sale at discounted prices. Like the other stuff that gets back there, they're dolls returned for whatever reason: eyes not quite right, hair unsure, displeasure with the final outcome, errors, store returns, kid acted up and got their birthday present shipped back, buyer's remorse,or maybe someone just decided "okay but nah" and got a refund. And so off they go to the sale, hopefully to find new homes with new people.

Gussie Anderson.

Lois Gineva "Gussie" Duke-Anderson was my first ever CYO; I walked up to the table for them in 2019, asked if they had her still--they put images up to let you see beforehand to get an idea of options to pick from--and she was still there, lucky me. She's got the Jess Mold in dark with freckles, grey eyes, and wavy medium red hair, and came in the first edition of the Let's Explore Outfit with the matching accessories, both of which aren't available anymore. One eye is slightly wonked, which is why she was returned by the person that designed her the first go round.³

I had initially named her after a wild great uncle I never met, Uncle Duke, and his girlfriend Aunt Gussie, as my mom said she looked like her aunt. Then when I introduced her to Goose, Goose heard the name "Ginevra" (which I had just picked because it could be short for Gussie) as Gineva, her older sister's name, and was like "aw you named her after your Aunt Lois." And so I did.

Celestian Ozier.

The next three all came from last year's online MCM sale, as it had to be held because of pandemic; someone in the fandom did a whole spreadsheet of who was available, but I just went in blind and picked three I liked.

Celestian Eliza Ozier has the Sonali mold in medium, grey eyes, freckles, curly medium length brown hair, and came in the also no longer available Let's Play Outfit but with the first Let's Create Accessories--which, can't complain, I like those better. 

I initially named the three girls I got Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy, because I am but Hamilton trash, so that'll explain the other two's middle names; she got hit with Eliza. I then properly named her after a younger cousin who--while she and I never got along not only was she like seven years younger than me but she was a golden child due to colorism and got spoiled rotten--had a nice name. I got her last name from a name back in my family history.

Vivi Frazier.

Vivienne Angelica "Vivi" Fraizer has the Addy Mold in dark--one of the four(!) Addy molds that were up for grabs--curly long dark hair, and hazel eyes that actually look really good on her and feel more like a brown than a hazel. She came in the recently depreciated Let's Celebrate Outfit along with the first edition of the matching accessories. She was the only one of the four that didn't come with her ears pierced already so she got a special trip to AG Seattle to get them done. 

Vivienne got her first name because I thrust her at Bae and said "name her" and he was like "shit Neth don't do that to me I dunno Vivian" and I tweaked it. Like Celestian, she got her last name from a name in my backline. 

Joyce Roberts.

Last and not least, and Peggy Joyce Margaret Roberts. She's a dark Josefina mold, same long hair as Vivi but slightly lighter, with brown eyes. She and Vivi came to the party in the same outfit but Joyce had the second edition of the matching accessories, so they had to change.

Joyce is also named after a cousin--an older one and one of Aunt Lois's daughters, in the same generation as my dad. Joyce passed away several years ago suddenly before I could see her again, and she was one of my favorite older cousins whom I loved so much. Her last name is my great grandmother's and her grandmother's married name. 

So that's four of them, all finding their final home with me after being returned. And I will totally do this again on any MCM sales of CYOs they have, because I think it's pretty cool to get a doll that way.⁴ They might not be perfectly unique, but they do have a uniqueness about them. And shit, like I care if you copy what you see. I'm not the only one with a #26 or Addy out there, am I?

That being said, there's something super cool about designing one yourself. I had been super reluctant to do it, for whatever reason, thought I knew quite a few people who had. Not the level of some people who no shit have bought tons of them. And after I got the news that AG Seattle would be closing, I decided that I was going to make myself feel a tick better by getting what I'd never done before and ordering my first ever self created CYO.

Part Two: The CYOs that Neth Designed

Getting a CYO meant going though the designs I have stored on the site, because I've been playing with the CYO creator since it launched. If you have an account--and of course I do--your designs can be saved on the website and pulled up at any time. Dolls can be adjusted and redesigned as you choose--important for when say, that Let's Daydream outfit is gone out of stock--but designing outfits such as the Tunic and Leggings or Dresses cannot, so you'd better like what you've done when you're done or you're starting from scratch. 

So I opened my designer and looked through what I'd done.

Dark Josefina.

Option #1: Dark Josefina, light brown eyes, wavy curly hair, freckles. She was one of the first I ever created in the player. She might have been a possibility if not for two things: that AG came out with #80 about a year later⁵ and I got her, and that I had Joyce now. So, pass.

not!Kanani.

Option #2: not!Kanani. Never really an option as I have Kanani and was just trying to see if I could nearly duplicate her in the CYO. Pass.

Red-headed Celestian.

Option #3:You'd be right that she looks like Celestian, except Celestian has brown curly hair instead of red textured hair. And since I have Celestian? Pass.

You will notice a lot of braces, glasses, and/or pierced ears. There's a reason for that.

Vivi, but heterochromatic.

Option #4: Vivi, but with glasses and heterochromatic shades of brown eyes. Neat, but I do have Vivi now. Also that is a cool thing you can do as well: give your dolls complete heterochromatic eyes. More on that later. Spoilers. 

Heterochromatics~

Option #5: A medium Jess that I'm pretty sure I only created her for playing around more with heretochromatic eyes. Someday, maybe, with some more adjustments in her looks, but not today.

Testing, testing.

Option #6: Once again I'm pretty sure I was just testing something in the creator and left her there for later. Pass.

Pink~

Option #7: Sometime after releasing the brightly colored hair gals, they added pink hair to the creator. This was me testing it. Maybe later. 

So that's everyone I've passed on for one reason or another. So who did I go with? 

Part Three: The CYO that Neth Built 

The winner: Sonja!

And so I decided to go with this one: Sonja! Sonja was one of my earliest creations on the designer, along with Dark Josefina and Not The Kanani. I'd been going for a Josefina-Mold face of #10 who has one of my favorite hair and eye combinations with one of my least favorite face molds. I am a sucker for green eyes and dark black hair, but the less Classic Mold I have to put up with, the better. Sonja liked cats, reading, and theatre, and I think I might have at one time changed those personality options. There's a whole personality section you can use when you're designing but it has no bearing on the doll. Would be neat if that came in like, a little printout for the doll as well. Alas. I also made her hair long because around here we like long hair, and bangs because also bangs are stupid cute. The braids are part of "hairstyling"; other options included a double ponytail like not!Celestian and a stacked ponytail. You can also add just a headband.

I'd not originally given her heterochromia, but decided later that if I was going to go for it, to go with something super unique. I decided to make her left eye green and her right hazel, for a more subtle style of the mismatched eyes. I think this shot is when she still had both eyes green and no freckles added yet.

Complete heterochromia--properly called either heterochromia iridum (both eyes) in Latin--is exactly as it translates to: having two different eye colors. Variance can also happen in skin and hair, but we're talking about eyes today, hence the iridum. In complete heterochromia--what you can do with CYO dolls--one iris is a completely different color from the other, while the other versions--heterochromia iridis--affects one eye. Sectoral heterochromia has just part of one iris a different color from the rest and central heterochromia having that difference around the pupil, including things like spikes of different colors radiating out from the pupil. So a person could have complete and sectoral if say, one eye is blue and the other is green with brown chunks. Eye color, like gender, is a spectrum.

Heterochromia can be congenital (at birth) or develop later in life, acquired. While there's a couple of syndromes and issues that it can point to, it often just is the quirks of human variance in the eyeballs. It shows up a lot in domestic animals like cats, but that's often due to inbreeding and a lack of genetic diversity. A lot of famous people have various forms of heterochromia most of it really subtle--but one of the most famous assumptions, David Bowie, did not; what he had was anisocoria, which is a dilation in one pupil. In 1962, his friend George Underwood punched him in the left eye during a fight over a girl while wearing a ring. After lots of operations and four months in the hospital, his doctors were like "yep, that eye's permafucked." So like me, he had shit depth perception and one eye was always dilated.⁶

After I picked Sonja and had her how I wanted to look, I changed her clothes because not only was the outfit she was in long gone--and the glasses as of last year, the Brownie Ombre Glasses--but I'd gotten the outfit on Gussie anyways. So I put her in the other outfit I liked a ton.

Let's Smile about it!

Your doll doesn't come in an outfit you personally design, but they do come in one you pick that's different from the one on the ribble rabble moddies. I went with the Let's Smile Outfit--which we'll go into detail about later, I did say this will have a review--and also got the matching Let's Smile Accessories. Damn right I was getting accessories. I was getting damn near everything the doll could have.

Here's the thing about the CYO ordering. No matter what you get or don't get, you are going to pay $200. The price does not go down if you opt out of a damn thing. So if you decide not to get accessories? Still $200. No glasses? Still $200. No ears pierced? Still $200. No braces? Say it with me--still $200. 

So I went with as much of the damn cake as I could stuff. Sensible people do not leave things on the table if the store has your money already. So I got the matching accessories. I put freckles on her--okay, so I would have done that anyways, I'm also a sucker for freckles like mine. I added in a pair of glasses--specifically, the Raspberry Glasses⁷ that Abbi also has. I said pierce her ears. I said put her hair in twin braids. I said give her braces. The only thing I didn't do was hearing aids--but I could have, and it wouldn't have cost me anymore to do it and it didn't save me anything to skip them.

Then--having gotten all the things I could--I placed my order along with another of the sets of outfits and accessories and waited my three weeks for Sonja to be put together, packed up and arrive. 

Part Four: Welcoming Sonja Busse to the AGGiRL

Pink boxes of goodies.

The moment I got the notification she'd shipped, I kept my eye out for her delivery. On Monday, she arrived and--after I did a work that I needed to do weeks ago, but what is executive function--I set up my photo corner, unpacked, propped the box up, and started snapping pics with my phone. Fuck, do I need a new camera.

The tall box is Sonja, while the other two boxes came in their own separate box; they're my other CYO outfit and accessory set I decided to go for. We'll talk about those in the upcoming weeks between retrospecticuses. 

Fancy box is fancy.

As I said earlier, every CYO comes in a fancy box that can be a keepsake box if you so choose, as opposed to those run-of-the-mill boxes your common doll came in. Since Gussie was obtained at MCM direct and I didn't want to waste suitcase space on a box, I trashed the box; my mom saw no point in it either. Vivi, Celestian, and Joyce came shipped in the boxes so I kept them, and I'll be keeping Sonja's too.

Fancy labels.

The box has a fancy label on the front that can be customized with a little message. I went with who designed it--me. MCM obtained CYOs have this label fully torn off. It's none of your business who had your new gang member before, they're yours now.  

Fancy disclaimer and legalese and contents and all that stuff.

There's a label with data on the back telling you in French and English what's inside, where the dolls were put together, various symbols, and warnings and disclaimers, including not giving these things to three year olds. Three year olds get Bitty Babies and naps.

Fancy ribbon.

The box ties shut with a fancy bit of ribbon. Pinkies up, guys, this doll is fabulously packaged.

I see you shiver with antici....⁸

Okay, this is just me being a brat to myself. I untied the bow and looked at her feet before I opened the box and got my full full glimpse of Sonja. First impressions. 

Hello, Dolly!

And hot diggity damn with cheese was she just as cute as I knew she'd be. The CYO designer has to mix and match all the parts digitally, so the images there are always a little distorted to fit into each other. You really only get the full effect of your doll when you're face to face with what you've designed. 

She's strapped in the box the same way all the dolls are for transport: neck, wrists, ankles. The safeword is "inner star." After several minutes of excited squealing over Sonja's adorableness, I freed her and dumped out her accessory box that was under her feet, which I think comes regardless because it's got to hold your shirt code and hat/headband. 

But it should be packed with bits of stuff. Why would you leave money on the table like that.

Glasses, accessories, headband, braces.

The accessory box has your accessories, any hat or headband that comes with the meet set, and any glasses and braces you put in. This is why I say get the glasses, even if you're not feeling them for that character. They're free real estate.

Shirt shirt shirt.

Along with all your smaller goodies, there's the card with instructions on how to do the shirt and get it for free. I will be doing this later. I've done them before at AG Chicago--there I got them on the spot--so I know what I'm up against. Not my first shirt rodeo. 

Free tooth stickers.

The braces are not stuck on the teeth by default; they're a set of multiple sheets of braces stickers, three sheets with eight sets of braces stickers per sheet. They're similar to--and probably exactly like--the braces stickers that come with the Healthy Smile Set. More free real estate. I got out my craft tweezers and laid them on her teeth. Then I set her up for the pics and started reviewing proper. 

It's been a while. Let's dust off that rubric. 

Part Five: Clothes and Accessories Reviews: The Let's Smile Outfit and Accessories (2017)   

Jackets, Skirts, Coffee, notebooks, pens, and purses.

Sonja Riya Busse--that's her full name, Busse rhymes with "goose", please don't be like my perv friend and rhyme it with the third word in O.P.P.⁹--is decked out in the Let's Smile Outfit and Accessories, which retail for $34 and $30 respectively.¹⁰ The Let's Smile Outfit is one of the meet outfits for dolls created in the the CYO system and was available at the start of the line in 2017. Unlike all the others that came at launch, it's still available and as the only one left it could be gone in a few months for all we know, to be replaced with something else. I have no idea how they decided what goes and what stays. I'm glad it was still there for me to put in Sonja as it is one of my fave sets of them all: a flower print cotton dress, denim jacket, purple headband, and purple vinyl ankle strap shoes. I also got the matching Let's Smile Accessories - purse, notebook, pen, drink cup, and necklace. Don't leave money on the table. 

Clothes mostly, then stuff. That's the order I do these things in, give or take an accessory in the middle. 

Jacket life.

Jacket: The jacket comes, as seen above, over the dress: a light denim blue color. Not stonewash or acid wash. That's Courtney. This is also of a lighter weight denim rather than Courtney's heavier, stiffer style.

I don't know that I've spoken about the origin of denim on this blog much before. I have talked some about it in Julie's Classic Meet set when I talked about how Julie--at the time, no Nanea yet--was the first historical to have pants in her meet outfit. But I can't remember if I talked about the history of the fabric and why we call it denim.  If I didn't, then I am now and if I did, I'm not digging through all my posts and we can do it again. 

Denim is a cotton twill woven fabric that is woven different from its plain woven cousin cotton duck; the weft--or across threads--go under two warp--or long--threads rather than just one. The outer warped threads are blue--generally indigo dye, though now most of that is synthetic--and the inner weft thread is left in the original white color, which is why denim is lighter inside. Denim got its name as a contraction of the phrase surge de Nîmes, Nîmes being a French town on the Mediterranean coast that--while we can't 100% say with accuracy was the birthplace of fabric--it's where history has decided to go with. 

Denim can come in almost any color you can think of now but at the time of jeans starting to be a thing, indigo was selected as the color for them. Indigo dyes did what other natural dyes didn't and didn't permeate all the way into the cloth when it was dyed. This allowed for denim workman's pants to soften and adapt to each wearer, fitting comfortably as dyes faded in the wash and from wear unlike the duck previously used which remained stiff. Also dark blue doesn't show dirt as badly: important when washing was limited. Workmen of the late 1800s may not have given a shit that the cloth was blue, but they did care it was comfortable, which is why denim quickly overtook duck as the fabric for work pants. Jean jackets are not much younger than their pants counterparts, being invented ten years later in 1880 by Levi Strauss to compliment the jean pants he and Jacob W. Davis¹¹ popularized. A jean jacket and matching pants might be called the Canadian tuxedo, but that was actually the intent to start: jeans and a jacket made a paired set and a suit, albeit a much more blue-collar working man's one. In fact, that's why we call them blue collar workers--the propensity for blue denim or chambray shirts among manual laborers.

The jean jacket--like the matching pants, coveralls, and overalls--was not considered regular or fashionable clothing until about the 1950s, when it first became the thing for rebelling, authority defying teenagers (thank you James Dean) and later the thing for everyone. It was considered backwards, country, low class, or hick to wear denim like one would wear a proper suit. If you wanted to look nice, you wore nice clothes--and young ladies certainly did not wear denim about in the streets. Yes, Kit has denim overalls, but Mother would have snatched her back indoors if Kit'd ever thought to go anywhere but the backyard in them. It was scandalous enough that they were raising chickens. Go put on a skirt, young lady, and don't shame your mother in public. 

Buttons and holes.

The front has four functioning silver shank star buttons and matching holes. While it closes up along the front, I haven't bothered. It's slightly tight along the waist if you button the bottom one closed. This is not because AG is trying to cut you a half inch of fabric, even if they are saving fabric. Most people wearing jean jackets today don't button them up at all--they're not for closing--and the bottom button is more for form than function. AG has lately been making their silver shank buttons have the AG star logo in them. I think it goes back for quite some time. 

Collar.

The collar is a regular shirt/jacket collar, with square points at the end and folded over when open. 

Enjoy stray wisps of Sonja's black-brown hair. 

Faux pockets and lines.

The front--on both sides--has a faux pocket flap with another shank button and two long line plackets down the front. This is the style that Levi--the company, not the man, he died in 1902--released in the 1960s as Style Three and is the general style that's lasted ever since with some variations as fashion dictates. This style is more "cowboys and rebels" than "working man." If this was for humans the front pockets might work, but this is a doll. She can't even reach her chest with her hands. 

The waistband is plain. No fancy tails or designs for your working man to get in the way.

Sleeve.

The sleeves are long and to the wrist. This is a jacket, not a shirt or vest. We wear them long, keep your arms warm. 

Cuff.

The cuffs are thick and hemmed. They don't roll up easy. You'll need looser sleeves for that. And no closures at the wrists either; they slide over the hand easy enough. Remember, crafters, measure your AG dolls at the widest part of the hand, not the wrist, or your designs may not fit over their their hands if you don't make the cuff right. 

Interior.

The inside of the jacket is placketed but unlined. The lining would have to be very thin, add costs, and lining can get super bulky on doll clothes. And you knew most jean jackets are unlined, right? Right. 

Tagged.

The requisite American Girl logo oval tag is on the lower left waistband, and if you absolutely cannot stand seeing a tag there, you can pop it off with a seam ripper. 

From the back.

The back is plain and practical. Put a patch on there, paint it, make it yours. Decorate it and break it in. It's your jacket, get buck wild.

A+. I'm Texan raised if not Texan born, so I love a good jean jacket, and I'm going to get a lot of use out of this piece. Denim is for everyone.

Dress to impress.

Dress: Under the jacket and making up the central part of the outfit is a floral print flared skirt dress. Most of the CYO meet outfits are bifurcated leg things like shorts, pants, or leggings, with the only other dresses being the now retired Let's Celebrate and its replacement, the Let's Have A Party outfit.¹² I might not wear dresses much--right now my at home pants can be categorized into "lounge" or "legging"--but I appreciate a good dress on dolls. They don't have to worry about sitting like a lady. 

No collar attached, no long sleeves, no button trims. This top has to go under a jacket, we aren't adding excess to get in the way.

Bodice.

The bodice is not a flat plain generdress bodice like you find on a bad Etsy shop in whatever quilter's cotton fabric you've bought today; it has Viennese seams running down the front, which are simultaneously a uniquely beautiful and a frustrating seam to sew on anything, even dresses for sausage bodies. Viennese seams differ from princess seams in that princess seams start at the shoulder, while Viennese start at the armscythe, but both curve from their start to run down over the fullest part of the bust/chest and down the front. Most people just call them all princess seams. They look great when in a garment, but they're hard because they require going down a curve--and, in people clothes, make fitting and adjusting that much harder as the seam should curve down over the center of the bust for the most flattering fit. Argh. 

While long shaping seams like this can be traced back to the 1400s and have been around ever since, they were not called princess seams until the 1880s. They were named after Alexandra, Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra, the wife of King Edward VII who's the guy Samantha's era should be named after if we're bothering with English monarchy naming American eras at all), as she popularized them. As crinolines fell out and that bustle fluffa came into prominence, the silhouette for women went from "wide shoulders, tiny waist, wide as fuck skirt" to "long, flat front, pull all the skirt fluff on your ass." And Alexandra--what with being a princess and being the fashion icon that came with it--started wearing very form fitting styles that were tight all down the torso to the hips with no waists, ending hundreds of years of "bodice to waistband and skirt" clothing domination that started in the 1600s. Take that, Tudor Dynasty.

Technically, since this does go to a waistband it's not a true princess seam, but you know what, we're being casual and fun around here. 

Shortest of sleeves.

The separate-from-bodice sleeves are short cap sleeves that just cover the upper part of the arm. Cap sleeves: the shortest sleeves you can do without going sleeveless. Long sleeves wouldn't fit nicely under the jacket anyways.

Waistband.

The purple accent waistband is inset between the bodice and skirt, with some topstitching all around. It helps bring out the purple in the print, which we'll talk about. 

Skirting the knee.

The skirt comes down to just above the knee, with a little flair. Like most skirts, it's a rectangle gathered to a waist with no pockets or anything, and the hem is a simple narrow double folded hem. I could picture this with lace on the bottom edge, but I like the plain bottom hem. It leaves it firmly in the casual look. You could have a kid of this age wear this to picture day and to the cafe, back when we were allowed to do that. 

Roses and leaves.

The print overall--sans waistband--is pink roses and rosebuds with purple and green leaves and greenery on a light pink background. The fabric itself is lightweight, a little stiff but not so stiff it feels like it needs a soaking to soften it up.

If you pay attention to my IG, you know a bitch loves the entire fuck out of some roses. They came with the house place, and realizing that made me a happy camper. I grow them, I know them, and when state fairs come back I might even show them. This is why this outfit is my fave, along with the jacket. You can rarely go wrong with a properly sized rose print fabric with me. All the more reason not to have a bunch of stuff around it distracting from the print.

Brings me closure.

And like AG clothes do, it velcro-closes along the back. A+. Like the jacket, I love this piece so much. It's casual and feminine without being fluffy.

Come for the snark, stay for the short underwear reviews.

Panties: AG meet outfits always come with panties unless your name is Nicki Fleming. Since the True Spirit Outfit back in 2012, modern meet outfits outside of of the boys' meets have all had the same style of panties: pale pink, white elastic at the waist and leg holes, knit fabric. Even the GotY are not exempt, with the last one to get anything other than pink and plain being Lea who got lime green and plain. They're generic, they cover the butt, they're not the permapanties everyone was upset about. If you want more colorful ones you can make them or buy them. 

B. Panties do what panties gotta do. Now when I cover literally any other meet outfit for the next several versions I can point at this review and say "they look like this, no differences for the past many years, draws is draws, B."

A little sparkle in the hair.

Headband: Because everyone--no matter the gender--is cuter with hair decs in, every CYO outfit comes with some sort of thing for the head ranging from an entire knit and bobbled hat to a plastic headband. You can even get a style that adds a headband, but I wanted double braids, and anyways what was I gonna do with two headbands? 

The headband for the outfit is a purple satin covered plastic headband with a little purple gem cluster attached on the right side. It's nothing exceptionally unique, but I like the little sparkle, so it gets a B+.

Headband before hacking.

Yes it had the legally required materials tag on it. Yes, I took a few pictures and then promptly hacked it off with embroidery scissors.

Purple and patent.

Shoes: The outfit finishes itself off with a pair of purple patent plastic vinyl ankle strap shoes. Remember, readers, that vegan leather is just plastic. Leather, fur, and wool are better for the environment and actually biodegrades. Plastic doesn't keep you warm.

No socks, tights, stockings, or the like. AG sells their stockings separately when they bother to nowadays, most kids don't even wear them. Plus we're being casual here. Maybe if this was a person we'd do no-show socks, but doll feet don't sweat. 

Punch out.

Both shoes have punch outs all around the top of the shoes, with stitching all around it and the ankle straps. No other colors or add on needed. Your decoration is holes. 

Strap around.

The ankle straps close on the outside with black velcro. No buttons or buckles. Easy on, easy off. 

Inner sole.

The inside of the shoe is white to be unstaining with a white inner sole. 

Bottom sole.

The sole is purple plastic with a little texture, a low heel, and the AG data as well. I'm just glad AG has quit that trend they were doing for a while of significant heels that meant grand unbalance on the dolls. The dolls have flat feet, stop giving them such distorting heels.

A. I don't know how much these shoes will go with anything else I have, but they go with this outfit.

Black Butterfly. Okay, Gold. I'm reffing a song here.

Necklace: Now starting in on the accessories. Much like every outfit has Head Thing, every accessory set has Accessory Wearing Thing. In this set it's a choker style corded necklace. The center charm is a gold molded butterfly, and the cord is twist braided pink cord. 

Does it do much? No. Does it add to the outfit? Kinda. I think it'd look better as silver instead of gold, but silver's not what we have here. I put it on Sonja and haven't taken it off, so it's got that going for it.

Closure.

And like AG necklaces have since the BeForever revamp, it closes with interlocking heart clasps on the back. B-. It's not very exciting or prominent to be fair, but it does match the outfit decent enough--and at least it's not a tiny ring that can get lost or something and I can leave it on my doll without feeling like it'll tumble to the ground and get vacuumed up.

We don't have pockets, we have purses.

Purse: Also included in the accessory sets is something to carry stuff in. In this set we've got a pink slightly rectangular purse, because this is the "feminine going out for a nice day today" outfit but not the "going to a party in a tiara" outfit. AG might sell tiaras but that's money I can use for doll shoes. And shipping now. I'm just saying I can do almost nothing with a tiara unless it's a big one that shows off, not a little one pinned in. 

The purse is plastic vinyl with crossed diagonal faux quilting. It's a very small purse, not quite a clutch but not big enough to get a lot in. I'd rather have my Handbag of Holding.¹³ 

Bow for decorations.

The front has an embroidered bow in gold thread for a little bit of sparkle. It matches the necklace that way, I guess but I still prefer silver even if rose gold is the thing now.  There's also the same AG Logo tag as on the jacket, but it'll leave holes in the vinyl if you take it off. Up to you.I don't mind it as much on a purse as a jacket. 

On the chain.

The strap is a gold link chain attached to the sides, long enough to sit on the shoulder and hang to the hip but not go cross body around the doll. Don't let it dangle loose without your eye on it, people, someone'll snatch it right off you and then you'll lose your plastic click pen. 

Lining and velcro.

The top flap is lined with pink fabric, and closes in front with velcro.

Inside. It's blurry but I'm not taking another pic.

The interior is unlined, and the AG tag is inside as well, in case you forgot you were buying tiny doll things. 

It kinda holds two things.
Three if you put the necklace in.

I tried to see what I could get inside, and all that really fit of the accessories that come with the set are the notebook and pen--and it does not close in the only way I can get the notebook in without stretching the purse out. So it is not doing much of a purse job here at all. Purses have but one job--to hold the things--and this one has not done that job. C. I doubt I'll be using the purse in day to day dolly set ups, and I can't use it for storage. It's basically just a bag for a pen. Speaking of a notebook and pen... 

Pen. In simulations.

Pen: Among the accessories is a non functioning pink and white click pen that actually doesn't click at all. It's molded with a white top click and tip--no pen tip out--the American Girl logo on the body, and that's it. 

I took other close up pics but as I was looking over the images I really wondered what there was to say about a tube of plastic molded to look like a pen and decided there wasn't anything to say, so one picture it is.

D. It's just a little piece of plastic that does nothing. I'm putting it with the purse and putting them both in the box of "excess AG stuff we don't use or pay attention to."

You can at least do something with the notebook.

Notebook: The set also has a notebook, because something should go with the pen. The cover is cardstock, with the inner pages sewn together and to it in a centerfold stitch down the spine. It's a doll notebook, not a Moleskine, it's paper dolly can hold and be angry her pen is but plastic. 

The cover has a logo with butterfly, bows, and floral print on a slightly swirled background. I didn't say it up there at the necklace, but I really do like butterflies as a motif and a creature. Not fluttering around my head--I might freak out, I have to gear myself up for walking through a butterfly house once those are a thing people go to again--but I like to look at them and keep my distance, which is how butterflies should interact with me anyways so I don't hit their wings and damage them forever. 

Back cover.

The back cover has a smaller butterfly and flower-bow image to the left side and the AG logo. 

You expect me to doodle on lined paper?

Inside are several pages--I'll count later--of lined pink paper. Ya girl here does not buy lined notebooks. I use notebooks for doodling and free sketching more than writing, and lines block me from drawing freely. I will skip getting a notebook with a cute cover if its lined. I am an artist, not a journal writer--not that I knock people that journal, I'm just not able to. I'm so very bad at remembering to write a thing regularly. Draw a thing today, yes, write a what happened today thing no.¹⁴ Anyways, folk could write on the pages for your doll and simulate a journal or a notebook, but you'll have to get another pen. The one that comes with it is but a plastic tube to stick in your sibling's ear.¹⁵

Excuse me I ordered a vanilla latte, not a hot cocoa.
Also my name's not Cocoa and stop hitting on me.

Coffee Cup: The last of the accessories is a doll sized coffee cup. That's the same cup that's coming in the new blind bag food snacks, Neth, you'd say, and you'd be right. This is the one paired with the chocolate cake thing that belongs to one of Grace's sets in the blind bags, and that I don't wanna go pull up the list of when I'm this close to the review being done. They cribbed it from this set. 

Fuck, now I miss sitting near the Starbucks. I still order, but actually sitting and just vibing? Yeah, miss it.

AG Cafe, because we don't do other brands.

The cup itself is a plain white coffee cup, with a label around it in brown for the American Girl Café in place of a cardboard sleeve. Sorry Seattle's Best Coffee, you're not getting any free ad space from the doll brand. Near the top is a note saying that the contents must be hot cocoa, because we wouldn't want to imply that a child is drinking coffee. Even if she could be drinking tea, unless her name is Felicity Merriman.

I know coffee cups and own/use a lot of takeout ones. Right now they're all disposable because the pandemic isn't over just because you're over it, but in the before times you could bring reusable ones. Or just get the non-reusable from the Costco coffee machine. 

When I say I have taken my focus juice, it's either coffee or tea. I've been drinking some form of hot focus juice since I was a little girl of four or five sitting in my grandma's house having tea and breakfast with her, as she always has tea in the house. English Breakfast/black tea with lemon juice in that green plastic bottle and sugar is comfort focus drink, while coffee is "I want to be wired and I want to be wired right now hook it to my veins damn it" focus drink. I am bi in my caffeine drinks and my desires. Except chocolate. We've had this talk here. I'm allergic to chocolate. 

Which is why we'll be wiping the logo off that cup here soon enough. Sonja can just have her growth stunted by drinking coffee.¹⁶

Clear strap's for holding.

The clear strap on one side is for dolly to hold the dolly cup as she's quickly walking to the car before drinking any of it, because we aren't going to leave our mask off walking through the mall just to have a sip of coffee. I don't care if it's cold in the car, Sonja, wear your mask until we are not inside. The unobtrusive plastic straps are really a good thing.

At first I didn't think the lid came off. Then I started fiddling with it and--

foam art surprise!

Oh snap, the lid comes off! To reveal internal contents of brown drink a with some swirls and a little bit of latte art. Apparently it's possible to do foam art on hot chocolate, but I stand by the prior statement that in this house we are just going to drink coffee.  There's even little speckles in it. That's so fucking cute I could squeal.

This was an A just on the whole "dolly drink the Starbucks" and then the surprise lid lift bumped it to an A+. Coffee coffee coffee coffee. 

*~*~*

I've got two conclusions for you here, first the outfit and accessories review and then my review of the CYO system. 

To the review rubric! *blows dust off*

Overall Feel: This is a good CYO meet outfit and accessories, and as my buddy Goo said, it's the best one of them all. It's not the most expansive one--there's others with more mix and match, I'll get to it in that section--but it's cute, sweet, and charming. Considering I have four--five¹⁷--of them now, this one is probably one of my fave along with the first Let's Explore. I would have got it on Dark!Josefina all that time ago, but I always wanted my first created CYO to have this set even if it didn't quite fit her personality, and I'm glad that it's hung around long enough for me to get my hands on it. The accessories aren't really a lot--wow that pen sucks ass--but I wasn't leaving money on the table and I was getting the matching stuff. The coffee cup is the best thing in the whole set, followed by the necklace and notebook. The pen is but plastic detritus.

Cost Value: With a CYO doll, you're getting a outfit regardless; AG does not ship the doll naked, so pick an outfit you like. And don't leave money on AG's table by skipping accessories. I got these to match since few of the others interest me, I wanted this outfit, and wanted the full matching set. It'll be some time before I get another CYO, after all.

 

If you're buying the outfits and accessories separately, the outfit is good and worth the value even though AG stuff costs a lot now. But the accessories really don't bring much at all. The best part is the cup and now that there's a chance to get it on its own, you can hope you get it in a blind bag once those are all the way out or trade/buy it. Don't spend $30 on coffee. Buy doll shoes. And don't spend a lot on these sets on eBay. Even when this one does drop off, I'd pay retail for it but not much above. People are getting CYOs and selling excess outfits, be pragmatic.

Timeliness/Datedness: The outfit is neither that old fashioned and out of date nor that new and faddish and soon to be out of date. It's modern in the sense that you can't take it back to say, Molly's day--no jeans for tap dancers--but it's not like it screams the now like say, whatever low rise we were wearing in the 2000s. Jean jackets have been around for some time, day casual dresses are forever, ankle shoes are forever. I could take this back a few decades to the 90s, and the jacket back to the early 70s with it being on a child. And I don't think in a few years it's going to scream late 2010s/early 2020s fashion. Good job, outfit.

 

Mix and Match Levels: The dress isn't much mix and match, being a dress, but it is the kind of dress that can dress up or down. It can be worn on its own, with a cardigan sweater over it to dress it up a bit, or maybe with a full sweater to look like a skirt and top. Even some tights if you like. The jacket is exceptionally versatile and I know I'll be doing tons with it--I plan to pair it with as much as I can get with it. I need more dolly jean jackets. The shoes also could work with other things--I could see them under jeans, but also with a very nice dress. Even the headband is a good go. Really it all can swap in and out. Good job, stuff! Except the pen.

Final Grade: A for the outfit for its cuteness and versatility. B- for the accessories only because so much of it is so useless for me.

*~*~*

And now, the One of a Kind Create Your Own Line Rubric: 

Overall Value and Worth: There's no getting around it that $200 is a lot of dosh for a doll, compared to the $115 for a Truly Me/Historical/GotY. But in that cost you are getting a doll that you get to design yourself and decide all the features off inside their system--and even with the limitations, you've got a lot of options. AG will likely never do a heterochromatic doll in the TM line, for example, but with this you can swap eyes as you like. There's also the accessories at no additional cost--seriously, even if they suck get them--and the $14 designed doll tee that you also will get for free shipping. Add in glasses--about $10 each--some ear piercing, and maybe hearing aids if you want and you've about paid as much as you would for a Truly Me. So you're paying extra over Truly Me to design, wait, and have a doll in a nicer than typical box that you can say you actually designed and customized rather than thinking your parents did that in 1998 because your millennial ass happened to be a little white kid with brown hair and green eyes and your parents could get the one that looked like you. My options were light or dark eyes, later with bangs to tell the two apart.

Designing and Expectations: Designing was so easy a child could do it and in fact that's the plan; it's click and select, click and select. see the selections immediately on screen. The site images will not fully capture what your doll will look like in the vinyl-and-cloth flesh; such are the limitations of a site design that's got to put all viable options in a website and have them fit together somewhat decently. Hair especially is not going to look in image as it does in box, seeing as it'll be stiff in the image. You may want to look at other people's CYO dolls to get an idea what you'll see in the end, especially with certain combinations.  Still, it's not like you'll be blindsided by it. If you're getting a CYO you generally know what an AG doll looks like to start with, it's not like you're confused that a Classic mold still looks like a Classic mold, but in dark colors.

Pros and Cons: The biggest pro is the whole designing the doll yourself, as I keep saying. I love my other four--and practically made them in the system before they became mine--but Sonja was, as Garnet and Stevonnie are, an experience. I got a little frisson of joy opening the box on Monday and getting a look at the doll I myself had created for the first time. Also the little unique features that any doll can have with the designs make me happy. AG refuses to put freckles on dark and medium dolls in the Truly Me, but with this? Hah now the dark doll can have freckles like I do. 

Cons include long waits--anywhere from three to six weeks, longer for backordered parts and during the winter holidays--and the cost of ordering being no small barrier. This is more of a treat doll for me, not a every time they do the X plus points weekends thing kinda doll. Also making white Addy dolls is 99% trash. In order to have my dark Jess option I have to put up with that kinda fuckshit. Just know that you're horrible if you do that and your doll looks bad. 

Furthermore, the CYO line does not replace AG's need to expand diversity into the line and make more stories centered on characters of color. Don't go around pointing people of color to the CYO to get the doll they want unless you're going to drop $300 bucks in their bank account for them to do it. The extra $100 is for the hassle of seeing your nonsense words.

Suggestions and Tips: Get. Everything. You. Want. And. Then. Some. Leave nothing on the table if you think you might want it later on. Get the accessories, get free glasses, get braces stickers for other dolls to wear braces, get ear piercings if you want AG piercings, get it all. And really get creative if you're going to do this, while respecting PoC. Don't just fucking remake Emily because she's retired or a new version of #24 or another goddamn blonde and blue eyed doll to go with the other ten you have on your weird creepy IG account with no dark dolls lest they upset your beige wall aesthetic. I wanted a lookalike to #10, yes--but I added to that in changing her face shape and eyes, so she really was more unique than a doll that can pop up on the 'Bay. Also not pie bangs. This is not a system to remake what you've already seen, think outside the Truly Me Box. And don't be racist, white washing, or ugly inside. I hate you with every atom in me and my ancestors if you think your WASP face looks like a Addy mold. Get the Josefina mold and shut up. Y'all do anything to be the most at being bigoted, I swear. You're going to the bad place.

Would I Get Another CYO Direct from AG?: I would. Not every damn time I have money, not in the slightest. But I loved the experience, the anticipation, and having the first doll in my collection that I know that I picked all the looks of. Maybe as a birthday gift for my next, to give me time to think on her looks.

For now, there's five creatively designed dolls in this house, and each of them is adorable.

Okay ladies, now let's get in formation!

--Neth 

¹ Me, in 2008, starting the AG Wiki: It's easier to call the category Just Like You, because that's what it's called now. We'll ref what it was.
*Two Years Later*
AG: we've changed the name to My American Girl
Me: ...fuck you I'm not changing all those article categories, I'll put up an explanation and keep on keeping on, because y'all will likely keep changing the fucking name

And that is why every moddie on the Wiki is listed as JLY # in the article title, even if the line has been Truly Me for some time. 

² I own a lot of old magazines and things about dolls. I might go hunt down more. Also the original quote said "girls" but I'm being gender neutral because gender is a spectrum, Aaron. 

³ No, really. The original designer commented on my first post about her on IG that she was the one she returned. I think that's kinda neat that I know a little of her backstory.   

⁴ And I will likely leap for the darker ones first, because this is me we're talking about, can you expect anything less of me? I think not.

⁵ I suspect some of the options that sell high in the CYO are tracked by AG and then turned into mainstream moddies, because it did not take long for a Dark Josefina and a not!Kanani to be added to the TM lineup.

⁶ They stayed friends, and George did several bits of art for Bowie including album art. A sample.

⁷ Still owe that Glasses review of all the glasses I have for dolls. I have quite a few.

⁸ ...pation. (Yes, I made you come down here for a Rocky Horror Picture Show Joke. I am so Gen X.)

⁹ O is for Other, P is for People, scratchin' temple--The last P... well... that's not that simple. It's sorta like another way to call a cat a kitten...it's five little letters that are missin' here...

¹⁰ All the CYO outfits and accessories can actually be obtained sans ordering a doll, but you gotta finagle with the system a bit. The easiest way is to put a doll in the bag--any doll--and then, when they're offered, get the outfits and accessories you want. Then remove the doll and check out. You can also just, if you have a profile on the site, order outfits without finagling if you look around the site. The point is, the outfits are available without a whole doll, hence me citing retail prices. 

¹¹ And both men were Jewish. Love jeans? Thank Jewish men.  

¹² The Let's Create Outfit I was a skirt and top, and while it's got cute components like the cat shoes, I'm not that chuffed I missed it because that printed on collar on the top bothers me. I might make a set with a proper collar--and also for a friend who adores everything donuts once I can find some small print donut fabric.  

¹³ Which I will repair forever because ThinkGeek no longer exists and I can't buy a replacement easily. Good thing I can sew.   

¹⁴ I did try journaling once, and I might try again? But I lost track and then misplaced the book and overall it was an attempt. If I do journal I need blank pages. Also those were some rough years for me. 

¹⁵ Disclaimer: do not stick plastic toy pen in sibling's ear. 

¹⁶ Coffee does not actually stunt your growth. In fact, in a cross comparison for things you can put in child to drink, it's probably better to give your kid coffee or tea instead of coke drinks as they probably have less sugar. The major thing is the caffeine wiring them up but if you can handle the four year old bouncing off the walls go for it--unless they start sitting down and focusing, in which case yo, they might have the inattentions like me. 

¹⁷ I said earlier I got one as an extra. So five.