Haul: Young Hollywood

I know, I said I wasn't going to be making haul posts any more just a few days ago but, in all fairness, this is going to be more of a rant. The collection, or the two collection to be particular were quite nice. I missed the first one, released on Thursday and I kind of regret it - I love the chokers and I hope I'll be able to get them for a reasonable price in the Bazaar once they are sellable. As far as the clothing collection goes, I got more than I initially planed, which was just the awesome leather jacket but the two Balmain inspired dresses just... spoke to me. I also got the Button Botties (also inspired by Balmain), the brooch and the two necklaces. Yes, I was happy with the items I got but the whole release left quite an unpleasant taste n my mouth. And this post is all about that. 

First of all, the name of the store has not been appropriate for years - yes, the first couple of collections where inspired by the young talents of Hollywood but since then we've had a couple of outfits worn by Madonna (who is a lot of things, but young is no longer among them) and an entire mini collection inspired by fashion bloggers, notably by Chiara Ferragni. And that is hardly the first time we've had an outfit, inspired by looks of members of the Kardashian family. But an entire collection in tribute of Kimye? Seriously? A good for nothing "celebrity", who's only famous because of a highly publicized sex scandal and her decadent life-style and her husband who hasn't been respected in the hip-hop scene for years. On Stardoll - this highly censored children's website? A woman, who just a few months ago posed nude in what was, in my opinion, one of the most vulgar and obscene photo-shoots I've seen in years. 

Now, let's be clear - there is nothing wrong with nudity and as far as obscenity goes, that highly depends on the cultural and historical context and may works of art, including some of my favourites; have been considered obscene at some point. However, everything produced by the Kardashian clan has roughly the same cultural value as a doodle made by a 3-year-old. On the contrary, the way that family is celebrated shows the shift in the values of our society and I find it not only revolting but depressing as well. When you think about the money that went for Kim's two weddings and all the good these tens of millions could do in the world you should really ask yourself how and why are Kim and Kanye a "power couple". What have they done for this society in compartment to people like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, George and Amal Clooney and not to mention Bill and Melinda Gates. Let's put aside all charities and philanthropic work and take a look at another famous couple - Beyonce and Jay-Z, both of whom are established artist and inspiring professionals. How on Earth, Kim's opulence and Kanye's arrogance measure up to that?

Say I decide to ignore all my moral concerns, Stardoll is about fashion and Kim has an unique style. But the fact is that this collection looks as good as it does for two very simple reasons:

1. It's inspiration were outfits that looked almost exactly the same way they were presented on the runaway shows of very high-end brands. There is no much of a style in replicating that. 

2. Most dolls lack the curves of Kim Kardashian. I'm not saying she's fat - her figure is amazing and it's the definition of "curvy" but, as God is my witness, every time I see that woman I wonder how many people helped her squeeze in those ridiculously tight outfits, which often look several sizes too small for her. Christina Hendricks is just as curvy but her style is so much more flattering, not to mention classy. She accents her curves and make them look sexy as hell without having to be so vulgarly revealing as Kim. If you don't believe me take a look at the way both of them decided to wear this Wes Gordon skirt and tell me whose outfit looks better?

In conclusion of this rant, I want to say that I am sorry for inflicting my opinions and no one is obligated to agree with me. As a matter of fact I can't describe how much I don't care about the Kardashians and how hard I try to avoid watching or reading anything connected with them. Doing that I often don't realise how many people do care about them and probably this is why this collection irritated me so much - it made me realise that a woman, who became famous for f**king in front of a camera is now respected enough to have a tribute on children's site. And as a person who knows more about AND has more respect for the sneaky, manipulative and ruthless Cardassians (I'm kind of re-watching Star Trek DS9 - it's so good!)... I just find that distasteful. Not on part of Stardoll or even Kim and Kanye themselves but on the world I happen to live in. And on that note, I want to finish by encouraging you to watch this episode of Crash Course: World History and take a few minutes to think about the people and things worth celebrating and emulating. 

Anyway, since the post is called a "Haul" after all I'm adding three hastily constructed outfits with the items I got from the collection. Hope you like them. :)

A.

The Calm

So, after almost half a year I'm finally finding the energy and time to take up blogging again. I wish I could say I was absent because I was busy but that would be only partly true. 

Let me start from the beginning - in the beginning of December I organized a two-week long family trip to the United Kingdom for my mother's birthday. We came back in the first days of the new year - just in time for me to start preparing for my exams, which were long and excruciating and lasted until mid-February. Now, I had some free time in between my responsibilities, but I chose to focus on my real life relationships and preparations for my trip to the USA for the summer, when I will take part in a Work and travel program. Unfortunately that would mean that from the end of May I will hardly be able to devote myself to Stardoll. 

Speaking of time spend on our beloved site, I remained relatively active there and focused my inspiration in an amazing competition on the club FM-Style. I had put together more than a few looks I'm proud of for the two cycles I took part in and in time I will post them here as well. 

As far as the blog goes, I really needed a huge break from it - the pressure of the store hauls took an immense toll on me and I really can't keep up with Stardoll's schedule - I have half a dozen unfinished reviews in my drafts. So from now on I will rarely do them  and I will focus on my Wear It All Challenge, random daily outfits and sharing the large number of looks I have filed on my computer in my absence. 

The all-white ensemble I'm currently wearing is as good a start as any - I was incredibly exited when I found this lovely coat, inspired by Viktor & Rolf and I could not wait to try it on. The outfit seemed a little unfinished so I added the LE dress as a feathered trim. The lovely teal YH clutch is the single colour used in the look.

Clothes:

RARE Inspired by Viktor&Rolf - Pretty n' Love

Rosie Marabou Dress - Limited Edition 

  

Accessories:

Premiere Clutch - Young Hollywood

Stiletto Heels - Voile

A.

Congratulations

A comeback was long overdue and I think the best way to make it would be to announce the winner of my give-away for the dress, inspired by Emporio Armani. The interest was not as high as I hoped it would be but the few entries were quite interesting and each one was unique in it's own way. Take a look at them: 

I find it amusing how different all the sizes are but the one I'm completely in love with is the last one from rasadase. I'm sure she'll make a great use of the dress. Congratulations! 

Now, as far as my absence and the reasons behind it go, I'll explain that in another post later today. 

A.

Ch-ch-changes

After almost a full month of inactivity I have finally decided to stir things up a bit here so I'm introducing a few changes to the format of the blog. I'm still determined to put together at list one outfit with every single clothing item from my virtual wardrobe (after that, who knows - I may try to the same with my accessories.) but lately I found that it was pretty limiting going through the sections in which it's organised. I know it's also a bit boring seeing few similar outfits in a row but for me that is the neatest way to work it out. 

So I decided make that just a segment of the Skeletons of a Medoll, called "Wear it all challenge" (you'll notice the renamed posts and the new tag). Along with that I'll be posting random outfits my doll is wearing, which will be at least a bit more fitting for the fall under the "OOTD" tag. Yet another new tag, though not really segment is "Competition Entries". It's used to note that the particular outfit has been created for some sort of competition - for example the ones held at Stardoll's Most Wanted or for Cycle 7 of FM-Style, in which I'm taking part at the moment.

Another thing I'll be posting from now on are Haul posts. I was pretty reluctant about doing theses because they take me a great deal of time but they are also one of the things I'm most anxious to see in the blogs that I follow - both in Stardoll and in real life. Currently I'm working to cover the new releases and the posts will be up later today. 

If you guys have any suggestions for segments you'd like the see here, let me know. Till then, I'm leaving you with a classic: 

A.

Two in a row

I know that wen I first announced the rules for winning a wish-list item for most monthly comments I stated that I won't give out gives to the same person two mounts in a row.

However, the last post I published featured the last red dress in my closet and I'm so exited I just had to commemorate the moment. 

 

In addition, JanaStarlite 's comments have been so nice I just wanted to thank her for them. Congratulations, once again, dear!

I do hope the rest of you guys become a bit more active so that next month you can be in her place.

A.

Back and Relaxed

I'm finally back from my long vacation. I Visited one of my favourite cities here in Bulgaria and right after that I headed for the seaside. I had an incredibly relaxing two weeks filled with long walks, amazing food, beaches and a lot of time to read. The down side was the slow mobile internet but hey - we can't have it all.

As you know for the time being I do not post reviews and hauls for the new releases but I simply have to mention the new Subcouture. I ran around the hotel like crazy looking for a computer with a reasonable Internet speed in order to get a better look of the collection and take my picks.

I know it's the middle of August and I promised I will announce last month's top commenter at the end of July but better late than ever:

I'm happy to say that JanaStarlite wins an item from he wishlist and I urge you all to comment often so that next month you will be in her place.

A.

A new look

I'm incredibly happy to show you the new header of the blog. This stunning graphic crated by the talented aga19988 was generously given to me by it's owner polarbearmonkie and I don't think I could possibly thank her enough. This new look fits the image I had about Skeletons of a Medoll perfectly. Sadly the designer left the Stadoll scene some time ago but you can still take a look at her amazing cations at her blog and at the Graphic Vault. 

On an unrelated note, I'd like to apologize once again for my lack of activity here but my time is even more limited than I imagined it would be and after a few days I'll be off to a vacation for at least two weeks. I'll try to put together some outfits before I go and I do promise that once I get back I'll try my best to catch up.

Hope your summer is going as well as mine is!

A.

A Competition, a Giveaway and a Clearing Sale

First of all, as July have already started so does the competition for most active reader - at the end of the month the person who has competed most times will receive a gift from their wishlist. 

To give you an additional incentive I'm also starting a  small giveaway to give you a chance to win a Red Carpet dress of your choosing. All you need to do to participate is to visit my suite (click here) and to style the dress you'd like to win, take a picture and post it in the comments under this post. You'd also have to be a follower of the blog. Since Skeletons of a Medoll is not very well known I will not put a time limit - I will close the givaway/competition when there have been at least 10 entries for both dresses.

Finally, I'm having a huge sale in both my Yacht rooms (click the pictures below to enlarge) and you're more than welcome to check it out. All prices are negotiable given that I'd love to get rid of all these items. I'd appreciate your help with that!

A.

Downton Abbey

One of my favourite blogs - Stardoll Broadcast - is holding it's first competition and it's quite an interesting one! The objective is to create a 20's look inspired by Downton Abbey. You can do that either on your own doll both in your suite and in the StarPlaza or you could use the amazing doll of the owner - ilgd. For the rest of the rules, visit the blog post here. 

To give you all some inspiration, here are eight looks I've crated just for fun once I saw the theme of the competition. Unfortunately the Decades sore closed but you can still let your imagination run wild with what's still available in the Plaza! 

The deadline of the competition was recently extended until the 20th so you have five days to enter. I'm sure you'll have fun!

A.

A quick update

I'm in the midst of my finals and I'm quite busy but I still find time to procrastinate and spend time on Stardoll and to post here, even if it's not as often as I'd like. 

Anyway, I've been getting more and more demotivated recently styling some of the pieces in my closet (don't worry - I said I'll do them all and I will!) so I decided to get rid of some them. Here's the plan - at the end of each section of my closet (dresses, pants, skirts, tops and jackets) I'm going to make a give-away for the readers of the blog followed by a 50% sale. 

In addition, given that Skeletons of a medoll will soon reach 500 page views, I would appreciate if you guys were a bit more active in the comments section. To encourage to share your thoughts at the end of each month - starting from July - the person who was submitted the most comments will receive a gift from their wish-list and will be featured in a post. The only rule is that no single person can win two times in a row. 

Lastly, I'd like to apologize for not having a decent Followers section in the sidebar but for some reason Blogger won't let me add the gadget. Until that is fixed I be asking you to follow the blog (tough I'd really appreciate it!) but I also won't be able to to commemorate reaching certain number of followers.  Still, I'd appreciate if someone could tell me how fix that, in the mean time you could also find me on Google + and Pinterest.

That's all for now - wish me luck with my finals!

A.

Edit: I spent the day going trough IT blogs and found a complicated solution to my problem with the Followers add-on. So now, after I wrote the first few lines of programming code in my life (yey me!)  you can finally subscribe to Skeletons of a medoll right there in the sidebar. I promise that once I'm done with my finals I'll get around to celebrate the occasion with a nice riffle. The price will be dependent on the number of people following the blog by the and of the June.   

Finally black... and improved!

My laptop betrayed me and decided to stop working so I was off for quite some time. God bless smartphones - if it wasn't for mine I would've been totally out of touch with the world!

My favorite red carpet event of the year - the Met Gala - passed and, unfortunately, I wasn't able to post about it here (Blake Lively's dress made the top of my list, if you're wondering) and now it just seems to late to write about it. Instead you can read this post on The Stardoll Lookbook.

Anyway, before I continue with my undertaking, I will comment on the new MS.TQ release, mainly because of the one amazing item in the collection - the Volume Base Hair. The other items are way too colorful for my taste but the new designs are not as flat as the previous ones were so, I'd call that an improvement. 

But this hair, oh God! It's so perfect  - the shape, the shades, the few stray locks - I'm so in love with it that I'm willing to forget about my favorite auburn/coppery hair color just so I could wear it. And I will wear it a lot!

The up-do can be paired with everything - it will work well with both casual and formal clothing, it doesn't cover neither the ears nor the neck of my medoll therefore I can wear every necklace or earring I desire to and there are no bangs unless I wish there to be one. On top of all that the dusty brown will amazing with every single color. The Flowy Lock is just as classy as the base itself and the pink is creatively subtle so I think I will put it to use if I ever get bored of the basic look. 

This lovely new hair and my long absence from Stardoll inspired me to make a drastic makeover in my facial features.

I went for a natural and realistic look with gently countered face, smoky eyes and nude lip. I'm more than happy with the final results - let me know what you think of it.

A.