American Girl BeForever

[ang79]

Well my girls have my original Samantha doll and clothes and we have been reading books for many of the historical dolls from the library. DD1 was excited when I told her Samantha was coming back. I showed her tonight and she said she doesn't like the new one as well as the original we have. I was also confused by the books. It looks like they have combined 2 or 3 of the original books into one book now? And have they added new stories too?

[robinsmommy]

Eh. Maybe I am more conservative than many. It just looks to me like a little girl version of a retro cocktail dress - if it was in black, it looks like something that Audrey Hepburn might've worn. It is awful like Bratz? No. Is it something that I would put a little girl of mine in? No, esp as some girls who are 10 or 11 actually have some small amount of cleavage nowadays - which that dress looks like it would accentuate.

What really disappointed me, though, is the comparison between the old and the new Samantha (and all the other dolls, too). The girl outfits used to be exact copies of the doll's historic dresses, great for playing and imagination. Like putting on a Kirstin dress and playing pioneers. The new stuff has lost so much of that compared to the dolls my sister had - Samantha was one of them. The new outfits are "inspired" by the doll clothes - but would never be something that a girl in those eras would wear. Samantha's Gran would have an apoplexy if she showed up in that dress! The neat, truly functional, high-quality accessories, the educational value of the dolls and books, all seem to be waning. I was bummed when the latest doll of the year had makeup.

I'll see how American Girls moves forward, but it looks like the scales are tipping further in favor of consumerism over education and imaginative play. That is my larger concern and disappointment.

[Seitvonzu]

huh. i can assure you that my 6.5 year old isn't showing cleavage and looked as cute as a button otherwise, i would have taken the dress back. it was a bit shorter than i usually buy for her, but it was pretty modest overall and she really loved it/felt comfortable in it. i didn't put her in sneakers--but i thought that look was cute for an older girl

the "inspired" fashions aren't supposed to be something that the dolls of that era would wear....in person they were all much cuter than i'd expected too. i REALLY liked rebecca's, but since we are doing uniforms at school now, i couldn't justify that purchase. i also really liked the kit separates (reallyreally loved the hat) and thought the isabel stuff was a cute modern look.

it's likely that compared to the origins of American Girl, things are more consumeristic, but they new lines have brought back a lot of the older accessories which really help make the stories come alive. when i first got my samantha (1987) the push was for building a "collection" and now it does seem that children receive fewer pieces of the whole collection and tend to have multiple dolls. i'm not sure how much of that was AG driven vs. consumer driven...AG always seemed to emphasize "collection" whereas parents/kids seemed to want more and more dolls. *shrug*

i continue to appreciate what they do right, and laugh when they make some really awful choices. as an adult collector (my daughter hasn't caught the doll love yet at 6.5...), i still find plenty to spend my money on

but i will repeat- i'm totally bummed about the new books. they basically squashed 6 books into 2, removing the bulk of the illustrations (all the colorful ones anyhow)....just awful!

[vonfirmath]

Wow. Marie-Grace and Celine are gone.

[Pennylane]

Eh. Maybe I am more conservative than many. It just looks to me like a little girl version of a retro cocktail dress - if it was in black, it looks like something that Audrey Hepburn might've worn. It is awful like Bratz? No. Is it something that I would put a little girl of mine in? No, esp as some girls who are 10 or 11 actually have some small amount of cleavage nowadays - which that dress looks like it would accentuate.

.

I also feel like I am pretty conservative when it comes to my dd's clothes but I think this dress is super cute! I have a 9 yr old and almost 13 yr old and neither have the slightest bit of cleavage. Like all other clothes, I am sure there are body types that wouldn't look good in this dress but I don't see anything wrong with it.

BTW, I think Audrey Hepburn was nothing but classy and dressed beautifully!

Ann

[Twoboos]

Even my kids could tell it's just a re-packaging/marketing ploy. They are upset that there are "new original outfits" for the dolls. Of course that didn't stop them from pouring over the catalog for hours and now they are playing AG's again. Well played, American Girl People, well played.

DD1 explained to me that of course no one would wear matching historical dresses/outfits like the dolls, so the girl clothing is just made to look kind of similar.

I still don't get why they are doing this whole BeForever thing. Are they going to spin off the historical dolls and have just GOTY and LLM dolls? Seems ridiculous. I guess Historical dolls weren't making as much and needed a push.

About that pink dress, I think it's cute. DD1 is starting to develop but calling it cleavage would be overstating things, LOL. I think the sheer part is high enough that it wouldn't cause a problem. If we had an occasion, and she wanted to wear an all pastel pink dress (never gonna happen), I would get it for her. After choking over the price.

[JustMe]

We don't do the AG dolls here because they are cost prohibitive, but do buy some of the books. Anyway, for that reason I don;t have much of an opinion on the BeForever thing. I thought I was conservative about clothes, but I really love the pink dress! Perhaps it is the way the model/girl who is wearing it on the website that is a turn off. I actually like a lot of the clothes, but would not spend that kind of money on them.

[minnie-zb]

That pink dress is adorable!

Honestly I haven't really checked everything out since they rebranded. I'm sad to hear about the changes to the books.

[minnie-zb]

Wow. Marie-Grace and Celine are gone.

I'm not surprised by this. I figured when they started offering them as special purchases on the Today Show they were pretty much done.

[AnnieW625]

If DD1 wants Cecile we'll look on Ebay. Right now she is all about Isabelle (and might get Isabelle for Xmas), and more interested in the look like you dolls, although she likes the historical novels.

I do think Samantha looks a little weird without the original outfit, but unless you are a child/pre teen whose mom or aunt originally had Samantha child (I was 8 or 9 when the originals were released) it would just be another new historical doll. I also think that the original Addy looked more representative of the time in her original clothing as well, but you could always buy other more period clothing off Etsy.

My DD1 wears a bit of Hanna Andersson still at 8 and she would love that dress. If the top is a little sheer I don't think that is something a camisole couldn't fix.