"Glow Up Gala" Zuri Okoty By Integrity Toys, designed by Vaughn Sawyers
- Wendy Dandridge
- May 8
- 5 min read
May 8, 2025
Let us meet this most beautiful and esteemed lady, Ms. Zuri Okoty, all decked out for the glow up gala and looking fabulous, although how she's holding her head up is anyone's guess because it looks like her designer Vaughn Sawyer took a private billionaire rocket ride up to the moon and brought back actual chunks to fashion into those gigantic earrings she's wearing! Yikes! But you know what? You gotta take chances in life and if anyone is gorgeous enough to pull it off its Zuri here. She is also pulling off her eyeshadow in my opinion, which is important because when I saw the promo pictures of this doll's face I can only describe my emotions as trauma, shock and awe. The eyeshadow looked like terrifying warpaint, and while many people consider their makeup their metaphorical warpaint because it gives them courage in the battle of life, most don't apply it like they're an actual Native chief, leading their men into battle circa 1852. In real life, as you can see in the above picture, it's not that out of line with reality and Zuri is pulling it off. She's the modern, together woman who has it all and doesn't mind showing it off.
Then when we move off of the face and hair (which I'll circle back around to reader) we come to the main expression point of all proper fashion dolls, the dress - the fashion. And it's... well, it's... as you can see... It's a pretty sleeveless piece of light teal fabric with a center split up the bottom, a plunging neckline, a ribbon attached to the waist that goes up and around the neck... And no decoration whatsoever. Not a single paisley, not a polka dot, not a sequin, no embroidery, no hint of a pattern, not even complex or interesting tailoring. She does have a cuff bracelet and a tiny silver ring with a tiny dark jewel in it that immediately leapt off her finger to go explore my living room and is currently exploring the inside of my vacuum if I had my guess.
Ok so I know this looks bad. I really tried to do her shoes properly reader, I tried until I got a headache from looking at the teeny tiny straps. But unfortunately, my graceful swan-like fingers just weren't able to get these little straps even started on their way into the teeny tiny buckles they are meant to slip through. There just wasn't enough room. It was sad for me reader, but if you've got the manual dexterity to accomplish this minute task then these shoes can be some strappy silver heels that go halfway to the knee and they do look great with the teal of the dress, which is really showcased in this pic. The shoes are an unfortunate failure, but that fabric behind them really shines, doesn't it? These are not my favorite kind of shoes to receive with a doll but as I said, if you can master them, they do look great.
I said I'd return to Zuri's hair and look where we are. Zuri has a delightful mix of light and dark brown in her hair which is very beautiful and kind of adds some depth to her, makes her less one dimensional, as long as you focus on her face and not her peasant's sheath of a dress. I love the side part (that's how I do my hair!). She has the by now familiar glamour curls rippling down her back to just below her butt, with the light shining off of the light brown in her hair, it's really pretty. But Zuri has something else going for her that no one else has. Zuri has a giant power sausage roll curl coming out of the right side of her head and dangling down to her wrist that's separate from all the rest of her hair. It's shiny, and solid, and she must have had to work to create that roll for herself. That sausage roll is a choice, and I dig it. Not for myself, I don't think I could pull it off the way she does, nor do I have the patience with my hair to just make one giant roll out of it like that. But I have respect and admiration for a power roll like that. It's impressive.
Zuri can sit in her high slit, mostly completely non noteworthy dress without revealing anything scandalous, which is good because once again, the folks at Integrity Toys let a girl out of the house without panties. And on the night of the Gala too! For shame!
Zuri has stolen Kumi's purse and spraypainted it silver! Just kidding but reader with your eagle eye I'm sure you've already spotted that this purse is the same pattern as "Demonic Strings" Kumi, who we met in last week's post. Its missing a threatening removable chain for fighting that Kumi had installed on her black purse, but they're the same exact shape, and I still like it. It doesn't hang perfectly from her hand on the chain and kind of buckles under, but so do I when my kids ask for money so who am I to criticize?
I was delighted to see that the eyeshadow wasn't as out of control on this doll as I expected it to be, although to be honest it's still... strong is a word that describes it well, I think. But at least it's interesting. Her hair is beautiful (if you can get into the sausage roll thing), and I even warmed to her ridiculous earrings a bit once I had her in hand. They seem like the kind of thing a woman would wear who was really confident and wanted to turn heads, and that's Zuri to me. This doll and her partner in this release "Seductive Slay" Navia Phan, are the farewell contributions from the Meteor Line's founder: Vaughn Sawyer. He created these girls, and now he has left Integrity Toys, for reasons private to him and the company of course, and these were his parting designs. Considering how brilliant many of his past contributions have been in this line, I think it's only fair to say that this Zuri's fashion definitely feels incomplete. I'm not sure exactly what could have been added to the dress, although I can think of a thousand things if I try and you probably can too which says to me that someone like Vaughn certainly was capable of making it interesting without much effort. Why that didn't happen who can say? Maybe someday Vaughn will do a tell all interview, or his ex will reveal what happened to just the right person to blab it to the doll community, or maybe we'll never know. But I can see care and inspiration in this Zuri's face and hair, and even her crazy earrings, and where I do see the inspiration of her designer, I see the beauty. It's too bad that inspiration doesn't extend below her head this time, but this surely won't be the doll her designer will be remembered for.
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