"Perfectly Palm Springs" Poppy Parker Gift Set
- Wendy Dandridge
- Oct 13, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: Nov 27, 2024
OCTOBER 12, 2024
Ok reader, this was the set that made me want to start collecting Poppy Parker. Have you seen this set, it's gorgeous!
Two dolls, ok the second doll is just head and shoulders, and I have to buy another body to make it a doll, but that's only like 17 bucks and then I have TWO gorgeous dolls! Nubian dolls, and that's a rare skin tone for Poppy. Why, it's gorgeous! I bought the set on Ebay before they started going for too much and tented my fingertips with evil self-satisfied dolly glee. I remember being absolutely charmed by them and all of their outfits and accessories, the fact that they each had their own different and beautiful screening, their hair. I haven't touched them since I put them away over a year ago, but I remember how much I loved them and how they fed the demon that wants to buy IT dolls in my soul which at that time was just a baby and helped that demon to grow into a big fat slobbering greedy monster.
Opening that lovely Palm Springs pattern box and finding this Poppy inside with her cloisonné necklace still firmly affixed around her little neck was like finding Cleopatra in her tomb with her jewels still on for me. For those who haven't been following this blog let me just say, I am currently ending a serious relationship of about 5 months standing with a set of acrylic nails. My family and I appreciate your respect for our privacy during this time. Anyway, that necklace is really on there, I mean the 'S' hook is closed for business. I'm going to need a pair of tweezers to get it offa there.
Of the two outfits that the pony-tailed doll is shown wearing in the promos, this yellow dress or the pink top with the orange shorts, I find the yellow dress to be far superior. She's like a little lemon drop, although Poppy is supposed to be a teen model in the '60's and I wouldn't let my little teenager out of the house in a sundress that short! You can't NOT see her fresh little lemon panties!
These are the sandal/heels. They're made from cork and material from the dress, in an adorable little twist over the toes. They're simplicity itself. They are everything. If you don't mind breaking both your ankles instantly when you stand after putting them on. I guess one must suffah for FASHION! The too short dress has (God bless David!) a zipper! This is like the best ensem ever!
I had a cute little grandma when I was a girl who was a traveler of tropical climes, and she brought one of these damn burlap sacks back from Hawaii, Bermuda, Florida, Tahiti. They must have been a major export of tropical tourist destinations during the '80's. In fact, I remember a lot of unique burlap and felt/exotic wooden souvenir gifts from grandma in that decade that have all simply disintegrated over the years.
Now when it comes to these tiny blue enamel/diamond detail earrings I happen to just have been given the ideal old lady accessory by my 81-year-old mother. Mom has just upgraded her eyeball-aid technology to some kind of force-powered sheeting that slides in front of her face when she looks at Facebook in her Darth Vader armchair, so she gifted me her old magnifying glass with built in flashlight. Now I can see things, reader. And there is definitely a diamond detail on these earrings that I must confess I can't see with my plain old eyes. But gosh when I got out that magnifying glass was it pretty!
But the other Poppy in this set, the head and shoulders that I bought the extra body for, really sold me on this entire set and the Poppy lifestyle altogether. She's afro Poppy and she's what I've been waiting for my whole life.
I wanted this doll so badly! Not only is her makeup amazing but she has my hair, and the confidence to dress the way I would if I really just said screw it I'm gonna just do me. I approve of the crazy cubist pattern of the dress; even though I hate modern art, this is the right place for it. The outer sheath of the dress with the pattern on it is so sheer, and then underneath Poppy is actually in quite a restrictive bright lime green satin slip of a dress that is perfectly tailored to be skin-tight. She looks so free in the sheer part of the dress but in fact she is quite restricted in movement underneath. A metaphor for the modern woman. But clearly also, she's gotta be comfy wearing all that shoulder to ankle smooth, slippery satin!
Of course, Poppy is very demure, and this outfit is very adult so she will only be allowing herself kitten heels with this very mature and luxurious look this evening for the dignitaries, or whatever important people are supposed to be meeting this teenaged model for some reason. Really, why don't they go meet the Pope or a billionaire? Go meet someone who can help somebody Poppy is just a kid - what the hell - oh sorry I really thought about it there for a second everybody! Back to Poppyland - lalalala...
As always, Poppy is the teenager of the people, by the people, and etc. so she has a long clutch made out of material identical to the dress. You know, like you do. Maybe they did in Palm Springs in the '60's who knows? You can't even see it when she holds it. They should have just picked a color. Lime green, perhaps?
I really love the time period of the 60's/70's and to finally see a proper afro on Poppy made me excited. But this second time that I took them out of their box where I had them carefully stored, her hair had loosened, by which I mean it was bigger. I had to put a tiny rubber band around her head to hold it back enough just so I could see that she had a face. I assume this will continue over time and I've no clue how to slow or prevent it, maybe I'll look it up. She does look nice with the hair back for now though, and it gives me a place to put those sunglasses that look like they came out of Mad magazine. She really looks like Mrs. Jetson dressed up for a cocktail party. Groovy baby.
The next outfit is one I don't really get. In pictures it always looks great to me but in real life I just can't pick up what the pink and orange mismatch look is putting down. I blame my inability to appreciate the mismatch trend on being a small child in the '80's. The colors were horrible. And worse yet, I had a much older sister who was into it all. She was beautiful but she and a generation of other young girls wasted their youth and beauty on the misguided fashions and hairstyles of the 1980's. God, the hairstyles, the eyeshadows!!! Thank God I was a baby and then a little tomboy and I skated through on a Dorothy Hamill! Anyway, the necklace is wrong. She's supposed to be wearing a set of oversized pink pearls around her neck with this outfit. And I can tell you, she really looks great with this little set.
However as the reader hopefully remembers, the important thing at this point in time is that the writer gets out of her abusive relationship with the aforementioned acrylic nails that she is currently in the process of ending with the least amount of pain possible. Look, I showed you the pearls, I still have them. I told you I couldn't get this damn cloisonné necklace off of her, for some reason I really closed the "S" hook on the back when I put her away!
That said, the little ruffle on her pink top is such a feminine detail. My closet is free of ruffles and lace and other such little feminine things. Some girls dress like that but I never have, for me the thought of leaving the house in a ruffled shirt makes me nervous for some reason. But it's so adorable on Poppy and on girls that can pull it off.
She starts off mismatched, but by the time you get all the accessories on her; blue sunglasses, yellow bracelet and breakneck heels, she's more like every color ever girl. She's wearing them all but green and purple I think if you look close enough.
Ponytail Poppy's twist is so lux. It's like a soft serve cone being covered in shiny hot fudge that goes on forever... I do love the raven hair reader it's beautiful, I understand why IT uses it so much. It's just that by now I'm sick to death of it so if anyone from IT is reading this (totally could happen) please! There are so many colors within that brown range that you haven't even tried or barely use - dip into that rainbow please when choosing hair colors for new dolls don't just stop at black for every single doll. Thank you, that was my two cents.
And now for the final look, the bathing suit. In the short story associated with these dolls in the IT cannon, the suit is for a poolside photo shoot. I mean, she's pretty as a picture for sure but who's taking pictures of a teenage girl in her bikini? Creepy! Just kidding she is of course a fashion model and therefore on display for the photographers, paid and professional only please.
There's no arguing that she's pulling off hanging out in her bathing suit. I've just never gotten the swimsuit category on Miss America I guess. I mean, they've all got lovely figures they're all 20 for crying out loud! But maybe it's got something to do with how the fabric rises along the thigh or something. Whatever it is, it lies above my head reader. There's not that much craft or even material to a bathing suit that I can see. Last of all, the worst thing about hanging out in a wet bathing suit is it can give you a UTI, and those things are annoying.
I would have loved even a terrycloth robe and slippers to flesh out the offering of a bathing suit but whatevs, this gift set was a revelation to me. I didn't know before seeing this online that sets like this existed with so much stuff and dolls were sold this way, with all the outfits and jewelry and purses and things. Getting a set like this changes you so that every other doll you ever get makes you say "Oh that's it?" because you remember opening the big gift sets like this one and thinking "Oh my look at all the wonderful things!". That's just the bittersweet pain of collecting.
Whatever happens I don't think I could ever sell my "Perfectly Palm Springs" ladies. They're compelling beauties with this "I know secret things that you don't know" intimidating air that they have. They're also casually, and in a very summery way, perfectly chill girls. I kind of wanna hang out next summer...
Excellent Writing , interesting blog and this shows real talent in this kind of work ! Love all the dolls !
Loved this set