Fashion Dolls

Mattel and MGA dolls on the same toy shelf:

almost every fashion doll comes from one of those two companies, and knowing which is the quickest way to make sense of a mixed box. Mattel makes Barbie and Monster High, and once again the Disney princesses. MGA makes Bratz, with their oversized heads, glossy lips and big feet, and Rainbow High, where each girl wears one colour of the rainbow from hair to shoes. The lines follow different children. A princess follows whichever film was watched last weekend. Bratz and Monster High draw in older girls, and also the adults who owned them the first time round and now buy them back. Fashion dolls are the grown-up end of the dolls aisle; for a toddler who wants something to carry and feed, look at baby dolls instead.

Bratz feet, Rainbow High sizing and swapping clothes:

size is where the brands part company. An original Bratz is about 25 cm, shorter and chunkier than Barbie, and on many of them the shoes are the feet: you pop one pair off and snap the next one on. That suits a child who loses tiny shoes, and it means a bag of Bratz footwear is no use without a Bratz to wear it. Rainbow High dolls stand close to Barbie’s height and their clothes fit her reasonably well, while on a slimmer Monster High the same outfits hang loose. If what you are really after is a wardrobe, buy it for the doll you already own, and ask which doll each piece came off.

Monster High, from G1 to the Monsteristas:

three generations look different enough to change what a doll is worth. The first, from 2010 to 2016, has sharp faces, slim bodies and full articulation, and it is what collectors chase. The 2016 relaunch softened the faces and cut back the joints, and the generation that began in 2022 has rounder faces and more body types. The copyright date on the back of the neck or the lower back helps tell them apart. The money in a used Monster High is in completeness. A first-generation doll that still has her stand, diary, pet and accessories can be worth several times the same doll loose, and collectors buy mixed lots precisely to recover those small pieces. A recent doll without them is a toy and sells as one.

First-edition Bratz and Hasbro-era princesses:

both reward a close look before you pay. The 2001 Bratz have been reissued, and a reissue is easy to pass off as an original. The first-edition box has a matte logo where the reissue’s is holographic, and the original dolls have no holes in the soles of their shoes, while the reissues do. With Disney princesses, read the maker stamped on the doll. Hasbro held the licence from 2016 until Mattel won it back, so an Elsa or a Moana from those years is a Hasbro doll on a Hasbro body, and gowns made for a Mattel princess may not sit right on her.

A fashion doll lot sorted by maker and generation:

finds a buyer faster than a box of everything, because most buyers are hunting one line, not five. Separate the Bratz, Monster High, Rainbow High and princesses, and say for each doll what came with her: stand, diary, pet, spare feet. Monster High hands and Bratz feet come off by design, so they are what goes missing; count them. Photograph the stamp on the neck or back so a collector can check the generation, and the face close up in daylight, because the factory paint on eyes and lips is the first thing anyone judges. Someone travelling from Liberia or San Ramón for a first-wave Monster High will open the box on the spot and check every piece against your photos, so pack it exactly as you photographed it.