Alyrenee's Copious Spare Time

Looking back at my 2021 intentions, I totally failed on a few...but did okay on some...  To review, my 2021 Intentions were : #1 Grace.  Be kind to myself. Shush the inner mean girl. I did okay with this and it was a good resolution. #2 A minimum of twenty minutes of movement a day. Same here until I couldn't.  I was fairly consistent with keeping movement as a part of my day right up until I got a breakthrough covid case (thanks Delta!) in late July 2021. I then suffered from fatigue symptoms and body aches for quite awhile.  I was only able to start running again in late September (no more than 2 miles once a week) and then was able to run a 5k again in early December.       #3 Take control of a small space every day.  Um...sort of failed on this.   #4 No makeup for 2021.  Failed again. #5 Ethical Clothing Pledge for 2021.   Did pretty well with this. I pretty much only bought from Poshmark, eBay, ThredUp or the thrift store for the bulk of the year save for some workout clothes

Well...finally a homme doll this year! And a made-to-order club doll no less. It is has been a bit of a drought for male dolls lately.  Along comes this one and a gift set to boot. The overall set is pretty swell and doll looks great. It was a no brainer to order this one. The price seems palatable for what we are getting too...what with two outfits with mix and match options and two sets of shoes plus a bag and accessories.  Not too shabby.  I have chuckled at club members calling out the mesh tank as very 90s  International Male catalog .  Lord that was a fun catalog for a variety of reasons.  As a costume designer, I frequently used International Male offerings for shows (so many swishy fabulous pirates y'all...so, so many).  Whenever a new catalog arrived, that meant ZERO work was happening in the shop that day as we all took turns simultaneously drooling and enjoying the cheeky queer fun of it all.    Item # 82149 The Weekender Lukas Maverick® Mini Gift Set The NU. Face® Colle

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Integrity Toys (@integrity_toys) If you appreciate torture and not getting what you want, then check out the Netaporter exclusive dolls from Jason Wu. The process of trying to obtain these dolls was similar to a root canal without anesthesia. I was mildly tempted by them...but the price ($250) combined by the insanity of the convoluted and sneak attack method of the ordering process made me decide to watch the saga from afar. 

Just realized I completely skipped talking about the Poppy 'lunch' dolls.  I was so not interested in them so I nearly forgot. Both girls are very pretty....but I don't do brides and don't really do lingerie either.  The bride doll itself is really pretty though and Ginger in the strawberry blonde is also cute.  I passed on the Bride doll to another collector at cost.  I traded Ginger's outfit for the Milan poppy fashion (squeeee!) and will likely be trading or selling the doll as well.  As for other news, the Palm Springs Collection obviously did not materialize this year but will hopefully appear in 2022. As a result, there were no new research looks presented for what they next collection would be. However,  there was mention of another big project that David has been planning for some time and something pop star related.  Sort of vague. Many are speculating that we might finally get a trunk for poppy (I MEAN COME ON ALREADY) and/or maybe get a trunk or playset t

The final gala event gave us a swell centerpiece Adele, an interview with Jason Wu, and another miniature Wu fashion on a doll...this time Elyse! Jason discussed his history, drag queens, food, cats, his design work during covid times, and a little look into future things. There was discussion of the Net-a-Porter dolls (groan) and the potential to do another Wu doll for the club instead. Hopefully that might happen as the recent Wu Aymeline(s) offered via Net-a-Porter was an unparalleled torturous disaster for the majority of people who wanted her (still ongoing mind you).   Item # 91529 Sovereign Adèle Makéda™ Dressed Doll The 2021 Integrity Toys Convention: Obsession Final Gala Event Centerpiece Edition Size: 1300 Special Convention Price: $180.00 Head Sculpt: Adele 2.0 Body Type: FR 6.0 Foot Sculpt: High-heeled Skin Tone: Sunkissed Hair Color: Golden Blonde Eyelashes: Yes, Hand-applied Quickswitch: No Designed by Jessy Ayala and in keeping with the vaguely defined military theme, we

Yves St Laurent & Marisa Berenson I set time aside this morning to do a 2021 recap and then realized that I never finished covering the convention. Le sigh. It has been a month...and a year.  During the virtual convention, I was out of town doing dress rehearsals for a dance performance at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC.  So I was viewing convention shenanigans on Saturday either in a hotel on my iPad or on my cell phone. Then arrived back to roll into finals week at the university where I work and then holidays fa la la. Hence my lackadaisical blogging.  So here is the old news, for what it is worth... So lately my fashion interests have been very 1970s skewed.  I think, in part, this is because the fashion in the 70s has a great deal of retro inspiration in it but with modern updates.  The 'bohemian' flapper looks of Biba come to mind. Bill Gibb had some really swell 70's kaftans meets the Renaissance vibes. Halston was serving up 1930s slinky bias cu