Ballet Costume I (Sugar Plum Fairy) (1995-1999)

[PleasantMemories]

B:
This outfit is really sweet. The one piece leotard is made of a nice silky fabric and has a generous about of tulle. The leotard has lace on the bodice and has lots of faux pearls. The tutu is even lined with little pearls. One downside about the piece is that it snags easily. However, fortunately the leotard has a snap closure. Another downside is that it might show a little too much dolly skin on top.

The set also comes with wings, tiara, slippers, tights, program and wand. The wand and tiara are plastic and nothing to write home about. The brochure is cute, but again nothing special. The tights are typical AG/PC tights and snag easily. The ballet shoes are just soft, satin slippers, but they’re cute and stay on nicely. The wings are a fun accessory and are quite functional. However, they do tend to flop around a bit.

I’m not very knowledgeable about dance costumes and don’t know how realistic this one is. However, in my opinion, it looks a little to young for a ten year-old. It reminds me of some of the little ballet outfits that my 3 year-old wears. Some of the newer outfits look a little more age appropriate.

Tessa (AGOT#21) looking sweet in the ballet outfit

[blondieinhiding]

This is part of my cousin's AG collection that I've taken up restoring for her. The wings, wand, and tiara on her set are metal with some sort of paper stitched to them. They did not hold up to play very well. The only thing I like about this set is the tutu itself; it is very nice. The slippers were okay, and the stockings were the generic thin white ones that have since been used for several other dolls.

My grade for this is also a B, because it just did not hold up that well. The wand, tiara and wings could have been made more durable than they are.

I think AG has since made better and more durable ballet outfits than this one.

[World's_End]

I like this outfit for its classic styling, but I'm glad I got it cheaply on Ebay. It's not quite the quality I was hoping.

Here is a picture of the whole outfit. The tutu is nice, but the skirt is very hard to shape into anything resembling something other than the flat bag it was packed into. (I am missing the tights and the program.) The wings are also VERY fragile, and probably wouldn't hold up to a lot of play.


Here are the shoes. They're cute, but not accurate AT ALL. AG fixed this with later ballet shoes, but these look more like the ballet flats you buy in shoestores today, so I might use them for that instead. They were kind of a pain to get on, as they are squishy (like Samantha's bathing suit slippers.)


Here is the bodice of the tutu. This is by far the best part of the costume. The fabric is heavy, but snags easily, so I was pleased to see that it fastens with snaps (but it's a tight fit.)


Here is a close-up of the tiara and wand. They are both really cute, and sturdier than I thought. However, the tiara was really rough on Jess's hair. It DESTROYED her braids: I had to completely redo them after this review.


All in all, I give this outfit a B-.

[starwenn]

When I got my stepsister's dolls last year, I also got the tutu, wings, headband, and one slipper. I've since gotten rid of the one slipper. I could probably find better ones at AG or on eBay.

I've kept this because my Molly loves to dance, but I agree that AG has since done much better outfits. It looks more like one of the Halloween costumes AG did in the late 90s and early 2000s. The tutu is a bit flat from being in a box for several years. The tiara is cute but hard on dolls' heads - don't expect to be able to take it off without even a little pulling of hair. The wings do stay on, but they flap around and would probably be a bit of a distraction in a real dance production.

[Britta]

I really like this outfit. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a ballet dancer (unfortunately I'm nowhere near coordinated enough) and took ballet classes and just had to have this outfit when it came out in 1995. I was 10 and would have been happy to wear an outfit like this, it looks like something a ballerina would wear in The Nutcracker. My experience has been different than the other people who have reviewed. This outfit saw a lot of play from me and held up just fine, but I was a careful kid. I think all the components are well constructed and very cute. If I recall correctly, the wings on mine are wire with some gauzey fabric pulled taut over them. The leotard was a little tough to get on but not too bad and the tiara was indeed tight. It was probably my favorite outfit as a kid and I'm quite glad that I got it. In August I will be at my mom's house where all my childhood AG stuff is and can get a closer look at the ballet outfit, I'll update my review then if I notice anything different.

[leila2]

its very nice but the wing keep falling off and the crown messes up the hair whan you put it in
over all A

[savannahjane]

It seems to me that the wand and tiara are made of flexible metal covered in plastic. The stem is just bent into a loop which the doll hand fits through.

The handle on the wand is flexible. Perhaps the end of the loop was once very lightly glued to the wand to make the loop. I wouldn't have thought so, but someone else thought the handles on these were broken, so perhaps they have had doll hands placed in them and one is currently bent more to accommodate that. They are easily reshaped.

One of these is without streamers and the other has 4 streamers that are longer than the wand and one that is about 1/3 that length. So, my guess is that they came with 5 or more streamers.

_{*MOD EDIT to remove dead image links*}

[daisysmom]

Well, you have to take into consideration that this was part of the first release for anything modern from AG.

I was a kid in the 50s and had a ballerina doll with a pink tutu and pink hair. This outfit reminds me of something from that era and I just love it. The pictures can't do it justice.

I am a collector so I have never had a problem with quality and for it's shear beauty alone I give it an A+.

The fact that it was the first Today outfit that I fell in love with may distort my judgment but I don't think by much.

[keeperofthepast]

A friend has this and it is a darling outfit. The bodice design is so cute. No, the ballet slippers aren't accurate, but still cute. I really like the wand. It looks so pretty on #22 with her blue eyes and her hair up in a bun.