Dress-up Accessory Set

[bingandnelsonfan]

This set was released in August 2022.

Claudie loves trying on all the fancy accessories that belong to Selma, a glamorous jazz singer who also lives at Miss Amelia's boardinghouse. Includes:
A double-layer necklace with white beads
A metal closure and a beaded fabric bag with drawstring closure
A blue paperboard hatbox with a lid that lifts off and a cord handle
A black felt top hat with a satin hat band
Black tights
A gray faux-fur stole


Claudie's Jazz Performance Outfit - $45.00
Includes: Hat Box, Black Hat, Double-strand Bead Necklace, White Drawstring Purse, Black Tights, Grey Fur Stole

We went down on release day to American Girl Place in Easton (Columbus, Ohio), arriving about two hours after the store opened. Claudie only had three closed display cases (one large one for all her outfits, one cute display near the front door, and one showing her bed). That means we couldn’t actually feel/inspect anything, so this is a visual review! For a first, the colors on AG's stock photos (see American Girl website) are SPOT ON. What you see (at least on our three monitors) is what you’ll get!

The HAT looked like the same stiff felt as on Melody’s Meet hat. It’s never shown on the doll on AG’s website or in this display. We all agreed that it looked too small to fit on Claudie’s head.
The HAT BOX is very cute. It looks like a perfect display piece, but I'm not sure how it'd do with kids' play. (From looks, it kind of falls into the coated cardstock that Dollar Tree offers in their gift-box department, just for comparison, because they never offer hat boxes!)
The FAUX FUR STOLE looked nice and fit verywell.
The BAG, TIGHTS, and NECKLACE were what you’d expect -- just like previous AG accessories.

[mamared]

From the AG website:
Claudie loves trying on all the fancy accessories that belong to Selma, a glamorous jazz singer who also lives at Miss Amelia's boardinghouse.

Includes:
A double-layer necklace with white beads
A metal closure and a beaded fabric bag with drawstring closure
A blue paperboard hatbox with a lid that lifts off and a cord handle
A black felt top hat with a satin hat band
Black tights
A gray faux-fur stole

SKU#: HJR04. $45

This is another fun set that came home from the store with Claudie!

The hat box is indeed of cardboard, as bingandnelson guessed. It’s white on the inside and bright royal blue on the outside, with a pale yellow corded handle and a removable lid. The box is circular in shape, measuring 6.75 inches in diameter and just over 3 inches tall. The cord passes through metal grommets on the side and is held in place by knots on the interior. My two favorite things about this hatbox are (1) that it can safely hold all of the other pieces in this set without anything getting squished, and (2) it has the wonderful decorative label on the side, in yellow and blue with red lettering, indicating “Premium Quality HATS” with room to check off the hat size, with options ranging from 6 1/2 to 7 5/8. This label is actually printed on the side of the box, and not a separate label adhered to it.







My second favorite piece in this set is the soft gray faux-fur stole. It’s about 14” long and slightly curved, with very soft faux fur on one side and a satiny gray polyester on the other side. It makes a cozy and elegant stole, and I’m also enjoying using it as a fur collar to transform Kit’s coat into a more 20s style. (I should note that my phone camera tends to lighten up photos with Claudie just a bit, so the photos without her tend to have truer tones.)



My next favorite piece in the collection is probably the double strand pearl necklace. I think this is just an iconic piece for 1920s dress up, and I like the clasp that is easy to use but also secure.



The other pieces in the set are nice but probably won’t get as much use here, especially since I’m not inclined to get the Jazz Performance Outfit that they go with just yet.

The tights are thick and black and seem well made. There is a front and back side to them, with the back side having a little more extra material for the heel. I think that’s a nice feature, so hopefully there won’t be as much bunching at the top of the foot.



The hat is made of stiffened black felt. It is reinforced with a seam around the brim, and it also has a plain black 1/2 inch wide satin ribbon with a small bow. The brim is about 1 inch wide, and the top hat is about 2 inches tall. I think it’s a nice hat, but without the accompanying jazz outfit, I think it makes less sense for her. I think it would look smashing in a different time period, though.



(The photo above is before taking out her ponytail and ribbon, and the photo below is after taking out the ponytail, so her hair is more evenly spread out. Now the hat sits lower on her head - although her curly hair still wants to push it up!)



The drawstring pouch handbag seems like a really nice idea. It’s made of a white satiny polyester fabric that unfortunately just looks cheap, even with the beaded triangular details that I think are meant to give it an Art Deco vibe. The bottom of the pouch is a circle, making the overall shape a cylinder until you pull the white satiny drawstring cord closed, and then it’s like a Hershey’s kiss. It’s large enough to put some things inside of it (I think it could carry a human-sized walnut or buckeye just fine, for size reference), but the choice of the white fabric is just an unfortunate one I think.



So those are the pieces, except of course for the accompanying pamphlet. Overall, I would say this Dress-Up Accessory Set is definitely meant to be paired with the Jazz Performance Outfit, but there’s still plenty of appeal even on its own or when paired with other pieces. The quality, for the most part, is there, but I’m not sure that I would’ve been so willing to pay $45 for it had I not had a rewards certificate to use. Keeping in mind the price, quality, versatility, and number of pieces, I’ll give it a B.

Here are a couple more photos of the pieces, followed by the trifold pamphlet that sets the scene for this set (and hopefully gives clues to future releases - I’m looking at you, cornet)!