It’s that time again. January 1st, American Girl officially announced the newest Girl of the Year, Isabelle Palmer. Isabelle, a dancer, is just starting her first year at a fine arts school. Her stories deal with being confident in who she is and not comparing herself to others.
American Girl ‘Girl of the Year’ Isabelle
Isabelle has a number of outfits and lots of separates that you can mix and match. As you’d expect from a dancer, she has leotards, cropped pants, and wraps, as well as usual everyday wear we are used to seeing on American Girl dolls.
Metallic Dress
Performance Set
I like the two outfits above, though I don’t think they’re perfect. The problem with putting an American Girl doll in a leotard is that you can’t miss the cloth body to vinyl limbs transition. I know that’s an American Girl tradition, but it looks a little strange. I like the color palette they decided on for Isabelle, though, with lots of off white, black and purple.
Mix and Match Set 15
As I mentioned before, Isabelle has lots of separates– skirts, leotards, loose fitting tops, cropped pants. Coming from a girl that took a lot of dance as a kid, her selection of clothing is pretty close to what I’d expect! American Girl is even advertising ‘Mix and Match’ sets, to showcase the different looks that can be created with the different pieces offered.
The coral top and purple bottoms ‘mix and match set’ is kind of cute, in a comfy sort of way! I, also, like the color combination of the coral and the purple. It works surprisingly well together!
Mix and Match Set 1
I like this purple leotard set because it covers most of her joints. The neck line isn’t as low and the wrap covers her shoulders. I, also, love the tights. The whole look brings me back to my dancing days (though, I must admit, I never wore a wrap or leg warmers to class).
Studio
It wouldn’t be American Girl without some cool playset and Isabelle delivers on that front! Isabelle’s (fashion and dance) Studio I like because it has some fun to it. I love the dress form, sewing machine and ‘picture’ wall. When closed, the fashion studio is transformed into a ballet studio with a mirrored front and a mini barre. It’s like two playsets in one.
Barre
Now onto my favorite of the accessories- the ballet barre. This ballet bar is pretty neat. I love that it has two barres and that they look relatively realistic. I love it, I really do! One thing though, I don’t see this getting much use with American Girl dolls. Unless this is smaller than scale, I would think it would be pretty hard for an American Girl doll’s joints to bend in a way that would look remotely like a ballerina. I think this would be excellent for ball jointed dolls of a similar scale, though.
Mix and Match Set 2
I am underwhelmed by the doll herself, to be honest. Besides the ‘add on’ pink hair, she doesn’t strike me as unique at all. One could say that no American Girl is unique, as they all use face molds that are pretty similar, but I don’t believe that. I think my four American Girls look different and unique (and they do share the same face mold). Isabelle, unfortunately, looks like every other blonde Just Like Me doll I’ve seen. I can’t help but feel there was a missed opportunity to make this look a little more ‘special’.
What do you think of 2014′s Girl of the Year? Share your thoughts below.
