Pullip Princesses - Belle

Hmm. My rant of last week seems to have turned off a few folks, and to that I say oh well. I’ve been aware of the ridiculously homogenized standards of beauty in fairy tales from a young age – I remember reading the foreword to The Ordinary Princess and thinking “…wow, she’s RIGHT” – and I mentioned my enthusiastic reception of Belle as a Princess Like Me in that last post.

Of course, as my life has taken me beyond the small, 98% white Indiana town where I grew up, my worldview has expanded to demand not only more princesses who look like me, but also more princesses that look like everyone else. It took me an embarrassingly long time to become aware of the fact that the vast majority of mainstream entertainment (and I’m lumping in toys with entertainment) focuses on a small minority of features, and anything that goes beyond that small minority is prodded off into a corner and labeled “niche” or “special interest.”

This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy Frozen – I did, and “Let it Go” is the best Disney song in years, and Elsa is another of My Homegirls and she is definitely joining Team Pullip at some point, and I might be considering making her coronation gown for GenCon, despite the nagging feeling that I’ll look awful in a platinum blonde wig – but I know that I was able to enjoy it as much as I did because it’s part of a centuries-old status quo that is designed to appeal to me while excluding others. And I get frustrated and lash out when I see people who seem determined to remain oblivious to that status quo, or determined to preserve it, because it doesn’t have a negative effect on them.

And now, back to dolls. Team Pullip is growing by leaps and bounds! I’m stoked about this addition – she’s one of my favorite Princesses, and her base is one of the prettiest Pullips I’ve seen. So, without further ado, let’s welcome:

Pullip Belle!



Belle has always been one of my favorite Princesses, for reasons I mention above and in my previous post, and it was a given she’d eventually join the Pullip crew. When I was planning out the Princess crew, I knew I had to choose the base doll for Belle carefully. Obviously, she had to be pretty – but she couldn’t look overly cutesy, because Belle is also hardcore and Not Taking Any Of Your Crap, I Don’t Care How Enormous and Hairy You Are.

While looking through the selection over at PullipStyle, I was instantly drawn to Pullip Nanette:

Her faceup is so different from most of the “cute’n’perky” or “mean cheerleader” faces I see on Pullips (let’s be real, some of those dolls look downright spiteful). Some of my favorite playline Belle dolls have these lovely serene expressions, and Pullip Nanette has that same serenity in her face.

I kept an eye on PullipStyle for months, waiting to see if Nanette would drop in price. (Dolls on PullipStyle range from $65 to $150, depending on age and popularity.) Aside from one brief sale, Nanette remained stubbornly at $115. I ended up finding my Nanette through the LiveJournal community Pullip_Sales. A sale post directed me to the Sugar Lattice Doll Boutique in Vancouver, which carries clothes and accessories for Pullip and Blythe, along with the occasional secondhand doll.

Sugar Lattice was fantastic to work with. The owner was great about responding to my questions, and keeping me up to date on shipping. The only hiccup in the process was when Nanette got sucked into the black hole of post-holiday US Customs, which was hardly the shop’s fault. So if you’re looking for Pullip clothes and sundries, give Sugar Lattice a look. Their prices are reasonable, they ship from North America, and the customer service was great.

Nanette came to me nude and bald, with only her stand.

I gave her Peter Pan’s brown stock chips. (I willfully ignore the makeovers Belle got at the hands of the Disney Princess Brand™ – those eyes are not green.) It was nice to have the color I needed on hand!

She looks so short among all the others – still on her Pullip stock body, and no big hair!

Rapunzel and Merida offer to share – they’ve got plenty to spare.

They’re “helping!”

I ended up going with Monique Gold Collection again for Belle’s wig – a “Ginger” in Brown-Black. I ended up ordering from Juju’s Dolly Mall instead of through Monique’s website – Juju’s eBay store offered the same prices, but with free shipping. :D

The Ginger is a gorgeously soft wig, with a center part and lots of curls. (The only downside is, I swear that either Monique shrunk their wigs, or Pullip upsized their doll heads, because that wig did not want to fit on Belle’s head without a fight.) I did some spritzing and gentle brushing to ease the curls into fluffy waves, before styling the hair into Belle’s trademark ponytail.

It’s much longer than I was expecting – down to Belle’s knees! I’m torn between wanting to trim it, for accuracy’s sake, and wanting to keep it long and able to go into pretty updos.

Belle Fashion Show!

The green library dress – still my favorite of her dresses. I am so glad I bought the Classic Princess dress & accessory packs for Belle, Tiana, Mulan, and Rapunzel before they were discontinued!

The blue village dress – the disappointing half of the Classic Princess accessory pack – the bodice stitching is crooked and it's embarrassingly short.

The blue village dress and apron from my 1990’s Belle doll.

Sparkles!

The gold ballgown, also from my 1990’s Belle. I would be ashamed of how tattered and worn this dress is, but I know that’s just testament to how much I loved that doll.

A homemade version of the gold ballgown, made by my grandmother. It's waaaaay too big in the chest, which is a pity, because the skirt is a full circle and it is epic.

The 2012 Disney Store gold ballgown. I love that this version came with the gloves.

I realize that my Pullip crew is starting to look like a three-dimensional version of Pocket Princesses. I’m okay with that.

The furniture (seen previously in my Doll Cribs post) was made by the same grandmother who made the ballgown. I presented Belle with a stack of dollhouse books (and a few I borrowed from Team AG) to make her feel at home.

My Pullip Princess line is almost finished. I realized, midway through writing this post, that it was rather hypocritical of me to call out Disney on their token Princesses, when my Pullip line is stubbornly pale. (Mulan and Toph are Asian, but the rest are whitey mcwhite.) So my next project is to get one of the Pullip Make it Own kits, and set about making my own Tiana. It’ll be a challenge, but I think I’m up to it!