Olivia (2002)
Review by Cosette
Figure:
Packaging:

Produced by Madame Alexander for FAO Schwarz, based on the character created by Ian Falconer

Features:

• Eight items of clothing: a ball gown, a bathing suit, a tutu, a polka dot dress, a sailor dress, red tights, black and white tights, and a t-shirt
  
• Eight different accessories: red shoes, purse, pearl necklace, pearl bracelet, rhinestone tiara, sunglasses, hair ribbon, and a brown bag (for scaring her little brother)
  
• Stand
  
• Trunk to keep it all in
  

My Advice: Own It.

Olivia is currently one of my favorite children’s books, and so when I saw her in the flesh, with a trunk full of clothes in the window at F.A.O. Schwartz, I was just dying to play with her. Madame Alexander has created an Olivia doll exclusively for the retail toy chain, and she is positively lovely.

The perspicacious piglet comes in a fairly sturdy trunk box with an entire wardrobe of Olivia-sized clothing taken straight out of the illustrations in the book. If you’ve forgotten what they looked like, there’s a copy lining the box. As beautiful as the setup of the trunk was to look at, however, I had a hard time getting Olivia out of her box. She was tied down with a deceptively simple to remove ribbon, but was also imprisoned by a rather difficult-to-operate twistie around her waist. I would recommend wire-cutters to anyone attempting to extricate the hapless pig from her twistie prison. However, once you get her out, the fun begins!

Olivia herself is beautiful--the doll captures the nuances of the illustrations in the book quite nicely. She has articulating arms, legs, and ears, and also has a stand that is especially designed for her, on which to rest her oddly-shaped bottom when displaying her. She is made from a sturdy plastic and when balanced on the stand, stays upright quite well.

The garments for Olivia are amazing--perfectly patterned and constructed, especially considering that Olivia is not your typical doll shape. There are even little holes in the back of all of her garments to accommodate her curly ribbon tail. The designs are so close to the book illustrations--it’s wonderful! Everything I tried on her fit very well, although some garments took more manipulating to put on than others. Some of the accessories were a bit hard to maneuver, and I think stringing her pearls on elastic rather than a tight cord would have been a better choice. Also, I wish there were more places in the box to put the clothes that aren’t on the pig. They come tied to the backboard of one side, and it’s not really convenient to tie them all back up there.

Because the clothes are so well-fitting, Olivia was relatively easy to dress (for an adult, anyway). She has at least seven complete outfits, with the endless possibility of mixing and matching pieces. And then there are the splendid accessories, which really make the wardrobe complete. These include sunglasses especially designed to fit around her ears, high-heeled shoes that must be her mother’s (they’re comically large) and a purse that actually closes with a tiny snap. They're all testaments to the detailed craftsmanship of Madame Alexander.

I had so much fun playing dress-up with Olivia. She’s coming with me to work soon so my co-workers can play with her as well, and if you enjoy nice dolls who are a little different from the blank-faced painted people imitations, you will enjoy her immensely. The few foibles I ran into with the set are easily overcome, and it’s well worth a little bit of effort to get to play with the wonderful collection. Children who are at the target ages for the books may have difficulties dressing her, but with a little help from someone older, she could easily be fun for the whole family.