Another look at the Hot Looks

Y'know, these three.  Chelsea, C.C. (short for Canadian Chelsea), and Sachi.

Y'all might've predicted their return to the blog since Chelsea popped into October's So Random post a couple'a times.  Indeed, at one point it tinkered around with adding Elkie to the mix since I didn't have a doll to represent Hot Looks' cool-toned dolls (and because Elkie is more interesting than Mimi).  Why is this important?  Because I'm looking for outfits, and I'm trying to stick to the color divisions that Hot Looks set up.  There were three color divisions, hot, warm, and cool, and the back of this box shows how to differentiate. 

Basically, it's like this:

*Blonde, blue-eyed dolls get cool colors.  That would mean Elkie and Mimi from the first wave and Starr and Steff from the second wave.  Cool colors were pastels in this case.

*Brown-eyed brunettes get hot colors.  These were the bright splashy colors that I associate with stereotypical eighties fashion.  The hot models were/are Zizi and Stacey (first wave) and Sachi (second wave).

*Green-eyed redheads get warm colors, and this is the trickiest division for me.  These clothes are bright like the hot clothes, but mayyyyybe not as eye-popping?  It's kinda subjective.  Anyway, the second wave had Shawna, and the first wave had my beloved Chelsea.  

That's all well and good for the Hot Looks, all of whom stuck to those color combinations, but what about a blue-eyed brunette like me, or a brown-eyed redhead like Tam?  I guess we don't matter, sad face.  Anyway, among my trio, Chelsea and C.C. are warm and Sachi is hot.  Hmmm...do Chelsea's eyes look green to y'all???  They look light blue to me.

Regardless of eye color, Chelsea and C.C. are strawberry blondes and would thus probably classify as warm.  By the luck of the draw, both of my outfits are also warm.  eBay shop is Ruths Vintage Collections.

Chelsea is even on the front.  See?

Got these in-box getups off of eBay.  These outfits are both a little rough around the edges after thirty-seven years, but nothing serious.  In particular, the glitter has worn off of the jean suit.  These white patches were once sparkly.

Oh well, I too am a little rough around the edges after thirty-seven years, LOL!  Notice, by the way, that the packaging shows a different pair of shoes for each outfit, but no extra shoes are included in ANY of the outfits.  That's kinda weak.  Chelsea's copper-laced sneakers might look okay with the denim outfit, but with that pantsuit they may look a hair ridiculous.  So let's see how these look on my girls.  Each package included tips for hairstyles and easy little modifications; the satin pantsuit's tips are as follows.

Roll up the pants legs, put the belt around the waist instead of the hips, and tie the hair off to the side.  Oh yes, the side ponytail, an easy hairstyle that was much loved in the eighties.  Heck, I did it plenty in high school, and that was in the aughts.  So...pants rolled up, waist belted, hair tied to the side, here's how Chelsea looks.

Hey, those sneakers don't look bad after all!  And sure enuff, these colors look fantastic on Chelsea.  Not too bright, but not too soft either, just like her hair and eyes.  For the most part these components are kid-friendly, though those satin slacks might catch on unkempt fingernails (like mine).  My dominant concerns are for this belt...

...and these earrings.

Both of 'em feel like stiffened paper, the same thing that C.C.'s belt is made of.  Notice that C.C.'s belt is in rough shape.

So I'll treat these pieces with a gentle hand.  I'm so glad Chelsea has dangles now, though!  Her little white studs look okay on their own, but she really looks good with those goofy bangles.

C.C. got the denim suit.  Said suit also came with three tips, but I was tired of dressing dolls by the time I shoved C.C. into this outfit, so I only followed two.

Notice that I did not roll up C.C.'s sleeves, though I still can in the future.

Now I was expecting the shoes to look better with this outfit than the other one, but it's actually the opposite!  I kinda wish I had some white tights to put under there.  As I said above, the white patches are supposed to be sparkly, but I can fix that.  Even without the sparkles this outfit looks pretty good.  The lace blouse is sheer, and one can see C.C.'s bikini top through the material, but I actually like that effect.  The pop of peach breaks up the blue a little bit.  See?

Anyone remember how these dolls have bikinis permanently attached?  The cool girls have pink or lilac bikinis under their clothes, and the hot girls have yellow bikinis.  I like all three colors, but I doubt they'd have looked as good showing through that lace.  Peach is definitely a Chelsea color.

The white patches are unfortunately very sticky to the touch, and as a result C.C.'s hair sticks to them.

I think I know of a way to fix these and make them look pretty again.  As for fragile parts, this ensemble came with plastic earrings and no belt at all, so C.C. is covered.  I love these earrings; they're big stars like a pair I wore in high school.

I love how unabashedly EIGHTIES these outfits are!  What was extremely stylish then looks extremely dated now, but I still love it.  Mama gave these outfits her stamp of approval as well, so they still have the power to attract.

I already liked the Hot Looks beforehand, so these outfits did little to change my opinion.  But having looked at the color system on the box, I think I can see a potential problem with the line.  Oh, it's an easy system to follow, no doubt about it, but how many little girls give a crap if their blonde doll is wearing pastels, or if their brunette doll is wearing a loud red top?  Probably the concept behind these dolls went a little over kids' heads, kinda like Aimee's gimmick did.  And maybe I'm completely wrong, and these dolls didn't sell for some other reason that I'm missing altogether!  All I can say is that my Hot Looks keep me occupied on evenings when I'm not in the mood to gom with American Girls or Cabbage Patch Kids, and these outfits add to their play value for me.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987

Hello, Sachiko!

No, not this Sachiko.  I managed to find a Hot Looks Sachi. 

Trust me, this is Sachi, not Stacey.  Sachi and Stacey look a lot alike, but there are ways to tell the two apart.  Sachi comes from the second wave and is thus pretty hard to find.  My doll doesn't have everything; she's missing most of her accessories, and she has some very minor runs in her legs...

...but the rest of her is pretty well intact.  I can probably keep those runs from worsening with a dab of tacky glue.  Anyway, I already have two Hot Looks dolls, both Chelsea, but a perusal of Chelsea's review reveals that one of my Chelsea dolls (C.C., or "Canadian Chelsea") is wearing part of Sachi's stock outfit.

C.C. has politely agreed to hand over her socks and her red bracelet to Sachi now, as she has her own bracelet (which she always had) and her own socks (which she DIDN'T always have).  The belt is also Sachi's, but I let C.C. keep that and tied a bow around Sachi's waist, one that matches her hair bow.  Since Sachi's overall look is supposed to be semi-retro, I chose polka dots.

None of it really matches, but Sachi looks a little more put together now that she's got some headgear.  Heck, no doll of mine is complete without some sort of bow; even Flaxie wears them on her ears!

Such bows are necessary with Flaxie when she wears blue jeans (like she is now), as without them there's no other way to tell that she's a girl.  Anyway, since I now have Hot Looks dolls from both the first and second waves I'm going to do a brief comparison, as there were a few minor differences.  Location was the main difference, as Sachi and her second-wave friends were only available in Canada, but there's no visual evidence of that, LOL!  Hands are the easiest way to tell Wave 1 from Wave 2; I noted in Chelsea's review that the first wave had a separate pinky finger, while the second wave had all the fingers together with only the thumb separate.  Sachi's stitching is not as neat as Chelsea's, but she does have all four fingers!

The other main way to tell is earrings.  Chelsea has disc-shaped studs that accommodate dangles with hooks, while Sachi has hemispherical studs that accommodate a post of sorts.  It's hard to tell from these pictures, but Sachi's studs are significantly bigger than Chelsea's.

The post fits into a hole in the bottom of the stud.  I don't know how well this method of attachment worked, but so few of these dolls from either wave have intact dangles that I'm willing to guess the attachment wasn't a strong one in either case.

One thing that didn't change between waves was faces.  Or they didn't change much.  Chelsea and Sachi appear to have the same mold, as do all the Hot Looks dolls.

BUT...now that I look closer there are some differences in the painting styles.  Sachi's lips appear to be fuller than Chelsea's.

I'll have to admit that I'm not a fan of Sachi's hot pink lips, but then I didn't like Chelsea's orange-tinted lips either.  Do I EVER like the lip color on a doll???  LOL, if I'm not harping about a doll's eyebrows I'm griping about lips!  Speaking of eyebrows, eyebrows are another good way to distinguish Wave 1 from Wave 2.  Sachi's eyebrows are brown and not black like her hair, but black eyebrows can be harsh, so I'll not fuss about that.  More noteworthy is the paint style; Chelsea has some individual hairs painted in, and Sachi does not.

Good way to segue into eyes.  I'll be blunt:  I like Sachi's eye paint better than Chelsea's.  Chelsea's eyes are not ugly by any means, but Sachi's eyes are sharper and have a smidge more detail.  She has a few dashes of visible eyeshadow that doesn't look like bruising (Chelsea's eyeshadow can look a little like bruising under some lights.  I also like that Sachi's eyes are brown.  Brown eyes can look lifeless on a doll, especially if the eyes are inset, but painted brown eyes are less of a gamble.

Hairstyles didn't vary a lot among the Hot Looks, but textures did.  Most of the girls had curly or straight hair, with Chelsea sporting a unique crimped style and feathered bangs.  Sachi's hair is stick-straight with a full set of very curly bangs.

I don't like the bangs on these dolls because they're next to impossible to control, but that's the fault of age, not the dolls themselves.  Very few dolls with bangs make it through the years without their bangs getting at least a little mussed.  I was able to fix Chelsea's and Sachi's bangs even though Sachi's were snarled up in her main hair, but C.C.'s bangs have proven stubborn.

Okay, it's just one segment that wants to pop up, but being OCD it still bugs me.  Likely a spritz with warm water and a night in a cotton sock will get that segment to lie down.  But overall that's it.  I've got three Hot Looks dolls now, and I may add one more (I'm quite fond of Zizi).  Owning Sachi has given me a good idea of how much (how little?) things changed between the first and second waves.  Sometimes quality diminishes as a doll line ages, but...well, for the most part Sachi is just as good as Chelsea is, and in a few ways (the eye paint and the straight hair) she's better.  The stitching on her hands is a little crude, but that's all I have to say against Sachi.  She was worth the search.  Now to find a jukebox for her to lean against; Mama is dead-set on my Hot Looks having a jukebox for some reason.  Sachi's biography does state that she wants to own a jukebox of her own, so that's not a terribly outlandish prop to have for these dolls.  Too bad Maryellen's jukebox is expensive!

Much love,

RagingMoon1987