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Candi Girls for 1997

General comments:

• Most of the 1996-1997 Candi Girls (all except for Candi Secrets) have wrist tags. In case you wonder why you hardly ever see them on my photos: I like to unbox my dolls and put them on display. I think they look more realistic without the wrist tags.
• Usually, Candi Girls with dresses or skirts have white nylon panties.
• Those of the 12 Candi Couture Fashions I have are untagged. The outfits of the 6 MiKelman Designer Candi Girls are tagged "MiKelman". The outfits of the 11 Candi Secrets dolls are tagged "Candi Couture". (I have not checked each doll's outfit but those I looked at were tagged.)
• In several cases, the outfit or the gloves are attached to the doll's body with double-sided sticky tape. I removed it from my dolls (because I do not know what will happen with this sticky tape in 20 years from now). The outfits stayed on because they are taylored to fit. I recommend deboxing your dolls, removing the sticky tape and having fun. (Be a little careful when you remove it as to not damage the fabric. I almost ruined the lining on Best Dress Candi Girl's outfit because I pulled too quickly. ;-)
• Prices mentioned here were about suggested retail prices.

Candi Couture Fashions

China Doll Candi Girl

Asian mold and black hair, turquoise lined and zippered dress; $20-25.
Limited Edition of 3000; 400 of these wear red because they ran out of the turquoise fabric at the factory. ;-)

MiKelman Exclusive Candi Girls

6 different dolls & outfits; $60 each. Each design is a Limited Edition of 500.
In this line there are:

• Extravagance
  
  Asian with black hair; dress has lined top, lined fake fur stole.
• Misty Melon
  
  There are two variations, limited to 250 each: Either dark-tone african-american with black hair, or honey tone african-american with rust hair. Make-up is completely different on the two dolls. Dress is the same in both cases and is lined and zippered.
• Confetti
  
  Hispanic mold; red hair and green eyes, very unusual makeup.
• Success Dress
  
  Hispanic mold, ash blonde; coat and dress are lined.
• Sophisticated Shopper
  
  Swedish mold, platinum blonde; suit is fully lined.
• Best Dress
  
  Danish mold with red hair; dress has lined top and zippered back.

Follow this link to more pictures.

Here are some of the accessories that come with MiKelman Candi Girls. Stole and silver purse borrowed from Extravagance; black felt hat with pink ribbon trim, hat box, glasses, and black purse from Confetti; small red hat from Best Dress.

Candi Secrets

There has been a little confusion as to how many different Candi Secrets dolls exist. Now that I have received mine, I count a total of 10 different makeup and hair combinations. Since three of them are available with a choice of outfits, there are 13 dressed dolls altogether.

1. Swedish in Sweet Dreams fashion.
   
   Platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, pink lips.
2. Swedish with sandy blonde hair, green eyes, peach lips. Comes in one of these fashions:
   • White Lacy Secrets with peach flower at waist
   • Slumber Party P.J.
3. Danish in Petals and Polka Dots fashion.
   
   Sandy blonde hair, violett eyes.
   Both the Swedish and the Danish face molds have a slightly open mouth smile.
4. Danish in Blue Lacy Secrets fashion.
   Golden blonde hair, blue eyes.
5. African-american in Sweet Dreams fashion.
   
   New "honey" skin tone, "golden auburn" hair, blue eyes.
6. Hispanic ("auburn-reddish" hair, blue eyes) Comes in one of these outfits:
   • Sweet Dreams (long hair)
   • Lavender & Lace (hair styled into a bun)
   To me, she has the same makeup as Success Dress Candi Girl (but a different hair color, of course).
7. Hispanic in Lilacs and Lace fashion.
   Vivid red hair styled into a bun, green eyes; limited to 300. Eyes & hair color are very similar to Confetti Candi's but lip color is different.
8. Hispanic in Slumber Party P.J. fashion.
   Platinum blonde long hair, violet eyes.
9. Hispanic in White Lacy Secrets fashion; red flower at waist (as opposed to the version with peach flower worn by Swedish Candi Girl).
   Blonde long hair, blue eyes. Has nice pink skin tone (so far seen only on asian and Swedish Candi Girls). I think this is the prettiest of the Candi Secrets dolls.
10. Asian ("auburn-reddish" long hair) Comes in one of these fashions:
    • Sweet Dreams
    • Floral Bouquet

The outfits are also available separately; see "White Lacy Secrets" fashion at left. In addition, there are 4 fashions that do not come on a doll. These extra fashions are named:

• Cotton Candi
• Peachy Secrets
• Racy Secrets
• Sunshine Secrets

Now, what are the secrets of Candi Secrets dolls? This is left to your imagination. ;-) To me, the cute accessories hidden in the boxes are one. Each doll comes with a pair of shoes, one pillow, and a pink princess phone. The shoes are either plush slippers (only with Lavender & Lace fashion) or a new shoe mold. Here is a group shot of pillows and shoes taken from various Candi Secrets dolls:

Christmas Candi 1997

Second in a series; she wears blue or red velvet with white fake fur trim at the bottom and a white fake fur stole. Has the Swedish head mold and comes with a choice of three hair colors (blonde, brunette, or redhead); $50 each. Brunette Dolls wear red velvet, blondes and redheads wear blue.

• Blonde - just as shown on this prototype picture.
• Brunette - in fact, the hair color is black (as shown here).
• Red head - flame red hair. The photo shows the hair color darker than it is.

Warning! The blue shoes that come with the blue velvet gowns stain heavily. Even if you touch them with your fingers only and afterwards touch a doll there can be stains. On later boxes, there is a sticker stating that one should call HDS for replacement white shoes.

Santa's Helper

Candi Girl with Bubble-cut hairdo dressed as a Santa's helper (short red dress with white 'fur' trim). She has the Swedish head mold and comes as a blonde, brunette, or redhead; $25.

• Brunette Santa's Helper
• Blonde Santa's Helper (prototype photo)
• Redhead Santa's Helper

MiKelman Retro Candi Girls

Candi Girl with nostalgic Bubble-cut hair style. She is available as a platinum blonde, brunette, redhead, or african-american. Lip colors are red or pink for redheads and blondes, red lips for brunettes and pink lips for african-american Candi Girls, thus there are 6 different dolls.
All dolls have the african-american face mold (including those with light skin tone). The series is limited to a total of 3300 dolls.
Here are black & white pictures of the prototype dolls, plus some portraits of the actual dolls. Note the Retro Candis dolls have a beauty mark.

There is also a line of six Retro fashions in 50's style:

• Avenue - off-white suit with gold buttons
• Cocktails at 6 - gold sheath dress with brown "fur" stole
• Debutant - light pink ballgown with white "fur" stole
• Entertaining Tonight - blue jumpsuit with silver dotted tulle overlay and blue & silver jacket.
  Staining blue boots replaced by silver pumps on the photo.
• Gay Paree - red summer dress with black belt and hat
  (The shoes on the photo do not come with this outfit but with the Retro Candis themselves. Hose hand-made by Imelda Sanchez.)
  
• Sightseeing - Prototype pictures show a colorful checkered jumpsuit but the actual outfit has a flower design.

Warning! The blue boots from "Entertaining Tonight" stain just as badly as the blue shoes from Christmas Candi. If you have this outfit, call HDS for replacement shoes.

Indianapolis Souvenir Candi Girl

The Hoosiers' Mini-Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana (November 14-16, 1997), had a very special souvenir doll: auburn-haired Candi in a car-racing outfit designed by MiKelman. Thanks to Jeannine Gailey for sharing the picture. :-)

Putting on the Glitz Candi

This is not an "official" Candi Girl by Hamilton Design Systéme but a small line of custom-made dolls sold through Paul David's catalog ($49.99). According to the catalog: "Hair styled by Dorinda Balanecki, Make-Up by MiKelman, Gown by Allyson Meche" My guess is they are not hand-painted but redressed regular "baggy" Candis. Anyway, it's a beautifull doll. Thanks a lot to Angie for the picture.

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