This is Blythe!

In 2001, just after I moved to New York City, I learned about Gina Garan and her fabulous photos of a crazy doll from the 1960′s, Blythe. As a lover of photography and fashion, and as a girl who grew up playing with dolls of all kinds (my sisters and I had probably 57 Barbies between the three of us, which was a lot, considering our parents’ social worker-style salaries), I was immediately hooked. I, and apparently a lot of other people. (Do a search for Blythe on Tumblr, for example, just to see what I mean. There are now tons of Blythes out there, including custom-made ones, not to mention outfits on Etsy and on and on.)

Until now though, I’ve only been able to appreciate Blythe from afar. But I finally decided to stop coveting everyone else’s darling outfits and wonderful photos, and just bite the bullet and get my own Blythe. She arrived this week, and she is, in a word, adorable. Though I’m not super-crazy about the original outfits she came with, I do love her glasses, and her tiny shoes, and her hair, and . . .

You’ll be seeing more of Blythe in coming blog posts, but I thought I’d show her off as soon as possible!