The Marvelous Ms Mizi Doll

The first doll from Jason & Dimon, Mizi, is described by the designers as a 19-year-old model from the 1930s. According to her backstory, after college in the United States, she returned to her home city, Shanghai, and became a top model. Her uniquely beautiful face was ideally suited to the advertising campaigns of the day. The style of the doll references images of the time. Her career took her around the world, from Tokyo, to New York, and Paris. Mizi is pronounced “mêi zh î”, as opposed to ‘Mitzi’, or ‘Mizzi’. In her basic version she retails for a competitive $59.

Jason & Dimon are two friends, based in China, who happen to be designers and toy collectors. They share a longtime passion for dolls, and wanted to create a new fashion doll with a distinctive retro look referencing the glamour of old Shanghai. Mizi is the result, sold under their trade name of J&D.

Making is new doll is never a quick process. J&D say it look more than a year from making an initial face sculpt of Mizi to taking her into production. The aim was always to make Mizi a collector doll at a lower price point, but with high quality fashions.

To achieve this, Jason & Dimon decided that to keep Mizi’s price reasonable they would invest in her hair, fashions, and face, while using a more affordable solution for making her body. The designers understand that this will not be to everybody’s taste, but they want to doll to be accessible to a wide audience. They feel that it is unrealistic to keep her at a low price and be perfect in everything. According to the designers, “[We] can say that Mizi’s fashions and her lovely shapes will be a big plus for the fashion doll collectors.” As a fashion bonus, Mizi will fit fashions from other brands like Barbie and Integrity Toys.

Some collectors may find that Mizi’s body holds a pose a little less easily than Fashion Royalty dolls (for example). Her hands are of a softer vinyl than the body, and are easily removable for re-dressing – handy for knits and narrow sleeves. Some, however, have pointed out that the hands may be removed a bit too easily and can fall off if not firmly pushed in place. I found that the doll was just fine for photography purposes and it was reasonably easy achieve the poses I wanted. But it wouldn’t be hard to do a body-switch with an Integrity Toys’ doll of a similar skin tone if desired.

New iterations of Mizi will be released in the guise of classic movie characters, (see Sabrina below). The latest release, Pretty Woman, is the first mini giftset from the company. There are two standalone fashions, Timeless Classic: Tokyo and Timeless Classic: Paris, with more planned for the future.

A capsule collection of Mizi dolls exists, with a range of hair colors and styles and three different skin tones. The designers point out that their “dolls all wear gorgeous costumes and come in exquisite packaging boxes.”

To see the whole line of dolls currently available, including some dealer exclusives, and to find out more about Mizi please visit mizidoll.com