I have been curious about Delilah Noir for several years. Delilah is a 16" vinyl ball jointed doll made by Ashton Drake. Delilah was first released in late 2009 and the debut edition earned a Doll of the Year award. The first Delilah doll was dressed in a modest school girl outfit and wore a long blonde wig, but she also came with an extra, slightly more gothic evening ensemble and black hair. These outfits were meant to hint at the two contrasting sides to Delilah's personality, a sweet straight "A" student and a dark, edgy wild child. The subsequent doll releases have maintained this split personality to varying degrees. Despite declarations to the contrary, there were never any new characters introduced to this line, and I understand that the dolls have now been discontinued. You can still find the first Delilah doll for $150 at places like Amazon (for full price), and directly from Ashton Drake. Many of the later releases are still in stock in various doll shops...and lately they are on clearances sales of varying levels.
I was reluctant to buy a Delilah Noir doll for several reasons. First of all, I have had some bad experiences with Ashton Drake. Years ago, I was interested in their "So Truly Real" baby dolls (which also retail for around $150). After about the fifth time I got seduced by incredible promo pictures only to be horrified by the actual product, I finally got wise and gave up on Ashton Drake completely. The company tempted me back with Delilah and Emily the Strange, but I balked on purchasing Delilah because of her price and also because I found it difficult to get a good sense for what she was like by looking at pictures online. I was unwilling to take another $150 gamble. Recently, one of my favorite doll shops had Delilah on a half price clearance, and I decided that the awesome price and her recent discontinuation made this the perfect time to buy. I chose "Pretty in Pink," one of the dolls from 2011:
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| Delilah Noir "Pretty in Pink" by Ashton Drake Galleries. |
