Giovanna In a New York Outfit

Journey Girls Giovanna Tries on a New Outfit

With the release of the New York Journey Girls comes new outfits.  Today's review is on the beautiful black dress with white strips.

Like many of the Journey Girl outfits this one has a dress, shoes, a headband, and a purse. The top is a simple black cotton with gold “necklaces” embroidered into the jewel style neckline. 

The three gold necklaces hang around the front of the dress, but end at the shoulders.  It would be nice to actually have real necklaces on the dress rather than embroidered ones but it's still a nice addition and really makes the dress looks very sophisticated.

The skirt of the dress is attached and has two layers. The bottom layer is black cotton and goes just below Giovanni's knees. 

The top layer is the sheer layer of fabric that has white stripes that make a crisscross pattern on the dress. If you look closely you will see a similar pattern of intersection black lines.  Fairly simple but still very elegant. This dress really reminds me of a business attire dress; something you might find in an Ann Taylor store. 

The sandals on with this outfit are very similar to all the other scandals that come with journey girls outfits. The big difference is that they are gold rather than the normal colors. 

Very pretty, but nothing really that different than we've seen before.  zThe have a pair of crossed straps at the toes and a single strap around the ankle.   

The yellow purse is made out of a leather type of material, it's very simple but goes well with the outfit and really stands out. An open style bag, the purse has no clasp.  

There are gold fabric squares around the handles connection points with the purse.  Made to be a hand held purse, it can go on Giovanna's shoulder, but it is difficult especially to get it to stay, especially if the outfit has sleeves.

The last thing in this set is the headband. It is made out of the same type of leather material as the purse. The gold material wraps most of the way around Giovanna's head, with a 4 inch elastic strap stretching the rest of the way.   

In the top middle of the leather there is a leather flower, again made out of the same gold material. It's very pretty but it doesn't necessarily go really really well with this outfit.  More of a plain band would work better, one that is maybe thinner and without the flower. 

Rating
All ratings are out of 10

Value 8 – Great dress.  Very nice quality.  Could have had real necklaces, rather than embroidered ones.  The headband is cute, but looks a little out of place with it's flower.  Still, you get a good amount for the cost of the outfit.

Fitment 10 – Everything fits great.  Even the sandals are a perfect fit.  Wish the handles on the purse were a bitt larger to accommodate placing the purse on Giovanna's shoulders, but it works great as a hand purse.

Versatility 8 – The dress itself is such a versatile dress.  It is elegant enough to be a semi-formal dress, but not so fancy that it can't be an out on the town outfit.  There are no "parts" to the dress, being that it is all in one, but it still can be used in different situations.  The sandals, purse and headband all have great potential to be used with other outfits.  That yellow purse will add some pizzaz to any outfit!

Cuteness 9 – Giovanna, or any of the other Journey Girls look great in this dress.  Great design!  Love it!  Again, wish the necklaces weren't just embroidery.

Overall 9 – This outfit is great; it's very, very pretty, it's made well and has some pretty good accessories.  The business style of it fits what I think of as chic New York style.  It would be nice to see the outfit with a real necklace accessory and a different headband.  Still very cute.  Out of all of the outfits that were released with the New York line this is one of my favorites. Partly because it really shows the elegance and the style of New York. I would definitely suggest getting this outfit as it's very nice. As with most Journey Girl outfits I would also suggest making sure you soak this outfit. I know that Toys R Us and Journey Girls has worked hard at making better quality outfits, but I'm not quite sure that they have reduced all of the issues with the dye transfer onto the vinyl.  So I would suggest soaking this outfit before you put it on your doll.  

AG Note - Like many of the Journey Girl outfits this one doesn't fit extremely well on American Girl dolls.  

It is tight, barley closing in the back with the Velcro.  The straps are also tight, squeezing the underarms and making it challenging to move Serafina's arms.  

The skirt part of the dress is a great length, fitting well.  The headband fits perfectly, of course why wouldn't it be. 

The sandals do not fit at all.  The Journey Girls feet are much skinnier than the American Girl dolls feet, making it impossible for the shoes to fit well one both of the dolls.  

This is a beautiful outfit for the Journey Girls, but not great for American Girl dolls.   If you are thinking of buying the outfit for your American Girl doll, this is not the best outfit to buy.