Kelsey In The Rain Gear

New Rain Gear From Our Generation

Unlike Journey Girls that only releases once a year, Our Generation releases outfits in blocks through out the year, usually with the seasons.  One of these blocks was released in February, including this outfit called "Brighten Up a Rainy Day."  The outfit set includes a raincoat, a light blue dress, rain boots, and an umbrella.  You may be thinking, "I already have a rain outfit," or "I don't know that I really need another rain outfit."  Well let us see if this rain outfit is worth buying.

Raincoats are cute, but not a very versatile outfit.  Often times a set comes with the rain gear, but nothing else.  It's nice that this set has a dress with it...although it is kind of a necessity since the raincoat is see-through.  Made out of a plastic/vinyl material (like a real raincoat) this raincoat has salmon colored almond shapes adorning the surface of an otherwise clear outfit.  The cuffs, bottom edge and hood are finished off with a piece of salmon colored fabric.  The coat is about thigh length.  There are two plastic snaps on the front of the raincoat.

Sometimes hoods are ridiculous because they are too small to hold the dolls hair in without looking ludicrous.  This hood is a perfect size.  Putting Kelsey's hair in a bun, the hood stayed on very well.  For the photos her hair is running down the back of the coats (inside).  A really nice raincoat!

It is to be expected that the dress that comes with this raincoat would be simple, which it is, but it is also made well and is quite cute.  A baby blue, jersey knit cotton, straight, knee length dress, with thin straps, it looks almost like it could be a nightgown.

Helping the dress look less like a nightgown is off-white lace with a circular pattern on the front bodice.  Velcro on the top half of the dress makes getting it on very simple.

Definitely not fancy, the dress is cute and works well with the raincoat.  My only concern is that it may stretch, and it is already a little big on Kelsey.

In other sets in years past the umbrella has been a small item that you have to figure out how it is going to be held by your doll.  Not with this one!  The "My Life" umbrella (http://journeygirladventures.blogspot.com/2014/07/rain-rain-go-away-raincoats-review.html) has a piece of elastic that can wrap around your dolls hand.

Instead of elastic the OG umbrella has thick plastic stretch bands (similar to the ones seen to hold the Journey Girls on their box...just larger).  The plastic straps don't show up as much as the elastic and there are two to help stabilize the umbrella better.

The handle, shaft, and stretchers are all made of plastic.  There is no latch at the top of the umbrella to hold the runner in the up position, but the stretchers move into an up position which holds the umbrella open.  Salmon, a dark baby blue and white sections make up the canopy of the umbrella.  The fabric is not stretched tight since Our Generation is assuming that you will only be using the umbrella for imaginative play.  A couple of my stretchers show stress on the plastic arm at connection points.  Once I opened up the umbrella initially it has opened smoothly since then and does not to stress the joints.  The canopy is larger than any of the other umbrellas I have reviewed in the past.  This is a perfect size for Kelsey.

Our Generation boots are made of a nice rubbery plastic.  These boots are are very pale aqua blue.  As with all OG boots, they are huge!!!

But they don't have a slit which is why they have to be so big.  Kelsey's feet slip into the top of the boot, then stick at the curve of the boot at the heel, and with a solid push they go completely on.  Rain boots should be big in my opinion.

These look so cute on Kelsey.  The large size also helps stabilize her.  She tends in so many positions in these boots!

Ratings
All ratings are out of 10

Value 8 - This outfit is made extremely well.  The raincoat is the most realistic material and feel of any I have seen.  The umbrella is awesome!  And it's great that it comes with a dress for underneath the raincoat.  At $17 this is a great buy.

Fitment 7 - Everything fits, the dress is loose, but does not fall off.  The raincoat fits great.  The boots are gigantic, but that is by design.

Versatility 5 - Raincoats are not a fashion item.  They can be fashionable, but they are not an outfit that is worn outside of when it is raining.  As such, this outfit has very limited uses.  The dress is useful for other outfits, but that is really the only item that can be used for something non-rain related.

Cuteness 8 -  The entire outfit is really cute, but the actual raincoat really stands out.  The clear plastic and beautiful salmon color are fun, playful, and very pretty.  The dress, although simple, is very cute.  Good all around outfit.

Overall 8- A great raincoat.  The umbrella in this set is a great size, better than any of the other sets I have reviewed.  I love the quality of the raincoat and the fact that you get a dress with the outfit!  There are no issues with the set, other than it is a raincoat and as such can only be used as a raincoat.  This score is lower than the other raincoat sets I've reviewed mostly because I review different now, but decided not to change the scores on older posts.  At the time that I reviewed those outfits they were worth that rating.  Now comparing it to this outfit I would score them lower...probably more like 6 and 7.  Definitely pick this set up if you are in the market for a raincoat!

AG Note

Our Generation dolls are a very similar size to American Girl dolls, so it stands to reason that the outfits would fit well on American Girl dolls.  Where the dress is loose on Kelsey, it fits well on Lily (Although I much prefer the vinyl shoulders to the cloth of the AG dolls). 

The raincoat fits, but is snug when Lily lifts her arms past her tummy.  It can be remedied easily by pushing the raincoat sleeves up on Lily's arms.  The boots are a strange thing.  They fit, but boy are they a struggle to get on...and a downright pain to get off. 

The issue is that the AG dolls feet are wider than the JG dolls, which makes getting their feet around the heal of the boot really difficult.  This can be alleviated in one of two ways; make the boot bigger or make a slit in the back of the boot.  Neither are great solutions.  And if that is the only issue with the outfit...it isn't really a big one.  I also wonder if the boots will stretch a little after being used, making them easier to get on and off.  A wonderful raincoat that fits both your AG and JG dolls.  Pick it up when you see it!