Sarah here.
American Girl’s 2023 GIRL OF THE YEAR (GOTY) is Kavi Sharma, and we’re reviewing her current collection today. There may or may not be additional releases for her as the year goes on.
The outfits which are sold separately won’t disappoint those buyers used to recent releases in fit and quality. I think Kavi’s fashion collection is going to come down to whether or not you like the combination of all these styles, colors and textures. Of course, the outfits could always work as mix-n-match pieces when used with other clothing you already own. Either way, there’s a lot of cute stuff to choose from in Kavi’s wardrobe collection. It’s interesting to note that many of her outfits have short crop tops (tops that don’t meet or tuck into the bottoms). Aside from the Bollywood Dance Costume, Kavi’s wardrobe doesn’t give unique vibes that would keep it from being used with any other dolls.
A number of people have complained that the doll’s huge body tag (like the new TMs) sticks out when using a lot of Kavi’s wardrobe (because of the crop tops), so you’d want to take that into consideration. With the lack of fabric in most of the recent AG clothing releases, it’s probably time for them to consider a “tagless” stamp on, say, the doll’s bum, to replace that huge tag on her side that no one likes. This photo shows the best that the display people at the Columbus store could do: slice the tag off and let it fray where it stands. Hmm . . .
One last thought. Kavi’s pretty shoeless, since two of her four outfits don’t have shoes. Since most people have more than one doll and/or clothes, it shouldn’t be a problem. But if you’re buying Kavi as a first-doll gift for a little girl, you might want to consider a few extra pairs of shoes from the catalog.
 (⇓ after a title means we don’t recommend the set.)
DOLL
I enjoyed the Truly Me #117 when we had it here at the house for a short time (a friend’s purchase). I dislike the original Marie Grace as much as my twin sister loves her, but the new TM slightly-modified MGs (115, 116, 117) speak to me. When Kavi came out with that same face mold and the #20 plain old medium skin tone (a combo I’d been hoping for), I told Sis that we needed to look at Kavi to replace an original MG that she has. We came home today with one for a friend (shown below), and Sis is enjoying it so much that we’ll probably bring one home for her on our next trip down.
Here are photos of three Marie Grace face molds, left to right: #115 (in a CYO wig), an original Marie Grace (in a Tenney wig), and Kavi (straight from the box). The MG modification in the TMs is slight, but you can see what a difference the heightening of the neck (MG was very short) and different eyebrows makes in the overall appearance of each doll. (All three dolls have different-style eyebrows.) FWIW–Several of us have decided that it’s the part that adds to the different look. With a center or no part (like Kavi and #117), the resemblance to Marie Grace is very strong. Change them into a wig (like #115 and #116) with a side part, and there is a different, less-MG look about the doll. Interesting, huh?
Kavi’s a really cute doll! If you get a good one*, she photographs super well, with a great straight-ahead gaze. If you like(d) Marie Grace, you’re really going to like Kavi. She’s a very pleasing doll! (As usual, being pictures I took in the store with all those distorting colors, the colors shown here are pretty wacky. Please don’t color-match anything off of these.)
As for the wig, it’s surprisingly nice. And surprisingly BLACK! American Girl will tell you this is Dark Brown hair, but it isn’t. It’s a beautiful black (not blue back, like Asian hair) with the slightest bit of dark-brown strands strewn around; just enough to give it some depth. Even in natural light, it looks BLACK (with small dark-brown highlights if you look really closely). Mom wanted this wig, when Kavi was first leaked, to try on one of her Addy-mold dolls. On release day, though, we called AG and were told it was Dark Brown hair. Then the website listed it as Dark Brown, and Mom’s interest died. When we got to the store, though, there was this really nice, thick (for AG’s modern ones), black wig on Kavi. It’s the same color as the Truly Me #64 and #75, Kaya, and anything sold in the CYO line as black. The wigline is nice (like McKenna), even with the hair pulled back like she is in the box. Unlike McKenna, Kavi has a center part, so her hair looks good in lots of styles. And re-styling her hair makes her look like a different doll every time. Very versatile!
*Elizabeth here. I looked through 82 dolls in their boxes at the store today and was able to find only 5 that I would consider owning. We’ve looked through a lot of doll boxes over the years, and I can safely say that Kavi has some serious quality-control issues. I’d recommend that you only buy a Kavi doll by picking her out in person or calling the Chicago store for help from a Personal Shopper. There are three major issues here: eyes, teeth, and lip paint. The size of the eye sockets varies slightly from doll to doll, showing different amounts of whites. (Not like the old “bad eyes”, but similar to the new Truly Me dolls.) The left eye has a socket that can be larger than the other eye. Sometimes the left eyeball is right up against the edge of the opening (giving it a pop-eye look). This doll also has a tendency to have a left eye that looks down (similar to Josefina, but only in one eye). The teeth had a number of obvious variations: touched the bottom lip or not, short or long, off-center, two different sizes, etc. Each type gave the doll a different look/expression but wasn’t necessarily a deal-breaker. The lip paint is all over the place and very much a deal-breaker for me. The vinyl molding of the mouth is consistently fine, but the paint job was pretty sloppy. Too thin or too thick, uneven size, asymmetrical, curves not matching the molded lips, you name it. If you like these new, thicker eyebrows, you’ll be happy. They’re down near the eyes where they belong, and I didn’t see any that had placement issues. FWIW–The positive side of Kavi that makes her so photogenic means that some of the model dolls in store (or phone) pictures look good, until you see the faces close up. A number of these models in my sister’s store photos would not pass muster for me, but they still look fine in pix. Like I said, I recommend that you get a good close-up photo (or trust a Personal Shopper) before buying.
MEET OUTFIT
Similar to AG’s other Meet Outfits in fit and quality. There’s a colorful mesh top, silvery satin pants, and canvas-type (not plastic or stiff vinyl) high-top “converse-style” shoes. These would work great as separates, too, and I think they’re perfect for the World by Us crowd!
MEET ACCESSORIES
We don’t normally opt for doll accessory sets, but this one has brought us awfully close to breaking that tradition.Â
The hat is super adorable and very soft, but if you don’t put it on just right, it makes the dolls look frumpy. Pull it down in the back and tight on the head, then it’s really cute! (This would probably not work on a big-hair doll without messing up the hair or looking weird.)
The shoulder bag is a quilted vinyl hard-sider. Can’t say I’ve seen one like this before. I really like it, and I don’t use purses on my dolls as a rule. If you don’t like the crazy color combination on the bag and strap, you can easily change that grosgrain strap out for a different color from a craft store. The bag’s a bit on the large side: 2-1/2W x 2H x 1″D, so it will hold enough for the dolls to interact with it.
The plastic bangle bracelet is like others; but, as cute as it is, it did leave a shine mark on the doll we tried it on. The tiny hard-plastic figure of an elephant is similar to Playmobil or the prizes in Rebecca’s Coney Island Games set.
The “Weekly Planner” book is adorable. However, it’s marginally too large for the dolls but made so that a little girl could actually write in it.
This is a really cute acessory set. They should show this on some of their other dolls. If they added this set to the Truly Me side of the store, as well, I think it would sell like hotcakes.
PAJAMAS & SLIPPERS
These are so cute! I think I might have to go for these at some future date, and we haven’t bought PJs in a while. A little nicer fit and quality, in our opinion, than some of the more recent AG releases. The mix of royal blue and those crazy colors makes a nice change from the usual AG fare. The knit top actually meets the knit pants (decorated in metallic-y stars), which have a waistband that appears on the models at the store to be closer to the waistline, making for a nice fit.
It’s the slippers, though, and I’m not normally a slipper girl. I would really like to have these slippers and pajamas, so they’ve moved up on my want list. They look like crazy Kevin-from-Pixar-Up fluffy slip-ons with elastic around the back.
PET (DOG) ⇓
Worse than the usual non-poseable, very lightweight plush and food bowl of recent years. The satin ribbon they used is so cheap (think craft by the roll) that AG had to actually sew it into the dog’s neck. (You can’t remove it to replace it with a better one.) The silly “leash” is only 5-1/2″ long, so the doll can’t even pose with it, unless you want the dog dangling above the floor by its neck. The dog looks pretty cheesy sitting/lying/leaning on the floor (he’s stuck down in those posed shots) , though, so we just can’t recommend this as a pet. It has the feel of one of those $3 plushies you get in the seasonal aisle at big-box stores. On the other hand, if you’re a completist or want a cute plushie for your doll (not a pretend pet) and don’t mind paying $34 for one, it’s probably okay.
PERFORMANCE OUTFIT
Very nice outfit that has a lot of Corinne feel to it. The faux-fur jacket looks and feels similar to Corinne’s, down to the lining.
The pink boot-cut pants are nice, and the platform sandals are cute with their jelly straps.
I’d be a bit concerned about the sequined mesh top with the black lining staining the inside of the doll’s arms (where they press against the doll’s body) so would suggest you not store the doll with it on without the jacket over it. (We rolled up the top so that you could see the lining in this photo. The mesh sequin top comes to the top of the pants and is not a crop top like it looks here.
YOGA OUTFIT & ACCESSORIES
OUTFIT This fun outfit looks and feels just like the Truly Me yoga and ballet practice outfits that have been on the shelves for years now. I think this outfit might work really well with the new 1990s Isabel doll’s wardrobe, with that plum color all over the place. And the three pieces would be good mix-n-match clothes, too, not just exercise pieces. (I especially like the leggings. They pulled up more than this, but I think the stand had pushed them down a bit like you see.) I’m glad they sold this outfit separately, because for just under $11 a piece, you get nice mix-n-match clothes to add to any modern doll’s wardrobe.
ACCESSORIES ⇓ The duffel bag is similar to other AG dance bags. The mat is a rather thin piece of closed-cell foam that wants to roll up. If you’re going to pose your doll with it, you’ll want to put the mat under something really heavy for at least a couple of days to flatten it. The idea of an essential-oil bottle (which doesn’t look like one, with its plastic flip top) is a bit wacky, since the little girls who play with this should not have access to a real bottle of oil. (But, hey . . . the same company makes a coffee shop for 6-10 year olds to play with.) The towel is a joke, and they would have been better off not including that tiny bit of fabric. Or they should call it a washcloth, which is what it is. The book and poster are just what they look like.
FWIW–If I wanted a yoga outfit, I’d opt for AG’s Yog-Ahh Truly Me outfit. For $36, you get a cute outfit that doubles as going-out mix-n-match pieces plus a yoga mat. To get a similar outfit with a mat from Kavi’s collection, you have to spend $62 ($32+30).
BOLLYWOOD DANCE COSTUME
What a knock-out! I’d give this 5 stars for cuteness! It’s an eye-catcher on the dolls in the store, even on not-Kavi dolls like #122 (who pairs, by the way, with Kavi like they were made for each other).
Super similar (exact in some ways) to AG’s current Diwali Outfit in fabric and feel. The two outfits would make a nice pair, if you had two dolls in your set-up. Like the Diwali outfit, the Bollywood may stain the doll. (I would not attempt a wash or vinegar soak on either of these outfits, but others may have been successful with it.) It does have a costume feel about it, from the fabrics to the construction, but that’s what you’re buying, anyway, isn’t it?!
We’ve split Kavi’s large items off from the rest, because we don’t want this part of the review to color your decision-making on the rest of her collection. My opinion, and this is just my opinion, is that these three sets belong in WalMart. I really disliked the entire area filled with these items. It wasn’t the colors or styles of anything. It was my reaction when I rounded the corner to meet Kavi and was horrified at the freaky amount of SCHLOCK! And I mean SCHLOCK (look it up)! Mom kept peering in the cases and picking up display pieces, but it took me a couple of minutes to even raise my camera up to take photos for this review, since the stuff looks even worse through a lens. All I could see was the cheap, chunky bowing plastic pieces that couldn’t even hold up what they were made to support. What they’re selling you as clothes and shoes in these big sets is beyond description (you will not be getting AG quality in any of these pieces). As far as we’re concerned, this is not low-quality, it’s no-quality. In fact, I’m not going to describe the separate sets or their pieces. I’m going to let the photos speak their thousand words.
SONGWRITING ACCESSORIES⇓
The keyboard is too short for the doll’s fingers to get close to, and the stool she’s supposed to sit on weighs an ounce or two and spends its time falling down. The doll can not perch on the stool. But that’s okay, because the transparent-acrylic pieces were scratched and clouded beyond belief for something that’s only been out for two months. Think Dollar Tree meets Container Store.
Click on any picture to enlarge!
BACKSTAGE SET⇓
BACKSTAGE TRUNK⇓
If you’re okay with the plastic Harry Potter trunk, then this probably won’t bother you. The contents, in our opinion, are not worth mentioning.
