"Look at Her" Zuri Okoty by Integrity Toys x Jason Kramer
- Wendy Dandridge
- Jan 30
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 10
January 30, 2025
How can I describe the way this Zuri makes me feel? Being in the room with her definitely gives you a feeling, that you're in the Prescence of someone important, someone noteworthy, someone regal. At the very least this gorgeous woman is here to have her picture taken with all this jewelry on and this stunning silk dress.
Zuri arrived at my house in a box with 3 other dolls that I had been eagerly awaiting after it had been to some parts of the country that were decidedly not on the way to my house. The box was just achingly late enough for the flame of joy to die and smolder in my heart and then be re-lit by the actual arrival of the prodigal box much later than promised (I think I have a harder time than most with the waiting during shipping period, I openly admit). But which doll to choose for my first blogpost? Everyone was talking about Imogen, so I thought she would certainly knock my socks off. I decided to just take whichever doll grabbed me the most. When I opened her shipper and saw Zuri I think I almost gasped. Her face is stunning, she is definitely the one. Her eyes are strikingly beautiful.
I will say up front that I am one of those people who loves an open lip and a slightly visible set of front teeth on a doll when done well. That's probably partly why I love Zuri because her sculpt pushes the visible teeth parameter right up to the line without going over. She's slightly toothsome but still sophisticated. Whatever the reason, I've seen people say "Well I already have a Zuri so I probably don't need this one, etc" about certain versions of this doll because of her hair, makeup, or skintone. But I will not limit my Zuris. I will have as many of her that come out as I like and I will get them a little bathroom sink, and little toothbrushes and they can all brush their teeny tiny front teeth together every night before bed.
"Look at Her" Zuri is a mermaid doll, a reference to the shape of her skirt. When I was little, I destroyed with what looked like malice, but with what I contend to this day was healthy self-expression and a burgeoning creativity the small army of dolls of every type that my poor mother bought for me, but my older sister was a master at keeping dolls (everything) pristine. She had a beautiful pink mermaid doll (in the box of course) that I used to sneak into her room (I was NOT allowed in there) and climb up on her bed and crane my little neck up at her highest shelf to gaze longingly at. She was tall, with a long dress that hugged her torso and upper thighs and flared out at the bottom, and beautiful puffy sleeves. She had a big broad brim straw hat full of flowers and her brown hair was tucked up into it. She gave an hourglass shape, but the top of the hourglass was her hat, and the bottom was the hem of her dress. The material of her dress was a pretty pink pinstripe, and the doll's face was a painted porcelain, all flawless. In her dainty porcelain hand was tied a pretty pink parasol that probably didn't open but looked adorable. I never got to touch that doll but clearly, she made an impression on me, and I still love mermaid dolls, even if they're not dressed like 1920's school marms.
Zuri's shoes are very elegant, the straps are made from ribbon and they zip up in the back. Challenging to get on, I used a safety pin to get her toes through the last two loops combined with the wiggle method. They're pretty sturdy and stood up to my handling of them, despite my well-established occasional bear-like proclivities with doll accessories. It's a shame they will never be seen underneath all that skirt, but you can see just how easy it will be for Zuri to dance in these. Beauty is pain.
This is the most jewelry I've ever had on a doll. I'm sure it's not unprecedented at Integrity Toys, I'm sure it's been done before. I've just never had a doll with this much gold and jewels on her and I'm impressed. Her accessory box was the heaviest I've ever gotten with a doll, I swear it weighed almost a pound! If you look closely at her top, you can see it is almost whimsically tailored, it's really a delight all by itself. The material her ensemble is made of feels like real silk, it's more lustrous than what I'm used to seeing on dolls dresses, and it shines like silk too. It's not just the satin lining that they use on a tweed jacket made into a dress you know what I mean? This is a separate fabric all its own. Very nice. And I don't know if the designer Jason Kramer designed the pink glitter lip purse with the gold chain or not but that's an easy 10/10 from me.
One of the most exciting things about the new Meteor collection is the addition of a new hand sculpt - coffin nails!!!! This is very exciting for me because I was a teenager in the 90's and had fake nails in the 00's and so of course I had square nails! Lort! If you missed it, they were so hot!!! I've just been waiting for them to come back into style so we can get rid of this alarming unnatural almond shape trend. Look how good they look!
This Zuri is so inspired and dreamy to me. Jason Kramer has done such a great job with her that you would think he invented the character himself. The designer who started and cultivated the Meteor line thus far has left Integrity Toys, and if I had my heart's wish for the line, Jason would take over from here. I realize that's probably not likely to happen with IT recently announcing their 2 new designers in residence but who knows? There are 4 dolls in this collection, and they all seem to perfectly fit in and even be perfect for running a nightclub to me. Well actually one is just a bartender, one is a singer, and she comes with a stylist that is the third doll so really Zuri is the only one left running things. That seems about right, and this Zuri is so together I'm sure she could handle just about anything.
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