Hayley - Shooting Star of the Fashion Doll World
Hayley - Shooting Star of the Fashion Doll World Hayley, a Gene clone, appeared on shelves briefly in 1998 © 1998 by Kathryn E. Darden On the horizon of the doll collecting world, visible for a brief time, a small, bright star that quickly disappeared... was it Haley's comet? No, just Hayley. During the first couple of weeks of November 1998, doll collectors who haunt the aisles of toy stores noticed a new girl on the shelves of a few select Toys ìRî Us stores. A few inches taller than Barbie, manufactured by the Soft Luv company, Hayley came in eight different outfits with three distinct facial styles. Those of us who are Gene aficionados immediately recognized the similarities. For those of you who have not been paying attention, Gene was created in 1991 by Mel Odom, an award-winning New York artist and illustrator. Ashton-Drake, an affiliate of The Bradford Exchange, began marketing the Gene doll in 1995. Since then Gene's popularity has soared as she