{"id":46389,"date":"2025-03-23T07:43:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T11:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/a-meghan-markle-approved-doll-that-gives-toddlers-a-taste-for-finer-things\/23\/03\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-03-23T07:43:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T11:43:29","slug":"a-meghan-markle-approved-doll-that-gives-toddlers-a-taste-for-finer-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/a-meghan-markle-approved-doll-that-gives-toddlers-a-taste-for-finer-things\/23\/03\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"A Meghan Markle-Approved Doll That Gives Toddlers a Taste for Finer Things"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWith Love, Meghan,\u201d the Netflix <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/01\/style\/meghan-with-love-netflix-lifestyle.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">series<\/a> starring and produced by <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/11\/style\/meghan-markle-sussex-surname.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Meghan, Duchess of Sussex<\/a>, immerses viewers in her world of at-home luxury. But for the most part, it diligently avoids mentions of specific brands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Certain episodes offer glimpses of brand-name items in Meghan\u2019s universe. In one, while describing the outfit she is wearing, Meghan names three labels (Loro Piana, Zara, Jenni Kayne) to telegraph a preference for mixing high and low. In a later episode, she identifies another product \u2014 a doll belonging to Lilibet, her 3-year-old daughter \u2014 that, by Meghan\u2019s description, comes across as squarely luxurious.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It has \u201ca little baguette and a little cheese,\u201d Meghan says, \u201cand the name of the doll is Stella Al Fresco.\u201d (Its full name, in fact, is Wee Baby Stella peach Al Fresco.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">These plush dolls, which are marketed for toddlers, are from a line called <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manhattantoy.com\/pages\/love-stella\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Love, Stella<\/a>. They have a Cabbage Patch quality thanks to features like round faces and chubby arms. Stella dolls are very popular among customers of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theacornstore.com\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Acorn Store<\/a>, a toy store in Santa Monica, Calif., which is about 80 miles down the coast from where Meghan and Prince Harry live in Montecito.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As are other toys involving breads and cheeses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBaguette toys have been trending like crazy,\u201d said Heather Hamilton, 53, who owns the store. \u201cIt\u2019s rampant across Southern California: the baguette, the charcuterie, the cheese boards. Kids really like imitating life, and if this is what they\u2019re seeing on their parents\u2019 patio, then they just pretend play.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Stella dolls, which start at around $20, take various forms: Some look like toddlers, others look like newborns and all come with pacifiers that magnetically attach to their mouths. The line also includes a variety of clothing and accessory sets, like an extravagant picnic collection that costs $35 and comes with a checkered blanket and snacks including a plush sandwich and watermelon wedge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rachel Sawatsky, 29, who has a 3-year-old son and a 7-month-old daughter, owns a Stella doll and several accessory sets. Ms. Sawatsky, a social media manager who lives outside Toronto, gravitated toward the toy partly because it is \u201cnot too obnoxious-looking,\u201d as she put it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey\u2019re just cuter than classic baby dolls,\u201d she said, adding that she wasn\u2019t too surprised to learn that Meghan had a Stella doll. \u201cOh yeah, of course Meghan likes it,\u201d Ms. Sawatsky recalled thinking. \u201cIt\u2019s just an elevated doll.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Lindsey White, 34, who lives outside Chicago, also said the look of the toys was partly what led her to buy one for her son around the time of his second birthday. \u201cIt seemed hip and cool, but still a baby doll,\u201d said Ms. White, who has a part-time job doing marketing for local restaurants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She added that her son, now 6, \u201cwas always obsessed with babies\u201d and that the Stella doll allowed him to pretend to play caretaker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Gloria Pruett, a mother of 2-year-old and 5-month-old sons in Lawrence County, Tenn., said Stella products were often cited as toys that promote nurturing when she was searching online for dolls to buy for her eldest son when he was a baby. \u201cI did a lot of research,\u201d Ms. Pruett, 25, said. \u201cA lot of videos that came up were about the Stella doll.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Love, Stella line is made by Manhattan Toy in Minneapolis, which was founded in 1978 by Francis Goldwyn, the grandson of Hollywood mogul Samuel Goldwyn. It is no longer manufacturing the Al Fresco doll, but some are still available for purchase. (At $49, it was one of the priciest.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Amanda Molstad, Manhattan Toy\u2019s product marketing and brand manager, said the Al Fresco doll and its other Stella products are intentionally designed to reflect behaviors that children might have observed in their parents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cPlay is learning,\u201d Ms. Molstad, 36, said. \u201cAnd this is where children are able to learn and develop their skills, by acting out what they see in reality, because they\u2019re watching their parents.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Accessories like the plush pacifiers, cheeses and fruits are geared toward imitative play, she added. Toddlers can feed the dolls in the same way their parents feed them. (In her Netflix series, Meghan says multiple times that feeding people is her \u201clove language.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Molstad characterized the Al Fresco doll as fitting into the type of aspirational lifestyle evangelized by Meghan in her show.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cShe\u2019s in her own bubble and realm, but yet, she has this ability to be relevant for moms today,\u201d Ms. Molstad said. \u201cShe\u2019s created this perfect medium between relatable and also completely unattainable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One of the Love, Stella accessory sets, a $20 kit for \u201ctravel adventures,\u201d comes with flower-shaped sunglasses, a tiny passport and soft stamps that can be affixed to it. But instead of the names of faraway countries, the passport\u2019s stamps feature ordinary locations: my home, the market, grandma and grandpa\u2019s house. By casting routine excursions as an adventure, the stamps recall another ethos Meghan espouses in her show: elevating the everyday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/23\/style\/meghan-markle-sussex-stella-al-fresco-doll.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&ldquo;With Love, Meghan,&rdquo; the Netflix series starring and produced by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, immerses viewers in her world of at-home luxury.<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/a-meghan-markle-approved-doll-that-gives-toddlers-a-taste-for-finer-things\/23\/03\/2025\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/23\/multimedia\/23ST-STELLA-ALFRESCO-02-khtl\/23ST-STELLA-ALFRESCO-02-khtl-facebookJumbo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46389"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}