Alana Bennett: From Gone with The Wind to Modern Day Brides

By Lisa A. Lawrence

When I was 10, I saw Gone With the Wind.  That was it for me…I needed my own Rhett Butler.  My father described him as a “real man’s man.”  Yup, and I wanted him.  I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the movie or read the book.  In college, I decorated my apartment with an obnoxious amount of stills from The Movie.  Living near Hollywood, I was able to get tons of them!

Just after I graduated, Prince Charles finally chose a bride.  I stayed up all night to watch the wedding.  As much as I loved Scarlett, she couldn’t hold a candle to the real life Princess Diana.  I had no money, so I couldn’t collect any of the Diana memorabilia that immediately started flooding the market.  But, down came the GWTW pictures.  I had outgrown them. (Not Rhett though!  Never Rhett!)

Twelve years later, I was finally able to afford the Danbury Mint Princess Diana wedding set.  My collection started.  Then, the Franklin Mint entered the Diana memorabilia market in a big way.  I had to have ALL of it.  Fortunately, or not, depending on how you look at it, I have a Franklin Mint store only 5 miles away from where I live.  While frantically buying every Diana doll or outfit as fast as they came out, I often saw the Franklin Mint’s GWTW collection.  The porcelains were not at all appealing to me… they did not look remotely like the characters.  Then, the vinyl set came out.  The trunk, the fantastic wardrobe, a great looking Vivien Leigh as Scarlett doll. Still, I was enamored of Diana.  Scarlett was a thing of the past.

 As my Diana collection grew, I learned about the various Yahoo Groups where other Diana collectors gathered to discuss “all things Diana.”  These groups led me to join several other Yahoo Groups that were FM groups dealing with all of FM’s vinyl dolls.

 I had successfully avoided the other FM vinyl dolls.  When they brought out the Titanic Rose vinyl dress up doll, I was mildly interested, but fought temptation. Diana was taking up a ton of my “expendable” cash.  I didn’t need another collection; until the day I walked into the store and the entire Titanic collection was half off!  Even better, my mother was with me and mentioned buying the collection for my birthday and Christmas presents.  Done deal. 

Before Christmas even arrived, Alana Bennett posted on several of the Yahoo Groups that she would be making custom gowns for the FM Scarlett doll – all the ones the Mint had failed to produce.  Alana plays dirty.  She posted an FM Scarlett doll wearing Alana’s version of Scarlett’s Christmas dress. 

While the Mint's outfits for Scarlett were nicely done, Alana’s dress was phenomenal!   I had to have it!  But, you can’t have a gorgeous custom made Scarlett dress without having a Scarlett to wear it!  Somehow, this logic expanded to: you can’t have several custom made outfits without a Scarlett to wear each of the outfits AND have her trunk and initial FM wardrobe too.   Even if she’ll never wear the FM outfits… they are still needed as a “backdrop.” 

Within a month, I had purchased $900 of the initial FM Scarlett items, including the trunk, doll, 7 dresses and a mannequin, for less than half price on eBay.  It took me nearly a year to complete the rest of the FM set, as I refuse to pay more than half price for anything.  All of this was Alana’s fault! 

She continued to amaze me with these wonderful GWTW recreations.  Each outfit outdid the last.  The hand embroidery, the tiny pleats, the accessory sets.  I didn’t even pretend to think I wouldn’t get them.  In fact, I put myself on Alana’s permanent wait list for any and every GWTW outfit she decided to make.  Money was irrelevant.  Several times, I told Alana that she should charge more for the amount of work each outfit required.  Luckily, she has kept her prices very reasonable!  So, who is this Alana person anyway!???

Alana was born in Cortez, Colorado while her Air Force father was stationed in the Azores Islands.  The Red Cross contacted him and told him about his new child.  He was so excited he forgot to ask the sex of his child!  Assuming she was a he, her father named her Bert (after himself, Albert!)  “Thank goodness I was not a boy!” Alana exclaimed,   “My mother named me and I love the name she chose… but she always called me ‘Lana’.” 

Being an Air Force brat, Alana grew up in Alaska, Texas, North Dakota, Colorado and New Mexico.  Alana’s first husband was also in the Air Force, so with him, she also moved to Mississippi, New Mexico, back to Colorado and than finally to California in 1983.  Having lived there for 20 years now, she seems to finally be settled!

Alana has 3 adult sons, a wonderful adult stepdaughter and 5 grandchildren.  And, she’s not even in her late 40’s yet!

Around 1996, Alana bought her first doll.  “I saw ‘Enchanted Evening Barbie’ and she reminded me of the Barbies my sister and I had when were growing up.”  Alana recalls, “So I bought her first…. And my husband thought I was nuts!”  Asked how many dolls she now owns, Alana laughs, “I have never counted them but I would say at least 250!  Someday, I will have to count.”

Alana’s collection consists of mostly fashion dolls, including Vintage Barbie, Silkstone Barbie, Collector Barbies, Gene, Madra, Trent, Violet, Franklin Mint Vinyls, Tyler, Sydney, Jane, Kitty Collier, Tiny Kitty, Tiny Betsy, Kripplebush Kids, Ann Estelle and “just about any doll by Robert Tonner – LOL!”  She also collects Madame Alexander’s Cissy and a few other Alexander dolls including a few vintage ones.

Alana started sewing for dolls in 1996.  Within a year, she was making custom wedding gowns for a woman who made porcelain dolls.  Alana still does custom wedding gowns for dolls, now including recreations of a bride’s actual dress!  She opened her website, Doll Fashions by Alana (www.dollfashionsbyalana.com), in 1997.

While Alana does take commissions, she very rarely does one of a kinds – except for the wedding dress recreations of course!

Alana’s mother taught her how to hand sew and do embroidery and hand work at a very young age.  In Junior High School, Alana took home economics and learned how to sew on a sewing machine.  “From then on,” Alana asserts, “I guess you could say it was my passion!  My mother has always sewn so I learned a lot from her!” 

Alana researches her outfits before making them.   Her references include books, movies, paper dolls and some online sources that she researches before she actually sews her costumes.  Sometimes Alana is inspired by fabric she finds.  More often, Alana is challenged to find the perfect fabric that she needs for a particular outfit.  She shops for fabric at local fabric shops, thrift stores and online.  She also loves checking out fabric shops wherever she vacations!

Alana’s outfits, depending on how complicated they are, take her anywhere from one week to three months to make.  Obviously, she is inspired by movies and movie actresses, including Vivien Leigh and Marilyn Monroe.

Alana’s favorite part of her creations is the hand sewing and putting on the finishing touches.  Her least favorite?  Cutting out the pattern!

She rarely draws outfits unless it’s something that comes to mind while she is busy.  Then, she’ll sketch it out so she doesn’t forget it later!

While Alana currently works in a very small sewing room, her dream is to one day have a small house in back of her home which she could use for her sewing and her doll collection.  A “real” dollhouse!

Alana is content with her current business – she has enough orders to keep herself busy seven days a week, usually 4-8 hours per day.  She has no interest in having a manufacturing type of business.

“My pictures are not as creative or as good as some I have seen, so I think that is my biggest stumbling block.” Alana relates, “I just don’t have time to put that much effort towards it and I know if I did better, I might get more business.”  What?  Sewing 7 days a week isn’t enough!

In late Fall, 2002, Alana came out with her Love Bird Gown for Scarlett.  As usual, the gown was impeccable!  But, Alana couldn’t find enough birds for the dresses to fulfill her orders. One of those orders was mine.  I went to 5-6 craft shops in one week, buying out every 1” bird in the county, just to make sure we ALL got our gowns!  It was worth it!  Even more so after Alana had Marcia of Facets create a custom necklace/earring set to go with the gown!   These days, I’m bugging Alana for Ashley’s Christmas uniform.  She has one in Ken-size and it's just too cute!  I have to have one!

Recently, Alana has expanded her website and added both period dresses (think "Emma") and contemporary fashions.  But don't worry, she's still doing all the GWTW outfits and her special wedding dresses!

I don’t have any children to whom I can leave my Scarlett collection.  With Alana’s dresses, the collection is way too special to ever break apart and sell.  I don’t even think I’ll sell it intact.  I’m hoping to donate it to a museum or library where it can be on permanent display for others to enjoy throughout the upcoming generations.  Ok, Alana, stop reading this and get working on my Ashley uniform! I NEED it!