All dolled up

Melissa Schorr

Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1998 | 11:32 a.m.

Lenore Tollens holds a nylon stocking stuffed with Fiberfill cotton in one hand, a needle and thread in another. Pinching the cloth together, she carefully pulls the needle back and forth through the pillow and suddenly, in the middle of the fabric, a nose appears.

"The face is the best part because it's always a surprise," the Indonesian native declares in her fragmented English, as she critically assesses the pug nose that has emerged. "Every doll comes out different. One time, I made one that looked like (former auto maker) John DeLorean. You never know how it's going to come out."

You also never know how a business idea is going to come about.

A friend of Tollens' asked if she could borrow one of the nearly life-size dolls she had made to take along on a drive to Arizona, because she didn't want the appearance of driving alone. The idea for a business was sparked, and today, the 72-year-old has carved out a niche sewing and selling the 4-foot tall "soft sculpture" dolls.

A California store where the dolls are sold ran out of its supply, and Tollens has gone global with a website (poppyluv.com) to market the $125 dolls over the Internet.

Each doll is dressed flamboyantly, decked out from head to toe in brightly colored wigs by Serges Showgirl Wigs in Las Vegas, and what Tollens calls "sporty clothing" -- pint-sized jeans, sneakers, and t-shirts from Kmart and thrift stores. A hat or a pair of pearls accessorizes the outfit.

"The dolls are not for children," Tollens note. Most customers either keep them in their cars to make it appear that they aren't driving alone, or use them to decorate their homes.

With their long curly wigs and pursed pink lips, the dolls are a cross between Cabbage Patch Kids and the Crazy Girls.

"Every time I make a doll, I have an improvement, because I know what mistakes I made," she says. For example, she now sticks pre-cut lips on them rather than shape a pair out of the existing fabric.

Tollens says it takes her about an hour to complete a face and about a week for an entire doll. Usually, though, she works on several dolls at a time, going section by section.

The life-like appearance of the dolls has led to some comic misunderstandings.

One time, Tollens was driving with a doll sitting next to her in the passenger seat. After stopping short, the doll fell forward and Tollens smacked it back in place. A adjacent driver gave her a dirty look, thinking the doll was a little girl.

Another time, a doll slumped over the steering wheel of a parked car led observers to think it was a dead body.

And Tollens' husband, Paul, says he gets funny looks from other men when he has one of the flashy dolls sitting alongside to him. "All the guys laugh at me," he admits.

The dolls are not Tollens' first foray into entrepreneurship.

She and her husband moved to Las Vegas from North Hollywood, Calif., about four years ago after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. She had spent more than 30 years there crocheting and knitting outfits worn by stars including Nancy Sinatra, Jane Meadows and Pricilla Presley. Her clothing line, called Poppyluv, was sold in stores including Frederick's Of Hollywood and Contempo.

"I started (making clothes) during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia" during World War II, she recalls. Tollens would crochet slinky bikinis, halter tops and sweaters -- the kind similar to those in style now.

"I got orders from prostitutes," she confides in a whisper, still slightly scandalized at the idea.

Tollens still has a supply of samples left over, but says she doesn't sport the outfits herself. "I have a daughter that wears it, but I'm too out of shape," she laughs.

For now, she is focusing on the dolls.

"I make funny faces, sweet faces -- sweet faces are more difficult to sell," she notes, not knowing the reason why.

That may be why Tollens has decided to branch out into the political world, starting with a Clinton doll which is currently in the works. "I'm starting to make a Richard Nixon doll, too," she adds, "but his nose is so big, it's hard to do."

What kind of person does she think would want to buy such a doll?

"I don't know," she smiles impishly. "(Monica) Lewinsky?"