REAL HAIR DOLL

REAL HAIR DOLL.

Another gimmick used to make one paper doll product stand out from the rest was the "Real" hair doll. These were made of heavier pressed cardboard and had crepe hair, a rayon product used to make beards and mustaches in theatrical productions, attached to the doll's head. There were a number of these dolls produced in the 1960's with different looks and hair colors and I suppose the idea was to make the child feel she was playing with more of a real doll instead of flat paper. After awhile this synthetic hair would become matted and frizzed out. Of course there is no way to replicate the hair in scans like these but I thought this doll was the prettiest example. 

 

MAGIC BARBIE 1973

MAGIC BARBIE 1973.

This week I'm going to take a look at some of the many gimmicks publishers would use to make their paper doll sets stand out from the rest. The biggest one by far was the "Magic" doll with tabless clothes that would stay on by static electricity.....supposedly. A surprising number of sets were put out this way even though the "Magic" rarely worked very well and the clothes didn't stay in place for long.

As you can see I have added tabs back onto Barbie's outfits so this fun little set can be used as a paper doll again if you want.

 

1990'S FASHION MODELS

1990'S FASHION MODELS.

Rounding out the week's look at paper dolls as a designer's resource are these leggy ladies from 30 years ago. Fashion from the 1980's onward seems to be a catch-all of styles from the various decades of the previous century with no one silhouette dominating the overall look. 

More fun paper dolls are coming up next week so follow along!

 

700TH POST! - THEN AND NOW

700TH POST! - THEN AND NOW.

It is amazing to realize that we have reached 700 posts on this blog! What better subject that this set from 1976 featuring representations of fashion styles from the 1890's, 1920's, 1940's and 1970's.

I began this blog because of my interest in paper dolls for costume research and because I am partially disabled which leaves me plenty of time on the computer to pursue that interest among others.

 I have also written five books on puppetry, my other interest. If you are interested in that or know someone who is then follow these links:

puppetsandmarionettes.blogspot.com

funwithfabricmarionettes.blogspot.com

funwithfabrichandpuppets.blogspot.com

makeyourownfairytalemarionettes.blogspot.com

and

Funwithfabricglovepuppets.blogspot.com

 

NATIONAL TRUST DOLLS

NATIONAL TRUST DOLLS.

One of the reasons that I began collecting paper dolls some years ago was my study of fashions from different periods of time, a useful tool to have as a theater designer. This set was issued by the Killerton House Collection in Devon, U.K. and features drawings of actual clothing from the extensive archive of fashion located there.

 Often when replicating period clothes for stage productions it is more important to get the silhouette correct rather than focusing on specific details of actual outfits. Studying paper dolls helps the designer achieve that overall look. 

We'll take a different view of fashion tomorrow.