MAGIC LOCKET DOLL - DEBBIE

MAGIC LOCKET DOLL - DEBBIE.

Here is the other "magic" locket doll from my collection. Debbie is a bit older than Susie in appearance and sports a swinging 60's wardrobe. Once again I chose the heart locket push pin that was supposed to hold the clothes in place but added my own tabs to the outfits so the doll can be used like a regular paper doll.

More interesting dolls coming up next week!

 

MAGIC LOCKET DOLL- SUSIE

MAGIC LOCKET DOLL - SUSIE.

Here's another gimmick paper doll, this time from the 1970's. Like the "Magic" dolls these clothes came with no tabs originally but did come with an assortment of gold plastic "Lockets" which could be pushed through holes in the outfits and dolls to hold them together. This was actually a nifty idea for the first few playing's. Of course after awhile the holes got worn through rendering them unusable unless you were very careful.

Here I have digitally eliminated the hole from the doll itself and added one of the lockets in place on the scanned clothes. I chose the heart shape as it seemed to best fit the style of the outfits. I've also added tabs so the doll can be played with again as a normal paper doll.

I have two of these and I will post the second one tomorrow. 

 

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