Fashion dolls are dolls primarily designed to be dressed to reflect fashion trends. They are manufactured both as toys for children to play with and as collectibles for adults. The dolls are usually modeled after teen girls or adult women, though child, male, and even some non-human variants exist. Contemporary fashion dolls are typically made of vinyl or another plastic.
Barbie was released by the American toy-company Mattel in 1959, and was followed by many similar vinyl fashion dolls intended as children's toys. The size of the Barbie, 11.5 inches (290 mm) set the standard often used by other manufacturers. But fashion dolls have been made in many different sizes varying from 10.5 to 36 inches (270 to 910 mm).
Costumers and seamstresses use fashion dolls as a canvas for their work. Customizers repaint faces, reroot hair, or do other alterations to the dolls themselves. Many of these works are one-of-a-kind and are referred to as art dolls. These artists are usually not connected to the original manufacturers and sell their work to collectors.
Fashion dolls may have been in use as early as the 14th century, [1] and from around 1642 onwards some were called "Pandora". [1] They were in use at European royal courts in the 16th century to show the tactile qualities of fashion which could not be incorporated into paintings or described to tailors in words. A letter dated 1515 and sent by Federico Gonzaga on behalf of King Francis I of France to his mother Isabella d'Este asks her to send a fashion doll to the French court so that copies of her style might be made for the women of France. [2]
As an adult in Scotland, Mary, Queen of Scots owned dolls, called "pippens", which were dressed by her tailors, and may have been fashion dolls. [3] [4] Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII, owned great and little "babies" dressed in gowns of cloth of silver, satin, and velvet tied with gold "aglettes", like her own sleeves. [5]
In a treatise on collecting printed in 1565, Samuel Quiccheberg noted that princesses and queens sent each other dolls with details of foreign clothing. [6] Jeanne d'Albret bought dolls, called poupines, in 1571. [7] In April 1604, Helena Snakenborg, Marchioness of Northampton had a doll dressed in the latest fashion in London to send to her sister Karin Bonde in Sweden. [8]
During the period of 1715–1785, Pandora dolls became more common and were manufactured and used by seamstresses, milliners, tailors and fashion merchants, and displayed in their shop windows and sent across borders to illustrate the latest fashion trends. [9] Rose Bertin was among those fashion merchants who used them. Pandora dolls fell out of fashion in the late 18th-century, when illustrated fashion magazines became common after the publication of Cabinet des Modes , and were finally banned by Napoleon I, who feared that they could be used to smuggle secret messages. [10]
During the first half of the 19th century, fashion dolls were sometimes used to display fashion garments for clients before it was made in the salon of the milliner, seamstress or tailor, until Charles Frederick Worth introduced living human models in the 1850s. [11]
The earliest bisque dolls from French companies were fashion dolls. These dominated the market between approximately 1860 and 1890. [12] They were made to represent grown up women and intended for children of affluent families to play with and dress in contemporary fashions. [12] These dolls came from companies like Jumeau, Bru, Gaultier, Rohmer, Simone and Huret, though their heads were often manufactured in Germany. [12] In the Passage Choiseul area of Paris an industry grew around making clothing and accessories for the dolls. [12] Child like bisque dolls appeared in the mid-19th century and overtook the market towards the end of the century. [12]
Jackie Ormes contracted with the Terri Lee doll company in 1947 to produce a play doll based on her little girl cartoon character in Patty-Jo 'n Ginger. [13] As in the cartoon, the doll represented a real child, in contrast to the majority of dolls that were mammy and Topsy-type dolls. The dolls were popular with both black and white children. [14]
The first American fashion doll, Cissy, was released by the Alexander Doll Company in 1955. Cissy sported a pronounced bosom and high-heeled shoes. [15]
Marilú was an Argentine composition doll that was highly popular in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. [16] It was created by Alicia Larguía, who was inspired by the French predecessor of Bleuette, a doll available through the famous magazine for girls La Semaine de Suzette [17] The game proposed by Marilú was, on the one hand, that of the transmission of motherhood in the girls—who were called the doll's "mommies"—, but the doll's clothing also occupied a central role. [18] The advertisements encouraged girls to change and renew the doll's clothes according to the occasion or season, with the Marilú brand thus promoting the clothes they made to accompany the toy. [18] In addition, the Billiken and Marilú magazines included patterns for the girls or someone in their family to sew the doll's wardrobe, and published instructions and fashion tips. [19] [18] In this way, Marilú can be placed within the genealogy of fashion dolls, such as the Gaultier dolls, the Huret dolls, or the more recent Vogue dolls and Barbies. [20] [18]
Barbie was launched by the American toy company Mattel in 1959, inspired by the German Bild Lilli doll. Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for more than fifty years.
Many fashion doll lines have been inspired by Barbie, or launched as alternatives to Barbie. Tammy was created by the Ideal Toy Company in 1962. [21] Advertised as "The Doll You Love to Dress", Tammy was portrayed as a young American teenager, more "girl next door" than the cosmopolitan image of Barbie. [21] Sindy was created by the British Pedigree Dolls & Toys company in 1963 as a rival to Barbie with a wholesome look.
American Character Doll Company released their "Tressy" fashion doll in 1963 to compete with Barbie. Tressy was first sold as an 11½" fashion doll, and, after being acquired by the Ideal Toy Company, by the late 60s was sold as a larger pre-teen doll. Tressy featured a long swatch of hair that could be pulled out of the top of the doll's head by pushing a button on the doll's midriff; that mechanism allowed children the ability to comb the hair in a variety of styles. In the late 1960s and early 1970s Ideal released several other large fashion dolls with hair with adjustable length.
The Crissy Doll and friends along with the Velvet Doll and friends are 18". British designer Mary Quant's Daisy doll from 1973 had a large selection of contemporary 70s fashion designed by Quant.
Fulla is marketed to children of Islamic and Middle-Eastern countries as an alternative to Barbie. The concept of her evolved around 1999, and she hit stores in late 2003. [22]
Bratz were released in 2001, designed by Carter Bryant and manufactured by California toy company MGA Entertainment. [23] They are distinguished by large heads with skinny bodies and lush, glossy lips. [23]
Mattel introduced the My Scene line in 2002 and the Flavas line in 2003 to rival Bratz. [24] [25] [26]
In 2010 Mattel launched the Monster High doll line, based on fantasy and horror monsters. Subsequently, they launched a spinoff in 2013, titled Ever After High, inspired by fairytales. In 2016, both lines went through a massive reboot and were discontinued soon after. Also in 2016, Mattel launched an animal-themed line titled Enchantimals; it was originally a spinoff of Ever After High but became its own line soon after.[ citation needed ]
In 2014, artist Nickolai Lamm unveiled Lammily, [27] a fashion doll based on Lamm's study comparing Barbie's figure with measurements matching those of an average 19-year-old woman. [28]
Asian fashion dolls are made by Asian manufacturers and primarily targeted to an Asian market. Blythe dolls with oversized heads and color changing eyes were originally made by American company Kenner but are now produced by Japanese company Takara. Another doll with an oversized head, Pullip, was created in 2003 in Korea. Japanese fashion dolls marketed to children include Licca (introduced in 1967) and Jenny (introduced in 1982) by Takara Tomy.
In the mid-1990s larger fashion dolls mostly marketed to adult collectors appeared. These include Gene Marshall from Ashton-Drake, Tyler Wentworth from Tonner and Alexandra Fairchild Ford from Madame Alexander. They are between 15.5 and 16 inches (390 and 410 millimetres), larger than typical fashion dolls marketed as children's toys. In 2005, London artists Desmond Lingard and Charles Fegen, created Sybarites, 16" resin artist-dolls as fashion dolls for adult collectors.
Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll which Handler had purchased while in Europe. The figurehead of an eponymous brand that includes a range of fashion dolls and accessories, Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for over six decades. Mattel has sold over a billion Barbie dolls, making it the company's largest and most profitable line. The brand has expanded into a multimedia franchise since 1984, including video games, animated films, television/web series, and a live-action film.
Ruth Marianna Handler was an American business magnate and inventor. She is best known for inventing the Barbie doll in 1959, and being co-founder of toy manufacturer Mattel with her husband Elliot, as well as serving as the company's first president from 1945 to 1975.
Since Barbie's introduction as a teenage fashion model in 1959, the doll has been portrayed with many careers. Dolls are sold with sets of clothes and accessories that fit the career being portrayed. For example, the Lifeguard Barbie playset includes a Barbie, an outfit with shoes, a lifeguard chair, a dolphin, and a life preserver, while the Spanish Teacher Barbie includes a Barbie, an outfit with shoes, flashcards, a Spanish quiz, an easel, a notebook, a key chain, and a hairbrush.
Totally Hair Barbie is a fashion doll, in the Barbie line by Mattel, that was released in 1992. The doll's extra-long hair reached all the way to her toes and at the time, she had the longest hair ever for a Barbie doll at 11.5 inches in length. She is notable for being the highest selling Barbie doll in history, having racked up $100 million worldwide in 1992.
What's Her Face! was a line of customizable dolls that straddled the line between traditional fashion dolls and creative activity toys. Made by Mattel, the line ran from 2001–2003, and enjoyed only a modest success in a market dominated by Mattel's iconic Barbie and MGA Entertainment's Bratz dolls. Following the discontinuation of the What's Her Face! line, their body molds were used for the Wee 3 Friends line of Barbie-related dolls. Several fashion, wig, and activity packs were also released for the What's Her Face line.
Bleuette is a doll that was produced from 1905 to 1960 in France and was available to readers of the girls' magazine La Semaine de Suzette, or the English version, "Suzette's Week".
My Scene was an American series of fashion dolls that Mattel released in 2002. They were discontinued in the US in 2008, and worldwide in 2011. Mattel's Barbie character was one of the dolls in the toy line. The My Scene dolls' bodies were slim, similar to earlier Barbie dolls, but their heads were larger. The New York Times described their features as "exaggerated lips and bulging, makeup-caked eyes." My Scene were designed to appeal to the tween market and compete with the Bratz dolls from MGA Entertainment.
Flavas is an American line of fashion dolls created by Mattel in 2003. They are multi-ethnic and have an urban, hip hop style with "bling-bling" jewellery and stick-on tattoos, described as "ghetto-fabulous" by Newsweek. They were designed to appeal to tweens and compete with the widely successful Bratz dolls. They were marketed as "reality-based" and "authentic" and have more points of articulation than traditional fashion dolls for more expressive posing.
The Bild Lilli doll was a West German line of fashion doll launched by Greiner & Hausser GmbH on August 12, 1955 and produced until 1964. Its design was based on the comic-strip character Lilli, created by Reinhard Beuthien for the tabloid newspaper Bild. The doll was made of polystyrene, came in two sizes, and had an available wardrobe of 1950s fashion. The Lilli doll was copied, and altered to some degree, for Mattel upon the direction of that company's co-founder, Ruth Handler. Mattel acquired the rights to Bild Lilli in 1964, and production of the German doll ceased in favor of Mattel's new vinyl doll, which they called Barbie.
Fulla is the name of an 11.5 in (290 mm) Barbie-like fashion doll marketed to children of Islamic and Middle-Eastern countries as an alternative to Barbie. The product's concept evolved around 1999, and it became available for sale in late 2003. Fulla was created by a Syrian manufacturer called NewBoy FZCO. In 2015 the company moved to the United Arab Emirates and is now located in Dubai. Fulla was also sold in China, in Brazil, North Africa, Egypt, and Indonesia, while a few were sold in the United States. Although there had been many other dolls in the past that were created with a hijab, such as Razanne and Moroccan Barbie, Fulla surpassed them in popularity due to launching alongside a marketing campaign aired on the popular Arabic television channel Spacetoon. Fulla was a role-model to some Muslim people, displaying how many Muslim parents would prefer their daughters to dress and behave.
Sindy is a British fashion doll created by Pedigree Dolls & Toys in 1963. A rival to Barbie, Sindy's look and range of fashions and accessories made her the best-selling toy in the United Kingdom in 1968 and 1970. After Marx Toys' unsuccessful attempt to introduce Sindy in the United States in the late 1970s, Hasbro bought the rights to Sindy and remodelled the doll to look more American. As a result, the doll's popularity declined; in addition, Barbie manufacturer Mattel filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, which was settled when Hasbro agreed to remodel Sindy's face. During the 1990s, Barbie's share of the doll market continued to grow while Sindy's diminished, which led to Sindy being delisted from major retailers in 1997. Hasbro returned the doll's licence to Pedigree, and the doll was relaunched in 1999, manufactured by Vivid Imaginations. Sindy's 40th anniversary in 2003 saw a new manufacturer, New Moons, and another relaunch and redesign. There were further relaunches in 2016 by Tesco and in 2021 by Kid Kreations. There is a 60th anniversary Sindy doll which was launched at the end of 2023 to celebrate 60 years of Sindy.
Maxie's World is an American animated children's television program produced by DIC Animation City. Distributed by Claster Television and Saban International and originally aired in first-run syndication in the United States from September 18, 1989 through October 30, 1989. It consists of one season, comprising a total of 32 episodes, each 15 minutes long. In the series' original run, Maxie's World alternated on weekdays with Beverly Hills Teens and It's Punky Brewster. The series was briefly rerun on USA Network in 1994.
Barbie and the Rockers was a doll line created in the mid-1980s by Mattel to compete with Hasbro's popular Jem doll line. They were on the market for roughly 3 years; a direct-to-video special, titled Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World, was released in 1987. The characters include Diva, Dana, Dee-Dee, and Derek; Ken joined the band in later waves.
Tressy was an American fashion doll with a feature to adjust the length of its hair. Tressy was first produced by American Character Doll Company in the 1960s and later by Ideal Toy Company in the 1970s. The doll was invented and patented by modern furniture designer Jesse Dean and his wife, Diana.
Earring Magic Ken, also known as "Gay Ken" and "Fey Ken", is a model of the Ken doll introduced by Mattel in 1993 as a companion to its Earring Magic Barbie figure, one of five dolls in the Earring Magic Barbie line.
Monster High is an American multimedia-supported fashion doll franchise created by toy designer Garrett Sander and launched by Mattel in 2010. Aimed at children ages 7-14, the franchise features characters inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, thriller fiction, folklore, myths and popular culture, centering around the adventures of the teenage children of monsters and other mythical creatures attending a high school of the same name.
Girls' toys and games are toys and games specifically targeted at girls by the toy industry. They may be traditionally associated either exclusively or primarily with girls by adults and used by girls as an expression of identity. One commentator have argued that the market for girl's toys and games is more challenging than that for boys' toys and games.
Creatable World is the first line of gender-neutral dolls produced by Mattel. Creatable World dolls differ in design from other dolls produced by Mattel. The design of the doll is unique and is noticeably different from both Barbie and Ken; there are no curves or broad shoulders present on the dolls. The doll does not have breasts like Barbie does and has other features that do not display an obvious gender. The dolls are designed to be versatile: with wigs to change hairstyles and a variety of clothing options. Research and design for the doll line's development took 18 months. Mattel tested the product with focus groups that included children with a variety of gender identities.
The Marvelous World of Shani, also known as Shani & Friends or simply Shani, was a fashion doll line manufactured by the American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched in 1991. The principal designer of the dolls was longtime Mattel toy designer Kitty Black Perkins, also responsible for designing 1980's First Black Barbie doll, and many other African American dolls in the Barbie line.
Marilú was an Argentine composition doll produced between 1932 and 1960, considered the most prominent and enduring doll in the country, and an icon in the history of national toys. It was created by Alicia Larguía, who was inspired by the French predecessor of Bleuette, a doll available through the famous magazine for girls La Semaine de Suzette. Seeking to replicate this model, Larguía launched Marilú in association with Editorial Atlántida, which was responsible for publishing advertisements and clothing patterns for the doll in its children's magazine Billiken, the most widely distributed in Latin America at the time. In view of the doll's immediate success, Atlántida also published a weekly magazine for girls, Marilú, between 1933 and 1936. The doll was originally imported from Germany, manufactured by the firm Kämmer & Reinhardt. Sometime between 1935 and 1936, Larguía changed suppliers and began to order the dolls from König & Wernicke, which was also German. During its first two years, Marilú was sold in an Atlántida store in Buenos Aires. The doll was sold along with a variety of other products, such as clothing, accessories and furniture. In 1934, Larguía became independent from the publishing house and opened her iconic store—Casa Marilú—on Florida Street, which in addition to selling the doll and its accessories, functioned as a prestigious prêt-à-porter fashion house for girls and young women.
Prodigiosa Marilú is a research project in development on the Marilú doll. This material presents a preview of that research on the period 1932-1939