More Rain Gear

MORE RAIN GEAR

 

 

Here are two more recent additions to my dolly raingear. The Coquette Cissy (Cissette size) outfit consists of a raincoat with an umbrella print and pink plaid high heel boots.  The hat is one I crocheted.  The repro Patsyette has a wonderful outfit that incorporates April showers and May flowers.  The yellow rain hat, boots, and umbrella are vinyl.



Raincoats for Dolls

RAINCOATS FOR DOLLS

   I recently rounded up a lot of my doll raincoats to do a program for Fashion Doll Club.  Here are a few from the 50s.  Check out the clear plastic overshoes and the rubber boots.  I can remember the joy of splashing through the puddles in rain boots.

The 1930s

The depression marked the end of the flapper styles.  People became more serious and home and family became the center of life.  Into this atmosphere came Patsy and her look-alikes.  These long legged dolls with their short skirts seem to emphasize an idealized view of a child's life.  Patsy had an outfit for every occasion.  Most outfits had matching combination underwear.  She was leading a child's life of luxury while in the real world people were struggling.

Pictured above an 8" tagged Patsy, Arrenbee's Nancy, and a Patsyette knock off.

Kewpies and Mamma Rose

There is a nice article on Rose O'Neill and the Kewpies in the August 2014, Doll Castle News.  There is also an article by me on the fashions of the 1910s which features this UFDC souvenir doll of Rose O'Neill by Lita Wilson.  I redressed the doll to represent a fashion of this period.  The Kewpie is an old one from my collection.

O'Neill was an accomplished illustrator and it is a joy to find one of her old illustrations when paging through an antique magazine.  A wonderful book about her is "Rose O'Neill, The Girl Who Loved to Draw" by Linda Brewster published by Boxing Day Books.  This book is entertaining for both children and grownups and is generrously illustrated.

Vintage Purses

Here are some catalog photos of purses.  The color page is fro the 1950s.  The other two pictures are from the 1920s.  Maybe my flapper doll will get a new purse.

YET MORE MOD

YET MORE MOD

   For an issue of my, now retired, newsletter that featured Mod fashions  I decided to do a paper doll of some of my own clothes from the 1960s.  When I could get an outfit with several parts I did it.  The white mohair pea jacket had a wool miniskirt and wool bell bottoms and a striped sweater.  It was expensive but worth every penny.
   The pinstriped suit had cuffed pants also.  I loved wearing my Dad's old ties with some of my outfits.  The Nehru jacket and love beads are more hippie than Mod but what the heck.
   I don't like having my picture taken so there aren't lots of them but here is a pic of me after I had my hair cut into the twiggy do.

MOD DOLLS

Part 4

Dolls that define the Mod Era are the Mod Barbies including Francie, Twiggy, and Julia (Diahann Carroll).  Crissy and Velvet have both Mod and Hippie clothes.  The 6” tall Dawn line has a remarkable Mod wardrobe. Tiffany Taylor, although more disco era, has the exaggerated eye make -up that I remember wearing.

In the late 1990s Doug James and Laura Meisner introduced the Somers and Field dolls.  According to their story line Willow Somers and Daisy Fields were “Mod Birds” who lived in London in the 1960s. Their fathers owned the Somers and Field department store.  Willow is British and Daisy is British/Indian.  This line was made by Knickerbocker and their clothes represent the designers’ love affair with the Mod era.

Look at the pictures here and see if you remember having any of these outfits.  Not sure if you were a hippie or a Mod?  Then, my dear, you must have been a square.