Learn About Doll Clothing

1860 - 1878 Civil War Era       Considered the era of fashionable lady dolls, the world of fashion did not stop because of the Civil War!  A proper lady of society had to be appropriately attired to elude scoffing glances of high society. Types of dresses included jackets with Basque and underskirt, polonaise with petticoat, tunic with underskirt, princess style trains (especially in the 1870's).  Women were shirred tight with corsets to accentuate a slim figure for tight fitting dresses.  Full and flowing, the dresses needed to fall correctly, which required frameworks of hoops and padded horsehair bustles. To top off an outfit, an appropriate bonnet made of millinery finest was needed.

1878 - 1889 Fashion Doll Era       Hot on the heels of the elegance of the Civil War, French Bebe and fashions dolls modeled after them entered the doll world.   Cotton, silk and wool dresses were popular, with trimming of ribbons, lace (excluding black), braid, rickrack, metal thread, pleating, shirring, smocking and piping. Popular styles included frocks with low waistlines and short pleated skirts, suits with jackets and skirts, tunics and over-skirts, pointed bodices and  princess style dresses.        A dolls  wardrobe mimicked her mistress and  would have consisted of much more than a dress---although the dress is certainly the most important. It would have been scandalous for to have been without appropriate underwear, such as  petticoats, hoop skirts and corsets.

The 1900's       Two important influences of antique doll's clothes in the 1890s were the popularity of Kate Greemway (famous illustrator) type styles and interest in ethnic antique dolls.  Styles were no longer considered old-fashioned - they had nostalgic glamor, being the clothes great-grandparents of the 1890s had worn as children. Clothes were romanticized, copied for antique dolls, especially in England and America.  Around 1890 children's antique dolls began to wear floor or ankle-length dresses.  The German dolly face era began with clothes featuring yokes, Gibson girl, pouch-type waistlines, suspenders on skirts, suits with jackets and skirts, shirtwaist and skirts.

Composition & Celebrity Dolls Composition dolls were made from approximately 1909 through a height in the 1920's and ending in the 1940's when hard plastic dolls came into production.   Clothing for these dolls was simple printed cotton dresses that hung just below the knees.  Gone were bloomers and pantaloons and in came empire styles, puffed sleeves and Shirley Temple.

Unmentionables - Fine Underclothing                            - Custom and Stock Items       Antique doll clothing and underwear should be as appropriate to the era of the doll as the dress itself, so it is an important part of her attire. In all my costumes for antique dolls, I give as much careful consideration to the underwear as to the dress.       Corsets, petticoats, crinoline, chemise, hoops with twill suspended framework and bustles  for antique  dolls are generally custom made due to the uniqueness of body styles. Each is made for that special antique china doll, character doll or bisque doll.

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