Paper Dolls

Do you remember those paper dolls you got as a kid, the one's you cut out and then made clothes for? They came with a little stand and a choice of outfits....

Well, following my research earlier this year into costume (see Playing Dress Up and Hollywood Costume at the V&A) I decided to create my own paper dolls.

I wanted to use a subject matter that excites me and gives me the chance to focus on costume and theatrics. So I chose to make burlesque paper dolls, dolls that had all the glitz and glam of a Hollywood starlet, but with a cheeky twist that put the emphasis on taking the clothes off rather than dressing up.

My first choice was to create a doll of a vintage performer and someone that would give me the opportunity to play around with ideas without infringing upon their copyright.

I immediately thought of Noel Toy, a beautiful lady I have painted in the past and one who still intrigues me. Miss Toy was a Chinese/American burlesque performer from the 1940's and has an exotic glamour all of her own.

My design for the my paper doll based on Noel Toy. I had to really think about arm placement, as arms held away from the body would easily bend and get weakened. After lots of playing around with ideas I chose to have her hands on her hips

I began by researching the costumes Noel used to perform in, but quickly decided to add my own take on what I could do with them in order to create the idea of a full character doll. For instance I definitely wanted to recreate the Chinese style robe as seen in the video of Noel's act:

In this film you can also see her using small fans as props but I decided to enlarge these fans and create them as full scale burlesque Chinese fans in order to use them as another layer to be removed before the big reveal (images of the fans yet to be uploaded!)

The first garment to dress up/undress my paper doll, this Chinese style robe is based on the one Miss Toy wore for one of her acts, but my design was also inspired by one worn by Claudette Colbert for her role as Cleopatra as seen at the Hollywood Costume Exhibition at the V&A (see below)

I definitely want to represent the 1940's vintage era but also the individual glamour of a Chinese performer, so I am using colours and textures which are evocative and sumptuous.

This was an early design for a second costume based on Chinese style pyjamas, but I quickly abandoned this as it distracted from the idea of recreating one act.

At present I am working on background ideas for the paper doll so that even before cutting out, the piece is a complete work. I am experimenting with ideas of Chinese paper and More updates will be posted as and when. My time in the studio is pretty limited at present so this may be a long project to complete, but one I am thoroughly enjoying! More images of this project and updates as it progresses can be seen on my facebook page

Breaking news!

The 1950's dressing room display at Stoke Potteries Museum and Art Gallery will be up for a further week with the deadline extended to this coming Sunday 18th Sept. So there's still time to see the goreous original vintage pieces used in my collaborative project with the museum which inspired my online serial Mrs Brown's Diary! If you like historic treasures, vintage glam, and a good story to boot this is for you!

Dressing room update!

The chosen dress

I haven't written anything yet about my collaborative project with Stoke Potteries Museum and Art Gallery this year! So I thought I better update you and tell you how things are progressing;

My last visit to the museum was in December where we were putting together the outfit to be displayed in Mrs Brown's dressing room set. If you remember, Mrs Brown is the character inspired by our many finds in the museum's decorative arts collection. A woman of the early 1950's (late 1940's overlap) with a penchant for movies, fashion and fun, a young vivacious dreamer married to an older staid gentleman. A woman with a normal life to outward appearances but with dreams and secrets upon closer inspection of her belongings.

The intention of this project is to illustrate a story using belongings whilst celebrating femininity and artifice at the same time. The artifice of the dressing table and the artifice of the public persona.

After happily trawlling through boxes of beautiful vintage gowns and underwear (some of it not so beautiful, see The Beast, a rubber girdle, for example) and deliberating over shoes and accessories, myself and Laura, the museum's Documentation Assisitant, have whittled down an outfit fit to grace the girlsih dramatic ideals of Mrs Brown.

The dress which has been chosen came out top after much deliberation; firstly I wanted something 'young' and glamorous yet quite formal and dressy as the set revolves around an invite to Hanley's Grand Re-opening of the Theatre Royal

I had three dresses in mind and had to choose what would suit the character and situation best. One dress was too large in size to fit the idea of the flighty naive Mrs Brown, and the other although bright and eye catching didn't have the umph factor for an exclusive evening in town!

 

Too large, although you can't tell it from the photo this dress is a size 16

I initially bypassed the (now) chosen frock as I thought it might be too dressy for a young middle class woman living in Stoke in 1951. However it seems the dress's true history helped me to make my mind up as it was bought in a sale at Marshall & Snellgrove. This made it seem much more believable as an option as this was exclusive store with the new  sensation of ready to wear lines. Plus I was sent this wonderful press cutting about the Grand Re-opening, and as you can see everyone was dressed up to the nines!

The next decision was accesories, Laura sent me some fabulous items to choose from and in the end I've chosen these shoes from the early 1950's:

And a glamorous fur stole and classy jewellery which wouldn't look out of place on a film star, so would certainly appeal to a film fanatic like Mrs Brown. The evening bag is yet to be decided. It's been tough trying to find one in the collection which will complement the rest of the ensemble, I'll keep you posted:

 

These items will be arranged around the dressing room to illustrate Mrs Brown's return from the big night, her stole and shoes discarded and her gown hung up once again. Of course a lady would have to have some foundation to these garments and her underwear and stockings will also take a place in the set. So far I have chosen these unmentionables to make an appearance:

The suspender belt from this photo accompanied by a peach strapless bustier

Something else was brought to my attention whilst sorting out ideas for the set and display cases. It seems the dress which will be used has had it's pink fins added after purchase as tiny hand stitches can be seen holding them in place. This fits wonderfully well with the notion of the make do and mend generation of the time, but also illustrates another point; Mrs Brown is a  keen follower of fashion, eager to emmulate her favourite actress or singer in the glamour stakes and as mentioned before in this blog could have easily been one of the many women who used dress patterns to spruce up her wardrobe.

It was decided that to convey this idea one of the small display cases next to the dressing room set will contain sewing materials. Laura found this adorable etui from the correct era in the museum's collection along with this fabulous Balmans pattern 'Designed in Paris'. Paris being the epicentre of cutting edge fashion and of especial interest to Mrs Brown this pattern is spot on, also I think the shape is not a million miles away from our chosed dress, what a find!

As things begin to draw towards the date of completion I am busy pulling all the information  togehter about the items we've discovered, the magazines of the time and the various  references to  the local area and popular culture of the era so that Mrs Brown's hidden story will be ready for discovery!

During the exhibition of the dressing room set 'Mrs Brown's Diary' will be published online in a brand new blog to accompany the project.  This will be a first person account into her daily life focused around the 14th August 1951, the night of the Grand Re-opening! Here you will find out where her love of films and fashion stems from, why she married her husband, and who the mysterious man in the photo hidden in her handbag is... Not to mention various peeks into her private thoughts and passions which will be hinted at through the items displayed in her dressing room. 

Mrs Brown's wardrobe

So sweet, maybe too good to be true, a frilly cotton set of underwear found in the decorative arts collection in Stoke

After much drooling I managed to pull myself together enough to share the photos from Tuesday's visit to Stoke Potteries Museum and Art Gallery! These pictures don't really do the garments I saw justice. To see a picture is one thing, but to see the clothes up close is another thing entirely. They are almost like time capsules, in that they embody times gone by and individual pasts.

Some had hand stitching and repairs and some still had the original price tages still attached. But all were of interest:

The first thing we looked at were dresses from the correct era, late Forties, early Fifties. I was looking out for the distinctive influence of Dior's 'New Look'; The nipped in waist and full skirt. But many of the dresses, though beautiful, were still boxy and focused on the shoulders.

This blue number had a high neck and lovely detailing on the shoulders

Quite unassuming at first glance I think this red dress would have been stunning when worn. It has a high neck and would give the wearer an elegant column shape. Very film star!


I felt very drawn to this hot peach dress for the character of Mrs Brown. Although is isn't as up to date as I'd have liked, the colour is quite unusual and the material is light and floaty, fun and young. The skirt is slightly fuller than the other dresses, maybe this dress is on the verge of the 'New Look' revolution?

Some of the other dresses were very much evening attire and were very stylish. When looking for the brand label I was impressed to see many of them had been hand stitched and were obvioulsy hand made, maybe from patterns found in magazines like those found in Vogue. It highlighted how common it was to sew your own back in those days as off the peg clothes were still relatively new and seamtresses were for the well off. But that didn't stop some women creating some exquisite designs!

This long evening gown has a full skirt and a focus on the bust area. It came with a little cropped jacket. When we looked inside, there was obvious stitching holding the strips of sequins in place. The kind of stitching done at home, certainly not a seamtress or machine.

Another beautiful example of hand stitching. This dress had no makers label. Here you can see a definate direction towards the 50's with a halter neck, emphasis on waist and full skirt!

This dress really stood out for me. Not only is it stunning, it strides both decades perfectly. You can see the Paris influence and it has a bold and young pattern. I love the pink satin fins which draw attention to the waist. It's very stylish. I was worried it might be too posh for Mrs Brown, maybe beyond her means but I have been told that the dress was purchased at a sale at Marshall and Snelgrove, a department store that by the 1950's was losing business and eventually merged with the company which eventually became Debhanams.


Another example of fabulous evening attire! This dress was from the Heiress brand. Although this sounds quite upper class I'm told by the museum it was similar to the Horrocks label in that it sold affordable off the peg fashion. A strong contender for Mrs Brown's outfit.

We also looked at 1950's cocktail dresses. These, though gorgeous, were too advanced for the era of the project, but they were worth taking photos of just so you can see!

The skirt of this dress was so stiff it stood out on it's own with a built in crinoline!

This dress evoked much sighing when it was discovered. It is simply a dream frock, layers and layers of floatly white in a girly prom style. The bodice is boned and the skirt is very full and soft. It is screaming to be put on and adored!

Next came underwear. I was looking for suspenders, bras, and slips. The slips let me tell you were a real suprise treat!
Wartime and rationing; you'd expect very simple unembellished articles. Not pink, frivolous numbers and silky peach Utility!

This peach slip bears the Utility label. Most of the Utility slips we found were of the same style, simple yet suprisingly pretty

The shop ticket was still attached to this slip which was in perfect condition!

A very girly touchable slip, with a full petticoat, perfect for those full Dior style skirts

This was certainly the find of the day! A pink gorgeous slip made by a brand called Movie Star. The Museum's archives tells it was brought over from America during the war! A present from a soldier? A black market accquision? Or an overseas gift from a family member?

An advert for the USA brand Movie Star. The company later changed it's name to Stardust, and the founders even went on to create a modelling accademy and talent agency! With such emphasis on glamour and elegance inspired by the famous women of the silver screen I can see Mrs Brown being enchanted with this idea and being very happy to own a bonafide American item of clothing so closely associated with the movies she so loves!

Some of the underwear wasn't quite so evocative. Upon our searches we found a huge rubber girdle, complete with lacing and a strong unpleasant smell of old rubber. But this was joined by more refined undies; boned all in ones and bullet bras. Not to mention a lovely frilly set of knickers, like something from a 50's dream:

The Beast, as it became known that day! This was a seriously big rubber girdle!


In complete contrast, small boned slip which would have given a refined shape


A mesh girdle with bra in one

Big knickers, not just somehting from Bridget Jones then.

It's difficult to see here but this bra was a classic vintage pointy shape


I enjoyed these wooly all in ones. It's easy to forget that during the austere times of war and after a pair of warm undies like these would have been very welcome. In fact they were common across all classes with adverts for ladies wool underwear being found in Vogue magazines of the period.

My head is full of ideas from this wonderfull collection of clothes! I now have to decide what would best suit Mrs Brown, and work in her dressing room set. Some more research I think and I'll be there, I already have some favourites, but it's not about what I'd like, it's what would fit the story of Mrs Brown the best given her character and circumstances. I'll let you know how it goes.

P.S once I've decied on the outfit and underwear, we can start to build on her accessories; hats, gloves, jewellery and shoes!