Fashion Memories: Trolls, Barbies, and Katy Keene

I must have been 8 or so when I was given my first Barbie.  I don't remember asking for it, but both my younger sister and I were given one the same year.  And when came to have an entire case of clothing for her, full of wigs and tiny plastic heels and miniature items of clothing, often sewn by my mother.  Mine must have been a different version than the classic Barbie pictured here.  I was initially fascinated with styling her long blond hair. 

I know that much has been written about her impossible dimensions, but I can't say that I was unduly influenced by these things. Because we had two Barbies and a Midge (the little sister), my sister and I were more concerned with creating dramas for our dolls and having them do the splits. 

My own daughters had many more Barbie dolls, but often I would find them in parts. A stray leg here, a decapitated head there.

Probably, these little trolls were a greater influence on any blossoming fashion sense I had. 

Originally created in 1959 by Danish fisherman and woodcutter Thomas Dam, the dolls became popular in several European countries during the early 1960s, shortly before they were introduced in the United States. Dam, a poor woodcutter, could not afford a Christmas gift for his young daughter Lila and carved the doll from his imagination. When other children in the Danish town of Gjøl saw the Troll Doll, they wanted one as well and Dam began selling them locally. The originals, also called "Dam Dolls", were of the highest quality, featuring sheep wool hair and glass eyes. Their sudden popularity, along with an error in the copyright notice of Thomas Dam's original product, resulted in cheaper imitations and knock-offs which flooded the American and North American shelves.

All the while copyright battles were going on and finally WON by the doll's original designer, my sister and I were designing clothes for ours.  My mother had quite a collection of fabric scraps.  Pre-cut quilt blocks (3" x 3") were a perfect size for fashioning ensembles for these naked little creatures.  A snip with the pinking shears and you had an arm-hole and a neckline.  Add a bit of ribbon or rick rack or bias tape and you had a kimono, a dirndl skirt, a halter dress, a bikini.  Plus, these little dolls had the kind of hair that would stay put once you had styled it.  I think I must have been 8 or 9 when this absorbed so much of my time.

I had not yet discovered the stash of Katy Keene comics in my grandmother's basement.  These must have originally belonged to my two youngest aunts who would have been in their tweens during the fifties.  Drawn by Bill Woggon, the Katy Keene character appeared in several comic book series published by Archie Comics since 1945.

Katy Keene is a model/actress/singer known as "America's Queen of Pin-Ups and Fashions" and her comics encouraged readers to send in original drawings of outfits and accessories for her and her friends to wear, as well as designs for automobiles, homes, interiors, rocket ships, trailers and boats. These designs were used in the comics with credit given to published submissions. Many issues featured paper dolls of Katy in various costumes, which readers were encouraged to cut out.

I never sent in any drawings, but the addition of the designer's name, age (mostly teenagers), and town made the most lucious outfits as near as one's drawing pad and imagination.

Luckily none of the comics I found had been cut up for their paper dolls.