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Overview
As a young girl in the late 1950s, Drusi (Drusilla) Megget hand-drew this 'filmstrip' of uniform clothes and accessories for her imaginary Girls' Detective Agency (GDA). The filmstrip includes clothes for the GDA cadets to wear in winter and summer, and a badge design. Drusi was inspired by children's films she and her brother Leslie had fun watching (such as Disney's Mickey Mouse).
Drusi also made many of her own paper clothes for her cut-out paper dolls to wear. She recalls: 'I enjoyed dressing them, designing clothes for them and they play-acted domestic dramas. Other drawing and daydreaming/scheming games I played were a Girls' Detective Agency called GDA for short. I drew lots of uniforms for them to wear. There was a red and brown uniform and a black and lime green (and variations) for swimming, walking, office work, riding horses, adventuring and so on.' Te Papa holds several of these paper uniforms.
Paper dolls and gender codes
Paper dolls were a common toy in the 1950s and particularly popular with young girls. Paper dolls and their clothing reveal the gender codes of their period, particularly feminine traits and stereotypes. Drusi Megget's filmstrip features items of dress and accessories which a young woman would be expected to wear in winter and summer in the 1950s: hat, coat and twinset in winter; a dress or blouse and skirt, high heeled shoes or sandals, in summer.