'The French Model' paper doll set

This paper doll appears to be called 'The French Model'. She is a young adult doll with a sophisticated wardrobe of clothes for city life.

Paper dolls became popular in Britain, Germany and the United States in the nineteenth century, and were either imported by New Zealand distributers, or printed locally. They were particularly popular in the 1930s and during the Second World War years when imported dolls were scarce and too expensive for many families. Paper dolls could be produced cheaply and provide hours of fun and imaginative play.

Paper dolls were seen to encourage child development, and in particular, taught girls about acceptable ideas about femininity. Their multiple costume changes and accessories reflected girls’ complex social lives (real and imagined); and allowed space for their owners to invent stories for their dolls.

Paper dolls often came in books, with the doll printed on the cardboard cover with a cut-out stand. Inside the book would be many different fashionable and interchangeable outfits. In the more expensive books, the outfits were pre-punched, and could be easily cut out from the page.

Dolls were named and presented within narratives such as Hollywood glamour, going out, city life, at the beach, etc. The selection of clothing would reflect a myriad of activities at different times of day, ranging from sleepwear, day wear, evening dress to accessories. This set includes outfits with hats and gloves which were still worn by many women in the 1960s.

Paper dolls of the mid-twentieth century like this example often featured white role models living idealised middle/upper class lives. A paper doll’s social status was depicted through their clothing, grooming and accessories, revealing gender codes of their period, particularly ideals and stereotypes of femininity.

Such objects enable the museum to document these rich aspects of children's play life and gendering in the mid twentieth century; and provides the opportunity to make connections between paper dolls and clothing practices more generally.