As we come to terms with the new reality, our dolls might be just what we need to lift our spirits. The Bold Doll considers how best to stay at home.
As I write, in my adopted city of San Francisco, it’s hard to believe how rapidly our world has changed in such a short space of time. At the end of March, 2020 I was to have co-hosted a meeting at my local doll club. The theme was pajamas, and our get-together was to be a sleepover party in the daytime.
Preparations had been made: centerpiece dolls; competitions; prizes; a raffle; and a fun program. Guests were to attend in whatever they enjoy wearing in bed. Since this is San Francisco, some outfits might have been startling! However, the meeting was wisely shelved ahead of the City Hall ruling of shelter in place. I hope the meeting will run in the future, once we get this most difficult time behind us. But it’s just one tiny example of how everyone is making adjustments during this challenging period.
Dolls may be our salvation. They are a much-needed escape route from the everyday stresses of normal life – now more than ever. I am in the interesting position of having nearly all my dolls in inaccessible storage right now. This means I have to be even more creative with what’s available. So the photos for this piece are of dolls that escaped being packed away.
For a while I have been planning to re-start sewing. It’s been ages since I have done any doll dress-making (or knitting). Now is the ideal opportunity to dust off the sewing machine and get out the knitting needles. I’m trying to find any ways I can to create something positive out of a worrying situation.
Luckily for me, my day job can easily be done remotely. My husband and I are both at home in our own spaces right now. This of course creates its own need for compromise and negotiation. As well as trying not to spend the whole time over-eating! Just as well we’re still allowed to venture out for exercise and fresh air.
Television offers some respite, although it’s strange to see the routine lives of folks gathering, socializing, eating out, going to the movies, and all the other stuff we took for granted so recently, now it seems like another era. Fortunately our dolls can still get together with impunity and don’t have to worry about social distancing.
The few dolls I have to hand are versatile, thank goodness. Endless new looks can be achieved with wigs and a dressing-up box. I had the foresight not to pack absolutely all the clothes and accessories away, so my experiments are not too limited. Some of the dolls have interchangeable parts for more posing fun where articulation is not a possibility. I love to take photos of my dolls, but sometimes just having one sitting on my desk for company brings a smile, and doesn’t involve lighting, set-building, or tethering a camera to my computer.
If the doll is not getting ready for her shoot, and it’s merely playtime, it’s fun to try out outfits and wigs that at first glance might seem plain wrong. I like to use a kid’s approach to dressing up, where everything potentially goes with anything. Maybe most times it looks like a car crash in wardrobe, but sometimes there’s a happy accident and a brand new, unexpected look has been created.
I enjoy changes of scale, so it’s great to see how the diminutive Meow Meow, at 8½ inches tall (from Patrick Grange), stacks up on the page against Paul Pham’s Ang, towering in at 16¾ inches tall. Similarly Jason Wu’s Monogram Fascination doll with a height of 11½ inches, makes an intriguing pairing with Pidgin Doll’s Marilyn, 16 inches tall in some very impressive high heels.
I have trusted to the original designers for these photos, the dolls have the hair and outfits that were originally created for them. But by the time you read this, they will all have undergone many transformations. Even if they end up back where they started eventually.
0 Comments