How do our dolls’ looks reflect our era? What a diverse bunch of male models we have in our collections. The Bold Doll gets up close and personal.
On a vacation trip to Edinburgh, we visited the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. There’s always something of interest here, and their special exhibitions are spot on. The cafe is pretty good too! They were showing a small, but perfectly curated, exhibit entitled Looking Good: The Male Gaze From Van Dyck to Lucian Freud. It was designed to consider the theme of male image, identity, and appearance from the 16th century to the present day. The selection of portraits, from the Gallery’s own collection as well as the National Portrait Gallery in London, explored the elaborate hairstyles and fashions of the courtiers and cavaliers of the 16th and 17th centuries, the emergence of the dandy in the early 18th century, the rise of celebrity and the interest in male beauty and personal grooming, and representations of gender and sexuality.
Naturally, this inspired me to think about how the male image has been portrayed in doll form over the years. Our dolls are a great barometer of style and fashion. They pick up on current trends and reflect back to us society’s ideals and standards of beauty, both male and female.
There’s little in my collection much before the 1950s, so I thought this would be a great place to start and have a look at how our perceptions of a good-looking guy has changed over the years.
The Trent Osborn doll was modeled after a matinée idol (seen through a contemporary eye). In this case as imagined by the illustrator and doll designer Mel Odom. Some have suggested that Trent is based on the young Raymond Burr, and I can see this – although I have no idea if it’s true. I understand that the doll’s body, although athletic-looking was designed primarily to act as a prop for the period clothes of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s he would be showcasing. In his initial vinyl sculpt, his physique is more of a clothes horse than strictly physically accurate representation. The resin version aims for a more realistic body type. Trent’s face is sculpted in a way that suggests a fashion plate of an old-time movie star rather than a real person. It is reminiscent of images from vintage editions of Photoplay or Screenland magazines.
Moving on to the 1960s, Dr. John Littlechap was billed as having movie star looks and an athletic physique. This doll was launched as part of the Littlechap Family in 1963. The desirable body in those days had a slimmer, much less toned look than the gym-honed build that is aspirational today. Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken, had a similar build at this time.
In 1997, the first out and proud gay doll, Billy, was created by artists John McKitterick and Juan Andres. Out of the range of three dolls, Billy, Carlos, and Tyson, it is perhaps Tyson that has the most realistic overall sculpt – with one notable exception! These dolls reflected the highly pumped-up muscle mode that was in vogue at the time.
Fashion Royalty’s male dolls really are the fashion models of today. A case in point is the hyper-fashionable Tate Tanaka. To the modern eye these dolls look pretty realistic. It would be interesting if we could jump in a time machine to see how they seem in, say, 50 years’ time when the idealized look will likely be somewhat different.
The semblance of an all-American action hero is embodied in the Blackhawk doll. The figure’s head is based on the eponymous cartoon strip and it uses the GI Joe body. This is a heavily sculpted idealized face that still seems to work quite well in conjunction with other 1/6 scale dolls – especially when a period look is desired. He could almost be a mini cousin of Trent Osborne from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Male BJDs made in Asia, such as Rey Lewis by Dollshe Craft, often have a languid dreamy look associated with them, which can be great for some kinds of fashion photography. These guys can be giants, though, and far too big to share clothes with 16-inch fashion men dolls.
So pick a period and choose a body type that appeals to you. Our dolls will continues to evolve as fashions change but, as ever, there’s something out there for everyone!
This story first appeared in Fashion Doll Quarterly magazine, 2017