The diminutive Wendykins Dolls have long been the models for this venerable company’s Dolls of the World collection. We take a look at some of the more rarely-seen examples.
Let’s go back to London in the swinging 60s. Madame Alexander’s 8-inch tall Wendykins rocks a mini dress resplendent with the union flag, a pair of white go-go boots, and a pop art handbag. Of course there’s the omnipresent red phone box in the background. Mary Quant-tastic!Next we head over the Channel to Colmar, Petit Venice, France, to meet a local wearing traditional Alsace costume. She’s fortunate to have her home in a colorful street of traditional half timbered houses.Traveling south, we’ll visit Spain where this tiny fisherwoman lives in Ibiza. Hopefully she can land her catch before the hordes of tourists arrive.Another European destination. This time it’s to see the windmills in Kinderdijk, South Holland, The Netherlands. This Dutch boy and girl wear authentic outfits, right down to their wooden clogs.Back to the British Isles to Wales, where we discover an old croft cottage nestled beneath the Garn Fawr Iron Age Hill Fort, near Fishguard on the Pembrokeshire Coast. The cottage-dweller is just off for a walk with her corgi dog – a local breed.Next stop, Bulgaria, where they’ve just had a shower. Keep those long petticoats out of the puddle, Wendykins!Our final European destination for this trip is Greece, where we’re met in Athens by a traditional pair. Hope they know somewhere good for lunch – all this travel is giving me quite an appetite. Time for a trip to Turkey where this doll in Anatolian traditional costume proudly shows us an impressive view of Cappadocia.St. Petersburg, Russia is our next destination. We’re at the Winter Palace building, housing the Hermitage Museum on Palace Square. A pair of Russian dolls are there to greet us on frosty winter’s day. Hope they’ve got their thermal undies on. Out of this world …Madame Alexander did not just stick to terrestrial locations, her dolls even made time for space exploration – to plant a flag on the moon.Back on terra firma, this Native American doll takes her baby for a stroll in the Rockies, USA.Moving to the south, we find ourselves in Casco Antiguo in Panama City.It’s Carnival time in Brazil! Let’s get dressed up to the nines. “O Brasil é lindo maravilhoso!”A Caribbean vacation in Old Havana, Cuba. A little salsa dancing anyone?Let’s keep it Caribbean – this time on the beach in Jamaica.Yesterday was Cuba, today must it be Nigeria. We’re certainly covering some miles. This doll wears her iro (wrap) and gele (headdress) of brightly colored Ankara fabricSimply labeled ‘Africa’, that’s a big continent to be represented by one small doll. She wears an outfit in mud cloth, the traditional fabric of Mali, West Africa.A long-haul flight to China. Who planned this itinerary? We’re at the Forbidden City in Beijing viewing the beautiful palace architecture at dusk with Madame Alexander’s Littlest Empress doll.Time to go to Vietnam. We’re crossing the bridge to the entrance gate of the ancient Bich Dong pagoda complex in Ninh Binh.Pakistan is our next destination on this whistlestop tour. This lovely doll shows us a spectacular view in the northern reaches of the country. Well, it’s lucky that this is a virtual tour, goodness knows what kind of carbon footprint we’d have generated otherwise. Here we are in the Australian Outback, at the Olgas – near the Valley of the Winds walk in the Northern Territory, AustraliaThank heavens, we made it to the beach for a little R&R by the Pacific, after all this strenuous globe-trotting. Aloha Hawaii!
