Doll:French Fashion Doll

Descendents of the lavishly costumed, miniature mannequins that Paris fashion houses sent all over Europe to promote the latest styles, French fashion dolls live up to their name and history. Found in dresses suitable for every occasion, the dolls reflected Victorian-era haute couture. Today, collectors find these dolls with costumes from many sources. Mothers and young girls sewed handmade fashions for the dolls they owned. Major manufacturers sold commercially made costumes, machine sewn and produced in quantity. Special costumers dressed individual dolls in the finest costumes, known as couturier fashions. Whether a handmade, a commercially made, or a couturier fashion, all original doll costumes impart valuable historical information. This doll wears an original red wool nurse's costume with a linen apron, red wool cape, and a silk bonnet. The infant she carries also wears an original ecru linen and lace dress.