Advertisement for Folding Pocket Kodak Camera featuring the Kodak Girl

In the 1890s, Kodak advertisements began featuring a fashionably dressed woman (the blue-and-white striped dress her signature) with a Kodak camera in hand. This figure would become known as the Kodak Girl, and she embodied Progressive Era independence and leisure. These ads were specifically targeted at women and promoted the idea of picture making as a fashionable new hobby and a part of everyday life.