Detail of 18th century doll

Detail of a doll that was given to the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection by the costume and theatre designer Micheal Stennett. Best known for designing costumes for some of the world's most famous opera stars he had a close working relationship with Dame Joan Sutherland for over 30 years, he also designed for the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, the Royal Opera House and the English National Opera in London.

The doll was made in England and dates from the mid 1700s. The dress accurately represents fashionable clothing that was typically worn by women from aristocracic and wealthy families living in England at the time. However, it is possible some or all of the clothes and jewels are not original but were made by Stennett himself using original 18th century fabrics, even sourcing 18th century paste work to make the jewellery and hair ornaments. He was known for his jewellery making as part of his practice as a costume designer. The construction of the dress was done so well it only became apparent that some parts of the construction were not from the 18th century after conservators examined the sewing threads under the microscope to find some of them were polyester. Polyester is a modern material that did not exist in the 18th century.

Dolls served a number of purposes in the 18th century. Some were used as toys for children and older women, and it is likely that this doll served this purpose. At the same time, fashion dolls or 'pandoras' were used to illustrate fashionable dress throughout Europe in the 18th century. There were dressed in miniature versions of fashionable clothes, allowing new styles to be understood and replicated. They were particularly beneficial for women who at the time had more restricted lives than men and would have been less able to travel or observe new fashions in person.

Dolls of this type serve as important historical items as they show in miniature form how complete outfits of the period were assembled. This includes miniature versions of underclothes and supporting garments, such as women's hoops. Furthermore, they were styled with wigs and miniature versions of jewellery to show the complete look, they can tell us a great deal about 18th century fashion and styling that surviving clothes and even contemporary images cannot. Fashion dolls were also made and used in other parts of Europe, French dolls were considered particularly important as they reflected the styles worn at French courts which were thought to be the height of fashion, and influenced fashionable dress throughout Europe.