Paper Pretties

Once upon a time, paper dolls were something that could be found within the toy chest of any young girl. I remember many, many years ago playing with my mother's paper dolls from when she was a girl in the 60's and early 70's and I adored them. How lovely it would have been to have had a Twiggy paper doll to dress up as well!

The Twiggy Paper Doll was released by Whitman in 1967 in the form of a book that measured approximately 10"x13". Within it was the doll itself and a huge variety of mod fashions and accessories such as scarves, hats, wigs and hand bags for her to wear. These were printed upon card and to be punched out by hand and attached to the doll by a series of tabs that would fold around the doll and hold each item of clothing in place.The book also came with "A mod fashion cut out for you to wear! It's a special insert in this book. Your Plastilon Twiggy doll dress will last and last!" Its design was a life size green and red patterned mini dress with a pleated skirt and matching red belt "big enough for you!", and matched one of the tiny paper outfits made just for Twiggy. It was to be cutout with scissors and have thread strung through the circles in each tab to tie around the waist of any little girl wanting to be just like their mod idol. Also included was a "Twiggy PIN UP picture" to put up on the wall.

The Twiggy Magic Paper Doll was the second Twiggy Paper Doll set released by Whitman during the same year, and came in a box rather than a book.

Unlike the first set, each item of clothing did not have tabs for attachment, neither were they punched out. Instead, a new method was adopted. They were cut out using a pair of scissors included in the box. The back of each item of clothing was then rubbed and, by friction, stuck to the doll like "magic".

Altogether the set included the doll itself, a "London-look fashion wardrobe" of over 60 items of clothing and accessories, scissors to cut each item out, a doll stand, and a mini photo fold-up book that was sized to fit in your wallet containing three different pictures of Twiggy.

The same year, Colorforms released the Twiggy Dress-Up Kit Paper Doll Set.

It came boxed and included and instruction booklet, as well as the numerous items of clothing that were identical to specific outfits that Twiggy had worn. The box read: "You will love dressing Twiggy in her beautiful clothes. Colorforms plastic sticks like magic. No scissors, no paste, never a muss."

Thus, Colorforms adopted a similar, if not the same, method as the Twiggy Magic Paper Doll to attach each item of clothing to doll; by friction.

(Information: 1. 2. 3. )

(Images: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. *.)