DOLLS FOR GROWN-UPS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19407, 17 February 1925, Page 5

DOLLS FOR GROWN-UPS.

The French doil has changed a good deal in appearance, though not very much in the charoter which sho had as far back as the fifteenth century. During the Victorian era French dolls were made chiefly for little French girls, and they were very waxen, very much crinolined, and rather sophisticated (states the Manchester Guardian). The enormous eyes and the diminutive hands and feet, suggestive of a fashion-plate, also 'belonged to that period. Formerly there were dolls chiefly for grown-ups, but in some instances for children. The children’s dolls have been revived, and from being a fashionable jeuno fille, the doll has become a rather naturalistic little girl such as may bo seen any afternoon in the Champs Elysees playing on the eavulheap or riding in a go-cart. She no longer smiles and shows pearly teeth, but has a grave expression that is sometimes rather yearning. Actually the French designers have'followed the Gorman model of the doll pretty accurately, giving it nevertheless something of the French stamp. The grown-up’s doll has to a certain extent returned to the exercise of her original function, that of displaying clothes. For several years now there have been languid pierrbt dolls with green faces, scarlet mouths, and half-shut eyes, which have been bought to lie about on cushions in the drawing rooms. Very often these were dressed to complement the colouring of the room. There is the Louis Quinze dress, with the coiffure of Madame do Pompadour, in exquisite satins and taffetas. There is Mario Antoinette with a ship on her head or one of the elaborate confections, fashioned 'by Rose Bertain, which surmounted a pyramidcal head of hair. The Victorian era lends itself excellently to doll-dressing, and there is the crinoline, the short glove, the pantalette, and the wide bonnet which appear in Frith’s pictures. Nationalities also are called into the doll world, and there are houris and all the personas of the Arabian Nights to delight the heart of the grown-up world, which has always liked dolls, but until recently had not found a means of reviving them without looking ridiculous.