Paper dolls - Fashion educators & Advertising tool

In your childhood, have you ever played paper dolls with pictures of clothes? Well, I did. Women's nature hasn't really changes since centauries. We simply like pretty things. I was actually searching the net for a blog post idea that is coming up next this week, when I found this paper dolls hint and started digging it. First manufactured paper doll, two-dimensional Little Fanny figure printed on paper for which accompanying clothing, was produced in London, in 1810.

Through whole Victorian era children were receiving toys at birthdays and Christmas but fortunatelly paper dolls were affordable. When they became popular as toys, manufacturers of all kinds of household goods took advantage of their popularity by using them to promote their products.

This is how paper dolls appeared as an effecting mass advertising tool. A few of the products advertised with paper dolls were Pillsbury flour, Baker's chocolate, Singer sewing machines, Clark's threads, and Hood's Sarsaparilla (medicine). Imagine that little girls bagging their mothers for buying another Pillsbury flour so they could get the whole clothing collection:). How much fun they had to had putting fancy paper cloths on their dolls.

In the early 1920s the J. & P. Coats company offered unique mechanical paper dolls with moving head through their dealers when purchasing Spool and Crochet Cotton.

Later, from the 1930s to the 1950s, companies put paper dolls into their magazine advertisements to sell such goods as nail polish, underwear, Ford cars, Carter's clothing, Barbie dolls and more.
First fashion educators.

Source: The Original Paper Doll Artists Guild web site.