Florence: 1870’s French Fashion Doll in Paper Doll Form

French Fashion Dolls were dolls made in the 19th century to help educate young ladies how to dress properly for adulthood. They often had a complete trousseau of clothing which makes them a great subject for paper dolls.

Florence, a paper doll of a jointed Victorian fashion doll from the 1870s.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series}
Florence is a combination of several different dolls. Her face is based on the dolls of François Gaultier like this one from the Carmel Doll Shop. Her body is based on a wooden bodied Bru doll which is one of the most highly prized types of French fashion dolls. I think she sure does make a beautiful Victorian paper doll for printing and coloring in.

Since I didn’t want to end up drawing clothing from the entire French fashion doll era (it ran from about the 1850’s through about 1885, though there are some from as late as 1915), I decided to limit myself. This printable paper doll and her wardrobe is from between the years 1869 and 1875. Today, the paper doll has her night gown, dressing gown and night cap.

Next Friday, Florence’ll get her underwear and then after that she’ll start getting dresses to print. Since Florence, like Curves, is a printable paper doll hold over from the old blog, I do plan to post a mixture of dresses some people have seen and some people haven’t. I am still proud of a lot of the dresses I drew for Florence last year (this isn’t true of a lot of things I’ve drawn), so I have no intention to not keep them as part of the paper doll’s trousseau.

4 thoughts on “Florence: 1870’s French Fashion Doll in Paper Doll Form”

  2. Yep, it’s actually a nightcap. By the 1870’s, bonnets of that style were pretty much out of fashion except as night wear for protecting hair which wasn’t washed as often as we do now. Hmm… that’s kinda a long answer to your short question. 🙂

  3. Recently found your web pages on Civil War Paper Dolls and fell in love with Florence – was able to find all the clothes print outs, but can not find the paper doll that goes with them. Is there any way you could send me this page. Am a re-enactor and we look for things that protray the era. also like Flora. You do a great job drawing. was able to find Flora with no problems.

    • I’d like to help you, Suz, but I confess I’m very confused. The PDF link to the paper doll on this page seems to be working and that should allow you to download the paper doll and print her out. I have never done a paper doll with Civil War (1861 to 1865) era costumes. Florence is from 1869 to 1875, mostly the early 1870s. Do please let me know if I can help you in anyway.

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