My best-friend in highschool and middle-school was a curvy girl with a goth and punk style. Now, this might not seem like an odd thing to be today, but in Juneau, Alaska, in the early 2000s, this was practically unheard of. In the early days of internet commerce, buying a corset in Alaska required a willingness to shop online when the online options were limited to Amazon and a few catalog retailers. So, when I sat down to draw today’s curvy goth paper doll, I knew I wanted to celebrate my old friend and her willingness to break the mold.
Despite my interest in alt-fashion, I have never really wanted to wear it in public, but I respect people whose style choices are much more adventurous than mine.
Not that it is hard to be more adventurous than the girl who wears white shirts and cardigans to work nearly every day.
Anyway, when I work on designing something for a fashion genre, I try very hard to be as authentic as possible. Of course, as an outsider to any cultural group, it is nearly impossible to capture all the nuances, but I wanted for my goth paper doll to have a nice range to mix and match pieces which could also share with other paper dolls. After all, maybe she’ll want to wear a sundress or some thigh high platform boots one day.
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Color schemes for anything goth is going to be a lot of black (obviously) and I didn’t want to try to really break the mold here, so I stuck with my old friends favorite colors- black, red, and purple. Lavender was a Victorian color of mourning, so that seemed appropriate. Though the Victorians took their mourning culture way seriously.
While my natural tendency is to avoid patterns, I wanted at least one patterned piece in the bunch and a corset seemed like an obvious choice. The skull and roses pattern is mirrored in her purse and the limited color palette means I think it can go with either skirt.
{Download a PDF of this paper doll in Color} {View a 150 dpi PNG of this Paper Doll in Color} {More Bodacious & Buxom Paper Dolls}
I have always loved patent leather, so the boots were an obvious place to make some shiny-texture. I am out of practice with that technique though and it took three or four tries to get it right. I’m still not in love with the outcome, but I’ll live.
Looking for more goth paper dolls? I have a whole tag for gothic fashion, though looking through it, I confess I thought I had more gothic paper dolls.
Hmmm…. Maybe I need to draw some more, because there’s not a lot there.
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As always, I always love to hear that you think of the paper doll!
My 4 1/2 year old daughter and I just found your website. We’ve had so much fun already printing out the Marisole and Friends paper dolls. We’re planning to color them together. 🙂 We were especially excited to see a commercial fishing doll, since her grandparents/uncles fish in bristol bay and her daddy used to.
I had a suggestion, in case you need one…. 🙂 It would be fun and you would have plenty of material to make a few Indian outfits. Sarees, Salwar Kameez, Anarkali suits are a few things to look up to get an idea. We live in India and the outfits are gorgeous here!
Thanks again!
You’re welcome. I’m so glad you and your daughter enjoy the paper dolls.
I think you should do some wedding paper dolls, I’ve look at all your dolls but I didn’t see any wedding ones.
Actually, I have done several wedding dresses.
Here’s one from the 1870s: https://paperthinpersonas.com///2010/12/10/fashion-doll-friday-florences-dinner-or-wedding-dress/
Here’s one from the the 1820s: https://paperthinpersonas.com///2011/07/15/fashion-doll-friday-2/
And here’s one that’s steampunk: https://paperthinpersonas.com///2013/12/27/getas-steampunkneovictorian-trousseau-the-first-part/
Oh…Sorry I guess I didn’t see those, I guess I didn’t know your website as well as I thought.
But I actually meant a bit more of the “Classic Wedding Dress Paper Doll.”
Thank you for replying to me!
Not a problem. 🙂 You are right, I have never done a “traditional” wedding dress set. That’s true. Also, there are over 500 pages of paper dolls here, so I don’t expect anyone (even myself) to always remember everything. I should create a tag for weddings though, I don’t think I have one yet.
What do you know? I had a friend like this in middle school, too!
I think my favorites are the purple tops and purse, but the whole page is awesome!
Personally, I’d love to see your take on my latest obsession- 1900s and 1910s high society fashion (maybe with a little Bohemian thrown in there too, though personally it’s not to my taste). Like Consuelo Vanderbilt. Of course, I also second the Indian sarees idea. Those are always beautiful.