Jade in Circus Inspired Fashions

A printable circus paper doll coloring page with a 12 part wardrobe. Her clothing can mix and match.
A circus paper doll to print for free. Her mix and match wardrobe was inspired by vintage circus posters.

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I really love the visuals of circuses. I always have. After all, I have a whole pinterest board devoted to them, after all. So, sometimes I draw a circus paper doll like today’s to play with those visual motifs. One of the challenges of circus paper dolls is the color scheme. Generally, I do a black, white, and red for a circus paper doll, but I have played around with pink and blue as well.

For this circus paper doll’s color scheme, I decided to go with more a muted, softer cream over using black and added a moss green to add some depth to the whole thing. I wanted her swimsuit/bodysuit to be really a part of the set, so you can easily layer the skirts or hats with it. There’s no floating tabs for the top-hats, so you may need to make your own. I have faith in you all.

I hoped the addition of the green and the cream would make the whole thing feel more vintage. You might have seen the prototype for today’s paper doll a few weeks ago. In that version, I had played around with some weird lipstick for the doll, but I ended up scrapping it. Sometimes I think something will work and then realize… no, no it really doesn’t. Also, I got rid of the face makeup, because it read “evil clown” to me and that was not the vibe I was going for.

Another inspiration for all this was clowns. I don’t mean creepy party clowns or something, I mean traditional masked clowning which is super hard and very old. Goes back to commedia dell’artethat semi-improvised form of Italian masked theater which dates back to the 1500s. I mean, we’re talking old old forms of art here. There’s something universal about masked theater. It seems to show up in most cultures in various forms.

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My Version of the Innocent Pierott

A Pierrot inspired paper doll costume to print and play with.

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Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll
Pierrot is a stock character of pantomime and commedia dell’arte, a semi-improvised form of Italian masked theater that had a huge impact on the arts of Europe. It’s one of the oldest forms of clowning. And by clowning, I don’t mean the sort of half-decent party clown, I mean the highly difficult art form that often requires actors to wear masks, do acrobatics and be funny- all the same time. Respect clowns. It’s a darn hard art form.

Pierrot developed in the late seventeenth-century, making him a younger stock character than most of the other stock male characters in commedia dell’arte. Interestingly, Pierrot has evolved over the years. He started out as a naive buffoon, pining after the beautiful Columbina, but inevitably losing out to Harlequin (another stock character) and never learning his lesson. Over time though, the sort of innocence of Pierott became seen as a sympathetic character.

Interestingly, Pierrot is also heavily featured in artwork. Often see as representing the innocence of the artist in the cruel unforgiving world. It also helps, not doubt, that his traditional outfit is so distinct- white face, white smock, loose white pants. I love how the costumes of commedia dell’arte stock characters are so distinct. You know immediately who is who which was, one should note, kind of the point.

One of these day’s I’ll do Harlequin or Columbina, but I haven’t gotten around to that yet.

Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll
Obviously, today’s Pierott inspired outfit is based on Pierott’s traditional outfit of white smock, loose white pants, fluffy buttons, hat and ruff around his neck. I modified it, obviously, but that’s the basic theme. Sometime around the 1920s, Pierott’s costume added black to the white. You don’t see it much before that. There’s also some gender-bending in that era where you see very feminine Pierott images appearing. So, my lady costume for Pierott isn’t totally out of the realm of possibility.

Specific Source Images: Paul Legrand as Pierrot circa 1855, this Pierott costume and this 1920s Pierott

Learn/See More
On the Blog: More Renaissance Inspired & More Jewels & Gemstones Paper Dolls
Around the Internet: Wikipedia’s long article on Pierott. Quick Overview of commedia dell’arte, & TV Tropes nice overview of Stock Characters in commedia dell’arte.

Last Thoughts
A few of my favorite Pierott’s in art include- Schwarzer Pierrot from 1908 by Fritz Erler, Pierrot & Arlecine (Harlequinn) from 1914 by Russian artist Alexandre Jacovleff, and Self-portrait as Piero from 1911 by Zinaida Serebriakova. If you’re interested in checking out a few more of the clown.

I actually have a strange affection in  my heart for masked theater. If you can actually find some that is well done, it’s a really fascinating art form. I digress.

My Friday Patreon outfit is also theater inspired, but in a more circus sense. Join us on Patreon if you’d like to check it out. Support through Patreon is what keeps PTP around.

Do you like clowns? Do they freak you out? (No shame if they do.) I personally am cool with clowns (and have known a few), but I admit that the sterotypical clown outfits do nothing for me.

Let’s Go to the Circus! A B Pose Outfit

I love circuses. So, today's printable paper doll clothes are inspired by the shapes and colors of the circus. Free to print in color or black and white for coloring.

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I don’t have a lot of familiarity with circuses, but I really like the colors and the shapes. I think the drama is awfully fun. I decided to create something fun and funky and maybe not very practical for average wearing.

Of course, the whole the idea of a circus based outfit, I suppose is that it isn’t very practical, but rather very showy. I mean, one doesn’t really associate circus with practicality.

Not that I know much about circuses except what I’ve seen on television.

There’s another version of today’s outfit over on my Patreon page for my patrons. Join if you would like to support the blog. 

Need  a doll for today’s clothing? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing

Marisole Monday Goes to the Circus


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: The Wonderful Paintings of Amy Lind and Circuses
A paper doll circus costume in teal and pink. Free to print in color or black and white for coloring.

A paper doll circus costume with a really rocking top hat. Free to print in color or black and white for coloring.

Today, there is a circus costume for the Marisole Monday & Friend’s printable paper doll series.

So, I use two things to sort the paper dolls. One is categories, like Poppets or Marisole Monday & Friends. The other is tags, like cyberpunk, Vikings or blond hair. Every few months, I go through the tags to make sure I haven’t misspelled something and/or made a tag I shouldn’t have. While I as doing that a few months ago, I noticed that some of my tags had only one item in them. This seemed sad, so I decided to draw sets for a few of those areas. The ones I focused on were Astronauts, Circuses and Ninjas.

Okay, kinda an odd list, but whatever. On Friday, there will be a new Ninja outfit for the Mini-Maiden series. Today, we have a circus inspired clothing for Marisole Monday & Friends. This will join the Ms. Mannequin circus outfit and the original Marisole Monday & Friends Circus paper doll set in color or black and white under the Circus tag.

Is all that clear as mud?

Excellent! So, today’s paper doll is really about embracing circus themed things, but not doing red and gold. I have done a lot of red and gold and I wanted to do something different. When I saw this panting by Amy Lind on my Circus Pinterest board, I knew I had my new color scheme for today’s circus costume. And then I gave her totally impractical shoes, because nothing says “performer of great skill” like shoes you probably can’t actually walk in.

Maybe that’s her circus act- walking in highly improbable shoes.

What do you think? What would be a good circus act to wear today’s circus costume in? Because when it comes to paper dolls, the costume is way more important then the actual act. Let’s be honest here.

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Need a Marisole Monday & Friends Paper Doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick One Out Here

Ms. Mannequin: Running Away to Join the Circus


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:  My Circus Pinterest Board and my Love of Boots

A circus inspired paper doll outfit for the Ms. Mannequin series from paperthinpersonas.com. Free to print in color or black and white.

I have this odd fondness for vintage circus art. While I can’t really explain it, I mostly think I like vintage posters in general and old photos. By far the strongest influence on today’s paper doll outfit was my circus Pinterest board. Also, like my Ancient Greek fantasy gown from Tuesday, I realized I haven’t done much Circus inspired stuff since my Marisole Monday & Friend’s set from 2014.

Several years ago, my National Novel Writing Month project involved a circus. I never finished it, but that’s okay. Is anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year? I usually do, but I confess I’m not this time.

Anyway, I think this is the sort of circus outfit that is probably worn more often by burlesque dancers than actual circus performers, because I don’t think you can do trapeze in those boots, but then again, I don’t know much about actual circuses or their performers. Let’s be honest, here.

Still, I think there’s a lot of interesting things you can do visually with circus imagery.

Meanwhile, what do you think of today’s paper doll outfit? Let me know in a comment!

And if you’re interesting in what happens “behind the scenes” then join Patreon. There’s a whole different blog devoted to all things “backstage” there.

Need a paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick out a Ms. Mannequin Paper Doll Here

Circus Paper Doll in Black, White, Red, and Pink

logo-circus-colorLast week, the circus came to town in black and white for coloring, but here the paper doll set is in full color. I am really very pleased with how she came out. Sometimes, I know what I am doing with a paper doll set before I start coloring. Other times, I have no idea what I am going do with colors. In this paper doll’s case, I had a pretty clear idea of where I was going to go before I got there.

One thing I noticed as I was collecting images on my Dark Circus Pinterest board was that there was a bunch of red and black. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the red and black, but I knew there was going to be a lot of it.

Creating a red and black paper doll set was kind a boring, so I did not go with a strictly red and black color scheme (though there is a lot of black and white here).


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With straight red, black and white, I got bored very quickly and worried about the scheme clashing with the paper dolls pink hair. Instead, I decided to try basically creating two sets in one. There is a black and red set and also a pink and black set. Both sets had a pair of shoes and there are some pieces which can be worn with either color scheme.

I think this effect of “two sets” in one works, because circuses are all about costumes and costumes tend to match more than normal clothing.

Circus Paper Doll for Coloring

logo-circus-bwMarisole’s gone to the circus this monday, complete with makeup.

I have mixed feelings about circuses truth be told. Sometimes I like them and sometimes I find them deeply creepy. I’m not afraid of clowns or anything, but there is something slightly off dark and strange that runs through the whole idea of circuses and carnivals.

So, I’ve been drawing paper dolls for a long time and I always expect to run out of the ideas, but then I run into new things on a fairly regular basis that I want to do or try out. I don’t know that I’ve ever really done anything like this set. I started collecting circus images that I liked on Dark Circus Pinterest board and then eventually those images evolved into this set of doodles which evolved into this paper doll set.


marisole-circus-paper-doll-black-white
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I was going for fashion as much as reality with these outfits. I can’t imagine a clown wearing such insane high heels, for example. My Dark Circus board where I was collecting images evolved into being as much about fashion as it was about circuses.

I’m nervous about coloring this set. I was going to go strictly black and red, but then I really want her to have pink hair.

Problem, will the pink hair clash with the red and black? I just don’t know. Guess the only way to find out is to start coloring.