A 1960s Twiggy Inspired Aisha

A 1960's Twiggy inspired paper doll with three pairs of historical shoes to print in color or black and white. Her Rudi Gernreich inspired underwear is also historically accurate.
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If Monday’s Abigail was an ode to the beehives of the early 1960s, than today’s Aisha is a nod to Twiggy and the styles of the later sixties. Twiggy, real name Lesley Hornby, was a famous model of the later 1960s. Her androgynous look was long eyelashes, short hair and big eyes. Well, all my paper dolls have big eyes, but I did add additional eyelashes to Aisha. Here is the official Twiggy website with photos of her modeling work in the 1960s.

Interestingly, Twiggy was the beginning of the fashionable obsession with youth. She was only 17 when she reached her stardom. Today, trends are driven by younger and younger consumers. There has always been an interest in “looking young” in fashion, but the late 1960s really instilled it into our culture, I think.

As with all my historical paper dolls, there are sources. The hair was obviously Twiggy inspired. Her underwear is based on this Rudi Gernreich bra from the Met Museum. Rudi Gernreich is most famous for his topless monokini. The bra she wears is based on his “no bra” concept, which was a bra, but without any support or padding. It is notable that this design was only available in small cup sizes. This highlights the obsession with the “youthful” boyish figure of the era.

Let’s talk about shoes (one of my favorite things to draw). The black and white pair of shoes are from 1966-1968. The white strappy pair are from the 1960s. The ones with the bow were originally pink from 1962. All are from the V&A museum which has a great costume history collection.

One last announcement, I should make the Dames and Dandies series will be going on hiatus in 2019, so I can debut my new series called Jewels & Gemstones (Thank you Patrons for voting on that). It will be a single doll pose for the first quarter of 2019. After that quarter, it will be time to reassess where things are. I’ll share more Wednesday of next week. Monday will be the last Dames & Dandies post for the foreseeable future. It’s more 1960s stuff.

Feel free to ask any questions you might have and I’ll answer if I can. You can see a preview of the new doll on my Patreon page.

Need some clothing for today’s paper doll? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

1960s Dresses from Sewing Patterns

1960s sewing pattern cover inspired paper doll dresses. One from 1961 and one from 1967. Both dresses are historically accurate and free to print.

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One of the fascinating things about fashion is that it is never one thing. Simultaneously to the mod fashion movement that the 1960s are so associated with, there was a second thread of fashion that was more sophisticated and modest. Think Jackie Kennedy vs Twiggy, you know? (If you don’t know, check out the books at the bottom of this page.) So, today’s dresses are both of the more conservative, clean styles that were popular as well.

(And yes, yesterday’s Abigail paper doll can wear that hat, despite her insane beehive, I made sure.)

The dress on the left is based on this sewing pattern cover, the dress on the right is based on this sewing pattern cover, the hat I sort of cobbled together based on a bunch of different hats and the purse is Gucci and you can see it here.

But wait, you’re thinking, what if I want more 1960s costume history? What if I want an actual bibliography of the books you used for this week and Monday?

Well, I’m so glad you asked.

1960s History Fashion Sources

Hill, Colleen. Paris Refashioned, 1957-1968. Yale University Press, 2017.
Magidson, Phyllis, and Donald Albrecht. Mod New York: Fashion Takes a Trip. Monacelli Press, 2017.
Olian, JoAnne. Everyday Fashions of the Sixties As Pictured In Sears Catalogs. Dover, 1998.
Walford, Jonathan. Sixties Fashion: from ‘Less Is More’ to Youthquake. Thames & Hudson, 2013.

These are all great books that I highly recommend. You can probably get them all from the library. 

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

And 1960s Week Begins with Abigail!

This week's paper doll theme is 1960s styles and here's Abigail with shoes and beehive hair. She wears a body suit and has three pairs of period shoes.

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I knew I wanted to draw a 1960s paper doll and I knew I wanted to do a beehive hair. And lest you think that this hair is “unrealistic” than I would refer to the Ronnetts (this photo) and the Supremes (this photo), both inspirations for today’s Abigail paper doll’s hair. As I’ve said before, finding historical references for black vintage hair styles is not an easy task and the copyright law nuances make it much harder.

Now, if Ebony would just digitize their entire archive and put it online for free for me, that would be fantastic… But since I don’t see that happening soon. I went with my usual “find famous people and copy them, technique.”

If there is one thing I will never fully understand, it’s 1960s hair. I mean, I get wanting a little lift in your hair, but seriously, the 1960s took the big hair thing to a whole different level. Unlike the 1980s, 1960s big hair was stiff. One might even use the term shellacked. At least, that’s what I’ve been told by people who lived in that era. I asked a woman once, after looking at her yearbook photo with her, how she’d gotten her hair like that and she replied to me, deadpan, “One hour and hairspray.”

Ask a dumb question…

Anyway, Abigail’s underwear is based on this Mary Quant designed body suit. Her shoes can all be found in the V&A. I did make them different colors, but the styles are here, here and here.

If you want to see all my 1960s inspiration, as we are heading into a week of 1960s content, head over to my 1960s Pinterest Board.

Need some clothing for today’s paper doll? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

Paper Doll Collaboration November 2018 Ambulance Driver Uniform of World War 1

A paper doll coloring page featuring a World War 1 ambulance driver uniform from the Women's Motor Corps of America. A great kid's history activity or homeschooling printable for World War 1 history.

Black and White Paper Doll PDF Paper Doll Collaboration 2018

If you’re allowed to have a favorite war (and I’m not sure you are) than my favorite war in the First World War aka The Great War aka The War to End All Wars aka The War with Way to Many Names. (Okay, confession, I invented the last one.)

First off, I love the poetry that came out of the war. To this day, I can quote Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. In my teenage life, when I was full of angst, I adored Wilfred Owen. I still do, but I am no longer filled with quite so much angst.

So, this is all to say that today’s paper doll outfit is based on an ambulance drivers uniform of the First World War. This design was drawn from a uniform from the Women’s Motor Corps of America which you can see here and another example here. There’s also this great photo from the Library of Congress.

I was a little hesitant to use this for our military themed month, because while I though the uniform was military related when I first drew it, I have realized its not. Most of the ambulance drivers during the war were affiliated with civilian relief and welfare organizations such as the Red Cross. While nurses did serve in the Army and Navy Nursing Corps, I haven’t found much information on ambulance drivers doing the same. The Red Cross provided a great deal of the medical treatment during the war. They had female ambulance drivers, but technically they aren’t military.

But by the time I figured that out, I’d already finished the paper doll set. So, I am going to go with it anyway.

As always, Paper Doll School and Miss Missy Paper Dolls are my partners in crime when it comes to the Collaborative Paper Doll Project and I can’t wait to see what they came up with for this week so head over to their sites for that.

Need a paper doll to wear these clothes? Grab her and more clothing here.

A Pair of Retro Inspired Dresses for the A Pose Paper Dolls

A pair of retro rockabilly inspired dresses with a matching purse to print and dress up some paper dolls in.

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Today’s paper doll dresses were inspired by retro-rockabilly styles. I’ve been thinking about rockabilly dresses ever since I posted this version of Aisha and Julie, of Paper Doll School, suggested that the pink haired version needed some rockabilly dresses in pastels.

Well, I confess that pastels just didn’t seem seasonal, so I went with autumn tones (which perhaps don’t go as well with the pink hair), but if you head over to the Patreon page you can download the spring time pastel version.

Meanwhile, there maybe some changes coming to the blog in the new year, so I’ll be putting up some polls looking for thoughts and I hope folks will respond.

And, as always, if you like the blog consider donating to the blog, following me on Instagram, or leaving a comment. 

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

Retro Astronaut Paper Doll, Because… Space!

A retro astronaut paper doll outfit inspired by retro futuristic fashions of the 1950s through the 1970s. Printable in color or black and white for coloring.

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I am prepping for some quick travel over the next few days, so this post is going to be short. I still have to figure out how to fit all my liquids in a single baggie.

Meanwhile, I had a lot of fun drawing this retro science fiction astronaut. I know I haven’t done a real astronaut yet, but I am having so much fun with these zany retro ones.

For those of you who don’t know, I keep Pinterest boards as one of my favorite ways to collect images. My Retro Futuristic Fashion board has all sorts of images that influenced today’s paper doll.

Also, if you have a moment and want to do me a favor, there’s a poll about the blog post images over on Patreon. You can vote even if you’re not a Patron and I hope you do! It’s all about how the post images I create of each paper doll set should look.

And speaking of voting, if you are in the USA, I hope you will vote on Tuesday (or perhaps have voted already, if you live in a state that allows that). It’s super important to vote, so please go vote!

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

A 1920s Paper Doll Dress With Hats Based on Designs from Catalog Pages

1920s paper doll dress and hats based on the catalogs of B. Altman and Company and Sears from paperthinpersonas.com. Available to print in color or in black and white.

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And once more into the 1920s my friends. Once more.

Today’s dress, hat and purse are both based on a design from B. Altman and Company. B. Altman and Company was a luxury department store, so the clothing tends to be very fashionable and on the more expensive side. 1920s Fashions from B. Altman & Company is a collection of reprints from their catalogs from Dover Publishers that I used.

The other hat was adapted from a design from Sears, another major department store of the era. Also from a Dover book, but that time I used Everyday Fashions of the Twenties: As Pictured in Sears and Other Catalogs also from Dover. Both of these books are pretty easy to find on the secondary market for reasonable prices.

In case you’ve missed any of my 1920s paper doll series, here’s what I’ve created so far.

The 1920’s Doll & Her Dresses

In the works is some 1960s clothing for the paper dolls (as voted on by my Patrons), but I have no idea when those dolls will be done. I also really want to do some more older historical styles like the 13th century, but I haven’t really tried to tackle that yet. Soon, I hope.

Meanwhile, enjoy my foray into the 1920s.

And if you’d like to help support the blog (I very much run PTP through the NPR model- no ads and maybe people will be nice enough to help me offset costs) consider becoming a Patron.

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

The September 2018 Collaborative Paper Doll Post: Golfing in the 1920s

Black and White Paper Doll PDF Paper Doll Collaboration 2018
Let me be clear here- if I am going to sprint, it is probably because I am being chased by a wild boar or something. When I do exercise, it’s entirely because it helps my anxiety and not because I particularly enjoy the activity.

So, when someone else (I know it was NOT me) suggested we pick our favorite sport for September I was struck by two things-

1. I don’t have a favorite sport.
2. I really don’t care about sports.

Listen, I know I live in Alabama were football is basically the state religion, but despite the urging of people I know, I just don’t care. Really I don’t. I can only watch football when I tell myself that it is ritualized tribal warfare. Otherwise, I just think it is dumb. (Okay, I still think it is dumb, but the anthropologist in me can respect the need for the ritual.)

Meanwhile, I had to draw something for the month of September and making a paper doll t-shirt that said- “Ugh… Sports” on it felt a little dismissive of the whole point.

So, I settled on my Dad’s favorite sport- golf.

And while I still think golf is dumb, I can at least respect the fact that women have been playing golf for a really long time and there have been some super cute outfits designed for golf.

Today’s paper doll dress is vaguely inspired by the 1920s. She has two hats with different styled bobs and a golf club which is probably totally inaccurate.

If you want to see more “favorite sports” hop over to Paper Doll School and Miss Missy Paper Dolls. They are my partners in crime and I can’t wait to see what they’ve done with this theme.

Need a paper doll to wear these clothes? Grab her and more clothing here.

Celebrating the 1960s with the August Collaborative Paper Doll Post

A vintage styled paper doll dress coloring page based on a design from 1968 with matching shoes and wig for the 2018 Collaborative paper doll from paperthinpersonas.com.

Black and White Paper Doll PDF Paper Doll Collaboration 2018
So, the theme for August was Favorite Decade and I almost did the 1920s, because as you know, I love the 1920s so much. I just adore that era.

But then I thought, “But the 1920s is so expected.”

And you know, I have been drawing a fair bit of 1920s stuff for my 1920s Akiko.

Then I thought about other decades I really love- the 1880s and 1960s. Trying to draw a bustle dress was, frankly, more than I thought I could handle this month. Between my allergies (thanks Ragweed) and the start of school again (Hi, students), I just didn’t have the complex layers of the 1880s in me.

I did, however, have a simplicity of a 1960s shift dress in me. Today’s 1960s dress is based on Simplicity 7587 from 1968. The dress came in two lengths. Her shoes are based on this pair from 1962. And, of course, she has a big flipped hair style which you may need to add some floating tabs too.

If you want to see more “favorite decades” head over to Paper Doll School and Miss Missy Paper Dolls to see their August posts. I have no idea what decades they chose and I am looking forward to seeing myself.

Meanwhile, back in April, I started a project to draw 100 dresses and post my drawings on Instagram. It was more about completing my #100dressesproject than any kind of timeline. Of course, I did take a few weeks off in the middle. However, I am super happy that I posted dress 100 today! So, go check out all 100 dresses and let me know what you think of them in a comment there or here.

And, as always, I’d love to know what you think of today’s 1960s paper doll dress.

There’s a second, patron exclusive, 1960s dress over on my Patreon page. So, if you are a patron (thank you) and enjoy! If you aren’t a patron, consider joining. Any amount really does help keep the blog’s costs down.

Need a paper doll to wear these clothes? Grab her and more clothing here.

Two Summery Paper Doll Dresses from the 1930s

A pair of 1930s paper dolls dresses with matching hats based on the designs from home sewing patterns. The dress on the left is from the early 1930s and the dress on the left is from the mid-1930s. Both dresses have matching hats.

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So, I tend to work in spurts. I suddenly decide that I want to draw 1930s clothing (as I did recently) and then I draw several and then I don’t draw any for months. This is just how I am. I try to build enough of a backlog that I can space out these posts in such a way that people who want to see 1930s clothing don’t feel disappointed when it takes months for it to show up again.

Today’s dresses are both appropriate for any 1930s paper dolls out there. I used my favorite source for these things- The Vintage Pattern Wiki. It’s amazing and so fun to dig through (if you’re a clothing lover like me.) So, the dress on the left is based on Simplicity 1091. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a way to see if there was a more precise copyright date on the pattern other then the cover art which is distinctly 1930s. The second dress is based on Vogue 7316 C from 1936. The  hats and gloves are based on a variety of sources, including the pattern covers.

In my head these are summery dresses, but I suppose there’s no reason they have to be, through the one on the right would be awfully cold come winter time.

Just for fun, in case you missed any of the 1930s pieces so far, here’s a round up of all the 1930s posts so far…

The 1930s Paper Doll Collection So Far..

I’m excited to say that I just drew a new set of 1930s underwear and so soon there will be a second 1930s paper doll to join Benedita. Of course, given my turn around times, “soon” might equal sometime in the next six months. I am a bit slow at these things. Meanwhile, the 1930s dresses will fit any of the B Pose dolls, they just might back the right shoes and hair for a period look.

As always, I love to hear from you guys, so leave a comment and a huge thank you to my Patrons and if you’d like to help out the blog by making a donation, you can do that over on the Patreon page

Need a Doll to wear today’s outfit? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing