Benedita’s 1930s corset was based on this one from The Met. The original corset has a ruffle at the bottom. I had drawn it that way, at first, but to make the slim skirts of the 1930s work over the ruffle was basically impossible, so through the Power of Photoshop, the ruffle went away. Sometimes, paper doll creation requires editing changes, because fabric can fold and paper… doesn’t.
The shoes all came from 1930s shoes in different museums. I love 1930s shoes, but I wanted to try to focus on classic designs that would be versatile for different outfits. Her brown shoes, for example, were based on this pair of purple shoes from Saks Fifth Avenue crica 1934. Her green shoes are a simplified version of this patterned pair from 1935. Her beige and black pair were based on this pair of French sandals. The black pair of the doll is wearing come from this pair of shoes, which is also black.
And yes, today’s 1930s paper doll is wearing shoes. Why? Because I thought it would be easier to put her in shoes than deal with the fact that she can’t be barefoot (she’s wearing stockings) and I didn’t want to deal with the whole “toes under stockings” thing. So, the solution? A nice neutral pair of black shoes.
(And you can always put something over them, if you think she would secretly like to be a fantasy warrior or something.)
Now, just like my 18th Century Alice, 1930s Benedita can’t wear all the clothing I’ve ever drawn for the B Pose paper dolls without her underthings showing. So, if she does decide she wants to go slay a dragon in this ridiculous get up, than she may need need to be okay with her corset showing. Or you can always cut her head off and paste it onto another Benedita’s body. It’s a little gruesome, but no one will judge a bit of paper doll decapitation.
Love her? Hate her? Have an opinion on what decade I should do next? Let me know in a comment!
Need a clothing for today’s Doll? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing
In the paper doll version her corset looks like the Edwardian corset I recently sewed, so I had to click through to see the original inspiration, this is much less a corset that I was thinking of and more a slip style, there’s no boning. I haven’t really looked into undergarments in the ’30s yet, so this was fascinating to look at.
I’m loving your new series with the historically accurate undergarments.
Yeah, I chose to refer to it as a corset, because that’s how it was identified by the museum. I agree that there’s no visible boning in the front, but I don’t know what’s happening in the under-layers or in the back.
Thank you. The historical underthings are fun! The link for the color PDF doesn’t work for me. Thanks!
I forgot a backslash. It’s fixed now! Thanks for being patient. 🙂
Thank you.