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Black & White
This category gathers all Paper Thin Personas printable paper doll designs available in black and white, featuring original artwork created for easy printing, cutting, and coloring. Because it includes many styles and eras, the list is long—feel free to browse at your own pace, or use the Master Paper Doll Index to find something more specific.
Unlock with PatreonA 1980s Fashion Paper Doll Ready to Rock the Board Room
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I fell in love with the 1980s power fashion clothing as I was looking through these old catalogs. So, clearly, the thing I needed to do was draw a 1980s fashion paper doll ready to take over the board room.
The mix and match options seemed really cool here, because so many pf these clothing pieces were designed to match with the black pencil skirts and black trousers, specifically pleated ones. Pleated trousers are super comfortable, so I can get behind that. One perk of this was that just doing two bottoms and then five tops gives a lot of options which I think is a big part of paper doll functionality- which is a passion of mine. This paper doll has 11 outfits, which is a lot for 9 pieces of clothing.
Listen, some people contemplate how to make the perfect pulled pork bbq, I think about how to make a functional one sheet paper doll. We all have our hobbies.
Patrons can, of course, mix and match these with last months’ 1980s paper doll. I don’t think my workout paper doll really mixes well with these, but Jazzercise clothing was super fun to draw.
A few other thoughts- one thing that really struck me about 1980s clothing was how color was used. If you look at the black and white sweater (original here), it’s really the way the shirt is color blocked that makes it 1980s. The pattern could be today, but something about the color blocking really dates it to the decade of the 1980s.
So now Amethyst is ready to go rock the corporate world in huge shoulder pads!
Honestly, the 1940s and the 1980s are both super into the giant shoulder pad thing and I try to get it (I do), but I just don’t. I guess if I’m going to draw a 1980s fashion paper doll I just need to get into the whole shoulder pad thing, but… Oh well, I barely understand modern fashion. I just like drawing paper dolls.
1980s Work Out Madness
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Sometimes when I go through old fashion catalogues, I notice something and then I need to draw it. When I started working on my 1980s paper dolls I ran into a classic problem- the 1980s wasn’t that long ago. While a lot of clothing looks dated, a lot of it looks like things you could wear today (with maybe different hair and less blush). However, one thing stood out as distinctly 1980s- leotards and leggings for the Jazzercise workout craze.
Seriously, I could have filled a whole paper doll book with these looks. They were wild. A few of my favorites were the 1983 Sears Spring/Summer collection which included puff sleeves (why?). The 1988 Sears Spring/Summer Catalog which features some super high cut silhouettes. And my personal favorite, the 1984 Sears Fall/Winter Catalog with its actually flattering color blocking. Montgomery Ward seems to have mostly sold these looks for kids, like in this 1985 Fall/Winter catalog. I didn’t have access to enough Montgomery Ward or JCPenney catalogs to see if they got into the same styles, though I suspect they did.
The 1985 Sears Fall/Winter collection was the inspiration for the color scheme and several of the pieces for this paper doll. I liked the oddly spring feeling colors and I thought they were more fun than the black and dark tones people associate with workout gear. Ruby, the paper doll here has make up, because clearly everyone in the 1980s had perfect lipstick while exercising. (I look like a half-drowned puppy after exercising, but that’s just me!)
One thing that struck me as I looked at these was that they weren’t badly designed, by which I mean there was effort being given to making them flattering. The use of color blocking and the V going down the body are actually slimming on most people. The belts would have called attention to the waist which, again, can be flattering on some people. However, I do think there’s a bit of a problem because leotards in shiny polyester are never going to be a great look.
While I was too young to really remember the Jazzercise craze, I do remember my middle school in the 1990s did a step-aerobics class for gym for a few days and I loved it. I loved that I didn’t have to do a team sport (which I was awful at) and I loved the music. I wonder if there are still step-aerobics classes in this world? Maybe I should go find one. I don’t see why gym classes in the USA are so obsessed with team sports. Not all of us want to play basketball, darn it!
I digress.
I know it has been a while for my patrons on the “1980s fashion” request front, but I hope this paper doll gets us a little closer to some 1980s fashion fun and there’s another 1980s paper doll forthcoming with a more professional wardrobe.
Tanya and Her Princess Gowns
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I’m still sort of playing around with getting used to drawing for the Talia Tuesday and Friends dolls. I enjoy the pose and I like playing around with the motion, though I am still not 100% confident with it. It’s a fairly new pose to me and so it’s a bigger stretch than drawing for poses I’m used to drawing for. Since I’m not formally trained as an artist, and I don’t really enjoy drawing figures, it’s always a little scary working with a new pose for me.
So, anyway, this is Tanya. Tanya is the Russian diminutive of Tatiana. I named the paper doll Tanya, because I already have a Talia and a Tashi. I felt like the name Tanya fit in with the other names neatly. So, nothing too fancy there- I picked it because I liked how it sounded.
Tanya here has my first fantasy foray for the Talia Tuesday and Friends dolls, but I do love drawing princess paper dolls. Her crowns are designed to fold around the head, so you have some flexibility, if you want to use them on another doll with different hair.
If the pose is a stretch for me, this style is like cooking a recipe you’ve made a million times and know will probably come out okay. I both like drawing medieval fantasy gowns and am super comfortable drawing these fantasy princess looks. The color scheme was a bit different from many I tend to be attracted too. It feels more autumnal than I intended when I started, but I am super happy how it turned out.
As usual, a big thank you to my patrons who got to see the first proto Talia last year and helped me name Tashi, though I picked out Tanya’s name on my own. You all are the best!
Dolly & Her Dresses For May 2022
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A Lady of a Castle and her Pretty Gowns
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More Italian Renaissance with Sapphire
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So, when I do historical clothing sets, I’ve learned drawing two takes about the same amount of time as drawing one. Of course, the downside is that I always worry if I make a mistake then I’m likely to repeat it. I’m not 100% sure about the waist lines on these, but that’s okay.
The paper doll is wearing a shift with a gathered neckline which seems to be the style in Italy. It’s a lot more fitted than these would have been for layering reasons. There’s some debate from my research in what women wore under these gowns. There’s not a lot of evidence for stays, but there’s no way to get the smooth line shown on the bust in these portraits without some sort of support either built into the bodice or underneath the bodice. If you look closely at side of the pink gown, you’ll see there’s a fold between where the armpit meets the shoulder and that suggests there is something under the bodice; however, I have not been able to find any evidence on what that undergarment might have looked like.
Later, there’s this Venetian Woman with Moveable Skirt from the 1560s and there might be a set of stays there or it might be an artistic choice to continue the bodice after the skirt is lifted. It’s tough to know. I tend to think it’s likely stays, because the work is erotic art and there’s nothing erotic about a bodice (or is there?). When I do a Venetian set (and I plan to do that someday) I’ll use that as my base design I suspect. However, we’re not working on Venetian clothing today. Today, we are in Florence.
Both of these dresses are again based on portraits. Both sitters are probably from Florence, based on professional folk’s assessments of the paintings. Lucrezia Panciatichi, for example, was the wife of Bartolomeo Panciatichi, a Florentine humanist and politician. The other sitter there’s some debate over, but her clothing does look like that which was worn in Florence according to folks who know more about this than I do which isn’t I grant you a high standard at this point.
Despite the few small changes I might make to these in the future (and my annoyance that I couldn’t seem to track down a full length portrait to get skirt shapes right), I’m super proud that I did these despite feeling like I don’t “know enough” to do them well.
I will say that I want to do something later in the 1500s from Venice, as I mentioned, because the Venetians had these wild shoes called chopines which were platform shoes so high that women needed help walking in them. They’re so strange and I want to draw them, but I need to do more research on the clothing that would have gone with them. More research!
So, if you want to get to vote in my next paper doll content poll, join us on Patreon.
Early Italian Renaissance Dress with Topaz
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I have a pretty bad tendency to get super tangled up in myself. For the last few years, my Patrons have been requesting two historical time periods in every poll- the 1980s and Italian Renaissance. In my whole costume book collection, I only own one book on Italian Renaissance clothing and it’s a translation of a 1590s text, so not the most useful when trying to do overview research.
What became abundantly clear to me as I did my digging into the topic was that styles in Italy were not standardized across the entire country, as we know it today. At the time, Italy was a collection of city-states (it remained this way until it unified around the 1870s), so every area had its own fashion which makes things super confusing.
Plus, since most of these are taken from portraits of the period and the identify of the sitters isn’t always known, it’s nigh impossible to be certain where the paintings were painted. Is that lady wearing Naples fashions or those from Rome? Who knows?
Anyway, I got myself all wrapped up in my worry about not being “right” that I avoided drawing anything claiming to be Italian Renaissance for two years. Finally, I realized I was being ridiculous. So, I looked through all the paintings I had collected on my Pinterest Board devoted to Italy. I read what I could find and then I set to work. Here’s what I know- These dresses are based on those in two portraits.
The dress on the left is based on Portrait of a Lady by Pier Francesco Foschi. Dress on the right is based on La Bella by Titian. Both painting date from the 1530s.
Pier Francesco Foschi (1502–1567) was an Italian painter active in Florence. It’s possible the lady in this painting is also from Florence. There are other examples of this dress style here and here. Since those are also unidentified, it’s impossible to know exactly where this combination was being worn. The fur trimmed sleeves, black trimmed bodices, raised waists, long gridles, and high collared camisoles seem to be the common elements.
Meanwhile, on the right, Titian was a Venetian painter whose work is well regarded. The person in this painting is unknown, so the area this style of dress was worn is also unknown. Titian worked all over Italy, which adds to the confusion. The low neckline seems to be somewhat unusual for this period, as most dresses I saw had something filling in that space. In my rendition, I think I made the waist too high, but that’s neither here nor there.
A few things I noticed generally, unlike Tudor dress which is super stiff, the sleeves and skirts of these gowns fall more softly. I wasn’t able to find any full length portraits of these dresses, so I am guessing they fell to the floor without knowing for sure.
There’s some debate if these dresses were worn over some sort of stays. I have no idea, but I do know the flattened bust of these dresses wouldn’t have been possible without either some sort of support in the bodice of the dresses or underneath them. It does seem like wide open necked shifts were often worn and are referenced in several books I have.
Anyway, shoes were snagged from a few different places like here and my favorite- Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz. Of course, from Stepping Through Time focuses on Netherlands and this is Italian, so… mileage may vary.
All in all, while there’s things I would change for next time, I’m okay with that. I have one more Italian renaissance foray to share and I just got a few books on order about the period from the library so… there may yet be more of this to come. I’m sure after I’ve done more research, I’ll approach it differently, but I didn’t want my own need to “be sure” get too much in the way of finishing some new paper dolls.
And if you’d like to get to vote on future polls about “what I should draw next” join us on Patreon.
Talia Tuesday and Her Formal Gowns
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So, there’s a not so fun side to any new paper doll series involving me figuring out how many pieces of clothing I need to draw to fill in a set. Too many and the clothing won’t fit. Too few and it looks weirdly sparse. I’m still sorting out with Talia Tuesday what I need for each set and evening gowns (because they are large pieces) are always a good way to test and get a feel for things.
Plus, I enjoy drawing evening gowns. Who doesn’t?
A few notes- for those of you who haven’t seen Talia here yet, all of her sets are two pages. I mention this because it’s one download, but there are two pages there. I had a question about that last week, so I wanted to clarify. This is the third Talia Tuesday doll, so if you need a friend (or clone, I suppose) there’s another Talia Tuesday with some retro ski clothing you can check out and a friend named Tashi with some fancy winterwear.
Eventually, this collection will expand to have other paper dolls with T names, but I am not there yet. Slow, but steady and all that. I have one other friend for Talia and Tashi ready and a foray into fantasy clothing I’ll want to share soon.
Spring Princess Gowns for Jade
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Sure, there’s still like feet of snow on the ground here and sure yesterday the high was under freezing at 29 degrees, but it is spring darn it! (Signs of spring include a longer day, muddy streets, and trees that are starting to bloom.) It’s just been a much colder spring than usual, but I would rather have a long slow slide into break up than a rapid one, so I’ll take it.
I will also complain loudly about it.
I can have contradictions in my life.
All righty, so let’s talk paper dolls. Back in 2019 or 2020 or something, I started drawing some very fancy big-skirted princess gowns that I called the Princesses and Their Gowns collection. Not really because I thought it would be a big collection, but because all the gowns used the same basic color scheme and style, so I figured it would be simple enough to group them together.
All of last years additions to the collection ended up being Patreon content, so I knew I wanted to add some more for this year and make them blog content.
I chose daffodils to decorate these gowns, because my mother always planted them and they were a favorite flower of mine. I remember my mother would always order her bulbs in the fall and sometimes they wouldn’t arrive until after the ground was frozen and, not about to let that stop her, she’d go out with boiling water and spade to plant them anyway. They always came up, one way or another.
My other favorite flower is peonies which has nothing to do with this paper doll set, but are gown up here and are just amazing in a few weeks when the farmers’ market reopens.
So, do you have a favorite flower? Let me know in a comment!
Dolly and Her Dresses for April 2022
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Jade goes Catalog Shopping in the 1980s in today’s paper doll
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