Fashion Is My Passion

I believe that there are things people are born to do, their destiny, their natural talent. I have known from a very early age that I was creative, but from that creativity came my passion for fashion. Some of my early drawings are of clothing, where I would draw my "perfect outfit". I discovered Paper Dolls around age 4, my favorite was a doll that I punched out from a Hallmark birthday card. I loved that I had so many fashion choices for my paper dolls, I would sometimes even make them new outfits. I loved getting the new McCall's Magazine each month so I could cut out the Betsey McCall paper doll in the back of each issue. Later I discovered Barbie. She was 3-dimensional and I could SEW her new outfits, which I did nearly every day! My Barbie, who was actually Barbie's friend PJ, had quite the wardrobe. When I outgrew playing with dolls I moved on to making clothes for myself. I would sketch my ideas in this little sketch book I carried around in my bag. It is fun to look through it now and see all the outfits I actually did make, which is nearly all of them. Years later I became a Stylist at Nordstrom, dressing all the mannequins in the store. A few days after I started that job I realized that I was doing what I have done for my entire life, dress dolls.

A very large lot of paper dolls recently fell into my lap. They are mostly from the 50's & 60's, movie stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Doris Day. I have spent many, many hours cataloging the dolls and all their outfits. I am not sure what I am going to do with them yet, as the dolls don't actually belong to me, which is why I have been scanning them into my computer for a later purpose. The art of paper dolls is sort of lost on today's generation of girls. I still have my paper dolls tucked safely away in a metal box so the silverfish can't harm them. The Partridge Family is in there, Betsey McCall, a few Hallmark card dolls and so many more. And now these beautiful paper dolls from yesteryear have a safe future with me. Soon I will figure out the perfect way to share them with other little girls, who will appreciate them as I do.