Dolls have been around for a very long time now and are usually fashioned to look like a real human beings. Different kinds of dolls have been made from different kinds of materials ranging from stone, clay, wood, bone, cloth, paper, porcelain, rubber and plastic.
Dolls became more popular not only to children but also to adults. They have been made one of the collector’s items. Different brands have been established and they have their own different looks and attributes. These popular brands are the Barbie dolls, American Girl, and the Madame Alexander brand.
Barbie Dolls
Barbie is a fashion doll produced by an American toy company named Mattel, Inc. The first Barbie was released in March 1959. The woman behind this, Ruth Handler got her inspiration from a German doll called Bild Lilli. Bild Lilli is a blond sexy lady from a comic strip. Ruth Handler, saw this doll as she went for vacation with her children. When she went home, she brought with her three Bild Lilli dolls, she gave one to her daughter and the other two she used as model for her new creation which is now known as Barbie.
Barbie has the body of an adult lady. The doll’s popularity grew and became the figurehead of the brand Mattel dolls and accessories. Barbie was named as Barbara “Barbie” Millicent Roberts who was from its creator’s daughter named Barbara. A story of Barbie’s life was created, complete with her parents her school her career and even love life, Ken.
Many children, teenagers and even adults have looked up to Barbie because of her fashion and her career. Barbie was made to have a lot of careers to show that women are not only meant to be housewives instead they can do a lot of things just like men. Barbie became famous up to this time and even became a cultural icon.
American Girl
American Girl is not solely about dolls, they also have a line of books and accessories. American Girl was based on ten-year-old girl characters. The viewpoint is of girls that have been part different periods of American history. But now the American Girl dolls include stories of contemporary girls. The stories are meant for young girls but the issues behind the stories are quite mature like child labor, slavery, poverty, racism, alcoholism, animal abuse and war.
The company was headed by Pleasant Rowland in 1986. The products could be initially be bought by mail order. In 1998 the Pleasant Company became a subsidiary of Mattel.
Madame Alexander
Madame Alexander dolls is a line of collectible dolls. She first released her collectible dolls in 1923. Madame Alexander was originally created by Bertha Alexander which was later known to be Beatrice Alexander. She was the first American entrepreneur who made collectible dolls. Her first model collectible doll was from the licensed character Scarlet O’Hara from the book/movie Gone with the Wind. She also made a lot of dolls honoring living people.