Remember I said I had two bigger projects I was procrastinating on getting started with? Well I scaled one down so it might be manageable and fun.

Do you remember paper dolls? I used to love to play with them. Looking back I realize how they were used to pass down our nineteen fifties and sixties American values, culture and “norms“ about appearance and gender.

There are still Barbie paper dolls, Madeline paper dolls, Queen Elizabeth paper dolls, Princess Di, vintage, and “literary greats” paper dolls…even Donald Trump paper dolls. Some of them are articulated, making them almost puppets. I had no idea they were still so popular.

I’m a clothes hound. I love to dress up. When I was in college one of my most favorite courses was costume design.

So why not make a set of paper dolls and dress them up in all different ways; play around with clothing and accessories and how they relate to gender identity and sexuality, a topic that has been much on my mind of late.

This project is still gestating in my brain so I don’t have anything to show for it yet but hopefully tomorrow.

Here are a few of my get ups anyway-

Good night.