Summary

National doll produced to represent a French woman. It was given to Monica Gates, circa 1970s-1980s. The long skirt, apron, blouse and shawl worn by this doll were common components of women's folk costume across Europe with regional differences being shown through colour, fabric, embroidery, headwear and cut. Interestingly though purchased as a souvenir in France, this doll was manufactured in Italy and has a label with the coat of arms of Valais, a Swiss canton boarded by France and Italy.

The Gates collection contains 170 national dolls from 74 different countries and some correspondence relating to the acquisition of several of the dolls. The costumes of the dolls represent national costumes from the 19th Century to the 1990s. Monica Gates collected or was given these dolls between 1957 and 1990.

These dolls were purchased as souvenirs of particular countries and like many mass produced souvenirs they are often not accurate representations of a particular country or region, and may actually better reflect neighbouring counties or regions. This occurs because costumes are often stylised and simplified resulting dolls wearing generic costume elements which are common to many countries/regions. Often the fabrics and decorations used are selected to make the dolls cheap and easy to manufacture and aesthetically pleasing. This can result in the fabrics, colours and decorations of the doll's clothing having little or no reflection of the costume associated with a particular country or region they are meant to be representative of.

Physical Description

Plastic female doll with sleeping blue eyes. blond hair tucked under a white short top hat trimmed gold braid around edge of brim and floral braid around edge of brim and floral braid around crown, wearing a pale blue spotted skirt and shawl, the latter trimmed in gold lace. Black plastron also decorated in gold trim, studs and cross white lace apron is tied on by broad white ribbon,stiffened mesh petticoat is worn underneath, also high heeled black shoes. Arms and neck are jointed. Paper label attached to front in shape of coat-of-arms in red and white.

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