Doll Exhibition #4 : Dolls from the 80's @ Musée de la Poupée - PART ONE

Hi all,

A few weeks ago i went to the very last exhibition of the "Musée de la poupée" in Paris. Unfortunately the museum doesn't have enough funds to keep their little space in the center of Paris anymore. It makes me quite sad because i saw many great exhibitions there in the past.

But I have to say, what a better subject than "Poupées des années 80" (Dolls from the 80's) for my final visit.

I enjoyed every moment of that afternoon down 80's memory lane and I'm very happy to show you the dolls that were either manufactured or distributed in France during that era. Some of them are very well known but i was happy to discover dolls I never heard about before.

The first part was about baby dolls and other "bigger dolls" and second part was about fashion dolls.

PART ONE

We start with a french company called Corolle which was very popular during the 80's. I don't think i ever owned a Corolle doll but I remember seeing them everywhere in the toy stores. 

The company created in 1979 was an immediate success at a time where dolls from the US were the top selling dolls.

They produced various types of dolls but their most famous ones were the "baby corolle" and the little girls always dressed in high quality clothes. They had a bit of a "preppy" look which is probably why I wasn't that much into them.

When Mattel bought the company in 1990, it was still very popular.

Bébé Chéri Boule de Neige - 1987

Marie Corolle Bicentenaire - 1989

Les Triplés - 1986

Poupée Madame Figaro - 1985

At the beginning of the 80's the romantic type dolls from the late 70's were still popular. The most famous one in France was "Marie d'O", a doll created by Marie Madeleine Tancre. She produced about 4000 dolls a month. 

I never heard of these dolls before but i quite like them.

Poupée Marie d'O - beginning of the 80's

Claude Brabant is another french artist who created unique dolls painted and sewn by herself called "Création Clo".

She was also a Barbie collector and she wrote a book about the history of costumes worn by barbie and Ken. I adore that book!

"Le Musée de la Poupée" also did a couple of exhibitions presenting her creations.

Clodrey is another french company selling rag dolls in the 80's.

Poupée Amy de Clodrey - 1983

I think that the next dolls that were presented at the exhibition truly represents the 80's.

Their story began early 70's when an American named Martha Nelson Thomas created a new concept called "Little Doll Babies". They were unique pieces sewn in coton which were sold with an adoption certificate as if they were real babies. Her idea was kind of stolen by Xavier Roberts who decided to produce similar dolls called : "The Little People". 

Very soon he sold the concept to Coleco and then Hasbro and the dolls were re-named "The Cabbage Patch Kids". These new models had still the body made of fabric but their heads were in plastic.

They were a massive hit!

They were distributed in France  by Jesma under the name "Les Patoufs". I think i had one but i can't remember for sure. What i'm certain of is that I had the vinyl! 

I remember a song in particular which went like : "je déteste les Patoufs, je déteste les Patoufs - je suis la sorcière, la sorcière(...)  - je suis si amère je sers pour la citronnade"! ahah ("I hate the Patoufs, I hate the Patoufs - I am the witch, the witch (...) - I'm so bitter, I'm used for lemonade"!)

The dolls didn't sold as well in France as the Corolle dolls but they served as models for sticker albums called « Les Crados » (« The disgusting ones ») which were extremely popular!

I had two of these albums. Basically it was a pun with your first name and a disgusting or scary image to illustrate it. But It was for kids so it wasn’t too bad!! I loved it :)

In 1990 Mattel created a mini doll inspired by the Cabbage Patch kids.

Between 1985 and 1988 Mattel released  a new doll called « My Child ». They were really soft dolls in coton simply called « Mon Enfant » in France.

Other famous 80’s dolls in France are Tinnie and Kattie by Raynal and Kenner, but I’ve talked talked about them before here : Samia, Kattie and other dolls

In the 50’s, the magazine « Mode and Travaux » started selling dolls, outfits pattern and fabrics. It was so popular that they continue to do so in 2017! 

In the 80’s the company Petitcollin produced them. They were named Marie-Françoise, Michel and Jean-Michel. These names were not very modern for the 80’s, which is why in 1986 they released a new doll called Emily with a more modern look.

 Mode et travaux dolls - early 80's

Emily doll by Petitcollin for Mode & Travaux - 1986

I don't personally collect theses big dolls, but i love all toys coming from the 80's. Especially if i had one as a kid!

So that’s it for the part one of the exhibition, Hope you enjoyed it! 

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Barbie Collection #3 Happy Birthday Barbie 1980

Hi all,

2 days ago i sort of celebrated the fact that i opened an Instagram account a year ago to show my collection of dolls.

I you haven't seen it yet, here it is! https://www.instagram.com/barbie80s

So what a good excuse to buy myself a new doll! 😀  And Happy Birthday Barbie was a perfect choice no?

She was released in 1980 and, correct me if i'm wrong, she was the first "Happy Birthday Barbie" Mattel ever released.

She has quite a unique hairstyle which I'm not a huge fan of but it makes her pretty unique and i like that :) Actually i like the big curly hair but I'm not so sure about the long straight hair on the back. Kind a looklike a mullet ahah. But hey, It's the 80's so it fits!!

Her gown is very lovely, with pastel colors and flowers, very summery :) I do enjoy her shoes very much too as i don't have many doll wearing shoes like that. It's usually open toe heels or pumps.

She has a bit of a ballerina look and her face remind me of the My First dolls a little bit i'm not sure why.

But the best thing about this doll are the accessories!
First of all, let's find out what's in the gift box...

It's a lovely pink medallion that you can wear with a pink ruban that comes with the doll. (I tried to find pictures of a little girl wearing it in a catalogue or a commercial, but so far, no luck...)

As a great accessories you also get a ring that you can customize according to your birth stone, isn't it great?

As you can see there's a big sticker for your ring and a little one for Barbie's so you can have the same as her!

This is why Barbie Happy Birthday's ring is flat. I think she is the only Barbie of that era with a flat ring like that.

And last but not least this Barbie comes with a booklet to help you throw the best birthday party ever !!!

The first page explains how to make a guest list and how to send out invitations. 

Have you ever made a cat paper plate decoration?? Now's the time!

Before the guests arrive to party and play with dolls (of course), we need to choose our birth stone for our ring. I was born in september so mine is Sapphire. Which one is yours??

It's time for games !

I'm finding the "smallest" and "largest" categories of the beauty contest a tiny bit strange for the time because in the 80's all the barbie had the same body... but ok :)

The shopping contest looks like a lot of fun though!

It's time to open Barbie's present !

That's all for the accessories.

But there was a vinyl that was released on Kid Stuff Records in 1981. There were 6 songs on it : "Happy birthday, Barbie", "Happy birthday to you", "the way you look tonight", "You're getting better all the time", "Completely Yours", "Happy Birthday, barbie (reprise)".

I'd be quite curious to hear it!

All Barbie's friends are here for her birthday : Skipper, Ken, Midge and Christie. (picture taken from the net)

Even though i collect dolls from the 80's I'm still quite clueless sometimes. For example i just found out that another Happy Birthday Barbie was released in 1982 that looked almost exactly like the 1980's one!

Here's the 82 variation :

(pictures taken from the net)

Her hair is light auburn, her dress has lighter colors on the top and the gift box is different. I also think her make up is softer than the first one .. i'm gonna try to find her to see if her accessories are different. It looks like she also comes with a ring to customize. 

My Happy Birthday doll came in a box. It was a bit used but I'm still very happy i found her NRFB!

So that's it for the birthday girl !

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Barbie Collection #2 Fashion Play dolls

Hi all,

A few years back I told you that i rediscovered two fashion play dolls from my childhood collection and that they were the most beautiful barbies to me.

I decided then to get the entire collection of Barbie Fashion Play from the 80's.

It took me a while , because like most of european exclusive, they are hard to find and expensive... so hard to find, that I'm still missing one of them :(

But anyway, here are my FASHION PLAY barbie dolls :

These dolls were produced from 1983 to 1989 and were only sold in Europe and later in Canada which makes them rare and valuable.

BUT : some of the clothes worn by the dolls were also released on the american market as simple fashions under the name : Fashion Fun.

So owning the dress don't mean you owned the doll.

This great line of dolls started in 1983. There were actually 2 series made that year, though the second one was released in 1984.

They have different faces and make up but share the same product code : #7193.

Here is the first serie from 1983 :

Only the one with the pink dress is from my childhood, and i had to make the belt because i lost the original one. 

The others i got from ebay. I absolutely love the one with the striped dress, she's one of the first i bought. I think their make up is perfect! :)

I'm only missing the one in the silver dress, i hope i will find her someday!

They were all made in Philippines.

Here is the second serie :

These dolls were manufactures in 1983 but released in 1984. They were all made in Philippines.

Here is the third serie from 1984:

From this third serie, 2 are from my childhood. The one called Star Saint Trop here in France (2nd from the left) and the last one with the purple dress. I loooove that dress! I had to reroot that doll because i use to play "punk dolls" as a kid and many of my barbies lost their hair :D. She was my first reroot ever and you can tell the hair have a different color.

They were all made in Philippines except the one with the pink overall which was made in Malaysia.

French Mattel catalogue from 1984

Here is the fourth serie from 1986 : 

I only had Barbie Loisirs as a child (the 1st one) but i lost her, so i had to buy them all last year. I'm really happy i found the one with the alternative dress! 

They were all made in Philippines.

Thought it was interesting to see the different boxes. The last two are from Canada, the one with the dog and motorcycle is from France, not sure about the first one...

Here is the fifth serie from 1987 :

The last one with the purple dress is from my childhood. Only the strap from the dress was missing so i sew a new one. My favorite is the one with the red skirt. I love her hair and red lipstick! They are all from Philippines.

Here is the sixth serie from 1988 :

The pink one i had to buy again, because the one from my childhood lost her dress. The blue one is the one i had as a kid, but her hair were so messy, i restyled them a bit. They're both from China. I really like the pink and blue theme, i think because i couldn't choose the one i preferred, i had both! 

Here is the last serie i own from 1989 (They also did 2 more fashion play dolls in 90 & 91):

:DkjhuuhI only found out about these two barbies a year ago i think and bought them then. I really like their faces, the plastic of the pink one seems a bit different to the touch... it's hard to explain, but there a little bit of glitter on it maybe that's why.

They were made in China.

Finally I also had 3 naked fashion play dolls so I decided to have them wear fashion fun outfits. The one on the left is from 1983 and wearing the outfit #2087, the one sitting in a chair is from my childhood collection but she had no hair and no clothes left. She's from 1988 and wearing the outfit #2093. And the Barbie on the right is from 1989. She's wearing the outfit #2089.

So that's it with my fashion play collection, I hope you enjoyed those pictures and some of these beautiful and rarely seen dolls!

It's also interesting to know that in 1984, six fashion play dolls were made in France with a different head mold. Ironically, i don't own any... yet ;)

Here's the commercial released at the time:
http://www.ina.fr/video/PUB3249889071#=_=

But more about these french dolls another time... ;)

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