Jumeau Fashion Doll

 

In those days couture dress houses would employ travelling salesmen to show valued clients their latest creations.

These would also include the latest fashionable hats and their accessories.
The advantage for the salesman would be that hthe dolls were dressed in the actual fabrics that they would supply.
Most of the female leading citizens of any size would be called on every two or three months and they would choose the models they liked and the fabrics needed.

This made life easier both for the ladies placing orders and for the sales team.

 

Fairly quickly, large dollmaking companies like Jumeau realised that there was also a huge demand for the fashion dolls for the daughters of the leading ladies of those towns who needed a doll just like Mama's new dress.
This was a standard way of marketing the fashions of the day.
 
 Young ladies learned by example from their mothers and it was generally agreed that learning to sew by making fashion  dresses for their dolls was an essential start to learning graceful womanhood.

 

Fashion .Dolls are prized as much today as they were in Victorian times.
These were always relatively expensive toys and girls would also wheedle from their parent additional essentials like baby buggies to show off their little darlings.

 

One of the best selling Fashion dolls was the Bride - with a complete trousseau and handmade lace dress and gloves.
Of course a bright young owner would sew her Fashion doll several outfits to take advantage of latest fashion trends.

 

Accessories were also a big seller and dolls were furnished with fancy underwear,evening capes,slippers,riding clothes ,
gloves and fantastical hats adorned with feathers .including everything from nightgowns to opera glasses to evening gowns.

The dolls reigned for many years in the mid 19th century as the most deluxe dolls money could buy,until they were usurped by child dolls produced in Germany.
Jumeau and Bru became the leaders in making fashion dolls and other makers followed suit.

Some dollmakers like Huret and Rohmer specialised in this market but the bigger companies led the field.
Other companies selling fashion dolls were Gaaultier, Barrois and Simone but there were many smaller domllmakers who tried to enter the field.

 

 

What were Fashion dolls made from ?
 French Fashion Dolls had mainly Bisque heads and flexible leather bodies and either Glass eyes or painted eyes on cheaper models
Better quality dolls had intricate hands in bisque..

 

 

How can you identify a French Fashion doll ?
This is a little difficult as many fashion dolls were only marked with a size number (either on the back or shoulder )-
This was  mainly to enable easy assembly of the parts of the dolls .
A Head and arms and legs would all bear the same size number and this would stop misshapen dolls being returned from the homeworker to the dollmaker. Otherwise you would see dolls with small heads and long arms or other problems.

 

Jumeau and Gaultier sometimed DID mark ther fashion dolls and a few other makers stamped a mark into the leather body.
 
Fashions in Dolls do change however and a large number odf Doll shops opened in Paris and Major cities.
They sold not only dolls from a number of makers but also a mixture of accessories to suit them.

Then as bisque became more lifelike,
Jumeau launched their Bebe Range and this was the doll every little girl wanted (Pester Power is not a new invention !)

 

Lifelike Baby dolls were quickly made by all leading makers including the ones from Germany who set about flooding the French market with their wares.

 

Prices of Fashion Dolls have now gone through the roof as doll collectors all want examples of these beautiful creations.

At one point it was possible to find a good Fashion doll for under $100 but those days have sadly gone.

 

Collectors now are looking for rare examples with totally original couture clothes  and well made bodies and are willing to pay for them.

For example.you will find it very difficult to acquire a really nice condition Fashion doll for under $5000 and you may have to accept a repro version at around the $200 to $500 mark.

You can still find more basic models in the $2000 to $3000 price range but they may not be in prime condition or you might have to sew new clothes fory oour new friend..

Fashion dolls look as though they will still continue to rise even through the credit crunch.
 

Mre Jumeau Dolls