The inside scoop from Paper Studio Press
When you get your hands on a new paper doll book, what do you notice first? The colors? The design? The title? The artwork? Every one of those elements is painstakingly considered for each new Paper Studio Press paper doll book. Let's have a peak into the production process behind our three newest titles: Candy Cane Christmas, Pop Trends and '70s Retro Deco. I hope you'll be inspired to add these books to your collection or gift them to a friend! They're just $12 each and available from amazon.com and paperdollreview.com.
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| Candy Cane Christmas, Pop Trends and '70s Retro Deco. |
Pop Trends Paper Dolls by David Wolfe
Artist David Wolfe prefers paper doll books with lots of separates, so he created the ultimate mix-and-match book of his own. Drawing on his expertise as a fashion trend forecaster, David designed a wardrobe of separates representing eight timeless trends: Romantic, Sporty, Uniform, Futuristic, Minimal, Exotic, Gypsy and Nostalgic. Just like a real stylist, you can style an outfit using items from one trend or mix and match trends. The original title was Style-a-Trend, and along the way we changed it to Pop Trends Paper Dolls. Much better, right?
Rejected cover design.
David's original cover design communicates the creative process of fashion design with rulers, pencils brushes scissors and mannequin. The concept was considered too complicated and the floating heads rather disconcerting. So back to the drawing board for David.
Final cover mock-up.
For round two, David went with an orderly approach; the tiny clothing items better convey the mix-and-match concept of the book. In his original design, David chose a typical pose for the models, only to discover that clothes for that stance took up too much space on the costume pages. So he drew new dolls with a straight, static pose. With legs closer together, pants and skirts could be narrower, making it easier to fit more items per page. David deliberately chose the same pose so the three models can share clothes.
Final covers for Pop Trends Paper Dolls.
The final covers follow David's mock-up with some slight changes. The original POP title was too busy, so we streamlined it with solid magenta lettering, keeping the floral "O" from our Pop Culture Paper Dolls logo. The clothing items were selected to best fit the space, and the background color simply had to be yellow. Can you imagine a light blue? Or pink? Or green or purple? I don't even think I tried other colors; sometimes the first choice is the best.
Rejected clothes page (left), final page (right).
Almost never happy with his first attempt, David rejected his first page of Exotic clothes, feeling his drawings looked rushed. On the right is the final artwork, more finely rendered, some color changes, a new intricate pattern for the harem pants, and a longer robe with a more detailed print.
More trendy clothing pages from Pop Trends Paper Dolls.
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| Rejected cover design. |
David's original cover design communicates the creative process of fashion design with rulers, pencils brushes scissors and mannequin. The concept was considered too complicated and the floating heads rather disconcerting. So back to the drawing board for David.
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| Final cover mock-up. |
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| Final covers for Pop Trends Paper Dolls. |
The final covers follow David's mock-up with some slight changes. The original POP title was too busy, so we streamlined it with solid magenta lettering, keeping the floral "O" from our Pop Culture Paper Dolls logo. The clothing items were selected to best fit the space, and the background color simply had to be yellow. Can you imagine a light blue? Or pink? Or green or purple? I don't even think I tried other colors; sometimes the first choice is the best.
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| Rejected clothes page (left), final page (right). |
Almost never happy with his first attempt, David rejected his first page of Exotic clothes, feeling his drawings looked rushed. On the right is the final artwork, more finely rendered, some color changes, a new intricate pattern for the harem pants, and a longer robe with a more detailed print.
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| More trendy clothing pages from Pop Trends Paper Dolls. |
Candy Cane Christmas by Eileen Rudisill Miller
Christmas paper dolls are perennially popular. Paper Studio Press offerings include two by David Wolfe, Merrie Christmas and Merry Movie Christmas, and our number one best seller, Little Miss Christmas, a 1960s reproduction. For our next Christmas book, I wanted something super cute with a catchy title, one that would appeal to grandmas noticing our ads in magazines like Good Old Days, Reminisce and Saturday Evening Post.
Inspired by the 1950s coloring book Candy Cane House, I chose Candy Cane Christmas for the title and asked Eileen Rudisill "Rudy" Miller if the topic appealed to her. I got an immediate "Yes!" She had so much fun designing little girls' clothes for My Dolly and Me, she was excited to design Christmas themed clothes. Once the doll design was approved, Rudy couldn't stop designing darling clothes trimmed with snowflakes, pine trees, Santas, snowmen, gumdrops and of course candy canes. The toughest part of the creative process was choosing a title font! I hope Candy Cane Christmas becomes a new collectible classic.
Early cover designs, experimenting with fonts.
The idea of candy cane lettering was appealing; however, the design on the left was deemed too hard to read, and the design on the right was the final choice.
Back cover showing the dolls, Maia and Barbie, and several of the cute clothes pages.
Inspired by the 1950s coloring book Candy Cane House, I chose Candy Cane Christmas for the title and asked Eileen Rudisill "Rudy" Miller if the topic appealed to her. I got an immediate "Yes!" She had so much fun designing little girls' clothes for My Dolly and Me, she was excited to design Christmas themed clothes. Once the doll design was approved, Rudy couldn't stop designing darling clothes trimmed with snowflakes, pine trees, Santas, snowmen, gumdrops and of course candy canes. The toughest part of the creative process was choosing a title font! I hope Candy Cane Christmas becomes a new collectible classic.
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| Early cover designs, experimenting with fonts. |
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| The idea of candy cane lettering was appealing; however, the design on the left was deemed too hard to read, and the design on the right was the final choice. |
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| Back cover showing the dolls, Maia and Barbie, and several of the cute clothes pages. |
'70s Retro Deco Paper Dolls by Brenda Sneathen Mattox
Brenda pitched this idea to Dover back in 2016 but got no response. A year later she pitched it to me along with some sketches, and I gave it the green light. The vintage fashion revival of the 1970s was short lived, and Brenda's inspiration was very specific: the retro 1920s and 1930s trend epitomized by the Biba look from the London department store of the same name. It only lasted a couple of years before disco took over, but it trickled down into the mainstream. As much as we'd all enjoy the fashion represented from that era, how could we market such a paper doll book? Using "Biba" in the title was out due to copyright reasons. We considered "The London Look," but that was too ambiguous. Brenda suggested '70s Retro Deco and it was a go.
Initial sketches from Brenda.
The "Biba" Look design inspiration.
Notice the Art Nouveau design aspects of the Biba store.
Once Brenda started work on "The London Look," we asked David Wolfe to write a fashion essay for the inside back cover. Lucky for David, he lived in London during the 1960s and '70s and spent countless hours in the trendy department store, Biba. To learn more about this famed store and fashion trend, check out the blogs Flashbak and Messy Nessy. If you saw the 2018 film, Bohemian Rhapsody, you may recall Freddie Mercury shopping at Biba where he enhanced his fabulously androgynous wardrobe and where he met his girlfriend-turned-longtime-friend, Mary Austin.
David also came up with a design plan for the book. Inspired by the aesthetics of the Biba Department Store, he incorporated feathers, antique lamps and Art Nouveau and Art Deco decorative elements into the cover design and clothes pages. I asked Julie Allen Matthews to put the whole book together. Julie has digital skills way beyond my capabilities and I'm super thankful to have her on our paper doll team. A paper doll artist herself, check out her Paper Doll School blog as well as her first published paper doll book, Kitchen Kitsch, for Paper Studio Press.
Cover mock-up with a temporary title.
The final covers are a group effort: illustrations by Brenda Sneathen Mattox, design by David Wolfe, assembled and edited by Julie Allen Matthews.
Two tops actually worn by Brenda in the 1970s and inspiration for her jumpsuit design.
Some of the clothing pages from '70s Retro Deco Paper Dolls.
Shortly before going to press, I decided the models should come to life with a backstory and dialogue, so I reached out to Prof. Amanda Hallay, teacher, author, fashion historian and host of The Ultimate Fashion History YouTube channel. (Amanda also happens to be David's daughter!)
Noticing how the outfits face each other and appear to be in conversation, I thought it would be fun to add commentary next to each outfit as if the girls were chatting about their lives, outings, and, of course, their fashions. I asked Amanda to come up with text in the spirit of the 1925 comic novel by Anita Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, best known for the film adaptation starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell.
Not only was Amanda thrilled to take on the task, she got carried away and wrote an entire story! I sheepishly explained that the dialogue must be short enough to fit ON the clothing pages, and we only had space for a few lines per outfit. The professional that she is, Amanda whipped up a much shorter version that perfectly portrayed the goings-on of two trendy girls living and working in London in the early 1970s.
Since Amanda's story is so charming, I'll include the full version here. Enjoy!
Felicity and Polly
Fashion Trendy Girls Living, Working and Shopping in 1970s London
by Prof. Amanda Hallay
Meet Felicity Greenwood. She is a production assistant on the popular British TV show, Top of the Pops, and she just got a raise for booking a young, unknown singer called David Bowie onto the program. Her father is a member of Parliament, and her mother is a royal so minor that she’s never actually visited Buckingham Palace (not that that stops her acting like she has). Felicity shares a flat with Polly Morgan, who manages the children’s department at Biba. Polly comes from a big and cheery family. Her parents own a fish ’n chip shop, and her older brother just bought his first ‘barrow’ at the New Covent Garden Market.
Felicity and Polly live in Chiswick, an area of London that was, in the early 1970s, affordable to girls in their early twenties—not that Polly and Felicity spend too much time at home! Let’s eavesdrop on the girls as they chat about their clothes, their looks and their lives...
COPY FOR OUTFITS ON PAGE ONE
FELICITY: You’re home frightfully late! It’s almost nine, and I’m about to head out.
POLLY: Cor blimey, don’t you start! Give us half a mo’ while I takes me shoes off. Me plates a’ meat are killing me!
FELICITY: Oh, do stop with that Cockney Rhyming Slang, Polly; I swear you’re putting half of it on to sound even more like Twiggy, who – by the way – is as over as yesterday’s cucumber sandwiches.
POLLY: Oh, you don’t half talk some rubbish, girl! Twiggy just done a massive fashion shoot with us down at Biba! Awww, she’s ever so lovely, ya know. Come to think of it, she was wearing something a bit like what you’ve got on.
FELICITY: This old thing?
POLLY: Come off it, Fel’, you look like one of them old movie stars off Hollywood. A regular Jean ‘Arlow.
FELICITY: Really? I was going for Dietrich.
POLLY: So come on then, why you got your glad rags on? Are you goin’ out with that fella again? That actor bloke? What’s his name again? Jonathan? Joshua?....
FELICITY: Jeremy. Jeremy Irons. Oh, no. I’ve given him the heave-ho. He’s obviously never going to make anything of himself. Actually, I’m off to The Rainbow Room. You Biba lot are hosting an event for us Beeb people. It’s on ‘Promising Newcomers’.
POLLY: Like who?
FELICITY: Oh, just riff-raff, really. Some chap called Elton John who has a couple of singles out, a young actress called Helen Mirren (she’s very good, but I suspect that she’ll be a flash in the pan), and some sort of fashion writing girl who only got the job because her dad is the editor of The Evening Standard. Anna Something-or-Other. Oh, I say; do you want to come with me?
POLLY: No, thanks all the same. I’m knackered.
FELICITY: Why are you so late, Polly?
POLLY: Don’t get me started! Well, ya know that giant gramophone player we ‘ave in the children’s department that kids can sit on and spin around? Well, this kid climbed underneath it and got ‘imself all tangled up in the mechanism. He didn’t hurt himself or nuffink, but – cor! – what a palaver!
FELICITY: Oh, you poor darling. ‘Tell you what; why don’t you have a nice long soak in the bath, and you can use my new perfume. It’s just come out, and – darling – it’s divine. It’s called Rive Gauche.
POLLY: ‘Ang about! You always say that I’m gauche.
FELICITY: Different kind of gauche, darling. Toodaloo!
COPY FOR OUTFITS ON PAGE TWO
POLLY: Well, this is a fine how-di-do.
FELICITY: Talk about ‘all dressed up and nowhere to go’!
POLLY: But we did ‘ave somewhere ta go, Fel. I bin lookin’ forward to this all month.
FELICITY: Me, too. And I had to bat a lot of false eyelashes to get us opening night tickets!
POLLY: Awww, bloomin’ heck. Why did London Transport ‘ave to go on strike tonight?
FELICITY: Because they go on strike whenever they feel like it these days, Pols. And if it isn’t London Transport, it’s the bin men, and if it isn’t the bin men, it’s the electricity. I still can’t believe that we had to walk around the flat with candles last week like Ebenezer Scrooge.
POLLY: I ‘eard the grave diggers are going on strike next. Gives me chills, that does. Like out of one of them Hammer Horror films.
FELICITY: Oh, it’s all such a washout. And look at you, Polly; you look every inch a Clara Bow.
POLLY: You ain’t half bad yourself. A regular Bonnie Parker in that knit top n’ matching beret.
FELICITY: And whose going to see it? Everyone else who will be there tonight lives close enough to get a cab. Think what we’re missing, Polly--the opening of the trendiest restaurant in the world!
POLLY: I read all about it, how it’s decorated with nothing but old stuff, how the waitresses all look like models or pop stars. There ain’t never bin nothing like it, and there never will be again.
FELICITY: I think you’re right, Polly. How could there be? It’s so utterly, utterly unique.
POLLY: Just the name tells ya that there will never be another one.
FELICITY and POLLY: The Hard Rock Café!
FELICITY: Oh, well. ‘Can’t be helped, I suppose. Should we take our togs off and put our boring old pajamas on?
POLLY: ‘Ang about; just cuz we can’t go to the party, why not ‘ave a party here?
FELICITY: Here? In the flat? Just you and me?
POLLY: Why the bleedin’ heck not! We’ve got two flavors of crisps (salt n’ vinegar and cheese n’ onion), I could make some Marmite sandwiches….
FELICITY: But do make them dainty, Polly; like finger sandwiches. Crusts absolutely off.
POLLY: You still got that bottle of bubbly you got for your Twenty-First?
FELICITY: I do…but I’ve been saving it for something special.
POLLY: What could be more special than a couple a’ birds trapped in their flat, all dolled up, and about to watch telly!
FELICITY: Television? Oh, really, Polly, what could possibly be on that would suit the occasion? Boring old cricket or something?
POLLY: Pull the other one! There’s a Fred n’ Ginger on!
FELICITY: What could be more perfect?! You get the sandwiches, I’ll get the champagne….
POLLY: Ha! That almost sounds like a Roxy Music lyric!
FELICITY: Oh, I adore Bryan Ferry! But do hurry, Polly; Top Hat is about to begin.
POLLY: Look at us. Talk about making the best of it!
FELICITY: The Dunkirk Spirit! And who needs the silly old Hard Rock Café?
POLLY: You’re right, Fel’. Too gimmicky. ‘Bet you anything it’ll close in a year and we’ll never hear that name again.
FELICITY: Hurrah!
COPY FOR OUTFITS ON PAGE 3
FELICITY: Hello, Polly, you’re home early. Did you……..oh, I say. Whatever is the matter?
POLLY: Ain’t you ‘eard?
FELICITY: No. I haven’t had the radio on all day; I’ve been trying to get these scripts seen to before going out to dinner…
POLLY: Biba got bombed.
FELICITY: What?!
POLLY: Biba…it…..
FELICITY: Oh, darling! Stay there. Let me get you a brandy. Oh, and you’ve started crying! Here. Take my hankie. Now listen, Polly, you’re making little or no sense. Whatever do you mean, ‘Biba got bombed’?
POLLY: I was in a staff meeting. Ya know, in my department. Suddenly, there was this massive noise; it sounded sort of like…well….it didn’t sound like nuffink I’d ‘eard before. And then there was these alarms, and then…well….I’ve gone a bit blank, but I remember being sort of bundled up with all the other girls n’ all the customers and shoved out the store. And then there were fireman and coppers….and I don’t know how I got back. I was in a daze and I s’pose I musta taken The Tube. I don’t remember. Oh, Fel’…..!
FELICITY: There, there. You poor, poor darling! This is the most frightful thing I ever heard, and look at you, all dressed up in your best with your boa for your big staff meeting. Now, tell me, darling, and you must be brave; was anybody hurt?
POLLY: That’s the thing; nobody was hurt! They said a lot of stock was damaged, but that’s all. But I could ‘ave been….I mean….I might ‘ave been….
FELICITY: Sshhh! Don’t even think of it! Tell me, do they know the rotters who did this? Was it The I.R.A?
POLLY: Nah. It was some nutters callin’ themselves ‘The Angry Brigade’. They go around sayin’ that boutiques are ‘slave-houses’, and they say that our Deco makeup is sumfink to do with capitalism going backward. They say that fashion boutiques should be blown up! They say…..
FELICITY: Oh, who cares what these nincompoops say! And the worst of it is, they’re everywhere these days, it seems. The I.R.A, The P.L.O, The Symbionese Liberation Army, Beider-Meinhoff, now these idiots…..Daddy was just talking about it in Parliament the other day, how we have to crack down on these lunatics. And we shall! Evidently, they’re calling it ‘Terrorism’, but it’ll all transpire to be a fad, and I bet you anything that in – say – 2001, nobody will even remember what ‘Terrorism’ was!
POLLY: I hope you’re right, girl. I hope you’re right.
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POLLY: Happy Christmas, Felicity!
FELICITY: And a Happy Christmas to you, my dear Polly. Even though it’s not actually Christmas for four whole days, and even though you’ve already wished me a Happy Christmas six times today already.
POLLY: Awww, ya know I’m like a big kid at Christmas. And anyway, tonight is the official start, because we’re ‘aving our Christmas party! And don’t you look lovely; that frock – cor! - bet that cost a bob or two!
FELICITY: Actually, it’s an early Christmas present from Mummy. She was very naughty and cut the label out so that I couldn’t return it (you know I don’t like Mummy and Daddy spending too much money on me, what with things being so frightfully tight for them at The Hall), so I’m not even sure where it comes from!
POLLY: I reckon it could be an Ozzie Clark.
FELICITY: Really? Or even a Bill Gibb! And yours is rather smashing, too. Is it Biba?
POLLY: Nah. Can’t afford Biba at this time a’ year, even with me staff discount. ‘Got this at Miss Selfridge, but it gets the job done.
FELICITY: Now you’re sure everything is ready?
POLLY: Well….yes n’ no.
FELICITY: Whatever do you mean?
POLLY: The thing is……well….I don’t know what to do with that thing you bought; that pot that sits on some sort of little gas fire with all them long sticks.
FELICITY: Ah! My new fondu set! It’s all the rage, you know, fondu.
POLLY: Oh, now I understand why ya bought all that cheese! ‘Thought for a minute you were inviting an enormous rat to the party or sumfink.
FELICITY: I think we’ve both invited one or two enormous rats to the party already! Anyway, Polly, let’s have Babycham before the guests arrive, and tell me what happens on a typical Christmas Day with your family.
POLLY: Awww, it’s brilliant, is wot it is. We wakes up in the mornin’ and our stockings are at the end of the bed, and we rip open all our presents and then go down to a Christmas Breakfast of bacon n’ eggs n’ sausage and black pudding, all of it washed down with cups of tea so thick you could walk a mouse across ‘em. Then, it’s off to the kitchen to help Mum get the dinner ready; roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots, turnips…
FELICITY: I assume you get all your vegetables from your brother’s stall at New Covent Garden?
POLLY: And we get it for free, too! Mum’s already got the turkey in, so when everything’s sorted, we all sit ‘round the telly with a massive tin of Quality Street and watch the big film on the BBC. Then we all sit ‘round the table, pull the crackers, wear our paper hats, read the rubbish jokes that come in the crackers, join hands and sing ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’, stuff our faces, have a nap, and then Mum wakes us up with a pot a’ tea and turkey and leftover sandwiches (with chips; she always gets the fryer on on Christmas Day, even though the chippie’s shut), and then we all flop down in front of the telly again to watch The Morecome and Wise Christmas Special. Ya know, just the sort of Christmas Day that everyone in Britain has.
FELICITY: Not everyone, Polly. Not everyone.
COPY FOR OUTFITS ON PAGE FIVE
(BBC Television Centre, Studio 1, Top of the Pops)
FELICITY: Polly! Polly! Over here!
POLLY: Bloomin’ ‘eck, what a crowd! And look at you, with your clipboard n’ all.
FELICITY: And look at you! What a fabulous outfit, darling, but how on earth did you afford it?
POLLY: Me mum ran it up for me, and me sister, Doreen (the one who’s at art school) dun the painting on it by hand. See those women on me leg? She copied ‘em off some artist called Munchkin or sumfink.
FELICITY: Mucha.
POLLY: No, thanks, I ‘ad an hot chocolate before I left home. So, when does the filming start? And where are all the pop stars?
FELICITY: They’re in the green room. You can pop back and meet them after the show, if you like.
POLLY: You’re pullin’ me leg?!
FELICITY: No, really. You’re my guest, remember, and I’m….well…I’m rather in charge of that sort of thing.
POLLY: So who’s on tonight? Anyone I fancy?
FELICITY: Let’s see…..we’ve got The Sweet, Slade, The Bay City Rollers, David Essex, and – oh, I think you’ll rather like this, Polly – Marc Bolan and T-Rex.
POLLY: Oh, me Gawd! I can’t meet him! I’ll be quivering like an eel on his way to becoming a pie! What could I say? I love ‘im n’ all, but we ain’t got nuffink in common.
FELICITY: Well tonight you do; you’re both wearing the same color lipstick. Oh! They’ve just cued us in. Look, there’s tonight’s host, Tony Blackburn! Now go to the front so the camera spot you, and dance, dance, dance!
POLLY: In these heels? Are you havin’ a larf?!
COPY FOR OUTFITS ON PAGE SIX
FELICITY: Darling, you must see this layout in Vogue….
POLLY: ‘Ang on, I’ll look in a minute. I’m ringing up The Odeon at Marble Arch to get them to reserve a couple ‘a tickets for us. They’ve put me on hold.
FELICITY: Tickets for what?
POLLY: You’d forget your own ‘ead if it weren’t screwed on tight. Cabaret!
FELICITY: Oh, silly me. Especially because that’s exactly what I wanted to show you in Vogue! There’s a whole spread with Liza Minnelli dressed in 1930s clothing and looking frightfully Sally Bowles.
POLLY: I heard she wears green nail polish in the film.
FELICITY: Well, she’s wearing it here. Take a peek. Look at her eyelashes!
POLLY: Oh, I’ve got to get a pair of falsies that look all spidery like that. And green nail polish.
FELICITY: It would certainly match what you’re wearing today.
POLLY: You, too. Are them shoes new?
FELICITY: Yes. I couldn’t resist, but they’re frightfully high, and my feet are already killing me. Oh well. I can take them off at the cinema if you manage to get tickets.
POLLY: Sshhhh! ‘Ello, yes. Any chance you can put a couple ‘a ticket aside for me for Cabaret tonight? You can! Awww, Lord luv ya! The name’s Polly Morgan.
FELICITY: Hurrah! Life is a cabaret, isn’t it, darling!
POLLY: I wonder if Michael York will be there! I don’t half fancy him.
FELICITY: He is rather dishy, isn’t he. I wonder if the film will be exactly like the show. I saw it, you know, when it was on the West End. Judy Dench played Sally Bowles, and she was frightfully good.
POLLY: I feel a bit sorry for Liza Minnelli. ‘Must be hard havin’ to live up to such a famous mum.
FELICITY: I know what you mean. To be honest, I doubt she’ll have much of a career after this.
POLLY: She’ll probably end up being a cleaning lady.
FELICITY: Or running a chippie. Oh. Frightfully sorry. No offence meant.
POLLY: None taken, you posh snob.
COPY FOR OUTFITS PAGE 7
FELICITY: Isn’t it fun, trying on our holiday outfits!
POLLY: Not half, and look at you! I love that one! You look like you stepped out of that Sur La Plage scene in The Boyfriend.
FELICITY: It is rather divine, isn’t it. And so fitting, because this is the exact same look that everyone wore on The Riviera in the ‘30s, and I’m off to Saint Tropez! And your dress is lovely, too. So Ginger Rogers.
POLLY: ‘Spent all me savings, I did, on me holiday wardrobe. This is the first time I’m goin’ abroad. The first time for all me family. Majorca! Bloomin’ eck, even the name sounds dead foreign.
FELICITY: Well it is foreign, darling. But darling, I still don’t understand why you’re going on holiday with all your family.
POLLY: Cuz we always do. That's the thing where I’m from; all families holiday together. And anyway, it wouldn’t be the same without me mum there.
FELICITY: Is she ever so excited?
POLLY: I think she’s mostly scared. Her suitcase weighs a ton wot with all the tinned food she’s packed. She’s afraid they won’t like the foreign food.
FELICITY: Isn’t that half the fun of going abroad, though? To experience these things?
POLLY: Me dad tried a curry once and you shoulda seen the look on his face!
FELICITY: Well I read an article the other day that said that so many Brits are heading to Majorca and The Costa del Sol for their holidays now, that people are opening English pubs and even fish n’ chip shops there.
POLLY: Fish n’ chips? Now I’m really looking forward to it!
COPY FOR OUTFITS PAGE 8
FELICITY: Oh, Polly, you look lovely! What a perfect dress to wear as Maid of Honor.
POLLY: Thanks, Fel’, but it’s all a bit embarrassing, innit--me little sister getting married before I do.
FELICITY: Oh, your prince will show up eventually. And I must say, it was frightfully nice of her to invite me.
POLLY: And you look brilliant, too. That hat matches perfectly.
FELICITY: It’s amazing, isn’t it, especially as I bought it off a stall in Portobello Market. I think it might actually be from the ‘30s.
POLLY: Cor. Funny, isn’t it, when you stop to think about it.
FELICITY: What is?
POLLY: Ya know, the way we all dress up as if it’s the 1920s or ‘30s. ‘Ave you ever stopped to wonder why we do that?
FELICITY: Well…it’s the fashion, isn’t it?
POLLY: Yes, but why is it the fashion?
FELICITY: I expect you’d have to ask an expert on that. A fashion forecaster or something.
POLLY: Fashion forecaster? What the bloomin’ ‘eck is that when it’s at home?
FELICITY: I only just found out about it myself. There’s a company in Chelsea called I.M International, and this chap called David Wolfe explains why fashion happens and predicts what fashion will do in the future.
POLLY: Cor blimey. ‘Wonder what he reckons we’ll be wearing in – I dunno – 2019 or sumfink.
FELICITY: I expect we’ll all be wearing spacesuits by then.
POLLY: Well, I don’t care what I’m wearing, as long as I’m married by then.
FELICITY: I thought you were a Woman’s Libber.
POLLY: Just until I find a bloke.
FELICITY: Well, it’s not as if us women will ever be Prime Minister.
POLLY: Nah. That’ll never happen.
Brenda pitched this idea to Dover back in 2016 but got no response. A year later she pitched it to me along with some sketches, and I gave it the green light. The vintage fashion revival of the 1970s was short lived, and Brenda's inspiration was very specific: the retro 1920s and 1930s trend epitomized by the Biba look from the London department store of the same name. It only lasted a couple of years before disco took over, but it trickled down into the mainstream. As much as we'd all enjoy the fashion represented from that era, how could we market such a paper doll book? Using "Biba" in the title was out due to copyright reasons. We considered "The London Look," but that was too ambiguous. Brenda suggested '70s Retro Deco and it was a go.
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| Initial sketches from Brenda. |
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| The "Biba" Look design inspiration. |
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| Notice the Art Nouveau design aspects of the Biba store. |
Once Brenda started work on "The London Look," we asked David Wolfe to write a fashion essay for the inside back cover. Lucky for David, he lived in London during the 1960s and '70s and spent countless hours in the trendy department store, Biba. To learn more about this famed store and fashion trend, check out the blogs Flashbak and Messy Nessy. If you saw the 2018 film, Bohemian Rhapsody, you may recall Freddie Mercury shopping at Biba where he enhanced his fabulously androgynous wardrobe and where he met his girlfriend-turned-longtime-friend, Mary Austin.
David also came up with a design plan for the book. Inspired by the aesthetics of the Biba Department Store, he incorporated feathers, antique lamps and Art Nouveau and Art Deco decorative elements into the cover design and clothes pages. I asked Julie Allen Matthews to put the whole book together. Julie has digital skills way beyond my capabilities and I'm super thankful to have her on our paper doll team. A paper doll artist herself, check out her Paper Doll School blog as well as her first published paper doll book, Kitchen Kitsch, for Paper Studio Press.
David also came up with a design plan for the book. Inspired by the aesthetics of the Biba Department Store, he incorporated feathers, antique lamps and Art Nouveau and Art Deco decorative elements into the cover design and clothes pages. I asked Julie Allen Matthews to put the whole book together. Julie has digital skills way beyond my capabilities and I'm super thankful to have her on our paper doll team. A paper doll artist herself, check out her Paper Doll School blog as well as her first published paper doll book, Kitchen Kitsch, for Paper Studio Press.
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| Cover mock-up with a temporary title. |
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| The final covers are a group effort: illustrations by Brenda Sneathen Mattox, design by David Wolfe, assembled and edited by Julie Allen Matthews. |
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| Two tops actually worn by Brenda in the 1970s and inspiration for her jumpsuit design. |
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| Some of the clothing pages from '70s Retro Deco Paper Dolls. |
Shortly before going to press, I decided the models should come to life with a backstory and dialogue, so I reached out to Prof. Amanda Hallay, teacher, author, fashion historian and host of The Ultimate Fashion History YouTube channel. (Amanda also happens to be David's daughter!)
Noticing how the outfits face each other and appear to be in conversation, I thought it would be fun to add commentary next to each outfit as if the girls were chatting about their lives, outings, and, of course, their fashions. I asked Amanda to come up with text in the spirit of the 1925 comic novel by Anita Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, best known for the film adaptation starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell.
Not only was Amanda thrilled to take on the task, she got carried away and wrote an entire story! I sheepishly explained that the dialogue must be short enough to fit ON the clothing pages, and we only had space for a few lines per outfit. The professional that she is, Amanda whipped up a much shorter version that perfectly portrayed the goings-on of two trendy girls living and working in London in the early 1970s.
Since Amanda's story is so charming, I'll include the full version here. Enjoy!
Felicity and Polly
Fashion Trendy Girls Living, Working and Shopping in 1970s London
by Prof. Amanda Hallay
Fashion Trendy Girls Living, Working and Shopping in 1970s London
by Prof. Amanda Hallay
Meet Felicity Greenwood. She is a production assistant on the popular British TV show, Top of the Pops, and she just got a raise for booking a young, unknown singer called David Bowie onto the program. Her father is a member of Parliament, and her mother is a royal so minor that she’s never actually visited Buckingham Palace (not that that stops her acting like she has). Felicity shares a flat with Polly Morgan, who manages the children’s department at Biba. Polly comes from a big and cheery family. Her parents own a fish ’n chip shop, and her older brother just bought his first ‘barrow’ at the New Covent Garden Market.
Felicity and Polly live in Chiswick, an area of London that was, in the early 1970s, affordable to girls in their early twenties—not that Polly and Felicity spend too much time at home! Let’s eavesdrop on the girls as they chat about their clothes, their looks and their lives...
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FELICITY: You’re home frightfully late! It’s almost nine, and I’m about to head out.
POLLY: Cor blimey, don’t you start! Give us half a mo’ while I takes me shoes off. Me plates a’ meat are killing me!
FELICITY: Oh, do stop with that Cockney Rhyming Slang, Polly; I swear you’re putting half of it on to sound even more like Twiggy, who – by the way – is as over as yesterday’s cucumber sandwiches.
POLLY: Oh, you don’t half talk some rubbish, girl! Twiggy just done a massive fashion shoot with us down at Biba! Awww, she’s ever so lovely, ya know. Come to think of it, she was wearing something a bit like what you’ve got on.
FELICITY: This old thing?
POLLY: Come off it, Fel’, you look like one of them old movie stars off Hollywood. A regular Jean ‘Arlow. FELICITY: Really? I was going for Dietrich.
POLLY: So come on then, why you got your glad rags on? Are you goin’ out with that fella again? That actor bloke? What’s his name again? Jonathan? Joshua?....
FELICITY: Jeremy. Jeremy Irons. Oh, no. I’ve given him the heave-ho. He’s obviously never going to make anything of himself. Actually, I’m off to The Rainbow Room. You Biba lot are hosting an event for us Beeb people. It’s on ‘Promising Newcomers’.
POLLY: Like who?
FELICITY: Oh, just riff-raff, really. Some chap called Elton John who has a couple of singles out, a young actress called Helen Mirren (she’s very good, but I suspect that she’ll be a flash in the pan), and some sort of fashion writing girl who only got the job because her dad is the editor of The Evening Standard. Anna Something-or-Other. Oh, I say; do you want to come with me?
POLLY: No, thanks all the same. I’m knackered.
FELICITY: Why are you so late, Polly?
POLLY: Don’t get me started! Well, ya know that giant gramophone player we ‘ave in the children’s department that kids can sit on and spin around? Well, this kid climbed underneath it and got ‘imself all tangled up in the mechanism. He didn’t hurt himself or nuffink, but – cor! – what a palaver!
FELICITY: Oh, you poor darling. ‘Tell you what; why don’t you have a nice long soak in the bath, and you can use my new perfume. It’s just come out, and – darling – it’s divine. It’s called Rive Gauche.
POLLY: ‘Ang about! You always say that I’m gauche.
FELICITY: Different kind of gauche, darling. Toodaloo!
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POLLY: Well, this is a fine how-di-do.
FELICITY: Talk about ‘all dressed up and nowhere to go’!
POLLY: But we did ‘ave somewhere ta go, Fel. I bin lookin’ forward to this all month.
FELICITY: Me, too. And I had to bat a lot of false eyelashes to get us opening night tickets!
POLLY: Awww, bloomin’ heck. Why did London Transport ‘ave to go on strike tonight?
FELICITY: Because they go on strike whenever they feel like it these days, Pols. And if it isn’t London Transport, it’s the bin men, and if it isn’t the bin men, it’s the electricity. I still can’t believe that we had to walk around the flat with candles last week like Ebenezer Scrooge.
POLLY: I ‘eard the grave diggers are going on strike next. Gives me chills, that does. Like out of one of them Hammer Horror films.
FELICITY: Oh, it’s all such a washout. And look at you, Polly; you look every inch a Clara Bow.
POLLY: You ain’t half bad yourself. A regular Bonnie Parker in that knit top n’ matching beret.
FELICITY: And whose going to see it? Everyone else who will be there tonight lives close enough to get a cab. Think what we’re missing, Polly--the opening of the trendiest restaurant in the world!
POLLY: I read all about it, how it’s decorated with nothing but old stuff, how the waitresses all look like models or pop stars. There ain’t never bin nothing like it, and there never will be again.
FELICITY: I think you’re right, Polly. How could there be? It’s so utterly, utterly unique.
POLLY: Just the name tells ya that there will never be another one.
FELICITY and POLLY: The Hard Rock Café!
FELICITY: Oh, well. ‘Can’t be helped, I suppose. Should we take our togs off and put our boring old pajamas on? POLLY: ‘Ang about; just cuz we can’t go to the party, why not ‘ave a party here?
FELICITY: Here? In the flat? Just you and me?
POLLY: Why the bleedin’ heck not! We’ve got two flavors of crisps (salt n’ vinegar and cheese n’ onion), I could make some Marmite sandwiches….
FELICITY: But do make them dainty, Polly; like finger sandwiches. Crusts absolutely off.
POLLY: You still got that bottle of bubbly you got for your Twenty-First?
FELICITY: I do…but I’ve been saving it for something special.
POLLY: What could be more special than a couple a’ birds trapped in their flat, all dolled up, and about to watch telly!
FELICITY: Television? Oh, really, Polly, what could possibly be on that would suit the occasion? Boring old cricket or something?
POLLY: Pull the other one! There’s a Fred n’ Ginger on!
FELICITY: What could be more perfect?! You get the sandwiches, I’ll get the champagne….
POLLY: Ha! That almost sounds like a Roxy Music lyric!
FELICITY: Oh, I adore Bryan Ferry! But do hurry, Polly; Top Hat is about to begin.
POLLY: Look at us. Talk about making the best of it!
FELICITY: The Dunkirk Spirit! And who needs the silly old Hard Rock Café?
POLLY: You’re right, Fel’. Too gimmicky. ‘Bet you anything it’ll close in a year and we’ll never hear that name again.
FELICITY: Hurrah!
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FELICITY: Hello, Polly, you’re home early. Did you……..oh, I say. Whatever is the matter?
POLLY: Ain’t you ‘eard?
FELICITY: No. I haven’t had the radio on all day; I’ve been trying to get these scripts seen to before going out to dinner…
POLLY: Biba got bombed.
FELICITY: What?! POLLY: Biba…it…..
FELICITY: Oh, darling! Stay there. Let me get you a brandy. Oh, and you’ve started crying! Here. Take my hankie. Now listen, Polly, you’re making little or no sense. Whatever do you mean, ‘Biba got bombed’?
POLLY: I was in a staff meeting. Ya know, in my department. Suddenly, there was this massive noise; it sounded sort of like…well….it didn’t sound like nuffink I’d ‘eard before. And then there was these alarms, and then…well….I’ve gone a bit blank, but I remember being sort of bundled up with all the other girls n’ all the customers and shoved out the store. And then there were fireman and coppers….and I don’t know how I got back. I was in a daze and I s’pose I musta taken The Tube. I don’t remember. Oh, Fel’…..!
FELICITY: There, there. You poor, poor darling! This is the most frightful thing I ever heard, and look at you, all dressed up in your best with your boa for your big staff meeting. Now, tell me, darling, and you must be brave; was anybody hurt?
POLLY: That’s the thing; nobody was hurt! They said a lot of stock was damaged, but that’s all. But I could ‘ave been….I mean….I might ‘ave been….
FELICITY: Sshhh! Don’t even think of it! Tell me, do they know the rotters who did this? Was it The I.R.A?
POLLY: Nah. It was some nutters callin’ themselves ‘The Angry Brigade’. They go around sayin’ that boutiques are ‘slave-houses’, and they say that our Deco makeup is sumfink to do with capitalism going backward. They say that fashion boutiques should be blown up! They say…..
FELICITY: Oh, who cares what these nincompoops say! And the worst of it is, they’re everywhere these days, it seems. The I.R.A, The P.L.O, The Symbionese Liberation Army, Beider-Meinhoff, now these idiots…..Daddy was just talking about it in Parliament the other day, how we have to crack down on these lunatics. And we shall! Evidently, they’re calling it ‘Terrorism’, but it’ll all transpire to be a fad, and I bet you anything that in – say – 2001, nobody will even remember what ‘Terrorism’ was!
POLLY: I hope you’re right, girl. I hope you’re right.
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POLLY: Happy Christmas, Felicity!
FELICITY: And a Happy Christmas to you, my dear Polly. Even though it’s not actually Christmas for four whole days, and even though you’ve already wished me a Happy Christmas six times today already.
POLLY: Awww, ya know I’m like a big kid at Christmas. And anyway, tonight is the official start, because we’re ‘aving our Christmas party! And don’t you look lovely; that frock – cor! - bet that cost a bob or two!
FELICITY: Actually, it’s an early Christmas present from Mummy. She was very naughty and cut the label out so that I couldn’t return it (you know I don’t like Mummy and Daddy spending too much money on me, what with things being so frightfully tight for them at The Hall), so I’m not even sure where it comes from!
POLLY: I reckon it could be an Ozzie Clark.
FELICITY: Really? Or even a Bill Gibb! And yours is rather smashing, too. Is it Biba?
POLLY: Nah. Can’t afford Biba at this time a’ year, even with me staff discount. ‘Got this at Miss Selfridge, but it gets the job done.
FELICITY: Now you’re sure everything is ready?
POLLY: Well….yes n’ no.
FELICITY: Whatever do you mean?
POLLY: The thing is……well….I don’t know what to do with that thing you bought; that pot that sits on some sort of little gas fire with all them long sticks.
FELICITY: Ah! My new fondu set! It’s all the rage, you know, fondu.
POLLY: Oh, now I understand why ya bought all that cheese! ‘Thought for a minute you were inviting an enormous rat to the party or sumfink.
FELICITY: I think we’ve both invited one or two enormous rats to the party already! Anyway, Polly, let’s have Babycham before the guests arrive, and tell me what happens on a typical Christmas Day with your family.
POLLY: Awww, it’s brilliant, is wot it is. We wakes up in the mornin’ and our stockings are at the end of the bed, and we rip open all our presents and then go down to a Christmas Breakfast of bacon n’ eggs n’ sausage and black pudding, all of it washed down with cups of tea so thick you could walk a mouse across ‘em. Then, it’s off to the kitchen to help Mum get the dinner ready; roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots, turnips…
FELICITY: I assume you get all your vegetables from your brother’s stall at New Covent Garden? POLLY: And we get it for free, too! Mum’s already got the turkey in, so when everything’s sorted, we all sit ‘round the telly with a massive tin of Quality Street and watch the big film on the BBC. Then we all sit ‘round the table, pull the crackers, wear our paper hats, read the rubbish jokes that come in the crackers, join hands and sing ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’, stuff our faces, have a nap, and then Mum wakes us up with a pot a’ tea and turkey and leftover sandwiches (with chips; she always gets the fryer on on Christmas Day, even though the chippie’s shut), and then we all flop down in front of the telly again to watch The Morecome and Wise Christmas Special. Ya know, just the sort of Christmas Day that everyone in Britain has.
FELICITY: Not everyone, Polly. Not everyone.
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(BBC Television Centre, Studio 1, Top of the Pops)
FELICITY: Polly! Polly! Over here!
POLLY: Bloomin’ ‘eck, what a crowd! And look at you, with your clipboard n’ all.
FELICITY: And look at you! What a fabulous outfit, darling, but how on earth did you afford it? POLLY: Me mum ran it up for me, and me sister, Doreen (the one who’s at art school) dun the painting on it by hand. See those women on me leg? She copied ‘em off some artist called Munchkin or sumfink. FELICITY: Mucha. POLLY: No, thanks, I ‘ad an hot chocolate before I left home. So, when does the filming start? And where are all the pop stars?
FELICITY: They’re in the green room. You can pop back and meet them after the show, if you like. POLLY: You’re pullin’ me leg?!
FELICITY: No, really. You’re my guest, remember, and I’m….well…I’m rather in charge of that sort of thing.
POLLY: So who’s on tonight? Anyone I fancy?
FELICITY: Let’s see…..we’ve got The Sweet, Slade, The Bay City Rollers, David Essex, and – oh, I think you’ll rather like this, Polly – Marc Bolan and T-Rex.
POLLY: Oh, me Gawd! I can’t meet him! I’ll be quivering like an eel on his way to becoming a pie! What could I say? I love ‘im n’ all, but we ain’t got nuffink in common.
FELICITY: Well tonight you do; you’re both wearing the same color lipstick. Oh! They’ve just cued us in. Look, there’s tonight’s host, Tony Blackburn! Now go to the front so the camera spot you, and dance, dance, dance!
POLLY: In these heels? Are you havin’ a larf?!
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FELICITY: Darling, you must see this layout in Vogue….
POLLY: ‘Ang on, I’ll look in a minute. I’m ringing up The Odeon at Marble Arch to get them to reserve a couple ‘a tickets for us. They’ve put me on hold.
FELICITY: Tickets for what? POLLY: You’d forget your own ‘ead if it weren’t screwed on tight. Cabaret! FELICITY: Oh, silly me. Especially because that’s exactly what I wanted to show you in Vogue! There’s a whole spread with Liza Minnelli dressed in 1930s clothing and looking frightfully Sally Bowles.
POLLY: I heard she wears green nail polish in the film.
FELICITY: Well, she’s wearing it here. Take a peek. Look at her eyelashes!
POLLY: Oh, I’ve got to get a pair of falsies that look all spidery like that. And green nail polish.
FELICITY: It would certainly match what you’re wearing today.
POLLY: You, too. Are them shoes new?
FELICITY: Yes. I couldn’t resist, but they’re frightfully high, and my feet are already killing me. Oh well. I can take them off at the cinema if you manage to get tickets.
POLLY: Sshhhh! ‘Ello, yes. Any chance you can put a couple ‘a ticket aside for me for Cabaret tonight? You can! Awww, Lord luv ya! The name’s Polly Morgan.
FELICITY: Hurrah! Life is a cabaret, isn’t it, darling!
POLLY: I wonder if Michael York will be there! I don’t half fancy him.
FELICITY: He is rather dishy, isn’t he. I wonder if the film will be exactly like the show. I saw it, you know, when it was on the West End. Judy Dench played Sally Bowles, and she was frightfully good.
POLLY: I feel a bit sorry for Liza Minnelli. ‘Must be hard havin’ to live up to such a famous mum. FELICITY: I know what you mean. To be honest, I doubt she’ll have much of a career after this.
POLLY: She’ll probably end up being a cleaning lady.
FELICITY: Or running a chippie. Oh. Frightfully sorry. No offence meant.
POLLY: None taken, you posh snob.
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FELICITY: Isn’t it fun, trying on our holiday outfits!
POLLY: Not half, and look at you! I love that one! You look like you stepped out of that Sur La Plage scene in The Boyfriend.
FELICITY: It is rather divine, isn’t it. And so fitting, because this is the exact same look that everyone wore on The Riviera in the ‘30s, and I’m off to Saint Tropez! And your dress is lovely, too. So Ginger Rogers.
POLLY: ‘Spent all me savings, I did, on me holiday wardrobe. This is the first time I’m goin’ abroad. The first time for all me family. Majorca! Bloomin’ eck, even the name sounds dead foreign. FELICITY: Well it is foreign, darling. But darling, I still don’t understand why you’re going on holiday with all your family.
POLLY: Cuz we always do. That's the thing where I’m from; all families holiday together. And anyway, it wouldn’t be the same without me mum there.
FELICITY: Is she ever so excited?
POLLY: I think she’s mostly scared. Her suitcase weighs a ton wot with all the tinned food she’s packed. She’s afraid they won’t like the foreign food.
FELICITY: Isn’t that half the fun of going abroad, though? To experience these things?
POLLY: Me dad tried a curry once and you shoulda seen the look on his face!
FELICITY: Well I read an article the other day that said that so many Brits are heading to Majorca and The Costa del Sol for their holidays now, that people are opening English pubs and even fish n’ chip shops there.
POLLY: Fish n’ chips? Now I’m really looking forward to it!
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FELICITY: Oh, Polly, you look lovely! What a perfect dress to wear as Maid of Honor.
POLLY: Thanks, Fel’, but it’s all a bit embarrassing, innit--me little sister getting married before I do.
FELICITY: Oh, your prince will show up eventually. And I must say, it was frightfully nice of her to invite me.
POLLY: And you look brilliant, too. That hat matches perfectly.
FELICITY: It’s amazing, isn’t it, especially as I bought it off a stall in Portobello Market. I think it might actually be from the ‘30s.
POLLY: Cor. Funny, isn’t it, when you stop to think about it.
FELICITY: What is?
POLLY: Ya know, the way we all dress up as if it’s the 1920s or ‘30s. ‘Ave you ever stopped to wonder why we do that?
FELICITY: Well…it’s the fashion, isn’t it?
POLLY: Yes, but why is it the fashion?
FELICITY: I expect you’d have to ask an expert on that. A fashion forecaster or something.
POLLY: Fashion forecaster? What the bloomin’ ‘eck is that when it’s at home?
FELICITY: I only just found out about it myself. There’s a company in Chelsea called I.M International, and this chap called David Wolfe explains why fashion happens and predicts what fashion will do in the future.
POLLY: Cor blimey. ‘Wonder what he reckons we’ll be wearing in – I dunno – 2019 or sumfink. FELICITY: I expect we’ll all be wearing spacesuits by then.
POLLY: Well, I don’t care what I’m wearing, as long as I’m married by then.
FELICITY: I thought you were a Woman’s Libber.
POLLY: Just until I find a bloke.
FELICITY: Well, it’s not as if us women will ever be Prime Minister.
POLLY: Nah. That’ll never happen.
2 comments:
Thanks for sahring. so much valuable information.
thank you for publishing this timeline from concept to production. this is exactly what i had been looking for.
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