Taylor L (2020)
Publication Language: English
Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes
Publication year: 2020
Publisher: Brill
Edited Volumes: Fashion: Exploring Critical Issues
City/Town: Leiden
Pages Range: 1-14
ISBN: 9781848881488
DOI: 10.1163/9781848881488_002
Today, fashion victims use fashion magazines, shows etc. to become informed about fashion news. But what sources did they use in the 18th century to catch the latest trends when none of these media types existed? Long before the first Barbie appeared, there already existed a doll that wore lavish wardrobe and matching accessories but did not function as a toy at all. This chapter examines how a doll called Pandora was sent abroad by French dressmakers to promote and sell Parisian fashion around the world. First, Pandora had to conquer the royal houses in Europe. Then, she made her way into the department stores and shops and finally into the bourgeois home. Interestingly, her triumphal procession did not stop there and by the middle of the 18th century she was even crossing the Atlantic to be exhibited in Boston and New York. The three essential questions that need to be answered are: 1) When did the first fashion doll appear in history? 2) What did these dolls look like? 3) Who was the target audience for the fashion dolls in the late 17th and early 18th century? Consequently, I have two main foci: First, I want to find out why Parisian fashion was already the leading fashion in the 18th century; second, I want to trace the history of the fashion doll. The story of the Pandora has hardly been investigated so far, which is rather surprising since it is not simply a story about fashion but it also tells us something about the earliest forms of consumption in fashion and about successful sales promotion. For my research, I primarily used data from the web, periodicals of the 18th century, published reports about Pandora, and works dealing with the history of fashion in 18th-century Britain.
APA:
Taylor, L. (2020). Pandora in the Box: Travelling around the World in the Name of Fashion. In Barbara Brownie, Laura Pettican, Johannes Reponen (Eds.), Fashion: Exploring Critical Issues. (pp. 1-14). Leiden: Brill.
MLA:
Taylor, Lydia. "Pandora in the Box: Travelling around the World in the Name of Fashion." Fashion: Exploring Critical Issues. Ed. Barbara Brownie, Laura Pettican, Johannes Reponen, Leiden: Brill, 2020. 1-14.
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