As usually, I do not follow stereotypes and templates, now again I will surprise you by telling a classical story from a different perspective to help anyone who may be in doubt if Barbie can be a model for imagination and creativity.
I have had this love of mine for the Middle Ages and the old times in general since childhood. I still remember the luxurious edition of “The Three Musketeers”, which my dear parents possessed, with its silver grey hard cover and beautiful black and white illustrations. The only one thing that they missed, and I needed to add to them, was some pencil-stroked colours. So I did, and next I began to make my own hand-redrawing of them. You may not be surprised if I share that, of course, my first favourite historical novels were Alexandre Dumas’s.
Before I came to the serious books however, and even before my Dumas period, it all had begun with my mum and her full of wonders fairy-tales in the most lovable books in the world […] with beautiful colourful pictures. “Mum, read me this fairy-tale, please.” “Now, can you read it from the end to the beginning?” “And now from the middle to somewhere!” And so my mummy did… Well in fact, I was not feeling well when this story happened and so my mum’s flattering, but anyway, it was the first signals of my books addiction calling and warning that I would never get rid of it. My time I used to spend in my imaginary world of princesses and fairies, and their tales. And to assure you, I still do.
Little by little with the growing up, I felt in an ever-growing need to recreate the old days in the present reality. Therefore, I started exploring my mum’s and grandma’s wardrobes for old clothing with which to transform myself into a royal or a noble lady. However, one was not enough, and as to be more characters in this play, I began to dress my little friends, my sibling and my cousins, even the neighbours’ kids. We stepped up on an imaginary stage and acted out our self-created scenarios. Funny, funny, funny… How funny is to remember all these games right now, and, I agree, perhaps not that funny for some of my little play-mates, yet they should be blessed lucky with their moment of happiness when I finally found my true real toy for the medieval games. My medieval doll.
As I have always wanted to dress myself in medieval clothes, I believe here comes from my wish to sew the costumes as well. The problem in those days was that it was not possible for me to supply my hobby, and to do this regularly, with the necessary amount of fabric for making a human-sized clothing. The decision was obvious in this case, I should dress a doll. However, the dolls I had kept from my early years were not good models for the task as they looked like big babies with disproportional forms, until one day I saw her standing behind a shop window. My magnificent doll. I had never possessed a Barbie in my life and even seen such in real, so she was a dream.
Moreover, she would be the best model for my medieval crafting. If you were familiar with my story, you would know that neither my family was of fortune enough to buy me such a doll, (they were way too expensive back then), nor were the times fortunate and so making easier my task. Yet, I had my dream and the desire to make it true. I was of suitable age to agree with my parents that I would make as much money as I could, recycling paper and any kind of available packing back to the recycling centres, while they would help me with the rest of the sum to a certain agreed point. And so, I rolled up my sleeves to follow my dream and in the meantime I used to keep sight of my doll from outside the shop window every single day, including on Sunday, worrying of somebody else managing to get to her before me. Finally, it was a happy end when I succeeded to hold her in my hands and take her home.
Now, Louise possesses a favourable collection of haute couture dresses, hand-sewn especially for her. Most of them are medieval, some of later yet earlier to our times. Also, she is not on her own any more; besides her costumes she has got a new friend, my second Barbie doll that I bought at a much later stage. Both, together with Constance, they will be presenting their unique attires one by one in the upcoming articles. They are part of my overall interest in the Middle Ages as well as creative work. I am also almost to beginning to sew real costumes for myself and with Heaven’s blessing I will be showing these to your attention as well one day if not sooner.
Main Article Image: Her sweet outfit, which she received as a gift for my birthday.
This is an edited version of the original article from 2009. Follow up for all doll costume stories from the series:
My Doll Costumes: Rose Lace Dress
My story is one of many dreams dreamt along, some so dear to my heart that my soul has had to follow. Many of these dear dreams have taken long to fulfil, yet my soul has followed all the way along what my heart has longed for in my dreams. I am a dreamer and a dream fulfiller. This is a storybook of how dreams come true.