Read on to see some of the historical character fashion inspiration as printed in the 1991 Holiday catalogue.
Kirsten 1854
First off, here’s one of the dresses that was the inspiration for Kirsten’s fashion:
This antique dress was Pleasant Company’s inspiration for Kirsten’s wardrobe. Made with loving care more than 125 years ago by a mother who took pride in tiny stitches, its hem is faced with contrasting fabric-a practical, thrifty way to use precious scraps of material back then, but such a pretty touch that we did it on purpose when we re-created Kirsten’s dresses for you.
Since this catalogue came out over 30 years ago, this dress would be more than 150 years old now.
Samantha 1904
Next, here’s some of the inspiration for Samantha’s wardrobe:
Samantha’s dresses were made by Jessie, the seamstress, who found out about the latest fashions by reading Delineator, a magazine for ladies at the turn of the century. Pleasant Company’s designers pored over rare editions of Delineator, too. Pictures like this one gave us our inspiration for the Samantha dresses we designed for you.
This dress looks so similar to Samantha’s Buster Brown dress. It seems like this drawing could’ve been an illustration from Samantha Learns a Lesson.
Molly 1944
Lastly, a picture to show where inspiration for Molly’s outfits came from:
Pleasant Company didn’t have to look very far for inspiration for Molly’s wardrobe. There are lots of wonderful photographs from the ’40s – even, for some of us, right in our own family albums! Here is Pleasant Rowland, creator of The American Girls Collection. Memories of happy moments like these came alive when we created Molly’s fashions.
Some inspiration for Molly’s birthday party may have came from this picture.
Since Felicity was released in 1991, there was no inspiration picture or dialogue included in her section of the catalogue.
Do you think American Girl should add sections like this in their current catalogues? It’d be neat to see what inspired more recent historical characters’ outfits (and accessories!)
