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The Fashion History of Dollhouses

The Fashion History of Dollhouses helps us See our own Origins

As we begin our search of dollhouses we find Victorian doll houses becoming prominent in the mid 1800's. Many were made of very light weight material resembling cardboard. They were made this way so as to fold and fit nicely into a box for transport.

Some designs had no outer walls allowing multiple children access to their own private playing compartments at the same time. These houses stood on a table and were designed like a gigantic "X".

Many dollhouses today advertise this same "multiple children can play" feature.

Basically speaking, what child who owns a dollhouse really wants to play all alone, anyway? So this is a good feature to keep in mind with any future purchase you will make.

"A dollhouse is a toy home, made in miniature." Quoted from Wikipedia - Dollhouse Fashion History

A lot of the houses from the Victorian era as well sported amazing flooring designs. The colors were simply brilliant.

However as with today, there were other designs that were just black and white. So in each generation there will always be people who design "Great Dollhouses" and others who simply design a dollhouse.

Regarding Dollhouse Fashion History - The dollhouses of all past eras do include one particular characteristic, however.

They all are crafted in the style of the times in which each were created. Whatever styles were present at any one time you will usually find them present in the dollhouses too.

The fashion history of dollhouses is not so limiting today, though.

Today we can find people working on an authentic antique collection, making everything in period detail.

Or at the same time we can also find someone working on a "very now" design.

Today I guess you can cheerfully say, it's all up to you and your own desire that dictates what kind of dollhouse you will own.

In other words, to each his own.

In the 1900's there began the mass production of dollhouses by German producers until it was interrupted by the First World War. Wars have a way of shutting down productivity in all countries involved. (Except of course in the area of weapons production, sad but true.)

From 1910-1920 we see the arrival of factory made dollhouses on the scene

These are very much collector's items today. American and German producers were competing in the dollhouse toy market at that time.

At this time they were also using the technique of gluing paper on plywood to illustrate furniture and household decorations.

"While the one or two storey dollhouses showed interesting printed exteriors, some of the interiors can be disappointing, as there may be no cut-out windows, actual stairs or doors." Quote from Dollhouse History online.

Printed cardboard became popular again around the 1920's.

However we don't see the arrival of plastic dollhouses until the late 1940's. This material made the dollhouse industry explode, seeing as plastic is such a amenable material in aiding mass production of the toy industry.

About the 1950s we see evidence of metal building material in dollhouses. Along with wood furnishings. The attention to detail was fantastic. There truly were some great artisans at that time. As of course there are now also.

This brings us up to our current era where you can find just about any design you long for,

. . . from antique dollhouses to custom dollhouses. There are no limits today. You can just about order up any item you want. Factory made or collector.

The modern dollhouse industry has seen it's evolution in craftsmanship and material. It just keeps getting better as time goes on. But isn't that what we all hope for anyway? The best of the best dollhouse ever!

One of the best dollhouses ever created was that of the fashion doll house. I guess I'm biased in favor and always will be. Barbie still does it for me. She's my fav!

Also one of the most famous dollhouses ever created was Queen Mary's Dollhouse featured here.

 

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