Acclaimed paper doll artist Norma Lu Meehan has teamed up with fashion historian Randy Bryan Bigham to present a truly exceptional paper doll book honoring real women of the Titanic. Representing First Class are dolls and fashions for millionairess and suffrage advocate Margaret "Unsinkable Molly" Brown, film actress and commercial artist's model Dorothy Gibson, fashion writer and importer Edith Russell, and acclaimed fashion designer Lucy Duff Gordon (working under the name Lucile). Second Class is represented by Christian missionary Sylvia Caldwell, and Third Class is represented by immigrant Catherine Buckley. Where possible, fashions were references from photographs, press descriptions and other available records. Among the 21 costumes include designer fashions by Paquin, Lanvin, Lucile, Cheruit and Poiret.
Paper dolls might seem the height of simplicity--quaint but simple toys, nothing more. But through the centuries paper figures have reflected religious and political beliefs, notions of womanhood, motherhood and family, the dictates of fashion, approaches to education, individual self-image and self-esteem, and ideas about death. This book examines paper dolls and their symbolism--from icons made by priests in ancient China to printable Kim Kardashians on the Internet--to show how these ephemeral objects have an enduring and sometimes surprising presence in history and culture.