Clara's 1940s Bolero Dress

In the 1940s, the fashion industry was heavily influenced by Spanish designers, such as Cristóbal Balenciaga. These designers made Spanish-styles in fashions quite popular. Additionally, the 1940s saw many famous Latin actors and actresses on the silver screen, making Spanish and Latin influence widespread.

Clara’s dress for today has a some Spanish styling with a false bolero jacket. The panels sewn into the bodice of the dress create the look of a bolero. The puffy sleeves and flared skirt also show the Spanish influence on this fashion design.

Clara also has some nice sling-back shoes, worn with ankle socks. Although the style is typical 1940s, these shoes could certainly be worn today – but maybe without the socks.

Finally, Clara has a popular hairstyle for young girls in the 1940s – some loose braids tied with bows, and worn with long bangs.

The original dress is coral pink with white daisies. The original shoes are white leather.

To print Clara's Dress, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 44 (791k)

Clara is a free, printable paper doll. Clara will be available on this blog as long as I continue to post new fashion pages for her. You can read the introduction for the Clara paper doll here.

To print the Clara paper doll, use this PDF file:

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Clara's 1950s School Dress

In the 1950s, all girls wore skirts or dresses everyday, and Clara's outfit for today is a classic 50s fashion. Although pants were becoming socially acceptable as a fashion, skirts remained quite popular for another decade or so, before pants overtook skirts as the most popular fashion for girls.

This particular dress has a fitted top with a cute diamond-shaped tie. The wide, full skirt is a classic 50s circle skirt, an iconic fashion silhouette for this decade.

The shoes are some cute little slip on shoes, worn with (what else) the classic bobby socks.

Finally, Clara has a cute 1950s haircut: a chin-length bob that curls out at the bottom. She has a headband, one of the most popular forms of hair decoration in the '50s.

The original dress was red and black. The original shoes were black and white.

Some of the popular colors for clothing in the 1950s were:



To print Clara's Dress, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 43 (281k)

Clara is a free, printable paper doll. Clara will be available on this blog as long as I continue to post new fashion pages for her. You can read the introduction for the Clara paper doll here.

To print the Clara paper doll, use this PDF file:

The Clara Paper Doll (718k)

Clara's 1974 Winter Clothes

Recently, in a department store, I saw a dress that simply screamed "Seventies." And it was not the best of the seventies, but instead represented some of the worst style of the decade, in very bad taste. I think part of the bad reputation that the fashions of the 1970s have earned is due to clashing colors used in monumental poor taste.

Without the 70s patterns and colors, the fashions themselves are actually quite classy. For two additional examples of 70s fashion, check out Clara's 1970s everyday outfit and this sheath dress.

The 1970s were characterized by over-emphasized features: bell bottoms, wide sleeves, mini skirts, maxi skirts, etc. Clara's fashion page for today has some of the overstated features typical of the 70s, starting with the pants. She has a pair of bell bottoms with wide bottoms.

For a top, she is wearing a tight, thick turtleneck shirt with drapy sleeves and tight cuffs. Over the turtleneck, Clara can wear her fitted vest with a scoop neck. As a final touch on her outfit, Clara has some clunky Mary Janes, with thick soles typical of the 70s.

To print Clara's outfit, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 42 (745k)

Clara is a free, printable paper doll. Clara will continue to be available on this blog as long as I post new fashion pages for her. You can read the introduction for the Clara paper doll here.

To print the Clara paper doll, use this PDF file:
The Clara Paper Doll (745k)

Clara's 1925 Medallion Dress

Clara’s 1925 dress is not a style typically associated with the 1920s. The iconic 20s fashion design was a sheath dress, straight down with no curves perhaps with a dropped waist – or maybe even no waist. However, children’s clothing did not necessarily match the high fashion for women. Although young girls wore styles that included sheath dresses, they also wore other types, including gathered dresses with waists.

Clara’s dress has a pointed waistline, many small pin tucks on the bodice, and a scarf loosely tied around the neck. The dress is decorated with some abstract-style medallions. Are they suns? flowers? I am not sure.

The hat is a cloche style with a soft brim and a wide ribbon for trim.

Clara’s shoes are simple slip-ons with a stripe and brooch clip.

To print Clara's outfit, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 41 (806k)

Clara is a free, printable paper doll. Clara will continue to be available on this blog as long as I post new fashion pages for her. You can read the introduction for the Clara paper doll here.

To print the Clara paper doll, use this PDF file:
The Clara Paper Doll (745k)