LJI S8 W33- Ensemble- Marta's Dolls
Marta stood up and stretched. Her back ached from hours of hunching over her desk. Late nights like these, she needed to remind herself again why it was she suffered the crowded bus rides, the tiny efficiency apartment, and the boring classes of community college.
It had all started with paper dolls.
Paper dolls were figures cut out of paper or thin card, with separate clothes, also made of paper, that were usually held onto the dolls by folding tabs. The 1930s through the 1950s had been considered the "Golden Age of Paper Dolls," as their popularity during those years had never been equaled. Even during the Great Depression, paper toys could be afforded by all. Marta’s first paper dolls came in her Jack and Jill magazines when she was only five or six.
Marta gazed at her small collection of old favorites now in frames and hanging on her wall. She was glad she decided to bring them along for decoration and display. They helped to keep her focused on her dream. She rummaged through her desk and found a small pile of photographs from when she took dancing lessons. So many memories! And every one of them reminding her of what college and hard work was preparing her for.
She’d always loved reading and looking at fashion magazines. She was a girly-girl and loved playing dress up in her mother’s high fashions too. When Marta realized that her mother’s old Sears and Roebuck mail order catalog had lots of pictures of clothes in it, she would cut out outfits that almost fit her paper dolls. She was only allowed to cut up the older catalogs because the latest one had to be available for ordering, of course. There were plenty of everyday clothes pictured in the old catalog but to dress her dolls in fancy dress up clothes and evening gowns, she found she needed to create her own.
Armed with white drawing paper, colored pencils and scissors, she’d set to work to create a bigger repertoire of clothing than what came with the dolls. It was a natural segue for her to transfer her drawing skills to designing clothes for her paper dolls. She spent hours copying magazine pictures or creating her own outfits for her dolls, coloring them, and even cutting out the little tabs to fold over the shoulders to help them stay on, just like the real ones. Her father had helped her glue her most favorite paper dolls to cardboard then he made little stand-up supports at the bottom so the dolls could be played with upright and moved around.
Marta knew she was special. She was smart, talented and took dancing lessons. Her mother made all of her costumes and Marta began to understand the parallels of her paper doll creations and Mother’s sewing creations.
Many evenings, Marta’s mother would be set up on the little red card table, fussing with gathering and adjusting to construct the perfect costume. Marta would sit nearby, copying the pictures on the patterns and drawing costumes for her paper dolls. When Marta performed in her dance recitals, the costumes made her feel completely in character and bolstered her confidence. She knew she could be anything she wanted to be and she aspired to be a famous fashion designer one day.
Mother always planned ahead ordering the material from Sears Catalog. She mostly used a pattern for the basic outfit but then she had flair or a natural gift for adding accessories and trim, mixing fabrics, textures and colors that made each outfit very original and unique.
After the dance recitals, the costumes were retired but carefully preserved. The storage closet upstairs with its array of costumes on hangers and all the accessories continued to hold a fascination for the teen Marta.
One of Marta’s favorite pastimes was to go up and admire them one by one, recalling the particular dance routine and the story that went with each one. She liked to relive how she felt back then and each memory reinforced her dreams for her future.
On one hanger was the sleek black cat costume complete with a helmet bearing pointy ears and whiskers. The body had a long slinky tail on the rear. She’d worn triple-tone taps on black shoes for that number to the music of The Syncopated Clock. She’d been so tiny then but she remembered all her steps and the applause let her know she had done well.
The next hanger held the majorette costume, a smart white long-sleeved short dress with a flair skirt. Eight shiny gold buttons in two rows adorned the front. Blue braid trim connected the buttons in horizontal stripes and also piped the hem of the dress. Mother had special-ordered the majorette hat because it wasn’t something she could make. The tall silver cap with its little visor was trimmed with red, white and blue and fastened under her chin with a fine elastic cord. She could still sense the pinch! Mother had made the white vinyl boots with tassels that fit over her tap shoes, though and Marta remembered tapping and twirling her baton to Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean.
The ‘Southern Belle,’ a heliotrope taffeta with big puff sleeves had a three-quarter length skirt with petticoats underneath. The headpiece was a flat oval with ruffles trimmed with fake lilacs. It was worn on her head tipped to one side and it tied under her chin with a delicate back velvet ribbon. This was Marta’s most favorite costume. She couldn’t recall the music for that one but it didn’t matter. She did recall that when she donned that outfit she had exuded confidence and poise. It also made her feel beautiful.
Yes, Marta enjoyed going up and just looking at the costumes years later almost as much as she enjoyed performing in them at one time. Her mother had also sewed a lot for herself and stored her own fancy dresses and ball gowns up there in the closet. Marta liked to imagine all the costumes and ball gowns were part of her own collection and someday people would come from all over the world to buy her original creations.
During high school, Marta had been somewhat of a wallflower. Her mother called her a late-bloomer. She’d learned to sew and enjoyed making many of her own clothes. She’d had an occasional date but was really more interested in reading fashion magazines and drawing. She didn’t mind that she didn’t “go steady” like many of her girlfriends. She was content to spend time alone and sew and perfect her technical skills. She knew that college would further her dream of a future fabulous career in fashion design and she would break into the world of haute couture.
Marta had moved into town from her country home to attend community college. Although her classes this first year at college were pretty standard required courses, she knew she needed them to advance for an eventual degree in design. She pictured herself accepting a position for a major garment designer one day.
She’d rented the little efficiency apartment located over a mom and pop grocery store on Main Street. She lived sparsely. Her college tuition and her rent were paid for from a trust fund from her late grandfather. She had a little part-time job at the grocery store downstairs.
The building was on the bus line so Marta bought monthly vouchers to make it easier to hop her rides back and forth to school and the occasional errand or appointment.
She couldn’t wait to study subjects like art and fashion history, color and design theory and fashion merchandising. As an aspiring designer, she looked forward to honing her technical abilities with sewing and garment construction.
Marta had no doubts that one day she would achieve her dream of combining her love of style and clothing into a business. . She knew she had the talent but it would take more hard work and study to get the degree. The excitement of increasing her knowledge of the fashion world spurred her on.
She had wanted this for almost as long as she could remember.
Whenever she felt even the smallest tweak of discouragement, she only had to take a little break and remember her inspiration: the paper dolls and her dance costumes.