8.9.07
VICKI
Sindy's 1968/70 friend, called Vicki, was the typical English girl of the swingin' sixties. She's also a very rare doll nowadays.
29.6.07
1.6.07
Sindy's dressup for girls
The 1960's children could look just like their doll, with a special outfit made from the same patern and available for ages 4 and up.
19.4.07
Some of the rarest Sindy set items ever...
Mitzi's Eiffel Tower charm (1968)
Patch's mittens, from Winter Time (1968)
17.4.07
Rare Extra Sets
To start with, in 1963, Sindy only had her very few initial outfits. By the end of the sixties, she was given some new extra sets, some of which are very rare nowadays, specially when found still boxed. Here are 2 of them: the camping and the ironing sets.
12.4.07
11.4.07
Sindy memorabilia from the 1960's
Part of Sindy's early years memorabilia were the papercut dolls and the gift books, as this one (1966) featuring her little sister Patch!
27.3.07
25.3.07
Hi, Mary! Yes, I do have a Sindy and a Mitzi (a very valuable treasure nowadays, I guess). I think Mitzi was out quite some time before Poppet and Vicki were ready for release. Probably very early in 1968. Here she is:
I am planning to write some comments on the drawings and paintings from the first Sindy catalogues, as well as other Sindy releases, such as paper dolls, etc. They do take a very important part of our imaginary as children of the 1960's!
I am planning to write some comments on the drawings and paintings from the first Sindy catalogues, as well as other Sindy releases, such as paper dolls, etc. They do take a very important part of our imaginary as children of the 1960's!
24.3.07
Mitzi, 1968
Mitzi, introduced in 1968 and released to stores some months before Vicki and Poppet, is nowadays one of the rarest fashion dolls in the world. Very few examples of mint and boxed Mitzi's exist. She is my favourite and I will soon post some more info on her «biography».
23.3.07
The right to be different. European.
Vintage Sindy’s are worthless over here in Lisbon: nobody collects modern dolls. Later Sindy’s are not cherished by new buyers: every little girl wants yet another Barbie or, better still, another virtual game.
And that makes me think: why are we, European consumers, so influenced by foreign marks and markets? Why have we, European mothers, abandoned the doll that was once one of our most beloved friends? Why didn't we encourage our daughters to love Sindy like we loved her? Sindy has been constantly in danger of being discontinued because she can't sell as much as multinational fashion dolls? - I don't know. But I do know that when we can find the reason for this we will also be able to explain why so many Portuguese factories are closing. Why so many good and classic European products have disappeared from our stores and from our habits.
Vintage Sindy’s are worthless over here in Lisbon: nobody collects modern dolls. Later Sindy’s are not cherished by new buyers: every little girl wants yet another Barbie or, better still, another virtual game.
And that makes me think: why are we, European consumers, so influenced by foreign marks and markets? Why have we, European mothers, abandoned the doll that was once one of our most beloved friends? Why didn't we encourage our daughters to love Sindy like we loved her? Sindy has been constantly in danger of being discontinued because she can't sell as much as multinational fashion dolls? - I don't know. But I do know that when we can find the reason for this we will also be able to explain why so many Portuguese factories are closing. Why so many good and classic European products have disappeared from our stores and from our habits.
Bye, Sindy... or is it Hello?
I never knew what happened to my Sindy’s. One, I think. was given to the poor children of the neighbourhood (every year we used to fill boxes with old toys for the poor), Paul was badly bitten by our spanlel, my sisters must have drowned Patch in the old farm pond... I don't know. Thirty years later I still look for that easily-fulfilled happiness I shared with my first Sindy’s, I still look for the old versions of the dolls, I still almost cry when I find her again, laying on a dirty blanket at the flee market, her hands chewed, her hair frizzed. Because these dolls came from other little girls' laps, other houses where they were the only modem symbol of youth and freedom, other thirty/forty-something women who have forgotten that they once were those little girls.
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I never knew what happened to my Sindy’s. One, I think. was given to the poor children of the neighbourhood (every year we used to fill boxes with old toys for the poor), Paul was badly bitten by our spanlel, my sisters must have drowned Patch in the old farm pond... I don't know. Thirty years later I still look for that easily-fulfilled happiness I shared with my first Sindy’s, I still look for the old versions of the dolls, I still almost cry when I find her again, laying on a dirty blanket at the flee market, her hands chewed, her hair frizzed. Because these dolls came from other little girls' laps, other houses where they were the only modem symbol of youth and freedom, other thirty/forty-something women who have forgotten that they once were those little girls.
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