Facing the future of fashion dolls
What is the future of doll collecting? What is modern, contemporary, or futuristic? Will we still be here sharing, buying, selling, and collecting in fifty years? I am not quite sure. For one thing, children aren’t playing with dolls anymore. If they don’t play with dolls and toys, they won’t likely grow up with a tendency to collect them. After all, many of us have tried to re-collect what we used to have and lost, whether we gave away our prized Dawn dolls, or they went the way of third grade exam papers and camp tee-shirts from 1973…headlong into the dumpster.
On the other hand, perhaps this scenario would create larger numbers of doll collectors. Because for another large group of us, collecting is about amassing what we never had. Whether it’s the men who weren’t allowed to play with dolls as little boys, those less financially fortunate, or those of us who were too young for a “Number One” Barbie but remember coveting the elegant white icon perched on the shelf of an older cousin’s bedroom.
Some say we have fewer material possessions these days: less paper, less clutter. Heh. I think that’s delusional. We have more stuff than we could ever possibly need or want: multiple phones, computers, CDs, books, movies, pants, shoes, and lipsticks. Our conspicuous consumption has barely ebbed, despite a high unemployment rate and a recession. The vast quantity of emails we get everyday adds to the mountain of clutter, even if it is virtual.
If the electrical grid disappeared or we suffered a global blackout or a terrorist attack, most people these days would be absolutely lost. Cut off from their virtual world and cyber-friends, the average modern citizen would be paralyzed and not know what to do with himself or herself. Fortunately if you are over forty, you probably own books and magazines, perhaps even a few how-to manuals. It would be up to a global force of middle-aged post Boomers and AARP subscribers to put the world to rights because most folks under thirty haven’t got a clue how to process a situation that hasn’t already been laid out in a computer game.
I don’t mean to sound pessimistic. I just worry that if we lose our love of play and the ability to use our own innate creativity, we become bored and unsocial, lacking a sense of intellectual curiosity that makes the human race superior to all the other creatures that roam the earth. It’s a good thing to want to make a dress, paint a face, or take a photo. I get particularly defensive when I see articles or comments about collectors (usually online) in which we are painted as eccentric or immature. Is it superior to post rude comments on websites instead of learning how to make a mohair wig or a 1/6-scale couch? I find creating physical art and items of beauty far more valuable than snarky comments on Kardashians or debates on how many more “skanky hos” will sell their sordid stories of fooling around with other women’s husbands. But I digress.
If we are to imagine the future of collecting dolls, I see it as something akin to publishing or the evening news. These forms of media are losing ground in viewership, but those who will survive are adapting to conditions and working with the modern demands of their consumers. This, of course, is connected to the Internet. And one can argue that all the doll companies (as well as doll magazines) have embraced the Internet and have grown their business because of the increased visibility of the web. But for many children, their dolls are only on the Internet as colorful avatars that they dress and change through their computer monitors. (As an aside, I predict that more children born in this century will need eye glasses for sure, so I guess we should all buy stock in Lens Crafters before we invest in paper mills.)
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