Book Review: Doll Junk: Collectible and Crazy Fashions from the '70s and '80s

Book: Doll Junk: Collectible & Crazy Fashions from the '70s & '80s by Carmen Varricchio

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

“Eeeewww. Fake Barbie® clothes.” Those four words verbalize the faint disgust yesterday’s savvy kids felt when, in the midst of doll play, an inferior, generic, or “clone” dress or top suddenly surfaced from their sizable supply of perfect Mattel doll outfits. The impostors were treated as tainted outcasts and were basically left to rot. Today, a younger generation of doll lovers is on the rise. These leap-for-cheap fashionistas gleefully embrace the very items their quality-conscious predecessors detested. Here, for your viewing pleasure or revulsion, are nearly 800 not-exactly-gorgeous getups and some of the downgraded dolls who wore them, mostly from the ’70s and ’80s (’80s collectors, rejoice! Your time has come!), many in their original packaging. Prepare to shield your eyes from clumsily drawn fashion figures, pathetic attempts at high-fashion lingo, and mediocre package graphics culled from around the world!


Rating: 5 stars

Review:

I laughed so hard while reading this my stomach hurt afterwards. I couldn't help laughing at all the weird and less than stellar knock off dolls and doll clothes throughout this book. And just look at the book cover, that alone made me laugh out loud. However, that is the whole point of this book which is to put a spotlight on some of the more lesser known and sometimes poorer quality dolls and doll clothes that was out during the 1970s and 1980s.

In this five chapter book, that author showcase dolls and clothing from around the world with a humorous touch. After the success of Barbie (and Ken and Skipper), there were a lot of knock offs that were made and there was even knock offs of other knock off dolls. I was also surprised that there were a lot of knock offs of the Jem and the Holograms dolls and their clothing.

This was an amusing look at the history of dare I say, really crappy dolls and clothing. However, not all of the dolls were bad there were some that were of very good quality such as the Vanna White doll and some of the later edition of the Petra doll and her friend Donna. I also found that some of the accessories packs appeared to be of better quality than many of the dolls and clothing sets. I especially love that blue toy luggage set that had only been available in Germany. After seeing all of those wonderful accessories, it makes you wonder why they got more attention to detail than many of the dolls/clothes?

As a collector, I thought this was an interesting book, it was nice looking back at all the various dolls and clothing.