On The Doll

By Tui Lou Christie (she/they)

I’m an adult doll collector.

I’m not sure if everyone would call me a collector, as I only have about 22. I’m also not certain if I’m an adult, as I’m also 22. However, by most legal definitions, I’m an adult doll collector.

There’s a certain stigma around collecting dolls as an adult, and articles about adult doll collecting are usually long explanations of why ‘it isn’t that weird’ and how ‘lots of people do it, actually’, and so on. However, I have faith that the good readers of Massive do not care about random people with hobbies, and I will instead just prattle on about some of my favourite dolls from my own collection. I’m a big history buff and I love vintage stuff. I’m especially interested in vintage homewares that relate to the domestic lives of women and children— kitchen equipment, quilts and linens, women’s magazines, and of course, toys and dolls. So, it follows that I collect second-hand ceramic dolls, mainly from op shops and TradeMe. I love getting this small glimpse into someone’s past and feeling connected to those who have come before me. For a long time, I would longingly look at second-hand dolls, knowing I wouldn’t be able to display them in my room, for my partner’s sake, nor any of our communal spaces, for my flatmate’s sake. Now my flatties and I are in a new house, and I can collect to my heart’s content. There’s an idea that you shouldn’t make your guest bed too comfortable, so my dolls live on the dresser in the spare room.

Dolls in Western Dress

These are probably my favourite dolls; I think they’re just darling. They’ve got little yeehaw clothes, and they only have one hat that they share between them. I think that when I’m not in the room they whisper in tongues to one another, crafting an intricate personal ideology of ‘the American dream’, presenting and disseminating it universally as some kind of natural state of being (what Roland Barthes called a ‘myth’ of humanity) but whenever I come back in the room they are where I left them. Curious.

Doll in Luxembourgish national dress

The only non-ceramic doll I collect are dolls in national dress, including this sweet little lady sporting a traditional folk costume from Luxembourg, I’ve got a few dolls in national dress and I think they’re so interesting as a historic item, something between a toy and an educational tool. I’ve chosen her for this list because she has clear inset eyes that close when she lays down, like a lot of the old plastic dolls that I own. The thing about clear inset eyes in a plastic doll is that when the doll is lit from behind (as mine are on my windowsill), the eyes glow bright pink as though possessed. Personally, I love that for her.

Annabelle

One of the very few dolls in my collection that came with a name is Annabelle, according to the little tag on her wrist. Annabelle’s beautiful gold ringlets and fur-trimmed dress are in great condition, and she came with her own doll stand. I cannont see any reason why no one else brought Annabelle from the op shop, as she’s such a beautiful doll!