Call for Papers: Fashion, Style & Popular Culture

Special Issue: ‘Dolls, Dolls, Dolls’

View the full call here>>

https://www.intellectbooks.com/fashion-style-popular-culture#call-for-papers

Guest Editor: Frank New, Massey University, New Zealand

Existing since the dawn of time, dolls are among the oldest man-made objects. The oldest known doll – called the Paddle doll – was invented in Egypt around 2030–1802 BCE during the late Predynastic period. Fast forward to the 1940s and the production of plastic dolls began. In the 1950s, the German doll Bild Lilli was born, the predecessor to Barbie launching in 1959 at the New York Toy Fair. The spectrum of dolls is vast from early dolls made of clay, to baby dolls to action figures to Voodoo dolls to sex dolls to fashion dolls, and so forth. This Special Issue aims to serve as a comprehensive wealth of scholarship around the world of dolls.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Paddle Dolls – Exploring the purpose of paddle dolls in Ancient Egypt.

• Clay Dolls – Looking at socio-cultural history of a region. For example, clay dolls from Krishnanagar, India, were meant to capture and recreate everyday life, work, mood and characters.

• Bisque/Porcelain Dolls – Exploring the differences between the two types, the variations in value, factors that influence value, bisque dolls (adult fashion dolls, baby dolls, character dolls), China/glass dolls.

• Ceremonial Dolls – Topics to explore: the role which ceremonial dolls play, the various uses of ceremonial dolls in different cultures, symbolism, rituals, etc.

• Voodoo Dolls – Examining the origins, duality and cultural diversity of voodoo dolls.

• Paper Dolls – Looking at paper dolls as artefacts that illustrated the social expectations for women at particular moments in time, how paper dolls communicated wealth, paper dolls in pop culture, etc.

• Puppets – Exploring how puppets are used in such areas such as music therapy, early language development, education and children with disabilities. The origins of puppetry, the impact of television on puppetry, the contemporary use of puppets in art and activism, the world of Jim Henson.

• Fashion Dolls – (Barbie, Sindy, Disney, Bratz, Monster High) Exploring how fashion dolls have shaped pop culture, association of body image to Barbie, fandom and participatory culture, dolls and consumer culture, notices of alternative lifestyles, such as punk.

• Sex Dolls – Examining sex and fantasy, the ‘realness’, ancient origins of sex dolls, brothel dolls, ’Teddy Babes’, etc.

• Queer Dolls – Mattel releases Earring Magic Ken, dubbed ‘Queer Ken’, how it gained an homoerotic consumer base overnight, and Mattel pulled it from the shelves, the Billy Doll, etc.

• Action Figures – ‘Dolls for boys’, GI Joe and its cultural impact, how the 1980s shifted to include action figures geared towards girls, the homoerotism of action figures through body sculpt and clothing.

• Historical Dolls – For example, Leo Moss, African-American doll maker from Macron, Georgia. American Girl dolls, the nostalgia and legacy

• Fashion, Dolls, Art – Dolls as a fashion accessory, dolls as mannequins (The House of Viktor & Rolf at the Barbican, exhibition outfits displayed on lifesize porcelain dolls, Barbie as a lifesize mannequin, Rootstein), modern doll artists/photographers (doll dioramas, celebrity dolls), the connection between dolls and fashion, horror dolls (Living Dead dolls, Elvira doll).

Deadline for submissions: 1 December 2025

Papers will not be considered unless they follow Intellect house style guidelines.

Papers should be approximately 5000–7500 words in length, and must include a title, keywords, full names of authors (with indication of corresponding author), affiliation, contact details and a short biography of around 150 words for each contributing author.

Papers are accepted on a rolling basis and are reviewed as they arrive. All papers are double-blind peer reviewed for acceptance into the journal.

Please send abstracts to Frank New, Massey University: FrankNew@FrankieNew.com

For questions regarding submissions or enquiries regarding the journal please contact Joseph Hancock: joseph.hancockii@gmail.com