How to Style an Antique German Doll

Here are the sweetest period photographs of little girls. Additionally, take a closer look at their hair: soft curls, tidy braids, wide ribbons, and oversized bows. Is there any better inspiration for creating the perfect antique-doll image?

The hairstyles worn by real children in the 1900s–1920s can be an invaluable guide. When styling an antique German doll, use those hairstyles as reference. Similarly, a doll’s wig did not exist separately from fashions of her day. As a result, the same ringlets appeared in portraits.

During the Edwardian era, girls wore their long hair loose, braided, or adorned with ribbons and large bows. Moreover, velvet, taffeta, or tulle ribbons gained popularity as stylish hair accessories.
Nevertheless, shorter hairstyles became fashionable by the late 1920s. Moreover, the bob cut became widespread by the middle of the decade. Hairdressers cut the hair to the jawline or shorter and shaped it straight or wavy.

Choose a hairstyle carefully. Look at the doll’s face mold and age as well as the character you wish to give her. Two braids with bows create a neat, schoolgirl look; loose ringlets suggest a dressed-up Sunday or portrait-day child; while a short bob or softly waved crop immediately moves the image toward the 1920s.

A doll’s hairstyle can change everything. The same bisque head may look sweet, serious, fashionable, or entirely wrong depending on the wig, parting, curl pattern, and hair ornaments. A good period style gives a doll not only a finished appearance, but also the particular mood of her own time.

Antique German dollmakers offered their dolls in many hair arrangements. There were short curly wigs for little girls, long ringlets for more formal babies, center parts, fringes, braids, side curls, bows, and increasingly fashionable early-twentieth-century coiffures.

So today, let us imagine that we are browsing an old doll hairdresser’s catalogue. Which hairstyle would your antique baby have chosen?

Here are 40 hairstyles for German dolls from the 1900s to the 1920s.

How do you comb an antique doll without taking away her age, character, and authenticity? What hairstyle did she wear when she was new? Subsequently, fresh from the factory, she rested in her box and displayed herself in a shop window. Now, the choice is yours.

Sources and further reading

• Doll Reference. Antique China Head Dolls 1836–1940s.
• Doll Kingdom. Hair Styles in Bisque Circa 1860 to 1880.
• Denver Public Library History. Historic Hair: “Bobbing” and “Waving” in the 1920s.
• Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division. Historical portraits and fashion photographs.
• Wikimedia Commons. Public-domain and Creative Commons historical images.
• Internet Archive. Digitized period catalogues, fashion publications, and children’s books.