Baby doll dresses

Fashion Synopsis

During the swinging 60’s, men advanced to walking on the moon, and ladies reverted back to infancy. The 60’s rejected the voluptuous hourglass curves of the 50’s, and returned to the prepubescent days of childhood style. The ‘little girl look’ was all the rage in fashion, and this childish craze was consummated for nightwear with baby doll pajamas.

The 1956 film Baby Doll told the tragic story of an adult woman with childlike tendencies who wore the sexy and innocent style of little girl pajamas. The short, frilly dresses with matching panties she wore became known as baby dolls, and women everywhere turned back the hands of time and revisited the carefree days of adolescence with their own set of baby dolls. Gone were the tight girdles, the spiral cone bras, and even plain nylon slips, all replaced with the pretty prints of the sassy baby doll.

Once girls experienced the freedom of child-like innocence, they couldn't put it back in the closet. The first half of the 60's turned women into little girls when Twiggy's prepubescent body became the 'Face' of the decade. Twiggy's wide-eyed gaze and long and lean body was the perfect silhouette for the short and sassy baby doll dresses in pink gingham and flowers.

The baby doll style returned in the 90's, when girls wore short baby style dresses over spandex bike shorts. Then came the riot grrrls, and Courtney Love of the band Hole, who wore vintage little girl dresses for her 'kinder-whore' image. Girls also sucked on pacifiers and carried stuffed animal backpacks to complete the baby doll style.

These 'too short to keep your modesty' dresses were paired with heavy combat boots and fishnet tights for a satirical confrontation against preconceived girldom. (Yes, we're girls, and yes, we can kick your ass!) From cradle to grave, you didn't have to forget the little girl inside of you.