Miss Revlon

In 1950's United States, there was a boom of dolls created that were a result of products geared towards grown women. These included Toni (who came with her own "permanent wave" kit,) Miss Revlon, and various other "makeup" or glamour dolls that came with their own hair styling or makeup kits.

Doll manufacturers are smart. They know that little girls like to emulate their mothers. There are few little girls that haven't watched their mother put on lipstick or do their hair. So, in 1956 Ideal licensed the Revlon name and created a fashion doll for little girls, with a name that they and their mothers (or aunts or grandmothers) would recognise.

Miss Revlon came in various sizes, from 15 to 20 inches tall. Some dolls have jointed elbows (like Madame Alexander's Cissy.) Most dolls have light brown hair, but some can be found with dark brown or very blonde hair. A modified version was introduced toward the end of Miss Revlon's popularity, and this doll was a pixie faced doll. She had pink hair, was called Pink Fairy, wore a fairy dress and only comes in the 18 inch size. Miss Revlon has a "high heel foot" and wears dresses and costumes that were representative of the high fashion of their day (including real fur wraps). Some dolls have pierced ears. Hair can either be short or long and worn in a pony tail. Dolls have sleep eyes. They are marked Ideal, followed by VT and the size of the doll, and are made of high quality vinyl and hard plastic.

I have a Miss Revlon and a Little Miss Revlon doll in my collection. Little Miss Revlon was introduced in 1958. She is a smaller version of Miss Revlon, and stands at about 10.5 inches tall. Little Miss Revlon is all vinyl and has a twisty waist. Both dolls have girlish faces on a teen body.

My Miss Revlon is a 20 inch doll. She wears an original Miss Revlon dress and replacement shoes. She is the shorter haired version and does not have pierced ears. My Little Miss Revlon also wears an original dress. Her vinyl has darkened slightly, but she fortunately is not plagued with a bad case of green ear, which is the case with so many pierced ear dolls of the 1950's.

Miss Revlon was sadly knocked off her pedestal by the introduction of Barbie in 1959. Barbie was more adult-like compared to the childlike Miss Revlon, and so a new era of dolls began. For some of us, however, the old era never really passed away.