'70s Retro Deco Paper Dolls

Turn back the clock to the 1970s, to a brief, beautiful period in fashion history when nostalgia ruled London fashion. Popular paper doll artist Brenda Sneathen Mattox captures this look just as it was worn by two typical London dolly birds. A cheeky dialogue accompanies the outfits for Felicity Greenwood, production assistant on the fictional British TV show, Top of the Pops, and Polly Morgan, department manager at London's trendiest store, Biba. The super-trendy pair chat about their lives and love of fashion as they shop and try-on 16 nostalgic looks inspired by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco revival of the 1970s.

Includes fashion essay by acclaimed trend forecaster and fashion expert David Wolfe, and kitschy dialogue by Prof. Amanda Hallay. Keep the book intact as a fashion reference and collector's item or cut out the dolls and clothes for paper doll dress up fun!

Growing up in Frankfort, Indiana, Brenda began drawing as soon as she could hold a pencil and she hasn't stopped since. As a shy kid who never seemed to fit in, Brenda created her own wonderful world on paper. Paper dolls were a favorite pastime, her mother keeping Brenda well supplied with store bought books. Brenda often enlarged their wardrobes with costumes of her own, and of course created entire sets of her own. She delighted in dressing her paper ladies in elaborate dresses with fanciful trimmings, like glass lamp prisms!

Upon entering junior high, she began studying period fashion in order to draw more authentic looking clothes and continued to refine her skills throughout high school. After earning her degree in Fashion Illustration at the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale, she returned to Indiana and worked as a free-lance artist for a few years. The income was sporadic at best and Brenda seldom drew anything she was interested in. Fashion-related jobs were virtually non-existent.

Paper dolls reentered Brenda's life in 1985 at a vintage clothing show when a paper doll collector suggested she try drawing paper dolls with a vintage theme. She soon joined the Original Paper Doll Artist Guild and it changed the direction of her art career for the better. Brenda could at last draw old clothes to her heart's content and share her work with people who were truly interested in it.

The real clincher was attending her first National Paper Doll Convention in 1988, where a whole world of collectors and artists that she never knew existed was opened up for her. Brenda had truly found her niche.

In the years since, Brenda's work has appeared in several doll publications such as Doll News and Contemporary Doll Collector and she has illustrated more than a dozen paper doll and coloring books for Dover Publishing. Her titles for Paper Studio Press include Cinderella Paper Dolls & 17th Century Costumes, Love of Lace, Paris Fashion 1919-1939, The Changing Shape of Fashion, '70s Retro Deco, Retro Space Girls, Looking Back at Fashion, Theda Bara, Underfashion, Hollywood in Hoopskirts, Floral Brides and Classic Fairy Tales Paper Dolls in Historical Fashions. Brenda is a managing editor of Paper Doll Studio for the Original Paper Doll Artists Guild (OPDAG).

Brenda and her husband Brian enjoy their lifestyle in a restored 1891 Queen Anne house in Plainfield, Indiana.