No. 16

Emily Jumeau (Elizabethan Costume)

French Antique Reproduction

Details

Original

Maison Jumeau (Paris)

Mold

Virginia LaVorgna

Costume

Elizabethan costume made with Bob Severns

About this doll

A red-haired doll in a gown in the style of Elizabethan England of the sixteenth century: a pink satin gown with a brocade forepart, chains of pearls and ornaments, and the hood-shaped headdress fashionable at the time.

The head reproduces a French Jumeau doll from a mold by Virginia LaVorgna. The costume was made together with Bob Severns.

Background

Virginia LaVorgna was a dollmaker and businesswoman in Cedar Hill, Texas, who created a popular line of china paints and reproduction molds of antique dolls. She worked with the mold maker Stan Shelsky and named her molds after her six granddaughters. Her products came with photographic painting guides that were a great help to beginners; in January 2024 the line became part of The Bell Collection.

Bob Severns, a winner of the D.A.G Millie award, has taught French fashion dolls and period costume for more than thirty years. In his seminars students learn not only to make the head but also to research and recreate the dress of a particular era, as here.

For questions about this doll, please send us a message on Instagram.