Spotlight Series 2: Historical Trolling
Welcome to Mukashi no Sewing’s second spotlight series! My first spotlight series about storage and curation was initially conceived as a normal spotlight entry, but I’ve decided to split off long-form spotlights into their own thing to make them easier to find! (I also went back and retagged the four entries in the storage series.) So what’s going on here then?
Trolls!
My folks recently moved overseas (hi Mom and Dad! Hope you’re having fun!), and while they were cleaning their house in preparation my mom confessed to me that she’d saved my troll dolls from when I was a kid and asked if I wanted them. After years of not thinking about them I suddenly was struck by the vivid memory of just how much time I spent not just playing with my trolls as a little girl, but also making them DOZENS of outfits.
It wasn’t just my trolls, actually. I spent what was probably hundreds of hours making clothing for various dolls and stuffed animals in my possession. I had some bipedal cow dolls that lived in a dollhouse that I made full wardrobes for, a stuffed bear that I dressed up in my old baby clothes, and so much more.
This will likely not surprise you, friends, since you’re currently reading this fashion-centric blog. But actually this memory came as a tremendous surprise to me because I spent a HUGE part of my late teens and my 20s convincing myself that fashion was stupid and that not caring about it made me super cool. 😀 So it came as a real shock to recall that my childhood passion was actually clothes – and not just clothes, but making them! ❤
My aunt even still has some of the troll dolls that she, my mom, and my other aunt all played with as kids! Clearly this is a weird family obsession, but I’m totally ok with it. 😀 As I sort through all of Mirinda’s belongings, I thought it would be fun to share some of the history (both commercial and personal) of my trolls, and to do some dress-up comparisons between me and Mirinda! (I think I can actually replicate a lot of her wardrobe from my own, with the exception of some of the denim and flannel pieces because I do not own those fabrics lol.) 😀
Please do subscribe below if you haven’t already, and I look forward to seeing you back here next time here on Mukashi no Sewing! ❤
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昔のSewing 
So glad you are highlighting the trolls!
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I’m going all-out to match Mirinda in future posts; I’m really looking forward to it! ☺️
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Great post and fun to consider how we often circle back to our early passions!
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I recently finished a Kodo Nishimura’s book “This Monk Wears Heels,” and he was talking about how recalling his own childhood love of fashion helped him figure out his path in life and it really resonated for me!
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I’ve never been a Troll fan (they used to scare me 😂), but I totally can relate in that I used to make Barbie clothes as a kid, especially out of socks. I think many of us go through that “fashion is stupid” phase until we realize it’s not fashion itself, but maybe the toxic industry? I’m glad you still have your trolls. I gave away all of my Barbies 😭
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OMG out of socks? How creative, I love it! 😍 I totally agree that the fashion industry can be toxic; I think one of the things that’s made me love fashion so much more in recent years are the movements to decolonize and slow it down. It’s a better industry when it’s accessible to and respectful of all people!
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