Babydoll Dress

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

I see in some of the stories reference to "little babydoll dress". There is indeed something called a "babydoll dress" but it is by no means little. The main thing it has in common with a babydoll is the very high waist. It often extends to the knee and is A-line. They came around in the mid 1960's as a little girl's dress

The little half-way to the knee garment was just called a "babydoll". The two or sometimes three piece item was properly, though by the early 60's, rarely, called a "babydoll set". In the originals from the 1950's and early to mid 1960's the panties of a babydoll set were made after baby panties; full and blousey and could cover a fairly thick diaper and rubber panteis, and contributed to the whole thing being called a babydoll set, as did the short, loose babydoll proper. Also, the babydoll did fully conceal the panties but with very little to spare. By the late 1970's there was the shorter babydoll with the G-string panties. It is worth noting that the person who invented the babydoll in the 1940'a did so as a kind of minimalist dress and disliked "babydoll". However the "babydoll dress" is something altogether different, being either knee-length or just above the knee and not as loose-fitting and came about 20 years later and did not include the other piece(s) that comprised the babydoll set. It is almost impossible to get a decent babydoll set now

[BabyLock]

I guess I am guilty of the misconception of the Babydoll Dress having a hem line just at or above the bottom of the diaper panty showing off its matching design.

Definitely a flirty airy design with a full "A" line hem - not covering much and with a substantial bra cup even more exposure.

Thanks for the history of the Babydoll Dress - but I like living in my fantasy view ! Oola la !!!

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

I do not  know how universal this was, but where I am from, the babydoll was a training and chastizement  thing. Just the name "baby doll" said it all. You were a baby and a doll, to be done with as others wished. The panties were left off in favor of a diaper and rubber panties. If the girl let her panties show, there were consequences that were quite embarrassing. who, over the age of 3 wanted to be seen in rubber panties? AND she would have to wet the diaper like a baby and be changed later on in front of other ladies and during that time, her babydoll would be lifted for diaper check by any lady who wanted to. For chastizement, it was used for being babyish, whiny, overactive, forward, gossipy, trollopy or proud (which meant whatever Mommy wanted it to, I suppose). And the same would apply. If it was used as training and the girl did not let her panties show, she would be put back into her regular clothes at the end of the morning if it was put on her then, or the afternoon if it was used then. This was part of "chastity training". We French-Canadians had a reputation for being trollopy and this was to train from an early aage to be "chaste" as part of being ladylike. Chastizement could last up to 3 days as it really irritated a parent, especiall being proud. It was started when a girl turned 4 and was used even at 10 or 11. If the girl was in school, she would wear hre regular school dress and when she got home, she was put in her babydoll. Also, it was put on you laying down. I have not seen it done since I wad 12 so I guess it fell out of favor. Chastizemnt babydolls were sometimes made of the same material as the panties to reinforce the notion of "baby". These  were usually home made or made by one of Mommy's friends as part of a small business. This practice amongst us, though not universal, was done often enough so that it was a "French thing", done a little in my extended family and more in some of the families that I knew about. Like  the Rocques (Anne and Linda's family) knew and taught it to them. the use of the babydoll did two things, avoided spanking, which was considered too coarse for a little girl and made the point about keeping your skirt or dress down because you had to pay attention and make the effort to keep your panties from showing, and just how proud could you be in a short little nothing which miglt let your panties show if you were not careful. There was another thing. The older you got, the longer dresses you would be let to wear. As punishment you could be put back in shorter dresses. The babydoll being "baby length". This was worse than being put in something that let your rubber panties show all the time, which did not exist anyway, since, as hard as it was to keep your panties from showing, you could still do so. Therefore, if they did, it was your own fault

When my 15 year cousin lived with us for a while in late 1961, she wore one of these at night around the house and it looked just like the little girl ones and she said it was a babydoll, I was quite astonished, and a bit creeped out, to see any girl wearing one of her own accord  since it was part of "being made a baby doll"

I saw my first babydoll dress in about 1966 and as I said the only thing it had in common was the very high waist; way higher than "Empire" and it was for little girls around 5-8

[vvp39]

Heh..."None dare call it BABYDOLL"....

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

On 10/14/2019 at 11:35 AM, vvp39 said:

Heh..."None dare call it BABYDOLL"....

Satified?!?

[vvp39]

I got nuthin....

 

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

On 10/13/2019 at 5:54 PM, BabyLock said:

I guess I am guilty of the misconception of the Babydoll Dress having a hem line just at or above the bottom of the diaper panty showing off its matching design.

Definitely a flirty airy design with a full "A" line hem - not covering much and with a substantial bra cup even more exposure.

Thanks for the history of the Babydoll Dress - but I like living in my fantasy view ! Oola la !!!

This seems to be part of Sissy culture. The "oo-la-la" shows a subliminal masculine influence of a sexual nature. That kind of thing just did not exist and I did not see them before about 1969, in the form of this too-short 'dress" and a matching full-cut panty about a quarter or third of which was plainly visible under any circumstance, when the Sexual Revolution started. Unfortunately, they were all too common by 1975. Bear in mind we are talking about CHILDREN. Any parent who put a 4-11 year old girl in anything like that would get a severe talking-to about turning her daughter into a whore, we did not need to hear "typical Frenchie",. and maybe even arrested for indecent exposure (of a child). One would at least be the subject of gossip, the recipient of snotty  remarks, and the loss of reputation in the community and be ostracized. It was part of the sexualization of children and led to where we are today

[BabyJune]

You talk about short dresses? Watch old episodes of "The Brady Bunch."

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

15 hours ago, BabyJune said:

You talk about short dresses? Watch old episodes of "The Brady Bunch."

Well, what was their time period? I do not know what you consider a short dress. For many persons, it is anything above the knee. If it did not have a gather in the normal area of a waist, it probably was some variant of a babydoll dress, which would have been around for about 6 years. I have never seen one of those less than  7/8 to the knee. The minimum decent lenght with a full-cut panty is halfway to the knee. If you look at my babdolls you see that is their length. About the length of the arm at your side with the fingers outstretched

I did not know there were new episodes, unless you mean the New England football fans. I thought all episodes were old ones ? ThHE BRADY BUNCH was so kitschy that one wonders how it is played so much on so many stations. The only thing I can think of is that it is viewed as campy, like BATMAN. Because the 1970's produced FAR better programs like KOJAK, BLACK SHEEP SQUADRON and THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW and these either cannot hold their time slot or get sent to the late night boondocks

[Little Baby Becca]

I thought I would revive this discussion with a picture from the early 70's and a little earlier. Just some dresses I dreamed of wearing back in the day. Oh, whose kidding, if I could find them in my size i would wear them today....

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

two of the defining characteristics of the babydoll are the high wast; anywhere from just under the ammpit to just below the breast, or for a little girl, just below the nipple and being halfway to the knee. The "babydoll dress" first appeared in the mid 1960's and got its name from the "waist" being just under the arms. It could go right to the knee however

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk02wNwqTU2dPSYnVYYkabN5ihGzTmQ%3A1582690471096&source=hp&ei=p_BVXpf2AoKHytMP-tCGiAg&q=history+of+the+babydoll+dress&oq=history+of+the+babydoll&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0i22i30l2.812.13462..17185...1.0..0.276.2828.0j22j1....2..0....1..gws-wiz.......0j0i131j0i20i263j0i395j0i131i395j0i13j0i13i30.o47BGzcH7J8

 

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

10 hours ago, Little Baby Becca said:

I thought I would revive this discussion with a picture from the early 70's and a little earlier. Just some dresses I dreamed of wearing back in the day. Oh, whose kidding, if I could find them in my size i would wear them today....

What a waste! when you are under 4, you have no real idea of what it means to be a girl. We appreciate them better than they do

Look for them on ebay. Go to the search engine and input "ab sissy dress". be sure to be wearing a good diaper and rubber panties and a bib; something wet will be coming out of both parts of you

[rusty pins]

Those would show off your under pinnings!

[Little Baby Becca]

2 hours ago, rusty pins said:

Those would show off your under pinnings!

Isn't that the idea? LOL?

[Rachael-Little]

On 2/25/2020 at 8:13 PM, Little Baby Becca said:

I thought I would revive this discussion with a picture from the early 70's and a little earlier. Just some dresses I dreamed of wearing back in the day. Oh, whose kidding, if I could find them in my size i would wear them today....

Oh yes love those and yes my dream baby dresses for sure