Trade poster for 'Daisy' dolls, Mary Quant/Joan Corlass/Model Toys Ltd., UK, ca. 1974

Trade poster for 'Daisy' dolls, paper printed in colours. The poster shows several lines of illustrated women, all with blonde hair and red lips, modelling various outfits available for 'Daisy'. The name of each outfit is printed below the figure. At one end of each line is a printed photograph of a product: a doll or a packaged outfit.

Given by Sir Torquil Norman

This poster was given to the Museum in 2017 by Sir Torquil Norman. Sir Torquil was Chief Executive of Berwick-Timpo, the parent company of Model Toys, from 1973-80.

Fashion designer and entrepreneur Mary Quant was born in Blackheath in 1934, to Welsh parents. She opened her first shop, Bazaar, in 1955. In the 1960s Quant became a British fashion icon, emblematic of the decade’s youth culture, through her innovative, fun and highly distinctive clothing.

In 1973, Model Toys Ltd began manufacturing Daisy, Quant’s fashion doll, named after her famous flower logo. At that time, Model Toys was a subsidiary of Berwick-Timpo, of whom Sir Torquil Norman (later of Bluebird Toys) was chief executive. Norman was godfather to Quant’s son, Orlando, and used this connection to ask Quant to design Daisy’s clothes. Daisy was marketed as ‘the best dressed doll in the world’, and Norman used the Harrogate toy fair to promote the doll clothing real-life models in full-sized versions of the miniature clothing. Daisy was produced until 1983.

B.144-2017