Fashion doll, 'Daisy', wearing a 'Whizz Kid' outfit, Mary Quant for Model Toys Ltd., 1972

Fashion doll with articulated limbs and neck, made from pink PVC with blonde nylon hair. The eyes and facial features are printed. The doll wears a two piece polyester suit, with broad vertical stripes in blue, red and white. There is a press stud fastening at the front. On its feet are red PVC high-heeled shoes, and there is a matching red handbag.

Purchased in 2018 [2018/513]

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.6-2018