There was a popular trend in all the arts by the mid-fifties found on television and radio and in Hollywood movies (which in the ‘50s still had a worldwide influence) and books (I would hesitate to say trashy novels). This new trend was blatantly seen in popular and commercial art such as advertising in magazines, billboards, movie posters, and even fine art (which was strongly influenced by the forays of commercial art and would soon develop into “pop” art). All made reference to this strong new influence. It was the zeitgeist of the fast, slick, and hard woman. She was sleek as a panther and fire-y as a volcano. She was an ideal and an image for a very certain part of American and European culture who, in spite of protests of outrage by the Parents’ and Teachers’ Association (the famous suburban P.T.A.), Vogue magazine’s sober and refined dictums, Parochial Sunday schools, and even the Vatican, persisted in becoming more and more popular among the fast growing new echelon of society, another new image in itself... teenagers.

The distinguishing marks between the child, more popularly called "kid," and the new creation, the teenager, lie essentially in the clothing which clearly sets the teenager apart from the parents as well. Teens also developed attitudes to distinguish themselves from the others but perhaps with a little less success. Concerning this new race of “child cum adult” within the female’s new symbol of hardness, there were several categories of attitude. These attitudes corresponded to, in fact, a number of different levels of vestimentary elegance which at its most tawdry stage was a leather jacketed hoodlum-look which was the least appreciated by the majority of adults and was not seen commonly in fashions for post-teenage women at that time.

Another level was one where girls aspired to such a look but just could not dare it. Capri pants turned into peddlepushers, tight sweaters into tunics, and quintessentially it all turned into the Barbie doll, which represented a social trend which soon turned into the chunkier, "cleaner" Tammy doll by Ideal. Tammy was an example of another social trend which balanced this new aggressive look for some doll-playing girls within society. She and such dolls (like Randy, the Babs doll’s sister for example) warrant a story unto themselves in a later chapter.

Soon after, the teenage look branched into another direction, more glamorous and Hollywoodian, where teenage girls dreamed of wearing tight dresses, backless gowns, short skirts, and even shorter shortpants with calypso blouses. Perhaps inspired by Paris and New York fashion, there existed very sexy versions of what well-dressed mondaine women were wearing at the time. Frederick’s of Hollywood, the famous undergarment maker of the 40s (based in Los Angeles) had a big influence on this type of fashion, and by mail order, brought fantasy to every women daring enough to pad their bodies and wear gold lamé capri pants, “push-up” bras, and “cha cha” heels. Teenage girls, more often than not, in reality wore safer, tamer, and more conventional garments which were inspired by the more sober clothes coming out of the fashion captials, which at the time were Paris, Rome (La Dolce Vita par excellence!), and eventually New York. Some teenage girls did actually wear such startlingly sexual clothes, however, and it was considered risqué but socially acceptable nonetheless.

“Hard” glamour was so commercial by the end of the ‘50s that children could not wait to be teenagers (who themselves fantasized about being adults!) to such a point that fake acetate chinchilla stoles, tight gowns, and the most popular item, high heels in lucite with glitter embedded in them, were made into over a million editions. They were called a “dress up shoe” by Consolidated Productions, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Florida for their 1958 collection of pretend glamour clothes for children. There were also plastic "Wighats" for little girls which, through injection molding, brought cocktail lounge hairdos into the nursery. More often than not, young girls dreamed of being an alluring movie star/goddess, and dolls reflected the sharper, sexier trends coming out of Paris as viewed by Hollywood by way of clever toymakers. Since clothing manufacturers also found this glamour fantasy commercially viable to turn into an adult reality, it makes perfect sense that dolls would follow along.

Frederick’s of Hollywood, as well as thousands of other manufacturers of “glamour” clothes, would be seen on racier “gals” and in faster lanes of womanhood of the era. If because of age or education and upbringing so-called “respectable” little girls could not actually slip into such clothes named for cocktail parties and other romantic events in a woman’s life - like cruises on yachts, international shopping sprees, and festive coming out parties - their dolls could. They had all the racy double-meanings with themes reminiscent of pin-up calendars and boyfriend hunting plots in comic books by Marvel Comics.