Claudie Wells Doll and Book

Name: Claudie Wells Doll and Book

Made by and When: Pleasant Company, 2022

Material: Vinyl head, arms, and legs; stuffed cloth body

Marks: ©American Girl

Height: 18 inches

Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Long, spiral curled black wig with the top portion pulled up and held in place with a wide green ribbon bow, brown sleep eyes with bristle eyelashes attached to the eyelids and painted lower eyelashes, smiling mouth with parted lips that expose two upper teeth

Claudie’s meet ensemble photo is courtesy of Patricia Logan.

Clothes/Accessories: A yarn-dyed, woven blue, green, and white plaid dress with a Peter Pan collar, a green knit cardigan sweater, a pair of black Mary Jane shoes, a pair of white knee-high socks, and white cotton underwear complete Claudie’s 1920s fashion ensemble. A Meet Claudie paperback book by Brit Bennett is included with Claudie. Other clothing and accessories are sold separately and created by American Girl. Additionally, three updated Harlem Renaissance-inspired fashions by Harlem’s Fashion Row designer Samantha Black include a Glitzy Sequined Gown and Caplet, a Jazzy Flapper and Fur Coat Outfit, and a Sparkly Skirt and Fur-Trim Top.

Other: Claudie Wells joins the American Girl collection of historical characters as a 9-year-old girl growing up in a 1920s Harlem, New York neighborhood surrounded by writers and poets, painters and sculptors, actors and dancers, singers and musicians. She dreams of becoming an artist, too.

Gallery (Photographs courtesy of Patricia Logan a.k.a. @pampered2kids on Instagram)

African American Author and Fashion Designer Involvement

After tweeting her love for American Girl and her dream to write books for the franchise, Brit Bennett, the author of Meet Claudie, realized her dream. Read more about the author here.

Read more about Claudie’s Harlem Fashion Row Designer Samantha Black (Sammy B) here.

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Published by DeeBeeGee

Doll collector, historian, co-founder of the first e-zine devoted to collecting black dolls; author of black-doll reference books, doll blogs, and doll magazine articles.

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