Naija Princess Dolls

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Name: Naija Princess Dolls

Made by and When: Fico Toys, c. 2014

Material: Soft vinyl faces; rigid plastic bodies and arms, firm vinyl legs, twist and turn waists, and click-bend knees

Height: 11-1/2 inches

Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Rooted brown microbraided hair styled in high ponytails, light-brown painted eyes, closed mouths with red lip color for Chinyere and Temilola. Aisha has pale pink lip color.

Chinyere, Temilola, and Aisha are Naija Princess dolls.

Clothes: Chinyere wears a traditional red and gold African print dress and red plastic hoop earrings; has an extra red halter top, a red and white gingham skirt, a matching headwrap, and separately packaged red high heels. Temilola wears a purple African print dress with gold plastic hoop earrings and has a pair of black high heels attached to the box liner. Aisha wears a traditional orange and yellow African print dress, and yellow earrings, and has a separately packaged pair of yellow pumps.  Also separately packaged is Aisha’s yellow and white gingham wrap skirt with a matching head wrap, and a white star-print blouse as worn by the doll illustrated on the back and side panel of the box (see gallery photos).

Other: Part of a line of 11-1/2 inch dolls created by Taofick Okoya, Naija (Nigerian) Princess dolls were “created to fill the void of black dolls in the local market and in Africa.  The dolls come with Nigerian names from the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria.  Our culture and tradition are from our [decendants] of Kings and Queens.  Every little girl dreams of [be] a princess and Naija Princess is here to make each and every little girl’s dream a reality” (Text from the back of the box). The referenced tribes are Hausa, Ibo, and Yoruba. Aisha is a Hausa princess, Chinyere is an Ibo princess, and Temilola represents a Yoruba princess.

Gallery

Chinyere, Temilola, and Aisha are Naija Princess dolls (Naija means Nigerian).
They have braided ponytails.
Dressed in traditional African dresses, the dolls use the same head sculpt.
Temilola (on the left) did not come with an extra fashion.
The back box panel illustrates the three dolls wearing extra fashions.
A description of the dolls and information about Nigeria are included in the back of the box text.
Aisha and Chinyere model extra fashions on the side panel of the box.
Temilola in an extra fashion is illustrated on the opposite side panel. An extra fashion was not included for the Temilola in this installation.

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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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