Superstar Clones & Clothing

The classic Mod Ken clone doll continued to be sold by various companies as shown below, packaged as Harry in Germany, and Gary in the US (see also section Now Look Clones & Clothing). Montgomery Ward sold Gary, but the catalogues do not mention him by name.

Note that Harry is wearing the yellow track suit from the 1979 Montgomery Ward Christmas catalogue. Presumably Wentoys is the same company as Wenco, who sold many clone Papa and Udo outfits in Germany during the 1970s.

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MIKE (LA REDOUTE FRANCE)

Mike was sold in France through the mail order catalogue La Redoute between 1977 and 1987 (at least). He was the boyfriend of their doll Tina. Despite a decade of production, I’ve yet to find a single Mike doll for sale in France, or even an online mention of him (in fact if you google Mike + Tina it’s mostly the couple from the TV series Glee which appear). If anyone has more info or photos of Mike – especially NRFP – please contact me: contact@somethingabouttheboy.com.

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SHAUN BY MATTEL

Shaun (boyfriend of Starr) was a one-off doll by Mattel. He’s a kind of cross between mid-70s Shaun Cassidy and the Grease-inspired 50’s revival, with a bit of Mork from Ork thrown in. He was released with a small clothing range. He is constructed quite differently from Ken, more articulated and much skinnier, so his clothes are not really designed to fit Ken.

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CHUCK BY TOTSY

Chuck began life in the 1970s, and can also be seen in the Mod Clones section.

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FASHION LABEL JEANS DOLLS

Jeans worn as fashion items (rather than workwear) had been around for a while, but by the late 1970s even designer labels were producing their own brand jeans. The early 1980s saw the appearance of Fashion Jeans Ken (see the 1982 boys section) and a few own brand dolls. The Jordache doll is by Mego and dated 1981. The Sergio Valente doll by Toy-Time Inc. was also available with dark skin – they were first produced in Hong Kong and later in China. The dolls are dated 1981 and the packaging 1982. Both the Jordache and the Valente dolls had extra outfits, as shown on the packaging reverse. The Sergio Valente packaging shows an outfit similar to Ken’s outfit Western Fringe!. The Big Bro set below left is a rare and interesting cheaper clone jeans outfit.

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The classic Mod Ken clone was still being sold in many guises in the US and Europe. As a blonde he clearly resembles The Sun Set Malibu Ken. Note that the James and Jeffrey dolls were sold by Toy Time Inc., the same company which produced the Sergio Valente doll above.

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ROBERT & JOHNNY BY OCEAN DESERT SALES

The Robert doll is another obvious Mod Ken clone, but Johnny is one of the rare black boy dolls to be given a unique look. The packages are not dated, but I guess they are from the early 1980s from the design. I’ve seen both of these dolls with variation clothing.

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DELON FASHION DOLL

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By 1981 even Sears began offering clone clothing sets instead of selling genuine Mattel outfits (by this time the quality of Mattel clothing had become the same as, or worse than, that sold by most clone companies). The outfit sets from the Sears Christmas Wish Books were packaged as Dollys Fashion by Totsy. Totsy also sold some single outfits packaged as Flair For Him.

In 1982 Sears introduced their own boy doll called Craig, who was also sold by Shillman as Our Boy/Sport Club throughout the 1980s. Both are marked M & S Shillman Inc. on their backs.

JCPenney sold a clone version of the Shillman/Sears Craig doll called Rod. I’ve yet to find him in the catalogues, so presumably he was sold in the stores. His packaging is marked ‘Made in Hong Kong’ which suggests he was produced in, or before, 1982 (which seems to be the year companies switched to producing in mainland China).

The Wrangler doll is not a pure fashion doll as such – his extra clothing sets were more practical and cowboy themed, presumably to give him cross-over appeal.