Around 1988, Pleasant Company created a line of outfits which were Girl-Sized
replicas of several of Samantha, Molly and Kirsten's outfits. These were high
quality, historically-accurate dresses and outfits which allowed girls to not
only dress like their favorite dolls, but also to step
back in time and experience how it felt to dress like girls from pioneer
times, or the turn of the century, or during World War II.
Also available to complete these delightful outfits, were historically
accurate shoes, hats, undergarments and jewelry.
In 1991, new outfits from America's colonial period were introduced which
allowed girls to dress like the newest American Girl, Felicity.
When Addy was introduced in 1993, and in 1997 when Josefina arrived, brand new Girl-Sized outfits were created to teleport girls to the Civil War era and to Spanish California of 1824.
For a very short period of time around 1990, eight sets of dress patterns were
produced with which adults could sew some of the historical life-sized dresses
and outfits themselves.
In the late 1990's, the line of Girl-Sized Historical outfits were reduced to a few dresses for
each girl. The first three American Girls, Samantha, Kirsten and Molly each had seven life-sized
outfits, but Addy only had five, and Josefina had only four.
When Kit was introduced in 2000, only three "Dress Like Kit" outfits were offered
for sale. Kaya, introduced in 2002, never had any life-sized outfits.
In the Fall of 2004, Samantha's winter coat and Nellie's Oriental Pajamas for girls were introduced.
Also, at that same time, Felicity's nightgown for girls was brought back, but as of August 2005, the Felicity Night Shift for girls no longer came with the Cap.
Today, the only "Dress Like Your Doll" outfits available are all of the nightgowns which match each doll nightgown. These outfits which are still available are shown in bold below.
Listed below are the fifty or so special girl-sized outfits that have been, and
in a few cases still are, available from Pleasant Company. Below the dresses
section are shown the thirty or so accessories that were produced and the eight dress pattern packages. Pictures and names are given for each. Most of the images below are links to much larger pictures.
The Ebay logo below links to an Ebay search for American Girl historical Girl Outfits. These sometimes come up for auction, but because they were offered for a limited time and because they were expensive and came in several sizes, it may be difficult to obtain the dress you are looking for in the right size unless you are willing to pay a premium.
