Nellie's Irish Dance Outfit of Today

So here I am to continue my series on the Irish American experience and just in time for St. Patrick's Day.

To celebrate it, I've brought in my favorite Irish girl Nellie. She's wearing the Irish Dance Outfit of Today.

A few of the dolls received outfits "of today." In other words, they looked at the culture of the doll in question and then looked to see how that culture was celebrated today. They are basically all dance or celebration outfits. Addy received a hideous African Dance Outfit of Today. Nellie received this. Kaya has received several modern Pow Wow dance outfits because that is how she gets new outfit sets.

Marie-Grace's Skirt Set and Cécile's Parlor Outfit

Back to the NOLA girls (New Orleans, Louisiana for those who don't know what that means). But this time, we're finally meeting Marie-Grace!

Just to be clear, I think Marie-Grace and Cécile were the biggest flops ever released by American Girl (in the historical collection at least-they have some competition in the GOTY line). This wasn't an inherent flaw of either doll or character. Rather it was because American Girl refused to really commit to releasing a second African American doll. Instead they paired her with a white cohort. Instead of having Marie-Grace be a secondary Best Friend like Nellie or Ivy, Marie-Grace and Cécile shared the collection equally. The six book series was basically cut in two, with each doll receiving half the series.