Name: Prodigyrls Nicole and Janelle
Made by and When: Prodigyrls, 2009
Material: Vinyl heads, necks, arms, and legs; the torso is cloth dyed to match the vinyl skin color.
Marks: Unmarked
Height: 18 inches (slim-bodied)
Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Both dolls have rooted hair. Nicole’s black hair is styled in two side pigtails with spiral curls and polka dot fabric ribbons. Janelle’s auburn hair is spiral-curled and hangs loose under her polka dot chef’s hat. The brown stationary eyes have applied upper eyelashes and painted lower eyelashes. The mouths are closed with a prominent tubercule (upper lip center).
Clothes: Nicole wears pink scrubs trimmed in purple, a yellow undershirt, a white doctor’s coat, white socks, and purple shoes. Janelle wears a chef’s jacket, a white polka dot chef’s chef hat, a pink shirt, and multicolored pants with white socks and pink shoes.
Other: Prodigyrls were designed by Dr. Daniela Wiggins’ whose idea for the dolls arose from frustration about the lack of black dolls on the market. Her idea included a series of children’s books about health and nutrition based on the millions of questions her children asked her about medicine. Nicole’s backstory includes an aspiration to become a doctor because of her experience with childhood allergies. Janelle wants to cook nutritious meals to serve in her restaurant, inspired by her grandmother’s diagnosis of diabetes. Sketches of other proposed Prodigyrls did not materialize into dolls, and Nicole and Janelle are no longer on the market. The Prodigyrls book, Where Dreams Are Born, by D. L. Wiggins is available on Amazon.
Gallery
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