This pretty powderpuff lass is clad only in her ruffled collar and her fluffy marabou feather skirt. She comes in what appears to be the bottom of her original powderbox, as the ribbons around her waist perfectly match the colors of the box.
She appears to have been captured mid-laugh. Perhaps those swansdown feathers tickle? This half-doll is unusual for the porcelain pom-pom adorning her gold cap and her tinted nipples, the latter an anatomical detail generally absent in the great majority of half dolls and bathing beauties. Her puff is pristine, suggesting that it was never used.
A close up shows the pom-pom, which appears to have been made of string dipped in porcelain; when the piece was fired, the threads would burn away, leaving only the porcelain shell. Her facial painting is also unusual, with amber eyes shaded gray underneath.
Fluffy Ruffles was in fact the name of an eponymous young comic-strip heroine. Published in 1907 in the "New York Herald," the strip followed attempts by Fluffy Ruffles to obtain gainful employment. Ms. Ruffles was a wealthy young woman of considerable charm and beauty who had lost her inheritance. Left with little more than her wardrobe of fashionable frocks, Ms. Ruffles braves the world of the "working girl" with perseverance and pluck, entering a variety of careers open to young women at the time, such as window dresser, teacher, newspaper columnist, or waitress. Unfortunately, her employment was often impeded by men's unwanted romantic overturns, generally resulting in the loss of her job. Ms. Ruffles became a symbol of the modern independent and resilient young woman; her popularity resulted in a wide variety of merchandise, from paper dolls and candy to frocks and hats, carrying the Fluffy Ruffles name, and even engendered a Broadway musical. By 1908, Ms. Ruffles had been restored to her fortune, using her new wealth to travel the world to do good and help the unfortunate, with the same ingenuity and resolution she had shown in her job hunts. The comic ran until 1909.
