Outside of the comment sections of video game websites, the worst things on the internet have happened to me Star Doll (or on other dress-up game websites such as GirlsGoGames.com and DressUpGames.com), established in 2004.
Star Doll still exists as a shell of its former self as far as I can tell. The front page is mostly filled with paper dolls that were uploaded around 2011, around the time I was most passionate about using them. At that time, it was an online community focused on celebrity dress up games. Actually the BarbieGirls website worked with Star Doll and suggested users to join it once it’s shut down.
The amount of paper dolls uploaded was impressive even for me, a kid who doesn’t understand why and how computers are turned on. You could style any of them transience frontwoman amy lee to Conservationist Dian Fossey, and alongside the dress-up games, there were makeup games, malls populated by real-life, pioneering 2000 fashion brands like Vivienne Tam, Italian luxury brand Miss Sixty, and DKNY. There were also limited edition “tribute” shops to established and then emerging fashion greats such as Giambattista Valli, Roberto Cavalli and Lanvin, all of which influenced my love, knowledge and criticism of fashion today.
But how BarbieGirls, Star Doll clearly perpetuated a very specific notion of femininity and what a great woman worthy of a paper doll was. Thin, white, very interested in shopping. And its community, which I engaged with mostly through interest-based forums you could join, was filled with drama and, on my side at least, lies. I once told people I have a friend who looks exactly like him Stefan off the Vampire Diaries unless he was in a wheelchair. I also wrote dusk Fan fiction inspired by the 2008 film Anna Faris The pet rabbit. It sucked and I did shitty things. being 13 is tough.
