...In 1869, Harper's Bazar stated, "The chief French toy is a doll, not a representation of an infant...but a model of a lady attired in the height of fashion, a leading manufacturer changing the costume every month to insure accuracy."
Among the first French dolls, produced c. 1870, many were known as Fashion Dolls. There is some controversy as to whether these dolls were meant as toys, or to display the latest fashions.
Later French dolls came to represent children, but still dressed in the finest silks and lace.

The early 1900's brought a change to French dollmaking when dollmaking companies formed the Société Française de Fabrication de Bébés & Jouets (S.F.B.J.). They began to compete with the lucrative German doll industry by producing "character" dolls.