Those Flapper Doggie Mascots

These 1920s toy doggies are so intriguing! Clara Bow has one in It (1927), below; Louise Brooks posed with one, c. 1927 (top), and Colleen Moore carries one as a purse in Her Wild Oat (also 1927 – barely visible in her arms, lower). We’ve also seen obviously well-loved vintage “doggie” purses show up for sale now and then. What was up with these? we wondered.



Writer Basil Wonn, in an “exclusive dispatch” direct from Paris, reported on August 7, 1927: “The slogan ‘A Dog for Every Woman’ has captured Paris society.” Noting that not every woman had room for a dog, or a place to walk one, “It was left to a bright Paris dressmaker, as usual, to solve the problem. At his last showing a few days ago, he excited sobs of admiration from the assembled ladies by presenting a line of dogs for every size, variety, color, coat, and age. They were stuffed.”

By fall, the “doggie mascot” idea had caught on – and how. “Mascots,” ran a typical report on October 19, 1927, “which have made such a hit as automobile ornaments, are spreading to nearly all fields or ornament in England. They are made as jewelry, as ‘doggie’ handbags, as tops for umbrella handles…” One wag of the period suggested that if anyone were to dare to suggest a mascot for flappers, it should be the “Peekin’ knees.”

While Colleen, Clara and Louise’s pooches appear more carnival prize than pedigreed Paris pups, dogs seems to have been everywhere in 1927.