(Photo: Museum of the City of New York/Gift of Lord & Taylor)

The holiday-shopping frenzy has already begun (for the well organized, anyway), and all of the shiny new stuff is sure to make even the most patient parent yearn for the basic, charming toys of yore. But can you induce a video-gaming kid to appreciate stuff that’s free of batteries and blinking lights? Well, you can give it a try at the paper-doll-couture workshop at the Museum of the City of New York. The teaching artist leading the workshop will link the dolls to the museum’s current exhibition, “Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture, 1925–1940,” and to the birth of our very own Seventh Avenue fashion industry. Even if your kids haven’t seen Project Runway, they’re likely to know that their hometown produces some seriously excellent threads. They’ll tour the exhibition (briefly—just enough time to gawk at a Valentino and a real Parisian couture item or two), then get to work on their very own 2-D creations. “The kids are going to be making their own designs, using mostly paper collage materials. We’ll give them a template to start with and talk about designing in general,” says museum representative Paula Zadigian. “New York kids will certainly have a sense of what a designer is and what they do. Imagination is the limit with outfits. We’ll talk about innovation, design, and creating a name for yourself.” Post-workshop, hop on the subway to take the kids and their handcrafted dolls to the ribbon dealers and notions shops in the garment district—it’s the embodiment of city-as-school and will bring that plain old paper to life.

11/15, 2 p.m. 1220 Fifth Ave., nr. 103rd St. (212-534-1672, ext. 3395, or mcny.org); free with admission.

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• Articles by Alexandra Zissu
• Table of Contents: Nov 17, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!