"How did they manage to do it?" The editorial department of *Cassell Magazine* was engulfed in a heavy sense of defeat. While being overtaken by their once-behind competitors was already terrifying, watching them open up a new revenue stream was even more agonizing.
"No wonder..." The editor-in-chief frowned, "No wonder the conflict in *Helen* exploded so quickly and the character development was done so fast. I was wondering how they packed so much information into just a few thousand words. It turns out they weren't counting on the novel itself to make money—they're making their profit from the character. But how did they come up with this idea? Am I too old-fashioned now?"
A new editor raised his hand, "Although I'm young, I just don't have that kind of mind."
The editor-in-chief shot him a look. "Since they can do it, why can't we learn from them?"
"Learning this... I'm afraid we can't," another editor, who had been silent up until now, finally spoke up to analyze the situation. "First, they used Helen's story to successfully evoke readers' sympathy for her, tying the readers' emotions to the character. Then, without giving readers time to forget her, they immediately launched a toy designed specifically for dressing Helen, directly targeting female readers. Frankly, even if we launched a similar product, I don't think many male readers would buy it."
The editor-in-chief nodded silently. Indeed, he himself would never buy something like that. What's the fun in dressing up dolls? He was already tired of changing his outfits three times a day.
"Finally, they enlisted a famous artist from Lunden to design the *back* of the card...," the editor shrugged, "This added artistic value to the card, turning it into something collectible. The most brilliant part was when they included a catalog of the cards inside the booklet. I have to admit, that move was genius. Without that catalog, people might not have cared about completing the set. The catalog gave readers a goal to collect every single one, like a challenge. I don't think they'll be satisfied unless they collect them all."
"And all of this is based on the fact that people are interested in Helen and empathetic toward her story," he concluded. "So, in the end, *Helen* might not be very literary, and its drama may have some logical shortcomings, but the authors anticipated this. As for us, we neither have female readers who like dress-up games, nor can we hire famous artists. Our readers probably wouldn't care much about collecting cards."
"We can't learn from them. It's impossible," the new editor shook his head and threw in the towel. "Instead of studying their methods, we should hurry up and push our authors to write faster. That's our main job."
That remark reminded the editor-in-chief, who turned to ask, "How is Wells doing?"
Wells was one of their veteran authors, whose novels were always captivating. When his works were serialized, *Cassell Magazine's* sales would stabilize at around 60,000 copies. His last novel had been finished for six months, and his new novel was still in the conceptual stage—though no one knew if he was truly working on it.
Previously, he had been busy with the publishing process—this wasn't an easy task. Many authors would first serialize their works in magazines, and once the serialization was complete, the entire novel would be republished in one volume, to be sold in stages based on its popularity, maximizing profits. But now, after six months, he should have wrapped up his work by now.
"He's quite interested in the topic," the editor responsible for Wells answered, pausing. "But with his speed, it's going to take a few more months."
"A few months?!" The editor-in-chief's anger flared. "Couldn't he take advantage of the good weather and get some work done quickly?" He waved his hand in frustration. "I understand Wells, but what about other authors? Any updates?"
As *Cassell Magazine* struggled with the pressure caused by *Helen*'s success, customers who had purchased the paper dolls were still experimenting with how to use them.
Compared to the popularity of the cards, the paper dolls were definitely slower to catch on, mainly because they required a more complex process—carefully cutting out the doll and her clothes from the edges of the paper.
Each booklet featured a doll with twelve sets of clothes, hats, headwear, shoes, and accessories. While these were seemingly designed to go together, they could also be mixed and matched with other parts.
"Hmm, this pale yellow hat seems to go well with this white dress," Nancy said, expressing her creativity. "Maybe I can add a pale yellow handbag too, to match the hat?"
Though she had enough money to commission a dozen different sets of custom-made clothes, she still found the act of picking out outfits for her paper dolls more enjoyable.
Don't underestimate the word "choice," because fashion is all about choosing clothes to express oneself. Only when there is a variety of clothing to choose from can this form of self-expression take place.
In Nancy's own life, expressing herself through fashion had become more difficult. She was sure that her plain face couldn't pull off such elaborate dresses.
Beautiful clothes would highlight beautiful people, but a plain person in an intricate dress would only stand out for the wrong reasons. Whenever she wore something elegant, she had to apply makeup to complement the outfit.
And once makeup was involved, changing outfits became a complicated process. She had to make sure she didn't ruin her makeup while changing, and also avoid getting foundation on the clothes, which made it even harder to clean the stains. Like most men, she had grown weary of changing outfits three times a day.
In contrast, a paper doll had no such concerns. No matter what dress, bag, or hat she wore, she could pull it off perfectly, just like a professional model who showcased the outfit to its fullest potential.
No matter when Nancy looked at it, she was deeply impressed by the person who designed the paper dolls. With the same color printing technology, some people printed in magazines, some on cards, and others on paper to create dolls, which could then be cut out and dressed up in various clothes.
Why hadn't she thought of such a clever idea?
"Mother," her daughter, who had been reading nearby, leaned over curiously. "What's this?"
Nancy felt a moment of embarrassment. At her age, she was still enjoying such toys—it didn't quite seem appropriate for a mother.
"It's a doll that you can dress up," she explained briefly, "Do you want to try it?"
"Can I?" Her daughter was eager to try. Nancy realized that, due to the upper-class emphasis on "rational leisure," they hadn't played with such toys in a long time.
"Of course you can," Nancy responded, "Playing with paper dolls can help develop your sense of aesthetics. That counts as 'rational leisure,' doesn't it?"
Besides, when Elena designed and guided others to draw paper doll clothes, she used some clever touches, like a pale yellow floral dress, adorned with little red flowers, giving it a fresh, natural feel.
At this time, most clothes were simple, solid-colored dresses, with the second color usually used for trims or ribbons. Under the influence of the queen, popular colors were mostly dark shades like black, deep brown, and wine red, as well as striped and herringbone patterns, which looked dignified and noble.
Nancy quite liked these small floral patterns, though her friends believed they were only suitable for wearing on countryside holidays.
"Maybe I should make a dress like this," she thought. "I wonder if there's any fabric like this."
Ready-made clothing didn't become widely available until the late nineteenth century. Before that, unless you were buying custom-made garments, people mostly bought fabric and either sewed it themselves or hired a tailor.
The Industrial Revolution allowed Lunden's cotton spinning, weaving, and printing industries to mass-produce fabric, lowering the cost of tailoring, so the middle class could afford the clothes they wanted and even choose the designs they liked. Before that, clothes were expensive, and the nobility would sometimes show charity by giving their old clothes to servants, who could sell them for a small profit.
In the Mayfair district, there was a street called Saville Street, known as the "Golden Street of Tailors," which was home to many skilled tailors. These shops not only made clothes but also functioned as fabric stores.
Charlotte's small shop was located on this street. Though she wasn't well-known and her prices were low, she managed to get small business from clients by finding illustrators to create beautiful color samples of the latest fabrics. She also subscribed to women's magazines, as her clients often brought in magazine illustrations when they came to her for custom clothing.
After all, in those days, there weren't many channels for people to access fashion, and magazines were one of the few ways.