For toy collectors, quality is everything. Look at any archive of action figures or Funko Pops and you’ll see pristine specimens, frozen in time forever. But for actress Emma Roberts (American Horror Story, Madame Web, We’re the Millers), her bookshelf of dolls — or “doll wall,” as she calls it — isn’t just for looking at. She’s not afraid to take them out of the box.
“I know that it's polarizing, but I feel like with dolls, I want to enjoy them,” she tells Inverse. “I can't explain it, I wanted to hang out with them. I want to also put them up on the shelf in a more organic way than just in the box.”
But not every doll is taken out of its box, some are too sentimental.
“When I was filming Space Cadet, the movie I have coming out July 4 where I play a girl who accidentally kind of fibs her resume into NASA, I got an astronaut Barbie doll and she's still in the box and she's on the top shelf,” she says. “ I like to look at her and give her a little wink sometimes.”
Ahead of that new movie, Roberts spoke to Inverse about her doll collection, from the gifts she’s been given to her plea for a good restorer.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
How did you get into doll collecting?
I was always a doll person, ever since I was a kid. It was all Barbies, Barbies, Barbies, Barbies. I am so sad that, because I moved so much as a kid, we got rid of all my Barbies. I would give anything to have all of my Barbies from when I was a kid.
I love Barbie so much that I have the Mattel symbol tattooed on my foot, which not many people know. I got that before the Barbie fever took over, even.
As I got older, I fell in love with Blythe dolls, the ones with the really big eyes. Those were my favorites. To this day, those are my original favorite dolls. I have probably 14 of those now. To me collecting them is not about the quantity, it's more about the hunt, the feel, the vibes. For me, it's not about just getting as many as you can. It's about getting certain ones.
Why collect dolls in particular? What is it about them that feels sentimental to you?
They bring nostalgia. I can't explain it. I look at them and they bring me joy. I love vintage. I love anything kind of older. My latest doll obsession has been these dolls called Dollikins. I said Dollikins before and people thought I was saying it was a nickname for my dolls, but it's actually a kind of doll called a Dollikin.
And those have become my obsession and they all kind of look similar. There's a redhead and a brunette, they all have bangs and they wear these jumpsuits. And those are the ones I've become obsessed with collecting a lot of them because I like how they look all together on a shelf. So I probably have eight or nine of those.
What’s the rarest doll you have?
There's this artist named Mab Graves, and I found her a long time ago on Etsy and she's blown up since. And she does these really amazing handmade, one-off dolls, and I've been collecting from her for a while and she only does a few a year, so I would say those are very coveted.
How do you feel about custom dolls?
I love custom dolls. I think custom dolls are so much fun. I've never gotten a super specific custom doll, but my friends have gotten me ones for my birthday, which I always love. Someone once got me a hand-knitted doll replica of Chanel from Scream Queens, so that was a really fun gift.
If somebody wanted to get into doll collecting, what would you recommend?
Like with any collecting it's personal, and with dolls especially, you just have to see what speaks to you. Go on Etsy and type in dolls and see what speaks to you. For example, there's this antique store in New Jersey, and the guy in there who sells dolls, he's obsessed with only French glass figurine dolls. And I was telling him about Blythe dolls and he was not interested. People are very specific about what kind of dolls they're into and you just have to find the doll that's right for you.
Is there anything else you want to say about this passion of yours that I didn't ask you?
A general question to put out there is some of my dolls really need a doll salon. They need their hair done, they need some repairs, and I don't know where to do it. So if anyone reading this knows of a good doll repair salon, I would be very grateful.
