In 1965 Sindy got a boyfriend called Paul. According to the Style Guide they met at a dance and Sindy was immediately attracted to his pleasant, shy personality. The leaflet says “She noticed what a well-dressed young man he is (and you know how important clothes are to her!)”. He was described as “Like Sindy, he likes a good time and his clothes are designed for a free-wheeling life.” Paul was given his own complete wardrobe of outfits ranging from casual to smart. Initially Paul's outfits were also Made in England, although his clothes also appear to have been made in the Irish Republic and the Far East. He also had his own woven labels bearing his name.
It has been noted that some Empire Made outfits have been discovered containing Sindy's accessories rather than those designed for Paul. Whether this was because Pedigree had not quite got all the accessories lined-up when they launched the products, or they made mistakes with the new packaging at the factory, or whether indeed they had a problem with stock-control later on, we cannot say. It is however a fascinating curiosity. To keep things simple we will document what should have come with the outfit and identify those where something different has been found.
The original Paul was boxed wearing slim-line blue jean hipster jeans with yellow printed stitching. The popper on his front opening jeans was a flat metal popper. He wore a red pull-over with a polo-neck made of a close cotton weave with a flat red popper at the back of the neck. There was also a green variation of this jersey fastened with a flat black popper. The very early jerseys do not appear to have labels. He wore white sneakers. His outfit was designed to compliment Sindy's 'Weekenders' outfit.
Paul's bed time gear was a pair of cotton blue and white striped pyjamas. The top fastened with 5 white painted metal poppers, and the front-fly on the bottoms by one. They appear to have been made from the same material as Sindy's 'Emergency Ward' from the same year. He had a matching three-quarter length dressing gown with a tie belt and three patch pockets. These items were described as being in an “exclusive no-collar style with an Oriental touch”. He carried a red toilet bag like Sindy's pastel blue one, and he was given a miniature electric philishave-style razor, white flannel, soap, comb, brush, blue toothbrush and toothpaste as accessories. He wore the same brown slip-on sandals as those in the 'Seaside' outfit but here they were described as “slippers”.
A NRFB (Never Removed From Box) Empire Made outfit has been discovered which contains Sindy's blue toilet bag and it contained a pink toothbrush. It is interesting to note that you can sometimes find subtle differences between the same boxed outfits in terms of packaging, product layout and contents for even the same year. The collector who spotted this also noted that their NFRB MHIK version didn't have soap, we have two MHIK NFRB versions which both have different packaging, the products are arranged differently and they do contain soap. It's never simple is it!
Much in keeping with the 60s, Paul was given a “Continental-type” slashed-neck jacket and matching shorts in red denim. He wore brown one strap sandals, and he carried a red beach towel (with a black fringe) and a camera. His waterskis were purple with white footings for his feet. He also had a pair of half frame sun glasses with green lenses. These sunglasses are hard to find and their design is in keeping with that ionic 1960s look (see photo above left).
We are showing the MHIK version of this outfit above and apparently there are subtle differences with the Empire Made version which has much lighter-coloured lilac skis and which uses slightly different fabric for the towel and the actual outfit itself. We don't quite appreciate what those differences are and we would be grateful for any further advice on this aspect.
An NFRB Empire Made version of this outfit has been found containing Sindy's 'Winter Holiday' sunglasses.
Described as an elegant mod-cut slim-line blue wool suit, the jacket was single-breasted with three black poppers on the MIE version (four on the later Empire Made and MIHK versions). The jacket had two flaps for fake hand pockets and a blue handkerchief in a breast pocket. The trousers were fastened at the front with a popper. The blue linen shirt had a tailored collar, straight sleeves and fastened at the back with a white popper. He had a blue string tie made of cord, and on his feet he wore royal blue socks and fashionable black Chelsea boots.
It is strange to think now that motorways were once deemed 'cool' enough to name an outfit after, but then Pedigree had no experience of the M25 or M6 or indeed any of the other delightful motorways of our era! Paul was given a mottled dark brown felt car coat with a tan fake-fur collar. It had two small hand pockets on the front and it fastened with three black painted metal poppers. Underneath the jacket he wore a black polo-necked pullover fastened at the back with a black painted metal popper. His dark brown check wool trousers matched Sindy's 'Country Walk' skirt and fastened at the front with a black painted metal popper. He wore red socks and brown Chelsea boots. A thermos flask with a white cup completed the look. The flask is normally blue but a few were packaged with a pink thermos. We have also read that some outfits came with black Chelsea boots but we cannot verify this.
As with Sindy's 'Country Walks' outfit (see 1963 Sindy) there was an MIE (Made in England) version and a later MIHK (Made In Hong Kong) version of 'Motorway Man'. The MIHK version has slight subtle differences including that it had rounded dome-shaped metal poppers rather than the flat ones and the car coat is a slightly lighter in colour. The main difference however was the fabric of the trousers which was changed to a lighter brown pattern. These trousers also matched Sindy's new MIHK skirt. Shown below are three later Pauls (including a miniature Paul), the one in the left of the photo is wearing the MIE version and the other two are wearing MIHK versions - the coat on the miniature Paul is, as you can see, a slightly different colour again.
We have also spotted a difference in Paul's Chelsea boots which we feel is worth documenting. The tan coloured boots shown in the photo on the right were found with an early Paul doll with his "Made in England" 'Motorway Man' outfit. This set came from a childhood collection and we think they are genuine. As you can see compared to Paul's later Chelsea boots, they are quite crude and they do not have the elasticated ankle moulding, but they fit Paul beautifully and they look great with the outfit matching the fur of his car coat. Has anyone else come across a pair of Paul's boots that look like this?
Described as Paul's casual dates outfit, he wore a collarless, brown suedette jacket with front pockets, fastened by four brass poppers. It was fully lined with a silky beige material. Underneath he wore a grey and white, check poplin shirt fastened by a white painted metal popper at the back and a slimline yellow tie made of cord. The duffle bag was made of blue denim with a white cord strap. He wore fawn/beige coloured slim-cut twill trousers fastened with a chrome metal popper. On his feet he had brown Chelsea boots worn with red socks. He also carried a poster for Cliff Warwick and the Dollybeats latest pop concert.
A wide necked T-shirt made of white cotton fastened with one white metal painted popper at the back. On the front was printed a red “P”.
A pair of blue and black striped swimming trunks made of a thick, closely-woven stretch nylon.
A collarless jacket made made of blue nylon with a printed check design and a rounded neckline fastened by four black painted metal poppers. There is a common misconception that there are two variations of this jacket. In fact the red and black version often described as a casual jacket variation is 'Cardigan' from 1967.
