Limited Edition Historical Outfits

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The 1997 catalog showing the Limited Edition Historical Outfits.

Limited Edition Historical Items are outfits, accessories and furniture^[1] for Historical and BeForever characters that are only available for a short amount of time before retirement. Unlike other retirements, these have generally been given an end date at the time of release.

1997 Limited Edition Outfits

During the Pleasant Company Era, only one set of limited edition outfits--called Special Edition on packaging--were released, each for the five available Historical Characters out in early 1997. This was the first time that outfits not explicitly discussed in the books were released for any Historical Character, which may have been part of the motivation for them to be limited edition. Each set included an outfit--Kirsten's set was the exception--as well as play components for a historically appropriate outdoor activity and came with a special edition informational pamphlet.

The outfits were initially given a retirement date of December 31st, 1997, but rather than being pulled at the end of the year were allowed to freely sell out and retire as they did so.

The released outfits were:

Felicity Merriman: Felicity's Town Fair Outfit
Kirsten Larson: Kirsten's Skating Outfit
Addy Walker: Addy's Stilting Outfit
Samantha Parkington: Samantha's Bathing Costume
Molly McIntire: Molly's Tennis Outfit

Samantha's Bathing Costume was later rereleased in 2005 with modifications as part of a Historical Swimwear release along with the new items Kit's 1934 Swimsuit and Molly's 1944 Swimsuit; it was renamed Samantha’s 1904 Bathing Dress. No other outfits were re-released.

A version of Felicity's Town Fair Outfit can be seen in Felicity: An American Girl Adventure. Addy's Stilting Outfit was shown both on the third edition cover of Happy Birthday, Addy! and the short story Addy Studies Freedom.

Later Released Limited Edition Outfits and Items

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Limited Edition outfits and items for Marie-Grace and Cécile from the March 2012 digital catalogue.

Starting with Cécile's Summer Outfit, Marie-Grace's Summer Outfit, and the Courtyard Furniture in 2012, American Girl started to release limited edition outfits for varying Historical Characters. Generally, they were made available from the release until Dec 31st of the year,^[2] and (since BeForever) included any children's clothing released based on the outfits.

After the official retirement, some outfits returned for a brief time, either missing original components or separated into the outfit and accompanying accessories.

All outfits are currently retired.

Additional Limited Edition Outfits and Items

Trivia

Kit Kittredge was later given a story about tennis (Kit's Winning Ways) but it is unrelated to the limited edition outfit for Molly.

References

↑ For the purposes of easy classification, accessories and furniture are also listed here.
↑ While Molly's pajamas and bed were retired with her archival, it was not explicitly stated to be as such since her archival had not yet been announced.

[1] For the purposes of easy classification, accessories and furniture are also listed here.

[2] While Molly's pajamas and bed were retired with her archival, it was not explicitly stated to be as such since her archival had not yet been announced.

[1]

[2]