Buster Brown Dress

Buster Brown Dress, shown with Samantha's Shoes and Socks.

The Buster Brown Dress (also known as Samantha's School Dress) was introduced to Samantha's Collection in 1986 and retired in 2008. It is associated with the book Samantha Learns a Lesson. Retail cost was $20 and was later raised to $22.

Dress

Grey flannel drop waisted dress. White high collar. Six white buttons in two rows on bodice. Black bow tie at neck. White cuffs. Pleated skirt. The front bodice and the hem of the skirt are topstitched in white. Velcros at sleeves and up back.

Hair Bow

Black satin hair ribbon.

Dress Like Your Doll

School Flannel Dress.

The matching outfit was available:

• School Flannel Dress: $78
• French Hairbows: (black) $15

A pattern was also available. The outfit was released in 1987 and phased out around 2000.

Trivia

Samantha prototype sketch showing Buster-Brown style meet dress.

• Buster Brown was a popular newspaper comic character of the era; the dress is intended to evoke his clothing style as drawn in the comics, where it was a boy's suit.
• Images released in 2021 for the 35th anniversary revealed that Samantha's meet outfit at early stages had been designed to look like this outfit paired with high-button shoes. The sketch was drawn by Renée Graef.