In 2008 the dutch design duo Viktor&Rolf held an exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. They represented their 15 years in the fashion industry with dolls dressed in their most famous creations. These dolls were presented in a spectacular five meters wide and nine feet high doll house (designed by the Dutch architect Siebe Tettero) along with a video presenting 55 other life sized dolls, as well as a montage of their most famous fashion shows to date. Among the fashion shows mentioned was- their 1999 show entitled ‘Babuskha’. Although this, on one level, seems just a fun concept, it had deeper connotations and it was addressing a deeper set of issues -a thin model, beginning only in a light slip was progressively covered in more and more dresses (designed by the duo) until only her face was visible– all making use of dolls as their central theme, or fairytales as the duo themselves put it.
Why have Viktor and Rolf incorporated the use of dolls so frequently into their fashion and what is the significance of a doll?
Dolls_Viktor&Rolf
Inspired by the subject Johanna Illerhag decided to make a set of her own dolls
enjoy also Alexander Calder’s “Circus” 1927
