Mini Me

Andrew with my finished doll

A while back, Christina and I made some miniature jewels for our dear friend Andrew Yang, and his collection of couture inspired Kouklitas.  In exchange, he promised to make us each one of his signature doll in our likeness. A year has passed, and Andrew has since had his dolls displayed in Barneys New York and Joyce in Hong Kong, and has received a continuous stream of special orders from the most prestigious retailers around the world. He even just got back from a trip to China, where the sale of his dolls built an entire orphanage!

Now I'm getting ready to leave for Stockholm, and Andrew is packing his bags for an extended stay in Paris, where he will be doing a special window installation for Galeries Lafayette.  Since we will both be moving, I thought it was best to finally pick up my doll, which has been in the works for many months, and sat to have my face drawn on.  I found my doll in an Erdem-like floral dress, made by our gifted friend Soteris, complete with a matching ruffled hat.  I'm already dreaming of all the little outfits I'll make her, starting with some cold-weather appropriate attire for our impending move to the North.

Even though we will both be moving, I'm really happy that Andrew will be nearby in Paris, and am already thinking of visiting him for the opening of his Galeries Lafayette show in November.  Although all of the dolls have already been shipped to Paris, he showed me the preliminary sketches for the all-doll rock band he created, complete with groupies, photographers, roadies, and screaming fans.  There's a sneak peek below, but you can see more photos of the actual dolls on Andrew's blog.

Before the face was painted

Filling in the eye whites

Adding some eyeliner

Blush for the cheeks

Dolls from Andrew's collection

Sketches from Andrew's new doll collection for Galleries Lafayette, incorporating a few of our friends. There's Gabi!

One of Andrew's RTW dolls

-Tiffany

The Empire at the End of the Decadence

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of stopping by the Verlaine studios to preview the Fall collection. While I had browsed through the lookbook, most predominantly black collections fail to register very well in photographs, and I couldn't really get a sense of the dense textures, angular dimensions, luxurious hidden details, and of course, the general grandeur of the garments. Designed by a small collective of designers, each piece is put together with meticulous attention to details. For example, one pair of paneled pants is made up of over sixty pattern pieces, and the interior seam bindings are hand-dyed even though they are invisible from the outside. While the garments are constructed with clean lines and have a minimalist feel, they also carry a sense of high drama, and my favorite pieces include a floor-sweeping cocoon-like wool coat that envelopes the wearer, and an extra chunky hand-knit sweater that feels like it weighs about twenty pounds.

-Tiffany

Vampire Dollies and Cat Queens from Outer Space!!!

No, they aren't the Cullens, but they are a gorgeous vampire clan

Every few months, I have to drop by my dear friend Andrew Yang's studio to check in, catch up on his whirlwind of a life, and see what crazy project he's up to next with his beloved Kouklitas. If you haven't heard, in the past three months Andrew has gone to Hong Kong to do an installation at Joyce, shown his designers dollies at Fashion's Night Out at Barneys New York, designed Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington dolls approved by Anna herself, and conducted a gallery installation of art dolls at SHOWstudio in London. I got a little winded just writing all that down in one sentence, so you can imagine how crazed Andrew has been, especially since he's been doing all of this while simultaneously fabricating his beautiful dollies.

Christina and I stopped to discuss the dolls he's making for us (we made him some doll-sized jewelry for trade), and while we were there, got a peek at some of the newest members of the ever-growing Kouklita clan. Andrew introduced us to his first boy-dolls, who are a part of a larger group of vampire-dollies, who all have fierce fangs and goth attire. He also showed us his Cat Queens From Outer Space, which are covered in millions of hand-embroidered beads and sequins. We caught him in the process of making a bunch of dolls for his former employer, furrier Dennis Basso, including a very accurate depiction of Naomi Campbell (I'm sure she'd approve). Here's a peek!

My favorite Vampire Queen

Scruffier members of the vampire clan

Mary Antoinette-styled Cat Queen

It's hard to see, but this Cat Queen is wearing a fully hand-embroidered body suit with an attached cape!

Dennis Basso dollies

Andrew putting the finishing touches on his Naomi Campbell doll for Dennis Basso

-Tiffany

Garbage Dressing

Zana Bayne metallic leather wing harness, Alexander Koutny top, Lerario Beatriz skirt

On Monday afternoon, I finally got the chance to visit my incredibly talented friend Zana Bayne, who you all probably know from the blog Garbage Dress. The purpose of the visit was twofold: I wanted to hang out and take a peek at Zana's magical leather workshop, and then of course, get fitted for one of her famous harnesses, which I've been lusting after ever since she started making them. Zana has been hard at work designing her new collection, building on her basic harnesses to create more complicated latices of leather, which form intricate geometric patterns and shapes. While it's difficult to classify the harnesses as accessories, clothes, belts or jewelry, since they are a mix of all of these things at once, it might be easier to think of them as leather exoskeletons that fit to the contours of the body.

Most impressively, each piece is made to measure by Zana herself, who is a full-on one-woman business. It means that she works very hard, but it also keeps costs reasonable, and considering the quality and the craftsmanship involved, the harnesses are a steal, starting around $85 for a shoulder piece. Personally, the only thing that's kept me from buying one yet is the overwhelming number of options, but after my visit, and trying on several styles, I finally settled on the classic 3-wing harness, in a lovely shade of chestnut brown. Zana says it will probably be ready in a week or so, and I'm already thinking of all the ways I can wear it this fall over my jackets and coats. I'll make sure to show you all, and in the meantime, make sure to stop by Zana's online store!

Zana modeling the natural colored basic harness

An entire rack of harness samples and prototypes

All of Zana's leather is stored on top of her fridge

A harness from Zana's new collection.

-Tiffany