
Caprice, Mdvanii, and Persia dressed dolls.
Mdvanii is a fashion doll for adults conceived by BillyBoy*, the doll was launched on February 14, 1989 at the British department store Liberty & Co. in London, England. The 25 cm tall doll was originally made in a matte Caron make-up toned hard resin. An edition of Mdvanii was made exclusively for F.A.O Schwarz and featured in their catalogues.
Billyboy* had a large collection of fashion dolls, mostly Barbie, dressed by major fashion designers from all over the world. In 1983 he was contacted by Mattel, to create the “Nouveau Théâtre de la Mode Barbie”, and later the follow-up Barbie doll for Mattel, USA called “Feelin’ Groovy Barbie” in 1986.
Mdvanii’s outfits are made in the tradition of French haute couture and were originally made in France but since 1997 are also made in Switzerland. Mdvanii is human-scale with a right and left foot, she is an anatomically correct, completely hand-made, and hand-painted doll. This “effigy” as BillyBoy* called the doll was made in a limited series as a new concept.

Caprice, Mdvanii, and Persia dolls totally naked.
It has been suggested that the Mdvanii is based on the French doll Caprice (shown here for comparison purposes) from the 1960s. Another doll-maker, Darrell Wallace, has created a resin doll based on the Caprice original – this strung doll closely resembles Mdvanii and is also shown here.

Caprice, Mdvanii, and Persia dolls in profile.
The choice of name Mdvanii may have derived from one of the titles of the much-married Barbara Hutton, the American socialite dubbed by the media as the “Poor Little Rich Girl” because of her troubled life, and heiress to the Woolworth fortune. Her first marriage was to Alexis Mdivani, a self-styled Georgian prince, from whom she was divorced in 1935.

Mdvanii catalog from 1992, Front cover, Paris theme. A selection of ensembles for Mdvanii from the 1992 catalog. Le Smart Set de Mdvanii from the 1992 catalog. Front cover of billyboy*’s Rhogit-Rhogit catalog. Sketches to show the male billyboy* dolls from the Rhogit-Rhogit catalog. Some outfits for the male billyboy* dolls from the Rhogit-Rhogit catalog. Artist’s impressions of the male billyboy* dolls from the Rhogit-Rhogit catalog. Fashion drawings of the male billyboy* dolls from the Rhogit-Rhogit catalog.



Find more photos of Mdvanii here and here (click the links).