In the spirit of Calendar Girls and the Naked Firemen calendars, we cheekily asked a few of our favorite guys in the world of dolls if they would disrobe for the camera. Amazingly enough, some of them agreed!
BLYTHE HEARS VOICES
Bespoke headwear from the atelier of Yatabazah! And some underwear from Mr. Paul Frank, modeled by Thanos Samaras.
As with many other social groupings, the men involved with dolls are a diverse lot. However this was a surprising challenge to put to them, and no less remarkable that it was entered into with such enthusiasm by the guys that took part.
We didn’t want this to be an entirely gratuitous beefcake photo story – it was also the ideal opportunity to cross-examine our sitters to find out more about each of them and how dolls figure in their lives.
THANOS SAMARAS
I remember one morning in the mid 2000’s when I had the idea of a big wall of dolls. I got a few rolls of preposterous orange floral vintage wallpaper, several cheap planks of wood, and some huge nails. It all took mere hours to build. I hammered the nails straight into the wall and placed narrow planks on top of them. I wanted them deep enough for only one doll at a time, for optimum display impact.
SO MANY DOLLS …
This 35mm shot was taken by Leo (Poupée Mechanique) one morning in Thanos Samaras’ apartment in Athens. “We would endlessly meet and hang out and play, before I moved to New York and he moved to London. This wall of dolls is my first collection, at one point there were over a thousand dolls on those shelves. I now only have about 30 dolls in my collection.”
At the time my collection was on its way to a manic peak: I had to study and familiarize myself with every fashion doll between the late 50’s and early 70’s. Mostly obscure dime store American and European Barbie and Skipper-size clones (I’ve never owned a single Mattel doll, I never liked their vibe), and a ton of Kamar dolls.
As I look back, it was a vast collection that could not be characterized by any particular, definable proclivity. I also had heaps of Mdvanii and friends, but those were always kept inside a glass display cabinet, too precious to expose to dust.
Eventually, I had more than 1,000 dolls up on that wall. In 2009, after the bitter end of a long-term relationship, I made a lot of changes; one was that 95% of the dolls on the wall ended on eBay and it was a purge that gave me great relief. It was time for a collecting reboot anyway.
Since then, I haven’t owned more than 30 dolls at any given moment. The Mdvaniis are still with me, I adore them. I have some Les Parisiennes de Kiraz clone dolls, some Debbie Drake dolls (my most favorite Barbie clone ever, I’m nuts over that absurd jointed body and the short white hair), some delectable Julian Kalinowski dolls (the reigning genius of the fashion doll realm), some vintage Blythe and vintage mini Betsy McCall dolls (they are family) and a few other random weirdos.
Oh, and I just started exploring the bjd world, by getting a Popovy doll, and a Pasha doll of staggering beauty. For the past 10 years dolls have only been a source of inspiration to create, not something I collect.
To find out more about the work and passions of Thanos Samaras, and to see the incredible bespoke doll wigs he makes as Yatabazah!, please visit his website yatabazah.com and you can find him on instagram at instagram.com/yatabazah
JULIAN KALINOWSKI
I always loved dolls. All toys. Robots, action men. But my parents were very poor, those 60’s toys were expensive, and there was stigma attached to boys playing with ‘feminine’ toys. Gender roles were rigid. I always thought that was silly, but you’ve no autonomy as a child because you don’t earn your own money, so you’ve not got much choice really but to go along with things.
SYLVAIN’S DISDAIN
The sultry Syvain wears very little under her fur coat. Her creator, Julian Kalinowski, simply wears very little. Photographs courtesy of Dolldom and Julian Kalinowski.
I had a lovely Barbie and some hand-me-down ones from the next-door neighbor. I always wanted to know how they worked, so I’d pull the skin off the bend leg dolls to expose the mechanism. Or pull them apart to see how they were put together. You know good toys really are rather wasted on children!
I remember the big Design Centre on the Strand in London. It was full of Sasha dolls, standing amongst the Eames furniture. So I knew they were really good things, and that these dolls were part of the ‘sexual revolution’, they were dolls for girls and boys – doing away with all those awful limitations. I could have a boy doll that didn’t carry a gun. And their clothes were unisex. This was all wonderfully liberating and modern and what I wanted to be about. But those dolls were expensive, and my mum struggled to feed us. But a friend of my sister had a Sasha. I loved visiting because while they gabbled on about student rights and women’s rights and stuff I could quietly sit and hold this beautiful, heavy doll.
I did Art History as a degree. But I dropped out – I discovered a wonderful nightclub scene happening in London, I was at university in Leicester by this point. So I moved to London and went out every night for years. I supported myself with market research jobs. I became a fashion designer after taking a pattern-cutting course at the London College of Fashion. I took my stuff in a bag to a shop on South Molton Street, off New Bond Street. I had all the arrogance of youth and this shop called Bazaar took the stuff and for a while that’s what I was: a fashion designer. Then a stylist for fashion mags. I supplemented my income by selling second-hand clothes at Camden Market.
In my 40’s I became involved in doll manufacturing myself. I suppose dolls were always my vocation and remain so. But with me it’s the people, the camaraderie, the social aspect. I’ve owned ‘high-end’ ‘important’ Sasha studio dolls, had lots of rare Gotz, and rare NP (no philtrum) dolls. But now a waif for £100 that I can repaint and spend a pleasant evening making a dress for. That’s much nicer.
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Some of Julian Kalinowski’s most recent dolls are the trilogy series of Sylvain, Stella, and Sable. These are hard plastic dolls made to specific factory stipulations from his designs. They are based on an amalgamation of Caprice and Bild Lilli in body, strung on elastic, with shoes molded onto the feet and hand-painted like Lilli.
Sylvain is a strongly androgynous character, perhaps reminiscent of Dietrich, her face is a melange of Bild Lilli, with the lips of Nancy by Bella, an obscure and beautiful French doll from the 1960’s. Her eye ridges are extended, in homage to Schwabinchen , the doll made after Lilli by Drei M.
Stella is a younger, slightly less ambiguous character, maybe reminiscent of Liz Taylor. Her face combines Bild Lilli and the later Barbie sculpt with the upturned nose and more pursed lips.
Sable is a good-time girl. Think of Elsie from Chelsea from the song Life is a Cabaret. She gets her look from a mix of Stacey, Barbie’s friend from the late 60’s, and Bild Lilli. Her eye ridges are extended as for Sylvain.
Kalinowski explains, “Each doll was made in a strict limited edition of 450. I use elements of pre-existing dolls to make characters that are new yet have familiarity. After I have painted them and style them they rarely retain any resemblance to their original inspiration, and that is my intention.”
“Like their predecessors Severine, and Lalka before that, my dolls are destined to become very rare indeed. It’s difficult and expensive to have a factory make these old fashioned dolls in such limited numbers. My last doll, in a limited edition of 500, is a return to a version of Lalka. I have gone full circle and my mission has been accomplished, through the medium of dolls as small art objects.”
“The process of each doll’s hand-finishing is the same as Lilli’s would have been in Germany in the 1950’s. The body is first spray-painted with acrylic in several coats. Then each face is hand-airbrushed. The cheek blusher and above the eye, smoky shadow in a variety of subtle shades. Then the faces are hand painted and sealed with a spray of clear sealant. It’s this individual hand painting that makes each doll utterly unique. I see each doll as a little 3D portrait and art piece.”
“Her hair is then put in under a screwed-in pate (as for Bild Lilli) and hand styled. The hair fiber is viscose. Sometimes I use wigs that I have had custom-made. Her finger nails are hand painted. Then each doll is dressed in a hand-made outfit. The outfits are designed according to a discipline of loose ideas I give to my small team of seamstresses.”
“Although each doll comes dressed by me, the intention is for the collector to enjoy the dolls and impose their own style and taste onto them. Each doll comes in a hard, heavy card box exquisitely designed by Fokke Hoekman, with images photographed by Ernesto Padró-Campos. The boxes look vintage and elegant. Each box end is numbered with the doll’s edition number and marked with her hair shade.”
Julian Kalinowski sells his dolls on eBay, as Juliansrk.
DOLLDOM
For the last 18 years, Dolldom Photography has aimed to present dolls not only as documents of past and present times, but also as actively engaged individuals in what Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges conceived as the eternal instant.
A VINYL SURROGATE
Dolldom, represented by a vintage World’s Champion Squirt, circa 1940s, goes for the full monty surrounded by a trio of Dolly Darlings by Hasbro, circa 1967. Photography by Dolldom.
Follow Dolldom at Dolldom.blogspot.com. Dolldom is also on Instagram, Flickr, and Facebook
KELLY NICHOLS
As an avid collector of vintage Barbie, among other things, there is very little Kelly Nichols doesn’t know about these dolls – especially those of the mod era. “I loved collecting from an early age. My mother was an avid collector and crafter. She loved going to rummage sales, estate sales, and antique stores and would bring me along. Even to this day when I go back to visit my family in Wisconsin it is our bonding time. Even if we come home empty-handed it is a great excuse to spend time talking and laughing together.”
BUSBY BARBLEY
Kelly Nichols goes full-on Esther Williams for his close-up with a bevy of vintage Barbie dolls from his extensive collection. Photo courtesy of Kelly Nichols.
“I have collected so many things growing up. Trains, stamps, coins, comic books, and movie memorabilia. Especially anything James Bond-related – including all the paperback books and most of the hard-cover editions, as well as many of the spy accessories. The James Bond Gilbert figures were the first dolls I collected, and the first dolls that I was able to play with openly.”
My very first doll was a Bozo, from the 1960’s TV show filmed in Chicago. My parents had three children and not much money back then. I begged for a talking Bozo, with little hope of getting one for Christmas. My brother and sister suffered that year and never let me forget it, I received my Bozo and loved that doll to death and dragged it everywhere. The years rolled on and I completely forgot about Bozo. Then, at Christmas when I was 30, my mother gave him back to me. ‘Shocked’ was not an adequate word to describe the feeling. And he still talks. Albeit a bit like the devil, but he does still talk. I would never part with him for anything.
My mother sold off, or gave away, most of my childhood toys. My trains were sold at a rummage sale when I was in college. She never found my comics, so I still have them all. My James Bond collection also escaped detection in the basement, and I brought them back home with me and still have them in a box somewhere.
When I was about 4 years old, my sister started getting Barbies. I was mesmerized by them, much to the dismay of my Southern Baptist minister and mother. They got me a GI Joe that my brother was jealous of, so I let him have him as I could care less. As I was forbidden my sister’s Barbies, I would secretly play with, and re-dress them. Then, like a stealth spy, put them back exactly as they were left. Of course I was accused of touching them to much denial.
I believe this installed a big obsession early on. When I was around 12-13 I would go “sale-ing” as my mom and I called it. If I saw anything Barbie vintage I would go back on my own, buy it and hide it in my bedroom. This was something that continued into the 80’s. I would see a lot of these for a few dollars back then. There were many NRFB (Never Removed From Box) Barbies out there all the time, all for $5-10, which then went up to $20-30 in the 80’s. I would buy them and then hang out around the house for some giggles with my friends until I would find the next one. I have like 5-6 bins of these that hung around for over a decade – move to move. I could never part with them.
As my move to San Francisco and an 8-year-long relationship came into play, I forgot about Barbie. This was very fortunate for me as I didn’t buy overpriced Barbie items during the crazy high 90’s.
A few years ago I was badgered into joining a Barbie Facebook page that has brought much fun into to my life. I rediscovered my love of Barbie again with a vengeance. I sold off many of my NRFB doubles and bought others I didn’t have as well as amassing a bigger collection of those pieces missing from it.
One good thing about a small flat in San Francisco is that I have room for only one obsession.
NAV SIKAND
There are some vintage fashion dolls that are hard to come by. Caprice, produced briefly in France during the 1960’s, is such a doll, and Nav Sikand is a devoted fan. He created his own doll, Anouk, in homage to this chic little diva. He tells her story here:
“It has long been my dream to produce a vintage-style fashion doll. For years I have customized existing dolls (working under the name Virgin-Archer) but I longed to make a doll exactly as in the 1960’s, the golden age of fashion doll manufacture. From the illustrations, marketing, packaging, and clothes, I wanted her to be authentically vintage in feel, using original methods and techniques as far as possible. With Anouk, I have made a doll like Caprice more accessible to those who can’t afford her, or even locate her, as she is rarely available outside of France.”
SEEING DOUBLE
Two fully-dressed Anouks pose with Nav Sikand, wearing nothing but a watch and a bracelet. Photo courtesy of Nav Sikand.
“Anouk captures the allure and style of the 1960’s. She is influenced by French actresses Anouk Aimée, Anna Karina, Brigitte Bardot, and Jeanne Moreau, as well as the French dolls Caprice, Mily, and Sylvie. There are black, brown, and white versions of the doll.”
“My hope is that she evokes the fond memories of a vintage doll. She is intentionally naive, with basic poseability and rooting patterns, to give her the feel of a vintage toy, as if a warehouse with unsold Anouk stock from back then has suddenly been discovered. “
“My research and design for Anouk has been a long-running odyssey, driven by my own interest in film and vintage toy collecting. The first doll I ever owned was a Britt doll from Palitoy, with light blonde hair and bronzed skin tones. I also love the movie La Baie des Anges starring Jeanne Moreau sporting pale blonde hair and a sun-weathered complexion. Hence my Côte d’Azur-inspired Anouk. Some of my Anouks resemble Brigitte Bardot, others look like Anna Karina, and some look very much like Caprice dolls. With Anouk, I knew more or less exactly what I wanted. A few concept sketches and artwork and Anouk was born.”
“There have been practical and logistical issues. Finding a factory to make Anouk the way I wanted was difficult. I wanted her produced in Europe. It may have been easier and cheaper to go to Asia but that was not in the spirit of Anouk. Europe had a wonderful doll making industry up until the 1980’s. Sindy was made in England, Mily, Caprice were made in France, Italy was so prolific, and Spain had a wonderful doll-making tradition.
As I researched, I discovered that many of these factories no longer exist, sadly. I had almost given up, when I found the ideal factory in Spain. They were a perfect fit: fairly small with only a few hundred staff, they still use vintage machines and techniques to make their dolls. As the head of production joked, “Everything is as it was in the 1960’s, Nav. Only the staff has changed.” They understood what I wanted to do, and their integrity was appealing. Even though inexperienced in fashion doll making, Anouk is a challenge that they have more than risen to. There have been bumps in the road, and getting the sculpt right was a long and detailed process.”
“A real highlight has been the positive support I have had from fellow collectors, friends, and family. Being naturally reclusive, Anouk has brought me out of my shell, through promoting and marketing her. ”
“Since I do this for a living I would like to gain some income from the endeavor, but largely I have done this for the love of it. My dream is to evolve and develop her with updates of sculpt, hair, and make up. Maybe even a best friend, and a boyfriend. I am planning exclusive lines based on favorite films, flight attendants, and historical characters. It would be wonderful, but let’s not run before we can walk!”
“I have come to love Anouk from her concept to her final execution. She is my child. And I hope collectors will see the hard work, integrity and commitment that has gone in to making her, and love her too.”
You can buy Nav’s gorgeous Anouk dolls at lapoupeeanouk.blogspot.com or look out for his sales on eBay, where his seller name is navsikand2bvj. Find examples of Nav’s re-paint work at: flickr.com/photos/37546968@N08/albums/72157618442087725 and flickr.com/photos/37546968@N08/albums/72157618328136658
JASON CHIPMAN HOWLETT
The man behind the popular vlog toohunky toys is Jason Chipman Howlett. This Canadian collector describes his vlog as, “For the love of anything cute and chunky, toohunky collects the toys he likes, and he really appreciates a good deal. Honest toy reviews from a grownup, Canadian, male model, ToyTuber. Favorite toy lines include: Masters of the Universe, Imaginext, Half Shell Heroes, Disney, Ken Dolls, Monster High, Ever After High, Paw Patrol, PJ Masks, and almost everything geared toward toddlers.”
TOO HUNKY
Jason Chipman Howlett strikes some poses for his popular vlog, toohunky toys. This prolific vlogger has also been captured in vinyl (inset circular picture, far left). Screenshots are from toohunkytoys on YouTube.
Howlett is a prolific vlogger, often posting several times a week. He is consistently entertaining, and there’s often something on fashion dolls among his output.
He points out, “I’ve always known I was unusual but never sure if I were really that interesting… so I am extremely grateful to all that watch my videos. I suppose I will always be the poor little rich boy. I really do live my perfect life… when I don’t stop to think about it.” Of the current situation, Howlett says, “Isolation is nothing new to me, but having all the free time I want is. I’ve never been happier… or more worried and depressed! I am a hedonist in need of a dentist and cold hard cash. I think I really just want to renovate turn of the century homes and pretend I’m a pioneer.” He explains that he’s either an extreme Buddhist, pessimist, realist, or just a complete narcissistic, atheist heathen. Despite how you may feel about his words, he advises you to find someone to hug right now!
You can see more of Jason Chipman Howlett on YouTube at toohunkytoys, or you can follow him on facebook.com/toohunkytoys and instagram.com/toohunky
THE BOLD DOLL
As we ask on here on our website, “What is it about dolls that makes otherwise sane adults devote so much time and energy to their collection?”
STRIKE A POSE
A spot of yoga, the vakrasana pose as demonstrated by Paul Pham’s Ang doll. Hot naked yoga indeed. Photograph in homage to Bill Brandt.
We love to find out the story behind the dolls, then to write about them, fixing them up if necessary, and taking pictures. Many collectors love the excitement of finding an old forgotten doll languishing in a garage sale or on eBay, especially if a bit of minor restoration is needed. We can become obsessive about a particular line for a brief period, or maybe it’s finding some vintage knitting patterns that can be adapted for modern dolls. We love wigged dolls for the added possibilities they offer. So … we didn’t ever grow out of doll-collecting. How about you?
This feature first appeared in Fashion Doll Quarterly magazine, Summer 2020.