The Kouklitas go global. Andrew Yang’s incredible high fashion rag dolls take Paris by storm. In conversation with The Bold Doll, Yang explains how his dolls took over the venerable Parisian store Galeries Lafayette…
The Kouklitas are quirky, yet fashionable, cloth dolls designed and made by Andrew Yang in New York. They are lauded by fashion pundits, have been made in the likenesses of the famous, and have graced the windows of Barneys, New York. But their biggest appearance en masse to date is in the stunning holiday window displays especially created for Galeries Lafayette in Paris, France. This is how it happened…
Valerie Hudelot, the directrice of visual merchandising for the Galeries Lafayette, wandered into Barneys New York during Christmas time 2010. An exclusive range of the Kouklitas had been on display in the windows and offered for sale. Most of the dolls had been sold by then, but there were still a few relegated to the glass cases on the first floor. Immediately upon seeing them, she knew that Yang would be ‘perfect’ for the job. She worked for Eurodisney at the time, and was under consideration for the position at Galeries Lafayette, when she discovered Yang’s work. She championed the Kouklitas and persevered when the rest of the team was worried they were too progressive. They contacted Yang in February 2011, and at first he thought they were interested in selling the dolls in the store – but when he realized they wanted them for the windows, he couldn’t have been more thrilled.
These windows were different from the Barneys ones because this time Yang had to create an entire world populated with moving dolls. It was a departure from fashion dolls – from concept to creation it was more like designing costumes and characters for a film. There was much more of a narrative in place. Yang explained, “I think my dolls were more like embellishments to the windows of Barneys New York, in Paris they were the focus.”
The first brief was very vague. The store wanted to highlight “Andrew Yang for Galeries Lafayette.” It was the first time they had showcased a specific artist for their Christmas windows, both a huge honor and a lot of pressure for Yang. Then the theme became Rock ‘n’ Mode – Fashion Rock and Roll. The store required six windows, and each was to follow a rock band – The Kouklistars – on their journey.
Once the project was agreed, Yang flew to Paris for discussions with the display and exhibit team. The concept of a girl group was developed, the environments for each window were explored, and how the dolls would interact with each other and the set. It was important to get all of this right as the store’s themes generally go much further than just the windows and become intrinsic to the stores themselves, including all merchandising and advertising campaigns.
It took about two months to do all of the sketches: there were revisions, and ultimately Yang was designing the characters and had to keep them consistent throughout. From there it was about six months of solid sewing, hair styling, and hand sewing.
Originally 110 dolls were needed, a huge number to make by hand in a relatively short time frame. Then three windows for a new store in Casablanca were required, which was another 38 dolls, and then another 20 for the Strasbourg store. And on top of that, Yang made his first foray into mass production. He developed a limited edition set of the main five girls in the band that were produced in New Delhi. But he ended up doing all of the faces with his assistant, and redoing a lot of the hair. As he says, “It was a big lesson, now I understand why doll makers grow their businesses S L O W L Y!”
As far as the main store was concerned there were few revisions made to Yang’s designs. Initial comments were to make things look more rock and roll. Yang points out “Sometimes I get too fashion – and too frilly! I think people look at me and see this long-haired, New York, tattooed artist type and expect my work to look very punk and maybe a little goth – but really I’m all frills and ruffles. Sometimes the girls got a little too ‘pretty’ so I had to infuse a bit more edge into them, but it was fun the whole way.”
The most challenging part of the project was time management. And natural disasters… Because of the sheer volume of work – handmade, detail oriented, one of a kind work, every hour of every day counted. If Yang took time off it was scheduled, and usually not for very long. He worked some lengthy days in his studio. According to Yang, “I spent last summer without a life, sewing dolls. But it was a fun one! I made all of my friends come to me, so usually at the end of the night we all were having a beer and good conversation. There was one sweltering day in July where we were all sweating over the dolls, when a sudden rainstorm broke out and I made everyone drop everything and run to the roof where we all danced in the cool rain – good memories.”
However, when Hurricane Irene swept the east coast, it was a different story. Yang was nearing the shipping deadline, pulling a couple of all-nighters here and there, and every day really counted. Just six days remained to have everything finished, photographed, packed, and shipped. Each day was accounted for down to the last hour, and then suddenly people in Manhattan were boarding up their windows and leaving the office early. The subways were shutting down. In Yang’s words, “Jillian, my partner in crime for the entire project, called me as I was setting off for the studio and gave me a reality check. It was almost a divine sign that we needed to stop! We ended up going to the studio, it was very vulnerable, floor-to-ceiling windows, 6th floor, right on the waterfront. We pushed everything to the middle of the room and covered it with industrial plastic, then brought ALL of the dolls back to my apartment in Greenwich Village. I was scheduled to arrive in Paris the following week to begin working with the puppeteer, but after explaining the situation to Galeries Lafayette, we ended up shipping the work 80% completed and doing all of the finishing touches in the basement of their corporate offices, setting up a mini guerilla doll studio!”
At first Yang was concerned with how the dolls were going to be animated, and how they were going to be placed. For instance, how would he know if a doll was to be looking over her shoulder, or posing with her back to the window? In the end, they ended up making the dolls ten times more detailed than what you actually see through the windows, just to cover all bases. Each doll was treated like a luxury doll that could be viewed through 360 degrees..
There were differences between how the dolls for the Barneys windows and those for Galeries Lafayette were created. As Yang explains, “I treat the dolls for retail like artistic pieces of furniture, almost – they are on display, but they are also touchable and friendly. I want them to feel good in the owner’s hands, and also be able to last a long time. I even take into consideration when the doll begins to age a little, that it lends to her beauty and charm. But the dolls for the Galeries Lafayette windows had to be built to withstand a lot of intense movements and handling, 14 hours each day for over two months. Plus being shipped and schlepped around, and the puppeteer was merciless as well. When I first saw him with his tools of industrial glue guns, giant needles, and stapleguns, I was horrified!”
When asked if he knew how the Parisians reacted to his windows in one of their landmark stores, Yang was quite candid, “It was really shocking. I felt literally dumbfounded on the night when the windows went up. My work has never been so public before. It was fascinating to see kids, babies, teens, parents, and old people, all crowd to look at the windows, taking pictures and recording videos. It was creatively very satisfying, but in a way, after they had been installed, I felt like they weren’t completely mine anymore. Aside from the puppeteer, there was a huge amount of production in the sets, and even custom music for each window playing on loudspeakers in the street. The dolls themselves were just a single aspect in a great work of art, like the actors in a film. I think the public loved it, the display was very modern for Galeries Lafayette. Previously they had used teddy bears and Corolle Baby dolls in their windows but it is a huge tradition [to use toys in their windows]. The only time I really cried or got emotional about it was when I was watching a news segment where they were getting people’s reactions, and one father with his adorable little daughter said very proudly that it was his daughter’s first visit to the windows”.
Yang worked closely with puppeteer Jean Claude Dehix, a third-generation puppeteer who has worked on the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps windows for 30 years. He was the last rung of approval before Yang got the job, and he was thrilled when he saw the dolls for the first time. Dehix has been advocating long-limbed ‘puppets’ for quite some time, and he finally got them. Yang enjoyed the collaboration immensely, “He [Dehix] is an artist himself and it was fascinating watching him work. He envisioned what the doll would be doing and rigged the doll accordingly. But when he was actually inside the windows, he more or less played with them until he got what he wanted. I like to think I have a talent for ‘bringing a doll to life’ when I’m playing with her, but Jean Claude took this to an entirely different level!”
“I set such a high standard for my own work, so when things had to be rushed, it was difficult having to just let certain things go. But they weren’t asking me to make couture dolls, which is what I had to keep reminding myself, so that was an adjustment.”
“There were only a few things that changed, and usually it had to do with the props. In the last window (the after party display) we decided it needed bouquets of flowers and fan mail for the dolls in their hotel room, so we made time and added those things. I have a policy – “more is more” so it was fun to add to them in their environments well after I thought they were complete.”
But the talented Mr Yang is not just about dolls, check out his website astoryang.com/shop to see his multimedia work. When asked if he has plans to further explore live action he replied, “Yes! I do consider myself an artist above all things, and while dolls are certainly my medium of choice and something I hope to be forever involved with, I will continue to explore different media! I love film, creating narratives, telling stories, illustrating… and I’m quite a ham. I’m working on some large masks that I want to do performance art in, and become a sort of ‘living doll’. My business partner is a film director, so we are always collaborating and exchanging ideas. Film for me is the ultimate storytelling device, so hopefully I’ll be making movies someday. You can bet these will be opulent costume dramas, filled with wigs. And very likely dolls will be making cameo appearances.”
This feature first appeared in Fashion Doll Quarterly magazine in 2012
0 Comments