The Andrew Yang Dolls

It is well known that the fashion week collections systematically set the tone when it comes to t the clothing business. What is not so well known is that they are also a source of unending inspiration for a handful of artists whose work feeds upon fashion creations.

Some fashion creations do not share the goal of adding to our closets; e.g., some are transformed into sublime illustrations, others into clever reinterpretations. Artists like Andrew Yang use the silhouettes produced by the fashion designers as a raw material for their own creations.

When it was time to choose his path in life, Yang did not think that his destiny would bring him to the periphery of the fashion world. Excited by success stories like that of Rodarte, he decided to enroll in the Fashion Institute of Technology of New York, after which he worked in several assistant positions with New York designers. However, this path did not provide the chance to give free rein to his overflowing imagination.

Fascinated since childhood by dolls, Yang decided to create his own. Thus began a long series of dolls who were dressed in the latest catwalk fashions, and whose faces - hand painted in minute detail - gave the impression of a troubled heart. The impressive results, as well as the pleasure of making them, were a revelation for him.

Excited, Yang quickly created 10 other dolls that he presented to a boutique in Soho, which were well received. Buoyed by this little success, he decided to dedicate himself entirely to his new passion, all the while continuing to accept modeling jobs in order to pay for his expenses. During a photo session, the photographer, Terry Tsiolis, fell in awe of one of his dolls, and offered to send photos of it to a Vogue editor.

Photos of Yang's creations, named "Kouklitas" after the Greek word for "dolls," began to circulate and finally ended up in the hands of one of Barney's buyers. Yang then received an order for 70 dolls inspired by the current collections that were to be exhibited in the department store for the Vogue Fashion Night, then sold in an auction to benefit an AIDS association.

His strange, luxurious dolls were winning over all who saw them when he succeeded in dazzling everyone by creating a doll in the effigy of Anna Wintour and another of Grace Coddington. Their success was enormous: from London to Hong Kong to Milan, all the boutiques with hype display windows snatched up his dolls, and the magazines began to court him.

These dolls have what it takes to seduce: entirely hand sewn and benefiting from high fashion techniques (in order that their outfits emanate as much magic as the originals), these Kouklitas, somewhere between art, fairy tale, fashion obsession and fetishism, are intriguing the fashion world.

Then there is the atypical personality of Andrew Yang himself, which only serves to increase the mysterious aura of his creations. For him, a doll is only considered finished when he is overcome by an irresistible desire to play, talk or dance with her; otherwise, his work can still be improved. The fashion world may have found their Gepetto...

Official site: http://www.kouklitas.com/