Museum at FIT

"These small dolls belonged to my babi (grandmother), who is no longer alive, and were made in Czechoslovakia, a country that no longer exists. The set consists of a boy and a girl, each wearing a kroj – a traditional folk costume typically featuring embroidery and lace, common across the Czech lands and Slovakia until modern mass clothing manufacturing. The dolls were produced by Lidová Tvorba Uherský Brod, an internationally recognized communist-era cooperative that specialized in handmade dolls whose ornate dress represented the local customs of the region. 

My grandparents were Holocaust survivors, they emigrated to the United States after the war. My babi knew Czech, but the language she and my grandfather spoke together was Yiddish. They both died when I was a young woman, and I took the dolls in the process of cleaning out their house. Years later, I began studying Czech and visiting the Czech Republic, the democratic successor state to Czechoslovakia. In antique stores, I saw other examples of Lidová Tvorba dolls. They were never identical to the ones I had, but recognizably from the same line. It was too late for me to share what I saw with my babi, or to ask her anything either."

-Abigail Weil, Philadelphia, PA

.thundrroad on Instagram

"My doll collection started at a young age. I was fascinated by the freedom I had to dress them and mix and match their accessories. Then my grandmothers began purchasing collector dolls for me. I was so taken in by their layers of beautiful tulle and satin, their daring dramatic eyes, and their beautiful porcelain skin. My mother also collected dolls and was so excited when I wanted to help restore hers. They were so beautiful, she even has a doll from Germany. I was obsessed with her leather shoes. The handmade leather lace up heels still excite me to this day. I took them out to photograph for my students to see, and they were fascinated by my nun dolls."

-Tonya Baracani-Thomas, Vincennes, IN

.Pinkkittygrl74 on Instagram

"I purchased this doll off of eBay at the urging of my therapist during a difficult time in my life. I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me and I was having trouble taking care of myself. My therapist suggested that I care for a doll, in the hopes that it would eventually teach me to care for myself as well. I chose this particular doll because she bears a striking resemblance to me. I named her after myself as well. During the brutal winter months, I did care for her as though she were my child. I made her tiny meals, brushed her hair, pulled the string in the back of her head to close her eyes each night before laying her down to rest next to me, sharing my pillow. I've healed since then and it's not as intense of a relationship as it once was, but she still holds a special place in my heart. I purchase bespoke clothes for her and bring her on social outings. I attended Doll Con with her and people complimented me as though she were my child ("She has your eyes!" etc.). She is a custom Icy Blythe doll, I think modern (2020s)."

-Hannah Hightman, New York

.hannahhype on Instagram

"When I was about 10 years old in Paris, for months on my way to school I used to see a doll sitting in the window of an antique store. One day I mentioned it to my mom. And guess who I found on the day after Christmas, sitting in the living room all wrapped up in its original box?"

-Juliette Beder, Brooklyn, NY

"I collect vintage Barbie dolls and authentic outfits. I especially like Barbie dolls from the 1960s, as these are the ones I grew up with. Pictured here are two Bubble Cut Barbies and one Twist’n’Turn (TNT) Barbie. The TNT is from 1967 and is wearing Floating Gardens (#1696). The 1963 Titian Bubble Cut is wearing Fashion Editor (#1635) and the 1961 Blonde Bubble Cut is wearing Black Magic (#1609). I have well over 125 vintage dolls in my collection."

-Debra Schaller-Demers, New York

.dsdroc on Instagram

"My name is Joshua David McKenney. I’m a doll artist based in Los Angeles. I started my career as a fashion illustrator in New York before reconnecting with my love of dolls in my 20s and teaching myself to make them.

In 2013, I created the fashion doll “Pidgin” in the basement of my Brooklyn apartment building. Evolving from handmade porcelain to resin and now 3D printing, Pidgin became my personal muse and the canvas for my design aesthetic. Early on, I shared my doll photography on Instagram, attracting an enthusiastic audience who sent fan art and recreated Pidgin’s makeup looks on themselves.

In 2020, I began sharing my process through short-form videos, which helped Pidgin grow into a social media phenomenon. Today, she is a muse to over 5 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. My content combines storytelling, independent doll artistry, and queer expression."

-Joshua David McKenney, Los Angeles, CA

.pidgindoll on Instagram

"Meet Hop, the squirrel girl protagonizing my first industrially produced line. I suppose my passion is expected to be artisanal work, but I find the sturdiness of high-quality toys produced by industry experts a lot more valuable. It means the figure can stay with you for a long while, and won't crumble.

A mix of worn out and polished captures the essence of the tidy but fun and adventurous girl. "Patched Up" brings together both worlds: the serifed pinks and whites of a clean, soap-smelling child's room; and the handwritten browns and oranges of the autumny outdoors."

-Lucía Pavlov, CABA, Argentina

.HopTheDoll on Instagram

"My mother loved fashion. In the 1930s, she worked as an assistant dress buyer for Lord & Taylor and her passion for style is still evident in many photographs over time. After leaving her career to start a family, she found creative ways to stay connected to her love of clothing. One of them was home sewing.

Before Barbie debuted in 1959, there were “fashion dolls.” They were just 7.5 inches tall with a modest figure, fluttering blue eyes, and jet-black hair. I was captivated by my doll’s beauty and delighted for the chance to dress her. Sitting on the floor with doll in hand, I discovered that the scraps falling from my mother’s sewing machine could be repurposed into the latest fashions. I eagerly began creating.

In these photos, my doll is (still) wearing my very first design, created when I was just 5 years old. That moment—and that doll—ignited my own journey into fashion, eventually leading to a degree from FIT, and a successful career in the fashion industry that spanned more than fifty years."

-Lynn Blake, Boston, MA

"I received my first Sindy doll, very early on the morning of Christmas day 1976 when I was 5 years old. I was up so early with excitement that my Mum let me open one present to play with, and it was Anne, the Sindy in the brown dress. My lifelong love of these dolls (who are Pedigree Sindys) started that day. These six are all my original dolls from childhood, dated from 1976 to 1981. I saved my pocket money to buy their clothes, lived my love of horses through them, and made their home in a built-in wardrobe in my bedroom.

Years later, since Covid, I still get great pleasure from them, appreciating the history of their fashions, creating mini worlds for them, repurposing everyday items, and sewing clothes from offcuts of fabrics. I have made a worldwide community of friends and we create dioramas, photograph our work, and join in different challenges together which change every month. It is a constant source of friendship (I meet up with local friends as well as having online friends), creativity, and for me, mindfulness. I was also chosen to exhibit my work in The Hobby Cave in London, 2024, which celebrated people's pastimes that they do just for the love of it!

My collection has grown significantly, from buying new dolls to restoring the vintage girls. My oldest Sindy is from 1966 (she launched in 1963). All those years ago I never would have thought Sindy would still be such a part of my adult life, but I still love her as much today as I did then."

-Liz Hill, Exeter, UK

.sindylovesstyle on Instagram

"My collages explore the idea of women as cultural dolls: figures shaped, assembled, ornamented, and continuously reimagined through systems of fashion, institutions, image culture, and visual play. Rather than depicting literal dolls, the works examine how femininity itself often operates as a constructed surface onto which identity, fantasy, beauty, desire, and social expectations are projected.

The notion of play is central to the series. Through layering, cutting, rearranging, and visual intervention, the collage process allows me to construct feminine figures that operate as cultural dolls — suspended between portrait, fashion image, icon, ornament, and social mask. The works reflect on the impulse to aesthetically shape, idealize, manipulate, and culturally “design” women through contemporary systems of representation.

The collages are created through direct interventions on museum flyers, exhibition materials, and printed cultural ephemera collected between New York and Barcelona: including materials from institutions such as the Whitney Museum and the CCCB. By transforming these institutional surfaces, the works reflect on how women are displayed, consumed, archived, and visually reconstructed within contemporary culture."

-Süsan Spark, New York

.bysusanspark on Instagram

"Somehow or another, I became a Dollmaker. Art Dolls, that is. One sided, often badly behaved, and sometimes larger than life. Inspiration can come from a favourite fashion image, an out of context phrase. This doll here, Lágrima, was inspired by John Galliano’s Maison Margiela 2024 Artisanal Collection.

She demanded to be drawn, the fuller figures for fashion were just wonderful lines. I draw on calico and then stitch over my lines using my lovely old Bernina machine, and finish the details by hand. She is painted with watercolour and acrylic. Lagrima means teardrop. She has a port wine stain. Literally - I spilt port on her. It somehow suited her.

That Artisanal Collection was a total breath of fresh and extraordinary air. Fashion as art, as a story, and a whole magical evocative world within a world. Total escapism. There hasn’t been clothing art like that for years. Lagrima didn’t hang around – she was sold before the last stitches had been added."

-Annie Taylor, Whitstable, UK

.whitstabletail on Instagram

"My first Sindy doll was a Christmas present in 1972. She wore a yellow top, a yellow and green mini skirt, and big yellow boots. Her extra outfit was a rainy day shiny black rain Mac with red accessories, and yes, big boots. A style I have always adhered to: big boots with everything!

I saved up my birthday money and bought a second Sindy. Then another. I kept them in a vanity case, and would drag the whole lot ‘round to my friend’s to play all summer. Eventually, they went into the wardrobe and stayed there, hibernating.

Now they live in my studio and often come out, and when I am looking for random displacement activity (deadline approaching) I will change their outfits. Some are original, some were made by my Nana. The ones I made didn't last, as they were not well made. My first Sindy was made in the Triang Works on the Factory estate near my home. The next in Canterbury, near where I now live. I have friends who worked on the production line. I love this connection. They often feature in my work; most recently in a series of tongue in cheek “Sindy Sherman” film stills."

-Annie Taylor, Whitstable, UK

.whitstabletail on Instagram

"I have always loved Barbie. In the past 7 years, I've especially been interested in vintage Barbie and have been a collector since then. My favorite era is 1967-1980, all the dolls shown here are from that period. My mom grew up in the 1970s and she had a few Barbie dolls of her own, which is one of the reasons I started collecting. Her favorite Barbie from childhood, Superstar Christie (1977), has since become my favorite Barbie as well. I love all the clothes from the '60s and the '70s and they've been a huge inspiration for me. As a student attending FIT this coming year, I'm excited to incorporate "The Barbie Look" into my own designs! Vintage fashion dolls are snapshots of history, and I think that's why I like them so much."

-Hugh Sterling, Middleton, WI

._silverrx_ on Instagram

"A few years ago, when I began a passion project of creating a miniature crochet-lace textile museum, I was looking for dolls to use as mannequins for my handmade costume designs. I eventually found vintage miniature Barbie figurines, and I was thrilled at how perfect they were for my project. The image I have submitted is one of my favorites, the dress and accessories are made entirely from antique crochet-lace. These doll figurines have brought me much joy, as I love how perfectly they showcase my miniature designs, and resemble actual mannequins."

-Diana Latzanich, New York

.diana_dioramas on Instagram

"From the age of three when I received my first Barbie, a titian swirl ponytail, I have always been obsessed with fashion dolls. They led me to choose FIT for college, where I would later teach in the Photography Department. They led me to become a fashion stylist, working with real life fashion models on set, and later, the publisher of Fashion Doll Quarterly. Now, I curate my collection like a small fashion museum, choosing the most evocative dolls and fashions that reflect the real world of couture.

Recently, I have created my own collection of miniature Diors, worn by both 12’’ and 16’’ dolls. JamieShow doll Eshe wears an homage to Avedon’s “Dovima and the Elephants” (1950). The dress is by Dressmaker Details Couture. If one collects Diors, one should also have the Bar Suit, here on a 16” JamieShow doll. I was fortunate to win a one-of-a-kind rotating triptych, designed by the NiniMomo design team at a Barbie Convention. These designs were created during John Galliano’s tenure.

And the true treasures of my collection – Juno and Venus. Gowns by Sandra Stillwell Presents. Venus worn by Kingdom Doll Elgin, Juno worn by Horsman’s Vita."

-Pat Henry, New York

.fdqmag on Instagram

"Please meet Midori No Daichi. An original character of mine, shelled using sculpts by Ball Jointed Doll companies Volks and Fairyland. Midori would be the catalyst for my writing during a time of great strife. I purchased this Volks School A Sweet Dreams head (released 2007) back in 2020 during our global pandemic. She would later be put onto a Fairyland Feeple65 Body to truly flesh out who this character of mine might be. Being a medical professional I found the overwhelming nature of this world event to be unsurprisingly terrifying, difficult, and draining. Purchasing the doll that would eventually become my Midori was just a way for me to find joy. Buying dolls is what a life long doll collector does after all. Just a doll purchase. But she would be anything but just another purchase.

After painting, sewing, and wig making I found myself a muse. She would inspire a great deal of writing. A skill I love but hadn’t ever expected to connect to my doll collecting practices. So please enjoy this entry as my earnest gift to the world."

-Joshua Crawford, Somerset

.joshybearhuggies on Instagram

"I used to make my own dolls just so I could make historical costumes, then I found A Girl For All Time dolls. The style and proportions were perfect for me to experiment with historical fashions using beautiful fabric without breaking the bank."

-Kelly Hale, Portland, OR

.rattlebonesby on Instagram