The Dollhouse: an interview about this blog

It has been quite a while since I have properly posted in this blog, I promise it will soon change. Meanwhile, I got interviewed in a Greek magazine, SOUL, about my blog, by my friend Indiktos. Below are the scans of the two page spread I got in the magazine, with photos of my dolls (most of them published in this very blog), a portrait of mine with one of my dolls (Tonner's Ghost of Christmas Future). After the scans, you can find the whole interview translated in English. I hope you like it.

Dolls in the first page are (from top, left to right): with me is Tonner's Ghost of Christmas Future, Franklin Mint's Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind, Fashion Roylaty's Vanessa Perrin, Fashion Royalty's Agnes Von Weiss, Tonner's Mameha from Memoirs Of A Geisha

Dolls pictures in the second page (from top left to right): Franklin Mint's Princess Diana, Franklin Mint's Elizabeth Taylor, Fashion Royalty's Vanessa Perrin.

BLOG & ROLL by Kostas Koutsaris, Photography: Natasha Masadi, Stratos Bacalis

The dollhouse
fashiondollchronicles.blogspot.com

25.000 Greek blogs need luck or hours of surfing to go through and discover addresses that hide something more than views or confessions. The Fashion Doll Chronicles: this is the English language blog of Stratos Bacalis', a collective explosion that will send you directly to the valley of the dolls.


What are fashion dolls? I do not have or, better say.... had any idea:

Fashion dolls are dolls of limited edition, dressed in very good quality or, rarely, porcelain.

DAE's Monty

To tell you the truth, I only know about Barbies. (laughter)

I only knew Barbies too, but not the collectibles, the ones that are sold everywhere. In 2000 I discovered, through an advertisement in a foreign magazine, that the Franklin Mint company was selling a 16 inch doll lookalike of Olivia Newton-John στο Grease. As a big fan, I had to have her. Then I found out there were more…

Franklin Mint's Olivia Newton-John as Sandy in Grease

What dolls are you collecting?

Quite a variety. I started out with movie stars: Olivia, Liz Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Greta Garbo, Vivien Leigh, Marlene Dietrich, Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn. I also like dolls from a particular period (especially 18ος -19ος αιώνας), as well as the Gene Marshall series which are mainly in the 40-50ς. From the smaller dolls, only the Fashion Royalty series by designer Jason Wu and certain Barbies, like the Versace one. I have a fondness for Asian ladies, they...fascinate me.

Fashion Royalty's In Bloom Vanessa Perrin

And your favourite?

Ah, there are so many… From 16 inch ones, I guess Olivia and my Geishas (from the Memoirs Of A Geisha film). From 12 inch dolls any incarnation of Kyori Sato from the Fashion Royalty line.

Franklin Mint's Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind

How did you start the blog about your collection?

This particular hobby, apart from being relatively expensive, has a certain difficulty: if you live far from shops selling these dolls (which is anywhere apart from certain American cities) you depend on the Internet to get anything you want. So you do not get to see what you buy first-hand. So I though how much I'd like someone to describe to me how the doll that I want to buy is, as well as show me real and not re-touched photographs of it. I realised I could do it as well as a recording of my collection. That is how I started out, having already had some experience from my other blog about design.

Integrity and Mel Odom's Gene Marshall

Are there lots of people dealing with this particular hobby?

Mainly in the USA and Japan. The access to shops is easier there, you do not have to pay exorbitant postal costs, etc. Fewer in Europe, but more passionate and usually with better aesthetics and taste. In Greece I know there is a lady in Athens that also collects similar dolls; I do not know of another person, maybe there is one. I have not met anyone yet in the relative Internet forums.

Integrity and Mel Odom's Madra Lord

Do you have feedback from collectors?

Yes, and not only them! Otherwise maybe I would not keep on doing it. They leave comments or e-mail me, thanking me because they got to better see a particular doll. Others tell me that I made them buy a certain doll after seeing it in my blog. The weird thing is that this blog has usually more traffic than my original design one.

Tonner's Sydney Chase

I know you got an award for this blog.

A web-magazine, Runway Doll, especially for doll collectors, made an homage to my blog in its first issue.

Was that your best moment?

It felt great, although I think my best moment was when I interviewed a Thai painter and clothes maker for dolls. The response from him and my readers was touching and I really enjoyed it.

And the worst?

When you preview the new doll lines from manufacturers, you want to get ten dolls and you can afford only one (laughter)!

Are you planning to get more active in this particular field?

Yes it is in my future plans. I have already talked about a fashion collection based on my designs, in a very limited edition. Also there is the idea of making an exhibition with my collection. All is a matter of time, right timing and organization



*Stratos Bacalis works as a designer at Tetragon but also as a freelancer, and you can find him at http://sandman-chronicles.blogspot.com/

The doll photos posted within the translation are from those that did not get published, all taken by me.

Tonner's Layne Reese - Basic Black version

2007 saw a new addition to the basic body in Tonner dolls. The Basic Black dolls had an extra articulation feature: changeable feet. They come with two different sets of feet that can be changed to give a different look and pose ability to the doll, not to mention more outfit options. Fashion feet (aka high heeled arched feet) and flat feet. It is very easy to change them and the articulation is borrowed from action figures. They are an edition of 1500 pieces per character.

Basic Black Layne is part of that line, comprising of four basic dolls. Her face sculpt is the original Mameha sculpt, first used in the Memoirs of A Geisha line. She comes with a black one-piece swimsuit, with a semi-transparent panel on the front, all lined in flesh coloured fabric inside. A pair of sunglasses, and two pairs of shoes complete the outfit. One pair is high heeled plastic mules, the other is flat rubber sandals with a fabric strap.

Basick Black Layne Reese with her flat feet on

Her hair is auburn. It could have been a bit more dense, as it can be difficult to change the hairstyle a bit due to the quantity of hair plugs she has on her head. She has an elastic hairband too. Her face screen is nice but a bit bland for a red head. I think she needed stronger eye and brow colour. Lips are painted a generic red, which could also have been a bit more adventurous. Here is a close up:

The flat feet articulation is not that good looking or functional. She cannot stretch the foot to become a straight line with the rest of the leg, as she should have been able to. She can stand on her own with them though. That makes her stand redundant. It is the worst stand I have ever encountered on a Tonner doll. If she has her arched feet on, the metal circle of the stand cannot reach her waist - she's too tall for it. If she has the flat feet on, she can stand by herself. Plus it is a cheep looking stand, with a clear plastic base that is not the solid one most Tonner dolls usually get, but a hollow one that is not heavy enough to support a doll properly. And of course it cannot be used with full skirts or gowns. Utterly useless. Here is the flat foot detail.

She is versatile enough to provide lots of fun re-dressing and photographs nicely. I like the Mameha sculpt a lot - Asian ladies are so beautiful. They could have made the ethnic characteristics more pronounced though - it would have been so much more interesting to see that in the Geisha line too. But I guess it is all a matter of marketing.

Layne has also been released as a dressed doll, which we will see in the next post. Here is a photo of Layne seated:

And one in her sunglasses-star material for sure!

The earrings on this photo shoot are courtesy of Toni Brown from Bordello Dolls