Friday 24 September 2010

Decay - the third doll in the "Until Death Do Us Part” collection

A strange plague might haunt the world but nothing stops a wedding. Aunt Rosemary was feeling a bit downwind during the ceremony and collapsed only to bite the bride on an ankle. They wanted to take her to a hospital, but she wasn’t going to miss her own wedding reception. When it was time to cut the cake, she didn’t quite find it to her taste, but the caterer was good and the groom was great! Some brides gorge themselves on wedding cake but this one ate the whole wedding party.


Presenting “Decay”, the third doll in the "Until Death Do Us Part” collection. This doll addresses another "fun and trendy" topic of our age: zombies. We are so gorged with TV violence and gore that the real thing leaves us unfeeling. What zombies really symbolize is the fragility of our modern social order. We are only three meals away from a total chaos where our civilized pretence is trashed and the savage within in revealed.

A resculpted and painted Tonner's Alabaster Antoinette has been given a body blushing with a gory bite mark on her ankle and blood spatter all over her face body and clothes. She wears and Marie Antoinette style mohair wig embellished with golden bows and a matching OOAK gown of beige lace and chiffon over a bustle. The hem of the gown has been torn and stain dyed.  The gown is accessorised with a pair of Atelier sculpted and hand-painted white leatherette buckle shoes.

I am accepting offers by email (emiliacouture(at)gmail.com) until the 1st of November.

Behind the Until Death Do Us Part collection


The idea for collection of four dolls was born right after I won the Couture Doll Design Challenge (CDDC) competition on January 2010. I had enjoyed my time with CDDC, to be honest it consumed my life so utterly I actually postponed my graduation because of it. However, being given a theme and creating commercial fashion week after another for a half a year did take it's toll. I wanted to rebel, do something very non-commercial and unorthodox. Then Tonner's Alabaster Antoinette was launched and I knew exactly what to do with it. I bought four on preorder and wrote down all the ideas that had swarmed in my head.
The dolls took months to arrive, during which I finally finished my final thesis and, shaken by the suicide of my favourite designer Alexander McQueen, I created the "Tribute to Alexander McQueen" five piece collection of OOAK avant garde fashions for Sybarites. The collection should be published in the November issue of the now integrated Doll Reader / Haute Doll magazine.

The designs I had made for the "horror dolls", as I called them then, were not drawings or fashion sketches, but short fragments of stories. Originally the underlining theme was suppose to be just plain horror, but as I realised I wanted each to have an elaborate gown it occurred to me to make it a wedding collection instead. The holy matrimony was just the thing to push these everyday horrors to another level and I was enchanted by the idea of making a beautiful gown and then destroying it with wear and tear. At this point the collection got it's name: "Until Death Do Us Part", which has always held a sinister ring to my ear. 

Perhaps it was the suicide of  Alexander McQueen and the loss I felt that made me address the issue of suicide in particular with these dolls. The first doll "Honour" was just about to take her life in the storyline and the last doll "Shame" has already done so. These two are the different sides the same coin. Honour escapes her prison and saves her honour by her choice; Shame falls into a despair that consumes her body and soul. The difference lies in the people they left behind: Japanese culture has historically embraced suicide as an honourable deed and the remnants of this paradigm are still visible in their modern culture; the Western culture and religion condemn it and leave the close ones of the deceased feeling responsible - a stigma they may carry around the rest of their lives.


 The second doll "Hunger" also has suicidal tendencies. She is a young girl who falls in love, and marries, a vampire as is "fashionable" in the TV nowadays. However, the story doesn't get a romantic happily ever after ending, but far more real one. It is also a potential ending to any girl who in real life falls for a guy with the "I don't know whether to kiss you or kill you" pick up line. I think the trend of romanticising danger is not a healthy one, though admittedly it is not the first time murderous rebels are idealised in the media. 


The third doll addresses another "fun and trendy" topic of our age: zombies. We are so gorged with TV violence and gore that the real violence and horror we witness in our everyday lives leaves us callous and unfeeling. What zombies really symbolize is the fragility of our modern social order. We are only three meals away from a total chaos where our civilized pretence is trashed and the savage within in revealed. It doesn't have to be zombies; it can be war, hunger or pestilence -or even global warming. The bottom line is when there won't be enough resources to go around it will be the survival of the fittest.

 
These gruesome creatures were never meant to be commercial and I did want them to shock, but I must say I was still surprised by the intensity of some reactions they raised. It was only natural people found them sad and disturbing, but I never believed they would get banned from internet forums and such. The important message is that domestic violence, suicide and other taboos do not seize just by keeping them wrapped away. We need to be able to talk about these issues openly, or the victims of the crimes will only feel more alone.

Hunger - the second doll in the "Until Death Do Us Part" collection

"I don’t know whether to kiss you or kill you..."


It’s the love story of our age: girl meets boy, nice and polite with an old world charm - a vampire. He vouches never to bite her and no sex before marriage. Come wedding night and the bride disappears. She wanders the empty halls of a huge house her wedding gown sweeping the floors in blinding sunlight – bitten and week with blood loss. 


Presenting
"Hunger" the second doll in the "Until Death Do Us Part" collection by emiliacouture.This doll is a commentary of the "I don't know whether to kiss you or kill you" romantics of the current vampire trend and the example it gives to young girls looking for love.


 A resculpted and painted Tonner's Alabaster Antoinette has been given a body bushing with three bite marks, and a mohair wig embellished with vintage jewellery pieces. She wears a OOAK ensemble of a floor length gown of white silk chiffon. The hem of the gown has been gently stain dyed and the top is a weave of silk ribbons. The gown is accessorised with a pair of Atelier sculpted and hand-painted blue shoes tied around her ankles with silk ribbons. 


Sunday 12 September 2010

Honour - The first doll in the "Until Death Do Us Part" series


 “Honour”, the first doll in the “Until Death Do Us Part” collection, addresses the delicate issues of arrange marriage, domestic violence and the old samurai code of honour. These are not the safe horrors of Halloween, but something much more serious. Domestic violence is a tragedy that touches many lives, but it is a taboo – just like suicide. However, things will not change through silence and secrecy, so I want to use this art form to bring the matter forth.

 
An arranged marriage to an older man with wealth and power. From a poor family, all she could offer was her youth, beauty and virginity - which was exactly what he was after. On the wedding night she resisted, revolted by his touch, and he forced himself upon her. Imprisoned to a lifetime of misery she makes the choice to save her family honour.

 
Tonner’s Alabaster Antoinette (17” vinyl doll), her face resculpted and painted, her body blushed and fitted with double jointed knees. She has bruises left by violent hands on inner thighs and a black mohair hair in a Japanese updo embellished with beads and vintage jewellery pieces. She wears a modern kimono inspired OOAK ensemble made of pale green vintage kimono silk, beige chiffon rouching and luxuriously thick black lace. The outfit has been partially hand-stitched and is fully lined. She holds a Japanese tanto dagger and wears a pair of hand painted red lacquer shoes with golden detailing and red cords around the ankles. 


“Honour” will be sold by silent auction. The auction period is 12th-19th of September and the bidding starts from 300usd. Layaway option is available. If you wish to use layaway include your payment plan to your bid. Send you bid to emiliacouture@gmail.com before midnight on 19th. Thank you for your interest!


More photos at the flickr set