Doll Dressing, The Museum at FIT.  Photo: Sukie Park/ NYCulturebat  

 

옛날 옛적 어린이들은 인형을 그리고, 인형 옷을 종이로 만들어 입혔다. 2차원적 종이 인형에서 헝겊으로 제작한 인형, 그리고 바비(Barbie)까지, 인형은 패션에 어떤 영향을 미쳤을까?

14세기부터 인형은 유럽 전역에서 미니어처 패션 모델로 유통됐다. 20세기 초에 이르러선 인형들이 단순히 유행을 반영하는 것을 넘어 유행을 적극적으로 만들어갔다. 

 

인형과 패션의 관계를 탐구한 전시 '인형 옷 입히기(Doll Dressing)'이 9월 16일부터 내년 1월 3일까지 맨해튼 FIT뮤지엄에서 열린다. 이 전시는 20세기와 21세기에 걸쳐 인형과 옷의 문화적 상호작용에 초점을 맞추어 170여점의 작품을 소개한다. 

 

 

Doll Dressing, The Museum at FIT.  Photo: Sukie Park/ NYCulturebat  

 

멜버른패션기술대학교(MFIT) 의상 수석 큐레이터 콜린 힐(Collin Hill) 박사가 기획한 이 전시는 발렌시아가, 꼼므데가르송, 메종 마틴 마르지엘라, 마크 제이콥스, 패트릭 켈리, 로에베, 루이비통, 모스키노, 안나 수이, 언더커버 등의 디자이너와 브랜드를 소개한다. 이와 함께 인형이 단순한 장난감이 아니라 디자이너에게 영감의 원천이자 캔버스, 나아가 프로토타입이 될 수 있음을 보여준다. 궁극적으로 인형 옷 입기가 표현적이면서, 반항적일 수 있으며, 정체성, 환상, 그리고 개인적인 스타일을 탐구하는 수단을 제공한다. 

 

11월 13일엔 'Doll Dressing'을 주제로 심포지엄이 열린다. 

 

 

Doll Dressing, The Museum at FIT.  Photo: Sukie Park/ NYCulturebat  

 

Doll Dressing 

 

September 16, 2026, through January 3, 2027

The Museum at FIT (227 West 27th St.)

 

A groundbreaking exhibition examining the enduring and often unexpected relationship between dolls and fashion, Doll Dressing centers of on the cultural interplay between dolls and dressed appearance in the 20th and 21st centuries. Featuring more than 170 objects—including fashion dolls displayed alongside full-size garments, accessories, videos, and artworks—the exhibition highlights how the influence of dolls extends far beyond childhood play. Curated by Dr. Colleen Hill, senior curator of costume at MFIT, Doll Dressing features designers and labels including Balenciaga, Comme des Garçons, Maison Martin Margiela, Marc Jacobs, Patrick Kelly, Loewe, Louis Vuitton, Moschino, Anna Sui, and Undercover, ultimately showing how dolls aren't just toys—they're muses, canvases, and even prototypes for designers.

 

Doll Dressing poses a compelling and previously overlooked question: How have dolls influenced fashion? While dolls such as Barbie are widely recognized as objects of play, these dolls have historically functioned as powerful transmitters—and even originators—of style. As early as the 14th century, dolls circulated throughout Europe as miniature fashion models, communicating the latest trends in three-dimensional detail. By the early 20th century, dolls were not only reflecting fashion but actively shaping it. Hill defines this phenomenon as "doll dressing," a concept encompassing clothing, accessories, hair, makeup, and even gestures that draw inspiration from dolls. The exhibition ultimately reveals that doll dressing can be both expressive and subversive, offering a means of exploring identity, fantasy, and personal style.

 

Organized thematically, Doll Dressing begins by examining the very definition of the fashion doll. The introductory gallery presents key examples, including a 1970s Daisy doll dressed by Mary Quant and an original Black Barbie from 1980 designed by Kitty Black Perkins, situating dolls within broader histories of representation and style. The section "We Can All Be Dolls" explores themes of inclusivity and self-expression, emphasizing how individuals adopt and reinterpret dolllike aesthetics on their own terms.

 

The exhibition continues with six thematic sections that expand on the relationship between dolls, fashion, and popular culture. "Fashion Doll Foundations" traces the historical role of dolls as conveyors of style, including an 18th-century example, on loan from Colonial Williamsburg, used to disseminate high-end fashion among dressmakers to be translated into full-size garments. "Modes in Miniature" explores designers' fascination with small-scale creation, culminating in pairings of runway looks with miniature versions by figures such as Emily Adams Bode Aujla, Anna Sui, and Jason Wu.

 

"Playing with Dolls" addresses themes of childhood, nostalgia, and scale. Designers such as Martin Margiela and Jeremy Scott challenged conventional ideas of proportion and construction by using exaggerated sizing and trompe l'oeil effects to comment on the fashion system and its modes of consumption. These works highlight how doll-inspired design can critique the very structures it references. For his fall 1994 collection, Margiela enlarged doll clothing and accessories to 5.2 times their original size, which amplified the garments' disproportionate stitches, imperfect construction, and unconventional fits—which call to mind unrealistic body standards maintained by the fashion industry. Scott's 2017 Moschino collection, created with tabs that protrude from the sides of the skirt as a reference to playing with paper dolls, was also a statement about how we currently consume fashion—primarily via our phone screens.

 

 

Doll Dressing, The Museum at FIT.  Photo: Sukie Park/ NYCulturebat  

 

"The Dollhouse" looks at how fashion connects to ideas of home and interior spaces, bringing together clothing, architecture, and the world of dollhouses. Designs such as Lirika Matoshi's Apartment Coat, which depicts "rooms" in appliqué, evokes the tactile, imaginative qualities of dollhouses and reinforces the connection between craftsmanship, play, and embodiment.

 

"All Dolled Up" examines the concept of the "living doll" through archetypes such as the flapper, the dolly bird, and the 21st-century Lolita. These figures demonstrate how doll-inspired aesthetics have been used to express empowerment, rebellion, and self-definition, even as they are often misunderstood or trivialized. The section also considers the cultural framing of figures such as Twiggy with a contemporary replica of a Twiggy mannequin, the first celebrity mannequin, which models a dress from her own fashion label, Twiggy London Girl.

 

Finally, "Broken Dolls" investigates the subversive potential of unsettling or unconventional doll imagery. From the Kinderwhore grunge aesthetic of the 1990s to horror-inspired dolls—such as Mattel's Monster High line, which features a doll dressed in a miniature copy of a 2017 runway look by Virgil Abloh's brand Off-White—these works challenge traditional ideals of beauty and femininity. By embracing distortion, fragility, or menace, designers and wearers alike use doll dressing to critique societal expectations and redefine desirability.

 

 

 

Doll Dressing Symposium

  

Friday, November 13, 2026 | 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Katie Murphy Amphitheatre | Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center

 

Register for Doll Dressing Symposium

 

The Museum at FIT's 36th symposium is planned in conjunction with the exhibition Doll Dressing. Extending well beyond the realm of childhood play, fashion dolls have not merely worn the latest trends, but set them. Doll-inspired looks communicate personal style, fantasy, and identity. Speakers include Masafumi Monden from the University of Sydney, curator and author Patricia Mears, Christophe Koné from Williams College, and others.

 

 

Schedule

Friday, November 13, 2026

 

10:00 am Welcoming Remarks, Jason S. Schupbach, President of FIT

10:05 am Introduction, Dr. Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator of The Museum at FIT

10:10 am Dr. Colleen Hill, "Doll Dressing"

10:45 am Lynn Yaeger in conversation with Dr. Valerie Steele

10 min break

11:30 am Frank New, "Beyond the Dollhouse: Queer Histories of Fashion Dolls"

Noon Patricia Mears, "The Gratitude Train: Couture Fashion Dolls of the 20th Century"

12:30 – 2:30 pm Lunch

2:30 pm  Lagueria Davis in conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Way

10 minute break

3:15 pm Dr. Christophe Koné, "The Return of the Repressed: Helmut Newton's Uncanny Mannequins"

3:45 pm Masafumi Monden, "Japanese Dolls: Dolling up the Body Beautiful"

4:14 pm Jason Wu in conversation with Dr. Colleen Hill 

 

Please note that attendance is on a first-come, first-served basis with RSVP.

https://museumatfit.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/events/a0OVT00000Yyz3R2AR