This is an ARCHIVED version of this page, brought to you by The Pygmalion Syndrome.
All copyrights remain with the original creator(s).
I have attempted to replicate the original appearance of this page as closely as possible.
However, a few of the images are substitutes for missing originals and some links are updated or deleted.

Living Doll House - LE SALON DES LIVING DOLLS

Once more you enter a door, and there they are: their frozen limbs stretched, their gazes to infinity - beauty beyond nature, imitations surpassing the original. What are you doing here, stranger?

LE SALON DES LIVING DOLLS * THE LIVING MANNEQUIN SHOP WINDOW * BARBIE LIVES * LIVING STATUES

YOU COULD GO TO

Silly Billy's Body Page [Link deleted]. (See instead Stylish Fetish). My pen pal Silly Billy had contributed some good stuff to the Living Doll House in the past, and has begun a page for himself. The latest development are his bodysuits, some of which give the female body a decidedly dolly-esque apperance. I love them; he has even done a catwalk show of them. Go and see for yourself. There are some nice links too. Or Billy's newest addition: Mannequeen, Billy's Living Mannequin page. Perhaps the best around. Pictures and video.

Bob [Link deleted]. The story of an artist who went to the dogs. Or to New York. No, he became a Barbie. A Saga for the Zap Era. I love it. It must be that I'm a neo-structuralistic hater of modernism with post-modernistic tendencies. Or vice versa, versa vice. (My wife thinks I'm just plain deconstructivistic.)

Prita Möschel

has an online ad in her booking office. And a lot of banners [Original link deleted - go here instead (German language)]. I guess you just have to see her herself.

Roxana

Now, this is my idea of a living doll. Cute, neatly dressed-up and, fair is fair, every inch a woman. Roxana is rather versatile, as you can see on her website. (Which is also in German, by the way.)

Animated X-CHANGES

Lately, Mikhail has been dabbling with Realplayer Animations. Realplayer movies are smaller than gifs, much, much smaller than AVIs or MPG movies, full colour and I could have dozens of them on this site. The Realplayer viewer is downloadable for free in different flavours, as long as you don't want to have the Pro version. For those curious to know, my image editor is Paint Shop Pro v5, using the clone, push, smudge, lighten, darken, soften, lightness up, spraycan and 'colour to target' tools.

***

A VIGNETTE

`So, you're the guy who makes these "Russian Girl" dolls...'
`You like them?' She didn't seem the type to be interested in that sort of thing. But she didn't hear. Absorbed, she stared at the pairs of pictures of girls and dolls. `Often you bring out something that should have been there from the start,' she said.
`Thank you. I am glad you like them.' I still wondered what she was doing here.
`It's not that I like them. I need one. I want to have one.'
`It's not a matter of having one. More ...'
`Yes ...?'
`I can't explain. I don't think you would understand.'
A frosted gaze. `It's not that I think you're stupid,' I added.
`People call me a cold bitch,' she replied. `Behind my back of course. But I know. Is that it?'
`You haven't done anything to me to justify ...'
`But you understand?'
I remained silent.
`It's why I'm here. I want to have an image of me around, but cute, romantic ... to help bring around the other side of me.'
Somehow she read my thoughts. `I hope it's there, that other side,' she added. Suddenly she looked very vulnerable. Different, very different.
`Don't worry, it's there,' I said. `But like I said, it's not that you have a doll.'
`Please, explain.'
I explained. I told her of porcelain masks, of cheek paddings, clever stage make up. Thick contact lenses.
She listened.
She did not run away.
`It might work,' she said. `But what if it fails? I mean, when I'm back outside and find I'm still my old self?'
`You need never to stop trying. And some just never bother to try.'
She followed my gaze to the corner of the room, where an antique mannequin in an elaborate pink bustle dress stared into a mirror.
`You mean, that isn't ...?'
`No, she isn't.'
`Beautiful ...'
`Yes, very.' In my mind I was covering her skin with a shiny glaze, altering the shape of her face with clever devices.
Indeed, it might work.

Realplayer animation (116 Kb)

***

An ADVERTISMENT

Somewhere in May I believe, the Living Dolls Club at Yahoo had a brilliant monthly theme: what would your advertisment for a living doll look like? Of course, this put Mikhail in deep thought mode. Being a visual person, he started to look throught the thousands and thousand of JPGs on the web, to find one that could be used as a starting point for a picture. Eventually he found one, but in the meantime way everybody started sueing each other and Mikhail left, whistling 'This is not America' (dadadada). Nevertheless a question like this, or rather the underlying quiestion - what would your living doll look like - can't be left unanswered for a true doll maker. So ...

This should give you an idea. The basic material should be a real girl (left image), or failing one, Mikhail insists on a real doll (as for virtual 'girls': been there, done that and no regrets, but some things can only done right once). Preferably intelligent, charming, sense of humour, pretty, lots of personality, the obvious things - we're talking of an ideal doll here. The doll outside (right image) should be or look like a 19th century mannequin, or else like a very realistic modern mannequin. Hair should be exchangeable of course, but preferably long and curly.
Dress code: Mikhail has developed something like a mild bustle dress fetish, so that's the ticket if the doll wants to look at her Sunday best. The ones from the 1875 to 1880 years are best (or watch the movie Age of Innocence to get the idea). Favourite colour pink, and if possible adorned with furry, fuzzy or feathery trims, linings and accessories. (No surprise here for those who know Mikhail well.)

Realplayer animation (79 Kb)

And while I'm in a giving mood, here is a story I wrote.

ASFR the newsgroup

With all these people chatting, ICQing, webpaging and whatever, one could forget that the thing that started it all - robots, dolls, mannequins and the lot - was the ASFR Usenet newsgroup.

Toybox OPERA

A combination of a living doll and a magic act. Read all about it on their webpage. I'd love to see the act but I suppose it is one of these things that are too small to make it all the way across the Atlantic.

THE Stringers

Susan and Jeff Stringer [link deleted], THE Susan and Jeff Stringer, mind you, don't really qualify as living doll performers, as this wonderful couple love to dress up in every possible way you could think of. But their very large site is well worth a visit, especially if you are interested in more guises than just living dolls. The weirder the better, says Mikhail.

The Marionettes

I got this link from an anonymous contributor - it's from a page devoted to the tv series Land of the Giants [link deleted], from the episode The Marionettes. Oh, and ignore the clown on the left.

TINK (found)

The picture of Tink was send to us by Rowan, who has brought some valued additions to the Living Doll House premises in the past. He wrote:

`The picture came from Mistress Organza's homepage. The doll is named tink, and she does mime and 'living doll' routines for department stores, namely Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom's. Sadly, I don't recall the homepage. But I made sure to get the pic and sent it to you, as tink is -truly- my definition of living doll.'

Tink, a.k.a. Organza Towers, has been found! Especially the lovers of lace and frills would have loved The Soft Side of Organza, his website, that spoke for itself but is now deleted. [However, go here for biographical information.]

Unknown STREET PERFORMER

The noble art of performing as a living doll or statue on the streets has really caught on; unfortunately, the only artists I ever meet on the street are the STOOHPIDS who are doing the great Answer is Blowing in the Wind opus. Not in your wind, luv'. Please take them home, country roads. Meanwhile, here is another picture from the Web, sent to me by a friend.

SHARON HALLINGDAL, LIVING DOLL PERFORMER

I found Sharon's picture in a `Performing friends of mine' section [link deleted] of another performer in the US of A, so there was little info about her. Sharon has a small webpage, probably put up by her agent. (Thanks Robolover!). There used to be a beautiful picture on the Living Mannequins page of Mannequin Lover (I don't need to give you his address, do I?)

JOHN EICKE

For a provider that called itself `lightning', www.blitz.de had an in-cre-di-bly sloooow connection. However, it was the home of John Eicke's webpage (now replaced by this one). John is a Living Doll artist from Berlin, Germany.

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

Some people complain that models look like mannequins, and super models in particular. Other people agree, but don't want to complain about it. (We know who those are.) Occasionally supermodels look like toy dolls. Look what happened when poor Linda Evangelista fell into the hands of Vivienne Westwood. Personally I would have preferred to see her completely in white paint, but that is not a thing that can't be fixed by Photopaint or the likes of it: mail me and I will correct this gruesome error. This is from the fall '95 Pret à porter collection by Vivienne Westwood, bless her soul. The fall '96 collection is a lot less interesting but we are keeping a close watch on her.

Unknown artist

This picture I found on the net, some time ago. I hope I manage to find the info sometime. Judging by the name of the picture file I'd say it was a group of German performers. So, I guess they are out there and don't mind some free publicity ...

Behind you ...

A classic, the movie Blade Runner. Replicant Pris (Darryl Hannah) doing a doll impersonation to excape the attention of Our Hero. Go see the movie.

[Note by Leem: I’m pleased to say I have FINALLY found a better quality version of this image, although sadly neither bigger, nor in colour.]

JAPAN

Or, you could go BACK to the Main Hall

Thanks RobotMaster, Billy, James ML en Rowan!

I've had problems with mailadress harvesting viruses,
not to mention spambots doing the same thing. I've decided to
remove the direct mail links from my pages - a case in point of bad people
spoiling it for the good. If you want to mail me, you can use the address
visible on the picture below (sorry if you are visually impaired, I've no solution for that).