Welcome to the dollhouse...

Though I was never really into playing with dolls as a child, fashion design is like a game of dress ups. The models are life size, but the garments that clothe them are first drawn in miniature.
This is how a Mine collection is imagined… in paper doll proportions.

My friend and foot soldier in fashion, Dominic Stansfield, is a very talented menswear designer. His obsession with war history,
vintage military and workwear is shared on his blog STANSFIELD
from time to time.

Dom recently quoted me in his blog…. It was something I said in passing about his unhealthy obsession with WAR. It’s quite a world to get lost in, and for many pacifists (like me), one not too often visited in terms of inspiration.

This however is not the case for self trained set designer and dramatist for the 1/6 world of “Marwencol”. This ongoing project is the work of Marc Hogancamp. It is a fictional world made real by Marc’s photography as he documents the scenes inside with a filmic sense of view, giving the dolls a very human quality.

Some of the scenes recreate the madness of war, not unlike the Chapman brothers, with a cast of SA soldiers that Marc readily takes his revenge on with an excess of red nail polish.
You can find some of his story telling here.

Rather than go into too much length about Marc’s past and his reasons for making this escapist theatre of sorts… I just wanted to show a selection of some of the woman characters he has made…

Some of the scenes are quite provocative and voyeuristic,

some of the girls are quite tough,

but also serve to make the men feel heroic, & to be protected,

whilst some have been moulded on past loves and crushes.

And they have quite the ensemble of outfits.
It seems that men play with dolls too…