The Kouklitas ~ Blog

09.05.10

In Awe of Alexander

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08.31.10

A while ago my friend Josh came by for a studio work day wearing the most amazing t-shirt with a gorgeous illustration. To this day, when he comes in wearing the shirt, I must resist the urge to rip it off his back lest I hurt our friendship. Of course, when asked where he bought it, he answered, "Someone gave it to me in Australia." Great.

Fast forward to this afternoon, when he walked in to paint some doll shoes with a copy of the latest issue of Hi-Fructose magazine, featuring the work of Vania Zouravliov - the elusive t-shirt illustrator!

Enjoy some samples of his beautiful work and let it haunt your dreams.

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08.30.10

Fashion's Night Out!

I created the Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington dolls to celebrate Fashion's Night Out, an evening started by Anna Wintour to jumpstart the fashion economy. They were commissioned by BARNEYS NEW YORK, one of the most creative retailers in the business today. They are being auctioned at Charity Buzz.com for the New York AIDS fund.

It's been a whirlwind experience that up until now has been pretty hush hush-- I'm been hard at work making over sixty dolls for multiple stores wearing looks from such collections as Lanvin, Alaia, Balenciaga, Dries Van Noten, and Proenza Schouler. 36 of them will be on the fourth floor of the Madison Avenue flagship on Sept 10th. Multiple designers will be making appearances to sign their dolls, and I will be there all night, from 6-11! Come, drink, and buy a doll. More pictures of these lovely ladies will be appearing very soon! Here are some great writeups about the ladies, and please read the interview I did for the Barneys Blog --

BSIDES- Barneys Blog interview

THE NEW YORK TIMES

REFINERY 29- The CUT - Gawker

CHARITY BUZZ- Bid away!

And also - if you can't make it to New York, be sure to catch CBS' special about FNO on Sept 14th-- here's a video from their site about the making of-- I'll be making a special appearance with Simon Doonan and Julie Gilhart!

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08.24.10

Mon Truc En Plumes

Zizi Jeanmarie

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08.23.10

Who is Mirian Morello?

A vixen? A vampire? Why is she traveling all over the world? Here is an excerpt from her blog...

"I had some time to think of my holidays in general and wanted to ask you something… Do you think love exists? I have pale skin, sharp teeth; I crave for fresh blood and I feed on youth but I found a very different feeling lingering in my heart when I was at those different cities. I got to thinking; what I love has alwas been miles away, maybe it’s curse or just a challenge I need to tackle down. I met a Parisian vampire at 4 in the morning and I couldn’t stop thinking of him…"

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08.22.10

Doll Dreams

Here are a few more pictures from the JOYCE experience. I'll post more from the event as they become available to me. It was truly magical. I was also lucky enough to be the subject of a film that JOYCE and Neon Lighthouse produced about me and the dolls. I'll be posting it here at a later date, but for now, see it on JOYCE's website. Sign up for the newsletter on the contact page to stay updated on all of the exciting projects.

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08.20.10

BLACK SWAN

I've been waiting for this trailer for a year.

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08.17.10

Just Can't Sleep

The Aikiu know how I feel-- jetlagged!

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08.16.10

The Kouklitas For JOYCE Boutique Hong Kong

I've been alluding to several upcoming projects lately on the site, but its all for good reason! Now the deadlines are coming up, and there is no more need for secrecy, so get ready...The Kouklitas are taking over the world, quite literally.

The first of many collaborations to come is with the amazing JOYCE boutique based in Hong Kong. I made over sixty dolls for their Shanghai and Hong Kong stores and I've been fortunate enough to be invited to Hong Kong to make an appearance at the event for a book launch centered around the dolls, who are celebrating JOYCE's 40th anniversary.

Hong Kong is an amazing city-- I've never been, and was overwhelmed with the beauty of the rainforest juxtaposed with the buzzing, completely vertical metropolitan. It's been quite magical! I spent my first afternoon walking around the area where I'm staying, known as Central. It boasts the worlds longest escalator, and is the hub for westerners living abroad.

The city is shockingly in touch with fashion. In the Causeway district there are stores that have no basis for comparison in New York-- with clothes from every major designer catered to a very young crowd. I was salivating to say the least. It was strange to hear journalists telling me they dread coming to New York fashion week (That is, until my event at Barneys on FNO Sept 10th--stay tuned) and that they find the city quite boring.

I spent yesterday hanging out with the JOYCE team in the store. In addition to my dolls being installed in the windows, the entire floor was getting revamped- including swapping out all of the fall clothes for spring, and building a pop up Dries Van Noten store on the sublevel. I was enthralled by all of the gorgeous display work the team is responsible for--that furniture!!

Press was the name of the game-- and I ended up doing three interviews and photo sittings with Apple Daily, Ming Pao Weekly, and Milk Magazine. Television interviews all day today, as well as getting ready for tomorrow, the night of the event! Stay tuned!!

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08.11.10

The House of Viktor & Rolf

I was obsessed with seeing this exhibition in London a few years ago, and it looks like they've been touring...maybe I'll see these gorgeous dolls in person when I make it to Europe in September.

Aside from the fact the fashions on the dolls were painstakingly recreated by the fashion house in exact detail- the dolls themselves are something of a marvel. As I learned from the book from the exhibition-- they were created using actual porcelain molds of antique doll faces, melded with the more fashion friendly body shape of an adult doll.