My visits to the Théâtre de la Mode in the VFG Blog

denisebrain

denisebrain

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VFG Past President
I've made it twice to the Maryhill Museum to visit the Théâtre de la Mode on permanent exhibition (with rotating elements of the exhibit), so I put some of my thoughts about it in writing:

https://vintagefashionguild.org/blog/my-visit-to-the-thtre-de-la-mode/

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I was able to see this amazing exhibit in Honolulu at U.H. in October, 2001. (Of course I bought the book.) I still remember it. It was fabulous.
 
I loved the blog piece you wrote and the photos were great. I could feel energy of the dolls faces through your photos. Great!

As a travel idea for you and anyone else if you ever have a chance or dream of travel to Florence, Italy here are two museums dedicated to fashion. The Uffizi Museums, Pitti Palace, Costume and Fashion Museum (https://www.uffizi.it/en/pitti-palace/costume-and-fashion-museum) and the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum located in the 14th century medieval basement of the historic Palazzo Spini Feroni in Florence (https://www.ferragamo.com/museo/en/the-building). Shoes, OMG!

I lived there for an art study semester (3 months) in 2004. There are so many museums that after class I went to a different museum everyday, just about and visited these two over and over again.
 
I would absolutely LOVE to go to Florence. It must have been so great to be there 3 months!

When I visited the Maryhill Museum I was basically alone with these dolls, them in the light, me in the dark. It was haunting.
 
Fantastic post, Maggie - I'd love to see this in person!

Robert Tonner recreated some the Théâtre de la Mode outfits for his 16-inch Tyler Wentworth doll. This web page has a good overview, with the originals and reproductions shown side by side if you scroll down about half way, and you can see them a bit larger in a slide show if you click on one of the images:
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https://thebolddoll.com/vintage/theatre-de-la-mode/
. Some are really good I think, some are maybe not quite as successful. And of course they had to be adapted for a certain amount of mass production - not huge, but these dolls were not one-offs.
I have Longchamp Fleuri, I think she was one of the first together with Fleurs du Mal, and she was also my first Tyler doll - red hair, of course, but also because she looked different from the Tyler dolls that had been available up until then. I found the first Tyler dolls a bit boring, to be honest - Gene was so much more exciting! That outfit is exceptionally well made and super chic. I had Blush for a while too since I attended that convention, but she never quite took my heart in as Longchamp did...
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Interesting! I'm not surprised that he recreated the Calixte swirling dress with the hood—I would give anything to wear that in real life (about 80 sizes larger than the original)!
 
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