She's Back!

In the short story “The House of Lilli Lalka" a passage reads:

"When the head hit the Formica dinette table, unleashing a mini tsunami of leftover Earl Grey, Lilli understood that it was time to return."

Is that time now? It seems so, despite dollmaker Julian S. Kalinowski's statement about her death in Dolldom's 2012 entry "Forever, Lalka".

In a recent interview, Kalinowski confirmed that his muse is back and with quite the agenda: kitsch, bawdiness, and camp. As subjective as this playful tease is (what's kitsch to one may be modest to the other), Dolldom applauds Kalinowski's mission to liberate doll play from the onslaught of high (yes, as in blitzed) fashion replication and take dollectors on a journey to the fascinatingly tawdry mother lode of all 1/6 scale fashion dolls: Bild Lilli.

“Lilli’s Song”

A lot’s been said about me.

A lot’s been done after me.

But one thing I’ll say,

and it ain't all half-baked,

To claim that this hard plastic gal,

Like a virus dispersed

A hodgepodge of mimicking pals.

In this most recent endeavor, Kalinowski is collaborating with an international and ever-growing list of talent: textiles by David Rose, hats by Waka Murai (the luxury!), graphic and photos by Fokke Hoekman, illustrations by Di Assis, manufacture by Steven Zheng, outfits by Jamila Chou, Andrei Teican, and Tania Lawrence. 

In Dolldom's eyes, the cherry on top of this most significant gesture is the ongoing love that Kalinowski professes for a laborious process of spray painting, airbrushing, hand painting, and hairstyling (all done by his expertly insouciant hands) to create each single doll.

With this exclusive portfolio, Dolldom showcases two prototype Lilli Lalka dolls in fabulous examples of some her soon-to-be-released fashions. Tempted? We hope so. 

For more information on Lilli Lalka visit Kalinowski's boutique or follow him on Instagram.

With this collaboration, Dolldom and Kalinowski wish to celebrate the life of the iconic Joan Hudson whose immense contribution to the world of fashion dolls leaves us with an exemplary legacy of love and dedication to this mad shared passion. 

"Reproduction Original"

When no one else would

You gave Lilli the goods:

Beach sets of red and white stripes,

Sexy tops with cuffed shorts,

Sparkling gowns of magnificent sorts!

With your open heart

You regaled with your art,

Joan, eternally dexterous and smart!