Pichi Pichi Licca-chan!

"おしゃれ な 行動は ぴち ぴち ぃっか" 

("Stylish behavior is cool!")

1971 was the year when Takara's Licca-chan doll became - not unlike Mattel's Barbie - a lover of sun and fun as Pichi-Pichi Licca. Suntanned and sporting a blonde side-parted, straight hair style, Pichi-Pichi Licca and her outfits brought an outdoors-oriented perspective to the world of fashion and fun that began in 1967 for Licca Kayama, her family and friends.

Pichi-Pichi Licca was offered concurrently with the main Licca-chan line and featured a neck knob design that imparted a diagonal orientation to the dolls' head movements. Although the doll's face-up design remained the same, the vinyl color and hair style created a unique persona that emphasized the outdoors with playsets for sailing, scuba diving and mountain hiking. But, as production was limited to 1971, Pichi-Pichi Licca dolls, fashions and accoutrements are considerably hard to find in the secondary market.

For this Dolldom exclusive, Pichi-Pichi Licca models one of her original dresses and a sensational wardrobe made especially for her by the ultra-talented Cindy Marut of CindysBarbieBoutique on Etsy. Marut, so incredibly generous with her talent, designed and produced a set of dresses in a saturated palette that evokes fragrances and flavors associated with tropical lands. It's a world of summertime fashion fun for Pichi-Pichi Licca!

Dolldom thanks Cindy Marut whose talent made this feature possible.

Cindy's Barbie Boutique 

Lime and guava combine in this delightful dress with lace bib by Cindy Marut. 

Orange and lemons and Gerber daisies appear in Pichi Pichi Licca's fabulous dress by Cindy Marut. 

Sometimes, it's cool to reference the greats as is the case with this tribute to YSL's Mondrian dress. Cap and dress by Cindy Marut. Vintage Malibu Skipper glasses. 

Dream sequence! A gown of tangerine sorbet and frosty tulle with printed daisies for Pichi Pichi Licca's glamour fantasy. Gown by Cindy Marut. 

The sky's the limit with this ocean blue mini with verdant lace bib. A vintage Japanese straw hat, decorated with tiny seashells, completes a look ideal for summering on Iki Island. 

Dress by Cindy Marut. 

For our final, Pichi Pichi Licca wears her original halter dress with cream lace detailing. But it is Wataru-kun who rocks a heather grey jumpsuit with faux leather finishes and felt cap by Cindy Marut. 

 

A Perfect Nine!

PetWORKs CO., LTD., makers of iconic doll characters such as Momoko, Ruruko, and Usaggie, announced their entrance into the realm of coded-as-male dolls in 2018 to coincide with the company's 20th anniversary.

Named Eight and Nine, the dolls' sculpting by Keisuke Sawada reminds Dolldom of the aesthetic of yaoi (やおい) manga and animé unlike any other coded-as-male fashion dolls. PetWORKS keeps the line's vitality with continuous iterations of the characters wearing sartorial trends - from butler uniforms to vampire eleganza - and an equally rich variety of face-ups and hairstyles in two skin-tones: ivory-beige and tanned.

Dolldom's editors, who have always felt honored to work with Japanese talent, immediately fell for tanned Nine. But it was not until recently that busy schedules allowed PetWORKs Boy B2405 NINE ( 六分の一男子図鑑 B2405 ナイン) to come to Dolldom for a first feature.

In this Dolldom exclusive, B2405 Nine portrays a style of masculinity that is rooted in tradition and made current by his uniquely kihin no aru (気品のある) attitude.

Designers featured in this entry:

Taeko Sekiguchi for PetWORKS

Ayakadoll 

Defa Lucy

Outfit (including boots and hat) by PetWORKS.

Kimono by Ayakadoll.

Zori by PetWORKS.

Joggers and boots  by PetWORKS

Camel coat and baseball cap by Defa Lucy.

Character

Could anything else be said about the functions of a fashion doll? Serving style and fulfilling fashion dreams may be obvious, yet Dolldom appreciates a countenance for its power to evoke character, not simply for being an ideal of beauty.

The beginning of the 21st century brought forth a wealth of ideas thanks to the vision of artists like Robert Tonner who with his 1:4th scale Tyler Wentworth and Sydney Chase redefined what a doll's face could be and do to create a character. Integrity Toys and Jason Wu followed suit with the 1:6th scale Fashion Royalty line and the idea as to what a doll should convey was formed: give attitude and express emotion.

JAMIEshow Doll's Muses line, designed by Owensu, is a current exponent of the trend, one that offers collectors the highest form of refinement due largely to the precisely detailed hand painting of the resin dolls' face-ups. Although Owensu's couture is on par with the dolls' quality, Dolldom was attracted to two of the Muses due to their power to communicate spirit: Camille and Astrid.

Aware of our subjective interpretation of the ambiguity of these resin faces, we dare express why both Camille and Astrid won us over.

Camille (from La Vancanza Collection)
Camille combines heavy upper eyelids (moderate ptosis, perhaps?) that convey a subtly weary gaze while her downturned oral commissures (so often "corrected" with fillers in humans) produce a jaded pout that - to us - exemplifies the emotional detachment of a misanthropic perspective.

 
Astrid (from The Garden Party Collection)
Astrid offers a deeply cathartic combination of a saturated shiny red, downward turning, slightly open mouth (from where her front teeth peek out) and similarly oriented eyes that unequivocally remind us of religious (as opposed to drug-induced) ecstasy.

For this Dolldom exclusive, Camille and Astrid pose for a traditional photo portfolio in exquisite fashion selections by many of Dolldom's favorite designers to show what character is all about.

Designers:
Bakhtier
Dangerous Dames by Juliet Whorton
Bogue's Vogues
Franklin Lim Liao
Robert Best
Integrity Toys
Defa Lucy

R&D Doll

Special thanks to Ahmad An for his support in the making of this feature.

Coat by Defa Lucy. Separates by Integrity Toys. 

Brocaded silk separates by the unforgettable Franklin Lim-Liao. 

Dress by Integrity Toys.

Dress by Integrity Toys.

Dress by Robert Best. Hat by Bogue's Vogues.

Suit by Integrity Toys. 

Hand beaded top and skirt by the gorgeously generous Juliet Whorton for Dangerous Dames. 

Dress by Bahktier. Camille bust by Jonathan Adler. 

Dress by the groundbreaking Bahktier.

Dress by Bogue's Vogues by James Bogue.

Dress by Bogue's Vogues by James Bogue. Hat by Maryann Roy. 

Hat and dress by the incomparable James Bogue for Bogue's Vogues. 

Dress by R&D Doll by the great Rudi Teruel. 

Gown by Robert Best. 

Gown by Robert Best.