Seldom will Dolldom engage in expressing absolutes, as we accept that the appreciation of beauty, doll related or otherwise, will be subjective. But today's entry celebrating the tenth anniversary of the introduction of Séverine by Julian S. Kalinowski goes there.
Séverine, introduced in 2015, is for us a ten, not only for the beauty inherent in the labor of making a doll by hand, but also for the impact that her appearance had in making a rarity of fashion doll history accesible to many, for Séverine is Kalinowski's take on the very elusive Caprice, a French beauty produced from 1966 to 1970.
Kalinwoski did not just copy Caprice but rather reinterpreted the sculpt in hard plastic and proceeded to hand paint each face and hand coif each head individually and without replicating a prototype look, making each Séverine doll a one-of-a-kind creation. In so doing, Kalinowski spawned a mind-boggling array of countenances that took the dollector on dazzling journeys of character study. Who were these coded-as-women Séverine dolls? As varied as the looks were, the essential vibe of Séverine was that of a woman with a little (or perhaps a lot of) experience, a feeling that was invariably transmitted through the dolls' eyes. Yet in Kalinowski's hands, under-eye circles were never a sign of distress but a glamorous flaunting of their travails.
Séverine was also the first Kalinowski creation without a molded shoe so each doll was presented wearing a made-to-measure pump in black, white, or glittery transparent. Séverine's sartorial statement was richly varied with original designs by the ultra-talented LizRetros, Sylvia Campbell, Tania Lawrence, Rosina Haskell, Brian Blythe, and Juliet Wharton.
In retrospect, Séverine may be Kalinowski's chef d'oeuvre, for in her the dollector not only got a OOAK handmade doll but also a three-dimensional miniature painting. A real tour de force!
Let's celebrate Séverine once again!
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