Viktor & Rolf Dolls
(Image- Peter Stigter)

The Royal Ontario Museum is exhibiting 31 Victorian porcelain dolls in a free exhibition that’s part of this year’s Luminato Festival in Toronto.

Until June 30, visitors to the museum  will be able to see 31 dolls  in the iconic dresses by Viktor & Rolf, five of which were recently made ​​in Amsterdam and have not shown to the general public.

The 31 Victorian porcelain dolls, dressed in impeccably crafted, miniaturized versions of Viktor&Rolf’s historic couture designs, parading on a scaled catwalk.  The Dutch designers have styled these iconic dolls, roughly 65 centimetres tall, as hand-crafted archival replicas of their creations, right down to eye colour, hair, and makeup. For this show, the designers created a new and unique platform and environment specifically for the ROM’s Thorsell Spirit House

“It will be like a runway,” Viktor says of Dolls by Viktor & Rolf, “a specially designed runway, and the dolls will model on it.”

“The same women who work on the couture,” Rolf says, “are working on the dolls.”

“The dolls are our archive,” Viktor says. “We don’t own all of our old creations. In some cases, museums have them; in some cases, the only copies are on the dolls.”

Viktor & Rolf Dolls at the ROM
Fall 1998 (Image- Peter Stigter)

Viktor & Rolf Dolls at the ROM Fall 2007 (Image- Peter Stigter)

Viktor & Rolf Dolls at the ROM
Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival 1993 (Image- Peter Stigter)

Viktor & Rolf Dolls at the ROM
Fall 1998 (Image- Peter Stigter)

For these hand-crafted archival replicas of their creations, Viktor&Rolf created a “runway” environment specifically for the ROM.

For these hand-crafted archival replicas of their creations, Viktor&Rolf created a “runway” environment specifically for the ROM.

For these hand-crafted archival replicas of their creations, Viktor&Rolf created a “runway” environment specifically for the ROM.