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At the Museum at FIT, an argument for dolls as the ultimate fashion influencers
By
Quinn Moreland
Published Sep 30, 2026
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Courtesy of The Museum of FIT
By
Quinn Moreland
Published Sep 30, 2026
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When did dolls begin to influence fashion? As early as the 14th century, miniature and life-size mannequins were sent to European courts to show off the latest styles.
“The level of three-dimensional detail that you would get from one of these designs was really unparalleled," said Colleen Hill, the senior curator of costume at the Museum at FIT as she gazed at a petite wooden doll from the 18th century.
The doll is posed in cream undergarments as if waiting to be slipped into the flouncy pale blue silk gown displayed beside her. While many fashion dolls were fated to become playthings, this one is immaculate, and Hill cheerfully points out that, “all of her fingers are there.”
The doll, borrowed from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, is among the oldest items in “Doll Dressing,” a new exhibition exploring the relationship between dolls and fashion. Open now until Jan. 3, 2027, the show’s 170-plus objects speak to how childhood play can inform creativity long after “growing up.”
“There’s a lot to think about in the doll-verse,” said Hill, who exudes a bouncy playfulness befitting someone who has spent the past three years deep in all things doll.
She focused on the fashion doll, which she defines as “a humanoid figure with a fashionable appearance whose clothes are meant to be changed,” unlike dressed dolls intended for display. Among the qualifying dolls are a very fancy Louis Vuitton baby doll from 1939; a toddler-sized 19th century French doll in head-to-toe haute couture; and glamorous Black “manikin” handmade out of cotton and adhesive by Harlem designer Ruby Bailey in the 1960s.
“Dolls as Designers” from left to right: Simone Rocha by Bri Foster, Yves Saint Laurent by Lucie Kaas, Viktor & Rolf and Karl Lagerfeld by Kid Robot, Anna Sui Barbie by Mattel, and Vivienne Westwood by Benito el Salvador (Michael Wilson).
Courtesy of The Museum of FIT
By the 20th century, dolls were shaping the latest trends, not just sharing them. In the Roaring Twenties, many flappers accessorized with a boudoir doll, decorative ornaments that could double as a functional item, like a cosmetics case.
We continue to carry dolls around, Hill notes, pointing to Labubus. “It's a different kind of doll, but I do think that we see these dolls as mascots and own them as little treasures that we like to have near us.”
“Many designers started their careers or their creative ideas by designing clothes for dolls,” Hill said, and many never stopped, in one form or another. The cult Belgian designer Martin Margiela made his first garment, for a Barbie doll, at age 13. For his fall/winter 1994-95 show, he showed “clothing reproduced from a doll’s wardrobe,” enlarged to 5.2 times their original size. Pieces from the collection featured in “Doll Dressing” reveal the “disproportions” of plastic anatomy: a trouser zipper stands at attention like a mailbox flag, while a G.I. Joe dog tag is paperback-sized.
Barbie is, of course, a big presence in “Doll Dressing,” and her cute outfits have always been integral to her appeal. Her very first wardrobe was designed by Charlotte Johnson, a fashion professor who had worked in New York’s Garment District. Barbie wasn’t the only doll with a stylish closet. Her British competitors, Sindy and Daisy, were respectively dressed by Swinging Sixties designers Foale & Tuffin and Mary Quant.
“I swear, these clothes are more expensive than my own at this point,” said Hill, leaning in to look at Daisy’s little red jacket.
From left to right: Daisy by Mary Quant, Jett by Jason Wu and David Buttry, Black Barbie, Viktor & Rolf x Disney Collector, and Diane von Furstenberg Barbie.
Courtesy of The Museum of FIT
After touring the exhibition, Gothamist reached out to a designer whose name recurred throughout the exhibit: Anna Sui, whose girly and romantic boho-grunge garments have been beloved by ‘90s alt-rockers and Gen Z alike.
Speaking over Zoom, the New York-based Sui, now 71, recalled how her mother sewed outfits for her children. “I would take the scraps and make doll clothes,” she said. “When I got older, I started making clothes for myself rather than my dolls.” Her image of the profession was inspired by dolls as well. “There was a Barbie that was a fashion designer and carried a portfolio,” Sui said. “She had a very nice city suit and a hat.”
Sui has incorporated her love of dolls into her eponymous label since its first collection in 1981. Her dolly head motif — a female head with bold makeup and a 1920s haircut — has become a mascot for the brand and appears on mannequins, cosmetics, fragrances and more. She’s collaborated with a number of dollmakers, and the FIT show pairs her full-size runway looks with their meticulous miniatures. A Blythe doll models a floral and lace look, while a Madame Alexander Cissy wears a crushed velvet coat, a coordinating dress and a tiara. After several collaborations with Barbie in 2025, Mattel released an Anna Sui doll as part of its charitable Inspiring Women series.
The FIT exhibition shows that doll dressing is inclusive, and ultimately, more subversive than submissive. It can be fanciful, feminine, freaky, Barbie pink and gothic Lolita. It could be full skirts and voluminous dresses decorated with ultra-femme embellishments like lace, ruffles and lace. It can play with scale, from dollhouse to larger-than-life.
“Much of what we may think of when we think of the fashion doll is based on the 19th century porcelain doll,” Hills said.
But porcelain skin need not be white, just flawless and smooth. To underline this point, “Doll Dressing” features a series of lightboxes showing runway images from Maison Margiela Spring 2024. The makeup, by beauty mogul Pat McGrath, transformed multiracial models into glowy and glass-skinned living dolls. Hill said this artful world-building challenged, “the idea that to be a doll you have to look a particular way or be of a certain age, size, gender, while in fact, none of that is true.” As a section of the exhibition proclaims, “We can all be dolls.”
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