And now it's time to play with two of the more inarguable tenets of eternity: dolls and sisterhood. dolls are likely the first “toys” ever to be used by humans, with Egyptian examples dating back to 2100 BC, while stories from ancient Greece show that young girls used them for play at least as early as 100 AD.
Sisters, of course, came to be a considerable time before that, and since their humble origins the two have been intertwined, as inextricable as pickled herring and cheesy spread. In keeping, we present Lena and Katya Popovy—known to fans as the Popovy Sisters—contemporary artists who share blood, a Russian postcode, and take the ages-old craft of doll-making to haunting and fashionable heights.
Here, they present a custom Marilyn Manson doll, one of their many lovingly crafted homages to rock stars (think Yolandi from Die Antwoord), in playful combination with their signature creepy-yet-lovely adolescent iterations. Manson, you won this one. When asked about the macabre nature of their output, and whether good and evil can co-exist—and if so, co-exist together—the girls remark, "It seems to us that the good is inseparably connected with the bad. They go along the same road. This is beauty, balance, and contrast. We think that the good can last forever, and if it ends, then the bad will have ended as well."
Good, bad, or just high fashion, it could be said that doll play is intrinsic to the art of clothes making, presentation, and the fashion fantasy. The Popovy Sisters not only create the dolls—they pose, photograph, and dress them in clothes of their own design and fabrication.
"For us, the doll and fashion design is side by side," they share. "We always pay great attention to the materials and textures we choose. We do not treat clothes for dolls as a seasonal or separate thing. Clothing plays the role of the second skin and is inextricably linked with the image. Our dolls are our vision of the world—our emotions and ideas are screwed into shape."
Touche, Popovy Sisters. But while we’re talking about a vision for the world, one suggestion: if you ever craft a presidential doll, defy the present paradigm and give it a brain.
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Written by Chad Gardenia
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