VIKTOR&ROLF DOLLS on the catwalk at the Royal Ontario Museum

Last Sunday, fearing a continuation of the thunderstorms we had experienced on Saturday, my daughter and I decided to go to the museum instead of taking our planned bike ride to Toronto Islands.

We had gone to the ROM to see the exhibit on Ancient Mesopotamia, but before we had even come to the ticket counter my attention was caught by an incredible display of dolls.

This haute couture display from VIKTOR&ROLF, an Amsterdam-based fashion house, was part of this year's Luminato Festival, an event each June "where the best artists in the world and the best artists in Canada fill the stage that is Toronto with new and wonderful creations."

The ROM website tells us " VIKTOR&ROLF DOLLS features 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."

(Editor's Note; These appear to be reproduction dolls made from antique moulds. I am not sure why they called them "Victorian dolls")

Hav a look at their site here http://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/viktorrolf-dolls
There is more information and a short movie about the dolls

I have added most of the pictures I took of the dolls below. There are a lot, so it is up to you whether you see them all or not, but I didn't want to leave any out, as each doll is unique.

Today is the last day for this exhibit in Toronto. Read more about the exhibit here: http://www.rom.on.ca/en/blog/viktorrolf-dolls-come-to-the-rom

Pictures of the dolls from 2010 can be found at this link.

Several of the dolls were wearing porcelain shoes like the delft pattern ones shown here.