Fashion

In the midst of New York Fashion Week earlier this September, I found myself in a dollhouse. It was a life-sized installation at New York’s Academy Mansion with oversized everything, from tables to beds to makeup compacts, that made me feel as though I was some child’s Barbie lost uptown. The illusion was only made more real by the fact that everywhere I turned was a model dressed up like a doll, wearing Marc Jacob’s doll pumps and pieces from his 40th year anniversary collection of exaggerated proportions.

Together Jacobs and artist Anna Weyant transformed the landmarked space into a fashion fantasy for Capital One and Cultivist. There was no dress code to adhere to and yet everyone there seemed to be wearing a self-implimented uniform with exaggerated mascara, high heeled pumps, and cutesy clothing that wouldn’t feel out of place in a toy catalogue. It was then that it dawned on me that everyone is dressing like a doll right now, even those standing outside of the dollhouse.

First, there was Marc Jacobs’s Doll. He began to put models in doll-like dresses and accessories of exaggerated proportions for his first runway show of 2024. It has since become a running motif in every show he’s had since. Fashion editors and influencers and celebrities alike have all embraced the look, which feels apt given the chokehold the coquette aesthetic has had on popular culture since 2023. Dressing like a doll takes coquette one step further. It isn’t just enough to wear a ribbon in your hair to connect to your inner child. Instead you need to try and quite literally become the doll your younger self projected their visions of adulthood, and the fashion that would entail, onto.

I saw the doll theme emerge most prominently in New York at Sandy Liang, particularly in her lace white dresses that turned the model wearing it quite literally into a dollhouse, with small panels of patterned fabric made to look like windows you could peer through. And then in London, Ashley Williams had models wear colorful bouffants, tousled and over-accessorized and dyed like the Barbie dolls often saved and used for more creative experimentation (I believe they called such a doll “weird Barbie” in the Barbie movie). Simone Rocha too evoked a bit of childlike whimsy by having some models carry ruffled pillows, like supersized sleepy time dolls, wearing tiered ruffle dresses with oversized floral rosettes. To me even the energy at Prada felt paper doll-esque, with bright clothing that was ruffled and frenetically styled as if tossed on by a kid in a toy shop who has the freedom to believe anything and everything works together.

It’s been predicted for some time now that twee would have a comeback. The fashion look, which was popular from the mid-2000s to mid-2010s, was inspired in large part by a 1960s mod look. Most will remember it by its childish quirk. Twee made peter pan collars, owl necklaces, and knee-high stockings—most often paired with shorts—hot. The rise of doll-like dressing feels like the precursor to the twee takeover. Even at Dario Vitale’s first collection for Versace you could see the inspiration of twee in the long beaded necklaces. They are not quite the chandelier necklaces of the 2010s…but they come awfully close.

And I really believe before we know it it’ll feel like we’re all walking around a dollhouse as the look catches on in the next couple months. Thankfully, I’ve already invested in my Marc Jacobs doll pumps for this moment.