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Théâtre
de la Mode Introduction by Susan Train, Condé
Nast Publications Paris Bureau Chief
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 Théâtre de la Mode takes you to Paris, France, in the 1940s where you feel the emotions and realities of the war. A series of historical essays tell the story of couturiers, set designers, milliners, shoe and glove makers, jewelry designers and other artisans joining together to create a show of their fashions in miniature. Nina Ricci’s son Robert first conceived the idea as a way to showcase Paris’ fashion industry while raising money for war victims. The 27" tall dolls and their sets toured major cities of Europe and the United States, beginning in Paris and ending in 1946 in San Francisco. There, after the exhibit closed, jewels worn by the dolls were sent back to France, the sets were presumably destroyed, and the dolls disappeared into storage in the basement of the City of Paris Department Store. Rescued in 1952, the dolls were donated to a new museum, Maryhill Museum of Art in southern Washington. The original book was written for the 1990 opening of the exhibit of the "lost dolls." After Stanley Garfinkel, a professor from Kent State University, first discovered their existence and they were sent back to Paris for renovation, the sets were rebuilt and the show opened at its original location, the Pavillon Marsan at the Louvre. The book was translated to English when the exhibition opened at the Metropolitan Muesum of Art in New York, but has been out of print since 1991.
Now, for the First Time, Lovers of
Couture Pati Palmer has loved the dolls since visiting them at Maryhill as a young girl. She has introduced them again and again to attendees of The Palmer/Pletsch Couture Workshop, who have been visiting the dolls at Maryhill since the mid-1990s. While there, she learned that Maryhill had hopes of resurrecting the book and Palmer/Pletsch, being a publisher, decided to do it...if the new version could be an enhancement of the old by including photos of the re-built sets and larger photos of the 170 dolls so designers and sewers could see the details. This new book has all that and more. Recent history has been added including the licensing by the Tonner Doll Co. of re-creations of some of the Théâtre outfits on their limited edition dolls.
Théâtre
de la Mode was adopted by the United Federation of Doll
Clubs If you love couture, check this book:
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