New York based artist and illustrator Andrew Yang has been creating haute couture fashion rag dolls for leading design houses since 2008. His latest project, Couture Dolls, is a collection of five exquisite dolls, cut from a pattern, sewn into muslin, and meticulously stuffed and attached by hand. The faces are all hand painted, and the dresses are created using luxurious fabrics and couture sewing methods.
Andrew spent his childhood in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he grew up around his mother's collection of Madame Alexander dolls and eventually acquired his own collection of high-end fashion dolls. His hobby was put on hold when he moved to New York to pursue fashion, an industry he worked in as an assistant designer for several years.
" I did not know my career in fashion would lead to a career in dolls, but one day I began to play with my own work, and that was the day that many successes opened up for me. After my first few dolls, a chance meeting led to an appointment at the Vogue offices, where Anna Wintour brought my work to the attention of Barneys NY. At the same time, through the wonders of the digital era, Joyce Boutique in Hong Kong commissioned me for their 40th anniversary.
This led to my work being shown in Showstudio in London, doing a charity collaboration with Mo&Co where the sales of my work contributed to the opening of two schools in central China, opening the Fukuoka Barneys Japan store, and being invited as the first American artist to create the puppets for the legendary Christmas displays of Galeries Lafayette Paris. The journey has been wild and fun and I'm looking forward to more exciting projects along the way."
~~~ Andrew Yang
Boutique Dolls
