Fondation Tanagra - Art Mode Culture - Draw Me a Barbie

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^{Please,Draw Me}

^A Barbie^Doll

Some of the wonderful creations of haute couturiers and fashion designers amongst the many hundreds that were created for the BillyBoy* Theatre de la Mode which extensively toured France and the USA.

BillyBoy* was not only the first designer to have his name on the box of a Barbie doll, but he designed the absolute first Barbie doll box which showed and made reference to her history and collectibility.

It is greatly thanks to the friendly help and support of Bettina and Yves Saint Laurent that the wonderful project of the BillyBoy* Nouveau Théatre de la Mode became a worldwide success so immediately.

Yves Saint Laurent, the King of Paris Fashion wrote this intimate text about Barbie recognizing how BillyBoy*'s project with Barbie personally touched him.

Three of Yves Saint Laurent's classics amongst the many he made just for BillyBoy*, which included also a doll's house designed by Jacque Granges, YSL's private decorator and the man who decorated the YSL house of high fashion on Blvd. Monceau in Paris.

Yvonne Deslandres, Curator of the Decorative Arts Museum of Paris, in the Louvre museum, was not only a friend and mentor but she proclaimed to be his "spiritual mother". She was considered the Diana Vreeland of Paris and founded the U.F.A.C, (the Union Française d'Arts du Costume) there, which is the Costume Institute of the Louvre. It was she who included over 200 pieces of BillyBoy*'s earliest fashion work into the Louvre Museum. Here she wrote a magnificent text celebrating BillyBoy*'s project with Barbie.

President of the French Federation of Haute Couture, Pret-à-Porter, Couturiers and Creators of Fashion, Jacques Mouclier, was a friend of BillyBoy* who completely supported BillyBoy*'s promotion of the Paris tradition with this text. This was at a time when some of the press was declaring "haute couture is dead". It was far from the case, though it'd "die" about thirty years later when Monsieur Saint Laurent would pass away.

Pat Hackett, the Warhol associate who loosely transcribed her conversations with Warhol later published as his "diaries" wrote the above for BillyBoy* and the acclaimed French poet and great friend to BillyBoy* Yves Navarre, the first openly gay male winner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt wrote this poem about Barbie especially for BillyBoy* on May 13th, 1985. The two had an on-going correspondence for many years.

"Was BillyBoy* Barbie's Be-Atch?"

Diane Vreeland, the mentor of BillyBoy* wrote this to BillyBoy* on June 12th, 1985. They had an on-going correspondence for decades, long before email!

More about Barbie and BillyBoy* on this site:

Homage to Yves Saint Laurent

and Sumiko Watanabe Japan

More about Andy Warhol and BillyBoy*

Edward J. Koch, Mayor of New York City and friend to BillyBoy* wrote this letter to him on June 11th, 1985.

Official press photo by Mattel of the BillyBoy* New Theater of Fashion (American Tour). Shown with a selection of the dolls made by the most famous American designers, BillyBoy* sports an Alexandre de Paris wig, made just for him for the occasion and a Stephen Plassier marblized silk suit the designer created for just for him.

A world acclaim

Strangely, when the BillyBoy* “Nouveau Théatre de la Mode” Exhibition was ready to tour France in a train and then later America, featuring all the exciting creations of the world’s most famous couturiers and designers, these prototypes were not shown. BillyBoy* at the time still had the idea to convince Mattel to produce some of these creations and wanted to keep them aside.

These prototypes equal in style some of the best creations by couturiers and designers made for BillyBoy* at the time and featured in his book, “Barbie, Her Life and Times” (Crown Publishers, New York, 1988). Many designers and couturiers creations, which were delivered after the printing of the book have not even been seen or published yet, as of 2013. The BillyBoy* prototypes for Barbie are more generally sophisticated and obviously aimed at a more adult audience, and it is also evident that it would be a different story to actually execute some of them in mass-production. They nonetheless were premonitory in the way that Barbie did become more fashion-oriented, more adult-oriented, more collector-oriented, with much better made clothing and accessories when BillyBoy*’s message was eventually perceived as a real money-making thing. The rest of the story is known.

These BillyBoy* prototypes for Barbie combine authentic haute couture fabrics with amazing fashion details. At the time, Mattel said they were too lavish to produce and that there would be too small a market for such extravagant dolls. Since this era however, more than 20 years later, they were able to make equally as lavish dolls for collectors, all thanks to BillyBoy*.

The last pop icon painted by Warhol

Barbie biographies

As a true visionary and inspired designer, BillyBoy* influenced not only the doll business industry, but also the doll community and collectible market. Not only through his remarkable work on Barbie and the phenomenal promotion generated by the touring exhibition of the BillyBoy* “Nouveau Théatre de la Mode” in France and America, the success of his Barbie book but also a few years later, the incredible innovations brought by Mdvanii, his own doll, which he created basically out of desire to express his ideas fully. It is very interesting to study these prototypes as an anticipation of his work to come on Mdvanii, regardless on how different Mdvanii and Barbie were in conception and aims. Barbie doll, as well as other fashion doll collectors of today have a great debt to BillyBoy* and his incredible initiative, perseverance and vision. Strangely also, these were the very, very first "make over" dolls the world was to have, a BillyBoy*-influenced phenomenon that would be an important part of the late 1990s doll collector's community.

On another level one cannot also forget that Andy Warhol himself made Barbie’s portrait on the suggestion of BillyBoy*. In fact, Andy had zero interest in Barbie but softened to her due to his friendship for BillyBoy*. BillyBoy* was not very interested in having his own portrait done by Warhol, he’d rather have one of Barbie since at the time he jokingly paraphrased Flaubert’s remark ....”Barbie, c’est moi! ” (instead of “Madame Bovary, c’est moi”). Besides that, more seriously BillyBoy* considered Barbie as an American icon and since Andy had portrayed all the other American icons of glamour, such as Marilyn Monroe and Liz Taylor, it made sense to include Barbie. He made the portrait exclusively as a gift to him and offered him the first one, which he made in “BillyBoy* Blue”. Andy Warhol christened it, "Portrait of BillyBoy*", taking literally what BillyBoy* had said to him. Many friends of BillyBoy* - artists, designers, musicians and writers- paraded through his studio - “ohhing and ahhing” - all finding it very amusing. Warhol mentions in his Diaries that "Barbie has a problem". Thanks to BillyBoy*, he was commissioned by Mattel to make a Barbie portrait, which he also mentions in his Diaries and he explains thow much he dislikes her open mouth smile.

For Barbie's 50th anniversary, The Editions Assouline in Paris have published a luxury book glorifying Barbie as a glamour icon, in which Warhol's famous quote "I love plastic" is blatantly used out of context as if it was said about Barbie. They surprisingly use a pink version of his Barbie painting, which does not exist; why, we cannot understand (there are to be three versions of this Barbie/BillyBoy* portrait, one in blue, one in red owned by Mattel and an hypothetic one in yellow, but there is no trace of it anywhere). Unfortunately, this book doesn't mention BillyBoy*'s name even once, while each one and every picture of make-over Barbie styled by designers and artists is entirely BillyBoy*'s heritage.

Indeed, in spite of the fact that many books on fashion dolls or Barbie published the last twenty years acknowledge BillyBoy*’s influence, one can deplore that some official Mattel Barbie biographies until today omit to mention his name and pass under silence his whole work for Barbie. This narrative went as far as to imply that Oscar de La Renta was the first designer name linked to Barbie with the boxed Barbie doll ensembles bearing his name, while they in fact came nearly a year after the BillyBoy* “Nouveau Theatre de la Mode” Barbie, and BillyBoy* was indeed the first designer name linked to Barbie and written on the box. One can only acknowledge such an injustice, that nothing can justify and which I personally find shocking. Politics are one thing, truth and facts are another.

These charming and unique Barbie prototypes were locked in trunks for more than fifteen years and were never opened until recently when BillyBoy* decided to see them again and loan some of them to the Fondation Tanagra's permenant collection, of which he is one on the founders. These historic pieces will with no doubt find their place in the history that discerning collectors will be knowledgable about now.

It was with a great pleasure that we saw them for the first time, all so fresh after all these years and it is also a great satisfaction to know that they will start a new life on this website and hopefully bring pleasure to other people all over the world. In the meantime, BillyBoy* had created Mdvanii and all his other dolls, and manage to express himself freely, or at least, learn by himself, the difficult steps to create a fashion doll and a true work of art. A task in which I completely involved myself with passion and confidence, in spite of all the difficulties and hard work.

But that is another story.

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