Avery Trufelman

Clothiers were sending out dolls to wealthy families and royal circles way before the first fashion magazine came out in the late 1700s.

So the Chambers and Decaux decided to use dolls again.

They reached out to fashion houses like Balenciaga and Nina Ricci and Hermes, and they each volunteered to create an outfit or two.

The project was organized as a fundraiser for war refugees and victims.

But it was also an advertising campaign, marketing the concept of French chic.

The collection of 228 fashion dolls would be called the Théâtre de la mode, the theater of fashion.

And they would be sent to the major cities across Europe and eventually America.

And each showing would announce to the world that the couture houses in France were still in business.

That Paris was still the capital of glamour and luxury.

Even though the city barely had power.

And, okay, so I keep calling them dolls, but I'm wrong.

They are not technically dolls.

This is collections manager Anna Goodwin, showing me some of the Teatro de la Mode mannequins.

These mannequins were sculpted by the artist Eliane Bonnabel, and they are works of art in and of themselves.

They were intentionally made with wire limbs on those blank plaster faces so that they would have no personality of their own.

They look like sketchbook drawings brought to life.

The wire limbs look like 3D brush marks.

The focus is obviously supposed to be on the impeccable clothes.

Like this dress Anna showed me in storage.

These are not doll clothes.