I got acquainted with Bakhtier Kavrakov and his fashion label BAKHTIER while he was preparing his first "doll fashion parade" in Fourth Floor, one of the most famous showrooms of Moscow. Bakhtier worked with several well-known Russian fashion companies including Vassa and Denis Simachev, and now he has a label of his own - nevertheless he doesn't stop working with fashion professonals outside of his own brand. As far as I know, he's always like that - hard-working and dynamic, and very friendly and outgoing at the same time.

When Bakhter discovered Silkstone Barbie he understood that he found the best fashion doll model to suit his needs. He likes her vintage appeal, ultra-feminine features and her ability to play a lot of different roles. And no extra joints! "When the doll is highly articulated it seems to me that she is dismembered. The silhouette of the doll is important to me," he says. Many of the dolls that Bakhtier has in his collection are customized by Russian OOAK professionals, their hair is rerooted and faces repainted.

Unfortunately I couldn't see the first show that Bakhtier organized to present his first fashion collection for Silkstones. But in October 2010 I visited ART OF THE DOLL show in Manege, Moscow, and finally saw his dolls offline :) It's a pity that most of the people came to the show for OOAK art dolls and couldn't appreciate his exposition at its true value (as the fashion doll culture in Russia is at its beginning and people usually treat a fashion doll as a trivial toy - it's not One of a kind and "they look so similar, what's the point?") but fashion doll fans were impressed! Rarely do they get any treats like that in a country that's focused on unique art dolls. :)

Here are several pictures that I took during the show.

You can see more at Bakhtier's flickr http://www.flickr.com/people/bakhtierkavrakov/
The upcoming issue of DollReader/HauteDoll will contain a huge article about Bakhtier's fashions for Silkstone. I've seen one or two pictures that will be there, they're amazing.

One more thing that I'm looking forward to is BAKHTIER's own fashion doll. Bakhtier says it will be made of porcelain and unconventionally articulated :)