Matryoshkas fascinated me from a very tender age. We had a few sets of matryoshka dolls in the house and I loved pulling them apart one after the other to see what they hid inside them. I also used to be amazed by the elaborate details painted on each doll that usually wore a sarafan dress and a scarf with floral motifs. Matryoshkas date from 1890 and are said to have been inspired by souvenir dolls from Japan. Experts are able to recognise the different styles of matryoshkas developed in different villages: for example the colours of the matryoshkas of Polkhovsky Maidan are brighter and more expressive than the colours of the matryoshkas of Semionovo. 
In more recent years I have often seen matryoshka dolls portraying politicians, footballers and even movie stars, but I hadn’t yet seen fashion-themed matryoshkas, at least until Vogue Russia launched a series featuring 31 dolls made by famous designers to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the magazine.
The idea came to Russian Vogue editor-in-chief Aliona Doletskaya who asked various designers to dress up the traditional nesting dolls in their exclusive creations. 
Russian craftsmen then hand-painted the dolls according to the designers’ sketches. The cylindrical shape of the dolls was slightly altered: the waist was narrowed and the height was increased to give a slightly less portly figure to the matryoshkas.
In some cases genuine fashionistas will immediately be able to spot the author of the matryoshkas: a few dolls such as those designed by Burberry, Roberto Cavalli or Emilio Pucci, sport the trademark colours or prints of the fashion house, others instead wear creations directly inspired by the most recent collections of the designers who styled them. 
This is the case with the dolls created for example by Prada, Yves Saint Laurent and Versace that wear dresses resembling the creations from the Autumn/Winter 2008-09 collections. 
The most ironic matryoshkas are definitely those ones designed by Martin Margiela (an all-white doll wearing black sunglasses to preserve the maison’s anonymity), the punkish doll designed by Giles decorated with a series of metal studs, Antonio Marras’ version covered in fabric and resembling a romantic and haute couture incarnation of the Sardinian "mamutones" and Moschino that turned the doll into a lamp, mixing functionality, modernity and tradition. 
The dolls will be auctioned on Thursday 20th December and the proceeds will go to the Northern Crown Foundation that supports organisations that help children deprived of parental care.
Larisa Soloviova and Marina Marder, authors of a great book about Russian matryoshkas divided the development of this type of dolls into three periods. Maybe from now on there will be a fourth division entitled the "fashionable matryoshka period".
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