[3][better source needed] Mdvanii was conceived by the artist, collector, social figure,[4] and designer BillyBoy* whose involvement with nostalgic and antique dolls started at a young age.
He received press as early as 1978 [6][7][8][9] in notably France and other European countries and the US for his work as an artist and in high fashion which frequently mentioned his passion for dolls.
His book titled Barbie, Her Life and Times[12] was published in the US by Crown Publishers, accompanied by a world tour of a selection of his vintage and unique haute couturier dressed Barbie dolls called "BillyBoy* Le Nouveau Théatre de la Mode".
It was the first anatomically correct fashion doll with an adult (non-parody) storyline including homosexual, lesbian and bisexual personality traits.
[1][15] Shortly after the Barbie years, BillyBoy* invented Mdvanii as his own "fashion doll", this time not a commercially made toy, but an artistic creation.
[18] They use the same fabrics, embroideries and details as French fashion-makers: Lesage embroideries, Gripoix jewellery details, as well as stocks of fabrics from the collection of BillyBoy*, as Raoul Dufy printed silk satin made for Paul Poiret given to him by his daughter Perrine de Wilde (née Poiret), vintage 1940s Schiaparelli satin given to BillyBoy* by the defunct House of Schiaparelli, and a swatch of Sonia Delaunay painted silk given to BillyBoy* by Delaunay when he was a teen.
[citation needed] Mdvanii was humanly scaled with a right and left foot, was "anatomically correct",[18] a completely handmade and hand-painted doll.
The launch was tied-in with the premiere issue of Contemporary Doll Magazine[21] where one of the Mdvanii F.A.O Schwarz Exclusives[22] called Notre Dame was featured on the cover.
In New York City, at Bloomingdale's Mdvanii was shown during the "Vive La France" (1989) promotion, premiering for a gala to benefit The Institut Pasteur and Gay Men's Health Crisis and a display was made within the exhibition of 102 pieces of BillyBoy*'s haute couture collection.
In Canada for the same show of BillyBoy*'s haute couture collection and the debut of Mdvanii it was sold exclusively through the then House of Christian Dior designer Gianfranco Ferré establishment at Le Cours Mont-Royal in Montreal [25] Catalogues for both shows featured prominently Mdvanii and the wardrobe.
It had miniature artworks created by young contemporary artists and designers and boxed Deluxe Edition Giftset ensembles.
Later artists such as Duggie Fields, Jean Marc Dallenegra, Eric Raspaut and Fabrice Janosik[29] did paintings and photographers Antoine Giacomoni, Pierre Rutschi, Christine Spengler did images.
[30] Alexandre de Paris personally did detailed drawings for hairstyles and his logo, which was created by Jean Cocteau is placed on all Mdvanii boxes and catalogues.
Poet Gerard Wozek (US) has written extensive poems about Mdvanii and the family such as a teenage brother Muio-Bix and the emerging new poet Sunil Narayan, who is American and of Indian heritage has written classical poetry tomes to Soraya, Mdvanii's psychic Indian friend and brother, the Bollywood-inspired gay teenage boy called Ishwar.
[35] Mdvanii has had international press in a number of publications such as “Beautiful But No Bimbo: A Doll For The 1990s" [36] in The New York Times,Vogue, Vogue Hommes International, Harper's Bazaar [37] Elle, Glamour, Actuel (France),Playboy, ARTnews, The Sunday Times Magazine (Great Britain) and Paris, L'Officiel.
[15] In this article she is shown wearing couture clothes and haute joaillerie by jewelmakers such as Van Cleef and Arpels, Harry Winston, Boucheron and Cartier.
She is represented as the "L'Officiel Ambassadrice of French Haute Couture" (“Mdvanii, Mascot of Paris High Fashion”) and was available in a 1940s-inspired Liberty & Co. print outfit designed by BillyBoy* with a subscription through the magazine.
BillyBoy* did a series of portraits in black and white which feature Mdvanii and the other characters in her world in 1992–1993 and were shown in the FNAC photography galleries in Paris as well as the main cities of their spaces throughout France from 1993 to 1996.
[28] In 2008 Mdvanii had a brand of cigarettes distributed in Switzerland, flavoured with honey and licorice which came in a box marked "This Is A Work Of Art" and "Mdvaniiism de BillyBoy* & Lala".
The designers included: Bernard Sanz for Pierre Balmain, Sonia Rykiel, Myriam Schaefer for Nina Ricci prêt-à-porter, Michel Klein for Guy Laroche, Missoni, Givenchy Monsieur, Louis Féraud, Francesco Smalto, Walter Von Bierendonck, Stéphane Plassier, Lloyd Klein for The House of Grès, José Lévy, Claude Montana, Giorgio Armani, Paul Smith, Ozwald Boateng, Kenzo, Nuno Gama, Ricci Club (of the House of Nina Ricci), Josephus Thimister for Balenciaga and Dolce & Gabbana.
Watanabe explains that "in the first years of porcelain production, Mdvanii and her clan represented a myriad lifestyles but as the exploration of the artists continued, the world of Mdvanii delved deeper into the universe of the human psyche", embodied by the Intro Spectrum Collection of "ultra-visionary high fashion art dolls".
[55] In November 2006 - February, 2007, the exhibition “Mdvanii, Ceci n'est pas une poupée”[56][57] was presented at the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (Lausanne, Switzerland) and Musée de l’Elysée.
The 80-page exhibition catalogue was called simply "BillyBoy" & Lala" [33] and featured an interview between the curators and the artists speaking about Mdvanii as a conceptual art piece and her evolution.
The parody of this painting represents a cartoonish Warhol-like head with doll-like hair and a somewhat jaded cellphone-type message face replacing the features.
The work represented two futuristic dolls houses conceived by BillyBoy* modeled on his paintings and the designer created the interiors.
For 2011, there is work by Swiss photographer Frédéric Charrière which has been created in an extremely Deluxe Edition Giftset; a portfolio of original prints presented in a unique box made especially for the dressed Mdvanii doll.