Tartan Craze a Hommes Collection

I've been talking about this project for a while, and now, finally, I'm ready to present you the complete Tartan Craze collection!

Let's go with 20th Century Fox's  fanfare!!!!

I had to stop at some point as I still have several more ideas, but now with springtime finally coming by I have to move on to something else!
First of all let me show you some of the sources of inspiration for this collection:
Ragandbones, Moschino, AuJourLeJour and Valentino's collection from 2013! (I haven't been able to identify the fourth picture, any ideas?)

The thing that impressed me most while preparing the collection is the versatility of the tartan fabric for hommes fashions, from ultra casual, sport and formal, tartan adds a great accent to every style!

What is missing from this collection are formal suits, but as I'm planning a collection  of formal outfits I will sew at least a couple of them (with a  complete tutorial) next fall.

Having trumpeted this collection so much I also took some time to put together some decent pictures, here are the boys on the catwalk (Note: Nicola is wearing in fact a Prince of Whales , but in scale looked more like tartan):

Enrico, Taddeo, Sebastiano

Armando, Bartolomeo, Giacomo

Carlo, Nicola, Goffredo

Ever since I sew the first suit in this collection I envisioned a "Highlands lookbook" for the guys. Scotland is one of the (several) places I haven't visited yet, and Sasha's pictures are on film, so I had to draw upon stock pictures from the internet as backdrops. I believe these are the perfect setting for the collection!

Highlands Lookbook

Lords of the manor, our Supermodels:

Sebastiano (Valentino) Carlo (AuJourLeJour)

The most elegant dudes of the house in casual outfits

Taddeo (Original Billa) Armando (Unknown)

The trendies ones

Bartolomeo (Moschno) Enrico (RagAndBones)

Classic Brit Giacomo - Goffredo can't resist wearing a tie, even in the middle of nothing

Giacomo - Goffredo (Original Billa)

Sunset on the manor, a pensive Nicola ponders about his upcoming visit to Dublin and the girls he shall meet there

Nicola (Original Billa)

I look forward to hear which is your favourite style and picture!
Kisses Billa

Off to Madagascar!!!!!!

Vacation time! Sasha and I will be off for a forthnight to Madagascar. We have planned  a nice tour of the northern part of the island:

We hope to see a lot of great landscapes, some wild nature, and take a plunge in the Indian Ocean!

It looks like we are not going to see any penguings thoug.

"You didn't see anything... Right?"

I'm  leaving you with a teaser of the tartan craze collection (I DID IT!  This is just a teaser: the complete collection counts 8 different outfits)

Armando's new mustaches:

This lovely kitchen my mom gave me for Easter (oven and fridge are missing, but I'm not into complete dioramas, you know, just settings, and this is perfect for the girl's needs):

The misterious "guy with no name", who  arrived yesterday:

Odette and Carlo are ready to go!

Sorry sweethearts, no outdoors adventures for IT dolls. You'll be added in postproduction, as usual!!!

I will see you all on the 24th of April!

Kisses Billa

Extra: Some of the guys get a face enhancement

I wasn't 100%  satisfied with the faceup of some of the guys, so I checked all the available internet resources  and found out I had just what I needed:
Caran D'Ache Prismalo Aquarelle Pencils! In fact I have a huge box I used for coloring some of my drawings some time ago.

By the way a sample of my drawings (these are illustrations for a short novel I wrote a couple of years ago for my nephews):

       

       

so, I picked the colours I needed, sharpened the pencils and with patience started working on the guys.

I damped the tip of the pencil with mi tongue, ok, this is not ladylike, but I did it anyway and these are the results:

Goffredo has got his new mustaches

Enrico had such a bland coloring, now with his new lips I think he's really handsome

Armando got mustaches and lip enhancement

Giacomo has got freckles!!!

As with hair styling I limit myself to little touches, just to have the dolls look exactly how I envisioned them when I bought them.

What do you think?