For most fashion designers putting together a retrospective, gathering together their best pieces and displaying them on life-sized manequins is enough.

But not so for Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, who have created a retrospective that could make them as famous for creating dolls as for their fashions.

The Dutch designers have spent the last year and a half overseeing the creation of dolls, each wearing a painstakingly scaled-down version of one of their noteworthy catwalk looks. And because Viktor & Rolf's creations have never been straightforward, neither was the job of recreating the details at a fraction of their original size.

All the dolls' outfits are haute couture, inspired by their designs over the years, ranging from a show in 1999, when the pair dressed a model on stage in around 10 layers to make her look like a Russian doll, to 'Atomic Bomb', a show where models wore dresses with mushroom cloud necklines.

The exhibition is an inspiring and entertaining journey through their careers, click on the video above to take a look.

The showcase The House of Viktor & Rolf, runs until September 21 at the Barbican Art Gallery (www.barbican.org.uk/art gallery )

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