TOSHI SALVINO: I am a living art doll and I am in a full doll look. It feels very good. I really feel like myself.
TOSHI SALVINO: My name is Toshi Salvino, I am 24 years old and I live in Brooklyn, New York.
And I am a living art doll.
TOSHI SALVINO: And this is Sterling. He is actually a doll.
COMM: Dolls are everything in Toshi’s life. So much so that for the past six years she has gradually been turning
herself into one.
TOSHI SALVINO: I think my look is really, it’s about self-expression and I like being a doll because that means
I can do whatever I want that day. I am pretty much using my body as the canvas
to express how I am feeling.
TOSHI SALVINO: This is the hardest part of my day, this eyeliner. It’s turning so much curvy. My hands are shaking.
TOSHI SALVINO: So when I am doing my full look, I like to plan out three hours for outfit and hair and makeup
and everything. So, I wear this type of makeup probably five or six days a week. But definitely the standard,
which is kind of, kind of what I am doing today, which is like, blue and pink shadow and I am going to do some
freckles and the big eyes. I really like that because that I feel like it’s just how my face looks in my head.
COMM: As a child Toshi found her kindred spirits in Japanese fashion magazines.
TOSHI SALVINO: I remember I was like, 9 years old or something and I found Fruits Magazine. And then I was
like, ‘Oh, my god!’ Like, there are people that dress like me.’ So, like seeing that as a kid like, really made me be
like, ‘It’s okay! Keep doing what you are doing. There’s someone else out there who gets it’. And, so ever since
then like Japan and Harajuku fashion has been super important to me.
COMM: Toshi has recently taken her transformation to become a living art doll even further.
TOSHI SALVINO: My tattoos, I wanted them for a very long time and they are, aesthetically they are doll joints
on the knees with screw hinges, which is really meaningful to me, obviously my whole like living doll
style is appropriate. But also I have Lyme disease, which is kind of like having arthritis in your entire body.
And the thing that affects me the most and is the most painful and probably the most hindering besides my
hands, is my knees. So I feel like the screw through the knee is an accurate representation of how it feels sometimes.
TOSHI SALVINO: So after getting the tattoos I feel like even with no makeup I can still carry on my doll persona
regardless, whereas in the past I wouldn’t really feel like myself without having makeup on.
TOSHI SALVINO: Where I am from in Pennsylvania, in the middle of nowhere like, you know, it was always,
‘Tone it down, tone it down. Why are you doing that? Why are you dressed that way?’ But it’s so normal to look
alternative in New York. So that’s honestly one of my favourite things. Yeah! They respect it, which is really a nice feeling.
JULIANA: She is fantasy. She is what we want to see in the world. It’s all so dreary. So when you meet someone
like her you want to hold her, you want to hold on because she’s just a light and it’s wonderful to have that in our lives.
ALEXANDRA ABENE: Yeah, especially in New York where everybody is like, I mean look at me,
everywhere is all black all the time.
JULIANA: Everyone wears all black.
ALEXANDRA ABENE: Literally, me. So to see something like that is like so exciting.
TOSHI SALVINO: So what I like most about looking otherworldly, that’s how I feel. I like to, kind of, bring other
people into my like imaginary world with me and I am glad that I can do that through putting stuff on my face.
TOSHI SALVINO: I am a hairstylist in real life, as I like to say. I wanted to go to art school but that wasn’t in the
cards. So I went to Cosmetology school and it’s been like the best decision ever. Our clients are all awesome,
interesting people in their own right too.
REBECCA FAYE: The vibe of the salon is why she, you know, came to us because it’s just full of art, beauty,
glitter and you know, I mean lots of hair colour and toys. So it suited her. She could be herself here, you know.
I just let her do her thing.
TOSHI SALVINO: I absolutely love being a hairstylist because like if I didn’t become a hairstylist,
I would just be some weird hermit, recluse artist, like painting alone with cats or something.
Nothing wrong with that but I like to make the colourful magic happen.
TOSHI SALVINO: If a little kid sees me and they think that I am a fairy and they think fairies are real,
then that makes me so happy. Yeah, I just kind of want to prove like, you can do whatever you want to and be confident.
MAN: I was amazed at the colouring and the actual artwork and her hair and everything. It’s just beautiful.
But just the way she looks and the way she carries herself, right away, it just put a smile on your face.
It makes the day beautiful.
TOSHI SALVINO: How would I define my look? I would like to say that I am mix up of whimsical fairy-tale,
Harajuku fashion that stemmed from Goth and is running into neon lights leaving a trail of glitter
because I do that, really.