blytheI was never a Barbie girl. I was never one for dinky dolls; I liked life-sized toys that you could pretend were real friends.

I put it down to being practically an only child, as my sister is nine years older and by the time I was a toddler she was far more interested in experimenting with punk boyfriends than playing at house with me.

Whether it was because of this, or because my mother thought the doll was too spooky looking to introduce to her child, I hadn’t heard of Blythe until a girl in my university bar tried to convince me that she existed. “A doll with an over-sized head and huge eyes, which wears the latest fashions? Someone get that girl an orange juice to clear the drugs out of her system!”

But the girl wasn’t hallucinating, as I discovered years later when I came across an article all about Blythe’s revival, thanks to the Japanese love of kitsch. Photographer Gina Garan relaunched the doll with a set of beautiful photographs, which appeared in Vogue Nippon for 12 consecutive months in 2011. Designers who created Blythe’s outfits for the project included John Galliano, Prada, Sonia Rykiel and Vivienne Westwood.

Now gorgeous shoe brand Irregular Choice has designed a whole collection around the diminutive doll. The shoes are going to be available from September from the Irregular Choice website and boutiques across the globe. I’m still not convinced I’d like a Blythe in the house – the eyes appear to follow you everywhere – but I’m sure there’s a whole generation of girls who will embrace Irregular Choice’s homage to the plastic fashion star.