Nigel Chia… hold on… hold on… I have just watched his videos again for like the millionth time, so I am literally catching my breath back. Cough, cough, splutter! 

What can we say about Nigel Chia? Nigel Chia makes some of the most beautiful makers videos on YouTube. I am not sure he would actually approve of me calling them “makers” videos. As frankly, his videos are probably closer to fine art.

I imagine Nigel Chia’s sock drawer is probably the most neatest, tidiest, most perfectly beautiful sock drawer on the planet. It probably has its own Instagram page with a million followers.

Nigel Chia is an absolute master of dress making, full stop. But no ordinary dress making. No Nigel Chia makes designer couture dresses for miniature doll super models.

When you have a video that has 16 millions views, you have pretty much won at YouTubing and probably life in general. That is basically the entire female population of a small country whose jaws are hitting the floor with excitement.

I love you Nigel. And I love Nigel’s YouTube channel icon. He is basically sitting surrounded by a dozen miniature super models all worshipping him. I’m sure in the real world a million real super models would love to get this close. And would love to have Nigel make them a real dress and dress them up.

Nigel is a master of making miniature couture fashion for beautiful miniature dolls he designs and makes himself. A true artist whose chosen canvas is wonderfully pretty doll models. He also works with real super models, making real designer wedding dresses and formal evening wear. But somehow I think the little plastic ladies are probably easier to deal with and less demanding.

Nigel will make you a miniature super model, wearing a miniature couture designer dress. And then he will hand make you a designer couture dress to match your miniature super model with the miniature couture dress. It’s at this point I realise it’s going to take the entire female population of small country to be able to afford one of Nigel Chia creations.

I’d be terrified to know exactly how much they cost. Not because Nigel wants to charge that. I can only imagine the length of the queue of the super, uber rich, screaming ladies, already biting his perfectly manicured, magic hands off, just get hold of one of his creations.

So we join Nigel in his trailer video, “I made BLACKPINK LALISA doll !” And one second in, I immediately notice his perfectly manicured finger nails. He even has shiny nails. How does he do that? I am going to type the rest of this review with my nose now, out of nail shame.

Nigel wastes no time at all and immediately starts selecting amazing fabrics and laying out his patterns. Nigel can’t waste any time because he has a million super rich divas trying to break down the door of his castle.

It is at this point I remember back to the many times I have had to sew something. Starting out feeling all confident, “I’ll just make a fun little dress” for it to very slowly, but very obviously turn into a pile of ugly fabric, pinched in weirdly and unflatteringly all over my bod. And Nigel has to do it all at extreme miniature scale!

Nigel is not messing around. Our fashion designer really knows his stuff. And is absolutely meticulous in every cut and pin and movement and stitch.

He matches the fabric against a hundred threads on his wall. Each one still perfect in its wrapper. He probably just buys new thread for each project. Thread that has been opened is used and dirty and not neat any more.

Only absolute perfection is acceptable for Nigel. We see him sewing beads, which I would totally screw up if I had to do that. But Nigel’s sewing is, of course, absolutely perfect. And then he uses the cutest tiny iron to press the fabric. Oh dear, his dolls have a much better lifestyle than me. They probably all live in mansions and only eat at the best places. Never put on any weight and get dressed up by Nigel every day.

Oh my goodness, I am so jealous of a doll! If Glenda could see me now, I know she’d be ashamed. Glenda was my Barbie as a kid. Unlike Nigel’s Barbie, Glenda dressed terribly,  lived in a shoe box and basically kept falling over and embarrassing herself every time she came out. But she did occasionally get to hang out with my brother’s action man. Which I think she appreciated.

Nigel Chia’s dolls don’t have men friends. There are basically no men dolls good enough for Nigel’s ladies.

After Nigel sews in his own designer label into his designer clothes, nice touch! We continue on with Nigel showing us all, really how talented he is. Not satisfied with being amazing at sewing in miniature scale, Nigel wants to make a crown for his little princess. These crowns are probably worth literally more than my house.

The doors are still holding of the castle as the super rich, super elite glitterati are still trying to beat their way in.

What this specific video doesn’t show us, is that Nigel actually makes the dolls himself. There are no dolls that exist on the planet that are perfect enough for Nigel. So he computer models and 3d prints his own doll ladies. Next he applies, what can only be described as absolutely perfect, flawless makeup to the luckiest pieces of plastic on the planet.

Why, why, why has Nigel not been given a million dollars by some makeup brand for an advert. Maybe he has, I hope he has. A million dollars sounds too cheap now actually, Nigel deserves more.

Then Nigel does some extreme nipple colouring with a very soft makeup brush. I’m sure every woman watching at that precise moment, flinched a little. Does that service come with the purchase of a doll I wonder?

Sorry Glenda, but next Nigel shapes and cuts up the perfect little doll model wig into an absolute coiffed perfection. Does this man have no end to his talents seriously? I don’t think I once combed Glenda’s hair. In fact, I think it was mostly full of jam, the entire time, from a donut I was eating, literally as I was unboxed her.

A little digging and it turns out our Nigel actually studied as a vet. A vet! Can you imagine if he hadn’t changed his mind and kept going with the animals. We’d be currently watching a Malaysian man dressing up cows and sheep in designer frocks, with beautiful long flowing locks. So the dolls was probably the better idea. Well done Nigel Chai.

Next, Nigel shows us he isn’t finished yet with his endless box of magic talents. He’s only building a dream set for his super model mini model doll. Unfortunately he is not building a deluxe shoe box, which would have put me in better standing again with Glenda. But no Nigel’s ladies need a golden, super throne with cushions.

Finally, our miniature super model is dressed by Nigel. No bra, she doesn’t need one, of course, huff! Shoes, jewellery, crown, diamonds, cushions, a throne and flowers in her hair. Forget the dolls, how much for you to just dress me Nigel? Oh, all the money in 2 small countries, OK, maybe not!

What we don’t learn from this video is that Nigel actually even makes his own designer shoes for his designer dolls. I imagine that must be difficult. He must have the best eyes and steadiest hands in Malaysia. Even the miniature designer shoes have a miniature designer zip on the back!

She is finally presented with a beautiful set that can only be described as… can you guess… yes perfect again. Is there any part of Nigel’s life that is not perfect. I nearly thought about Nigel having old dirty plates that need washing up, next to his sink. But then I felt so dirty for even thinking that.

Nigel finishes on some amazing shots of his model dressed absolutely amazingly. And I love the shot of him holding the models hand as if presenting a real model and outfit to the world. That was lovely I liked that bit.

Even the end pose of the doll, sitting in her throne, is absolutely wonderful. What class Nigel is. Smart, sophisticated and wow, how can we even describe someone with this much talent?

There is no one else like Nigel Chia. He is not one in a million, he is one on the planet. Thank you so much Nigel for letting us into your amazing world. I certainly am not worthy. This does feel like, not so long ago, Nigel would have only been seen by the super, super rich and we would have not even known that he exists.

After watching a load of Nigel’s videos, it does actually start to feel strange to keep calling them dolls. They really are not even close to that. They truly are models, and I don’t mean just in the statue way. I mean Nigel creates designer dresses for true fashion models. And he is truly a very talented fashion designer.

Please watch Nigel’s videos. This trailer video is absolutely stunning. But all his videos are and like I said, this man’s talents are in a class of their own.

Hopefully Nigel Chia is achieving all of the goals he has set himself. He deserves every success he gets. What a talent he has and what a luxury it is to even just watch his videos.

Good luck with all your future endeavours Nigel, but more importantly good luck holding back that massive hoard of super rich ladies, trying to get to your beautiful creations.

Right, maybe Glenda’s been living in that suitcase, in the loft for a bit too long. I suppose I could fashion her a dress from a black bin bag or something. Maybe a tin foil crown. Hopefully she won’t wake up in the middle of the night and poke my eyes out with a lollipop stick. Maybe she should stay in the suitcase. I’ll just throw in my son’s old action man.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment below.

Jane's Best Of YouTube Makers