Barbie’s hard to pin down.
On the one hand, her figure is an idea, merely a design of an ideal: a pin up girl, a sassy comic book call girl. Modeled after Bild Lilli, a gag gift for men, she has been reinvented but still maintains her bombshell figure. In recent years, Barbie has come of age in more realistic shapes, that reflects the sizing of our population in the fashion industry: petite, curvy (plus), tall, and petite.
Even more recently, Barbie has been re-fashioned by DIYers for quarantine times!
Though I grew up when Barbie had a friendlier face—her pert nose had rounded out probably to match the volume of her hair—I had missed the original ’59 face by a few decades. With her lids half closed and power combo of cat-eye eyeliner and powder blue eyeshadow, this girl had a sultry look reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot. Her original inspiration was Bild Lilli, a sassy call girl, a German comic book character: gold digging pin-up girl with an attitude.
Over the years she’s become a chameleon, a social and cultural template, an effort to portray social progress in a commercial format. The story of Barbie seems to be a former pin up’s metamorphosis into an It Girl. Since her origins as call girl, she’s amassed a number of careers from nurse to doctor, to the more glamorous, the fashion editor, secretary to president, and—wait a minute, back to secretary. She’s come in the style of pop cultural icons, David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust and more recently, Elton John.
In Montreal summer of 2019, I happened upon the Barbie Expo, a permanent collection at Les Cours Mont Royal, an upscale mall. My favorite dolls were designed by Byron Lars, an African-American fashion designer born in Oakland, where I now reside. And the playful fun of TokiDoki, an Italian fashion label bearing a Japanese meaning “sometimes.” The sheer luxury and ornate materials and styling of the dolls were beautifully inventive. I also loved the rocker chic of the Hard Rock Cafe branded dolls. Hover over the image to identify who she is or is representing.
I couldn’t be more wowed at the sheer variety of these glamorous doll figurines: either decked in iconic designer fashions or a facsimile of pop culture idols past and present. From national costumes to iconic stars and looks of various decades and design houses, the Expo was expansive and a real visual treat. I can say, for Barbie, it was phenomenal.
over Elizabeth Taylor, there’s a new Cleopatra in town! ‘Kidding!
Disappointed by this petite Barbie Fashionista’s ’80s attire, this digital DIYer decided to borrow Elizabeth Taylor’s costume.