 Barbie
In a 1950s West German tabloid comic strip, there lived a buxom
blonde character named 'Lili'. She was very popular in two dimensions,
so it figured that three dimensions - especially given those
hip/waist/chest measurements - would suit her as well. Thus Lili
stepped off the page and became a small doll, but with her heavy
makeup and suggestive wardrobe, she wasn't for kids. Instead of toy
stores, she lined the shelves at adult novelty shops, and became a
popular gag gift that men would give to each other at bachelor
parties.
In the US, meanwhile, Ruth Handler (the co-founder,
with her husband Elliott, of a fledgling toy company called Mattel)
watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls and baby dolls . .
. and pondered. What about a doll that served as more of a role model
for a little girl? What about a doll that was built to look decidedly
older than its owner - a change of pace from all the infants
and young children who colonized doll world?
Borrowing from fraulein Lili's physique, Ruth and
Elliott turned Ruth's ideas into a reality, and introduced their
brunette Barbie doll at New York's Toy Fair in 1959. Her full name was
"Barbie Millicent Roberts" by the way, and her first name honored
the
Handlers' daughter. Barbie was billed as a teenage fashion model - she
was dressed in a black and white one-piece bathing suit and pumps, her
ponytail swirled, her eyes glanced sideways and her brows arched. And
her figure? Well, as the comic books would have said "va-va-voom!".
But alas, reviews were mixed. Girls loved Barbie, but
their concerned mothers, used to the sight of their daughters cradling
little baby dolls and pushing them around in strollers, thought her
much too sophisticated (read: she had big breasts).
So in response to this wringing of hands, Mattel
promised in the savviest of advertising campaigns that owning a Barbie
would help a girl mature into a well-adjusted, elegant young lady -
that Barbie was the perfect paradigm for what little girls should want
to grow up to be. She had traffic-stopping looks, apparent wealth and
she was always the center of plenty of attention. A teensy
superficial, you say? Oh, save the high-mindedness for Snakes and
Ladders. This is Barbie we're talking about, and it's all in good doll
fun.
Long-time Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson
didn't let Barbie stay in that black and white bathing suit for long,
and the early 1960s found Our Bodacious Beloved in ensembles such as
the 'Gay Parisian' and 'Easter Parade' - inspired by Paris runway
couture.
A bit later, when Jackie Kennedy was exerting her
sense of fashion class, Barbie's wardrobe followed the First Lady's
lead. Her ponytail gave way to a chin-length Dutch-boy, and there was
pink satin abound. Her boyfriend Ken, who was named after the
Handlers' son, glided suavely onto the scene - a half-inch taller than
his sweetie, and available with brown or blonde hair.
Soon though, to take some of the wind out of those sex
symbol allegations, Mattel introduced Midge, Barbie's cherub-faced
best friend, and Skipper, her wholesome little sister. In 1964,
Barbie's eyes opened and closed for the first (and last) time, and in
1965, new Barbie dolls stood (and walked now!) on legs that
bent. She shimmied around in colorful mod outfits during the late
60s, wearing that British Invasion fashion influence on her sleeve and
everywhere else. Her newly made-over face looked more youthful, her
hair longer, cosmetics softer and more natural, and her new Twist 'N
Turn torso finally allowed her to sit down and take a load off. And
boy, did she need to, because she spent many a night shaking her
plastic thing out on the dance floor with her very first celebrity
pal, a doll named Twiggy - based on the eponymous real-life model. In
1968, the Talking Barbie hit the scene - girls just pulled the string
at the back of Barb's neck to hear six cheery Barbie phrases.
Through the 1970s, Barbie's fashion scheme was a grab
bag of trends - trends that could only be produced by a unique decade
indeed. Inside that grab bag were disco glam, a 'prairie' look, a
'granny' dress and a beach bag full of sunny California casual-wear.
New inductees to the product line included Malibu Barbie and Growin'
Pretty Hair Barbie, which boasted a magic ponytail which an owner
could pull out if long tresses were so desired. Barbie also became the
proud new owner of bendable wrists, elbows, and ankles - thank
goodness, too, because Mattel launched a very aggressive Olympic Games
tie-in campaign in 1975 and 1976, wherein the Gold Medal Dolls (a
skier, a gymnast, a skater, etc.) paraded proudly onto toy shelves
everywhere.
 If
you didn't go in for jock types, there was also a collection of new
career Barbies who punched that figurative toy clock as doctors,
nurses, ballerinas and flight attendants - all appropriately outfitted
and accessorized, of course! There were more developments in the
facial feature department too. Now her eyes looked straight ahead,
instead of coyly off to one side, and the debut of 1977s Superstar
Barbie showed a friendlier smile and brighter, more cheerfully painted
eyes. Ms. Superstar had to look extra nice, because when she
pranced and twirled on that plastic catwalk (via her lucky owner's
remote control), jaws dropped to the floor in envy.
By the 1980s, those little girls who owned the very
first Barbies were all grown up. And as grown-ups, they had two
things: disposable income and a longing to reconnect with the
innocence and frill of their youths. Mattel brilliantly tapped into
both, and in 1986, issued the Blue Rhapsody Barbie in all her
porcelain glory. At this point, collecting Barbies as a hobby (and
sometimes, as an obsession) began in earnest. The hardcore Barbie
devotees had been hoarding the "play line" all along (that's the
technical name for all that the wondrous loot found in that wondrous
pink packaging, by the way), but now, both these old-timers and the
wave of new collectors had special edition dolls to get their hands
on.
Two particularly impressive consumer flurries that
were to sweep through doll shops and toy stores came in 1988, with the
unpredictably successful Happy Holiday series, and later in 1994, when
the first vintage reproduction Barbie and accompanying gift set made
its debut on Miss Thing's 35th Anniversary. The Official Barbie
Collector's Club was founded in 1997, and there are websites galore -
because amassing these little ladies is a serious business.
Though new trends in collecting were remarkable, we
don't want to lose sight of what was happening with the regular
edition Barbies during the 80s (though special edition or not, as we
all know, Barbie has never been 'regular'). Mattel introduced
African-American and Hispanic dolls, and upon their success, issued an
International Collection as well. Early on, this line contained just
Italian, Parisian, and Royal UK lovelies, but more nationalities and
infinitely more loveliness would arrive each passing year.
The early 80s also saw the first Barbie Convention;
the brand new, boot-stomping Western Barbie and her high-steppin'
horse named Dallas; the 'Paint the Town Red' Barbie, whose crimson
gown was based on the one worn by the new First Lady, Nancy Reagan. In
1984, over a thousand revelers gathered for Barbies 25th Anniversary
bash in New York. Andy Warhol was among the guests - his portrait of
the doll icon, which would top the Barbie art exhibit that soon toured
the nation, would be coming soon. And those of you who were
gadget-minded and ga-ga over Barbie at the same time, know that
she booted up her first computer in 1985.
In the late 80s and early 90s, night time soap operas
were all the rage, and famous designers clamored to dress the shows'
diva stars. In 1990, perhaps eager to outfit a lady who never
complained and never gained weight, Bob Mackie designed his first
Barbie gown, paving the sequined road for many more to follow: Yves
Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Valentino, Perry Ellis, Oscar de la
Renta, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Anne Klein, Byron Lars, Vera Wang
and Donna Karan among them.
Since Barbie's best-selling years will often see the
introduction of more than a hundred new outfits, the amount of cloth
that Mattel tears through is no small thing. The company has actually
become one of the largest makers of women's clothes in the US - number
crunchers don't mind that the "women" happen to be synthetic. Gorgeous
lines like the Hollywood Legends Collection (Barbie as Scarlet O'Hara
or the red-shoed Dorothy, for example) and the Children's Collector
Series (Barbie as fairy tale damsels like Rapunzel) came in the
mid-90s. In 1995, Mattel celebrated its 50th year in business. What
had started as a cottage industry (though run out of a garage, not a
cottage) had grown into a toy-making behemoth, thanks mostly to
Barbie. Today, she's the most collected doll in the world, but it's
not as if she's just a collector's item. Girls continue to adore her,
and Mattel sells over a million new dolls a week.
All told, over the last forty years, they've managed
to put their buxom ingénue in the hands of 90% of all American girls.
Ninety percent. Repeat that number to yourself a few times -
because it's indisputable proof that she's nothing short of a cultural
icon.
Barbie never married and never had kids (Skipper was
Mattel's smart concession to fans who wanted her to be a mother).
Because of the sprawling range of her vocations, her hobbies and
sports interests, her nationalities, friends, accessories, connections
to pop culture figures and celebrities from both the big and small
screen, Barbie is literally impossible to pigeon-hole or grow bored
with. Mattel has made sure that there is always a new doll to admire
on the shelves, always an outfit or a prop that you don't yet own for
your beloved, but that seem like must-haves. There are Barbie
magazines, books and newsletters. There are public museums and
legendary private collections. There is unadulterated devotion, from
all around the world.
All of this - her role model concept, her physical
re-inventions, the trail of fashion, the parent company's savvy
product development and advertising - all of this works together to
make Barbie not only a phenomenally high-selling, decade-spanning toy
success, but a permanent presence in our toy consciousness.
Practically every little boy out there has routinely kidnapped his
sisters' prized Barbie, and if he had possession long enough, might
have cut her hair or stolen a quick peek at what was beneath her
sweater, or most scandalous of all, played with the Barbie for a
moment or two (if no one was else was looking, of course - that Barbie
can be fun for boys too is a well-kept boy secret).
Girls, no matter
their age, can still journey down the Barbie aisle in the toy store
and get the chills. It's the way the light dances off those shiny pink
boxes! The temptation we had as kids to pick up the boxes and peer
longingly inside - that's still there. And it's hard not to twirl
around once or twice in the aisle, as we try to take all that pink
glory in - the recollection of all those hours we spent dressing and
talking and moving for her - it can make us forget that we're in
public, and that a grown woman isn't really supposed to "twirl"
anymore. Or are we?
The Barbie aisle goose bumps, the
everything's-right-with-the-world feeling that came with tearing a
corner of the gift wrapping open and catching a flash of pink - how
many other toys have that kind of visceral effect? Barbie bedazzles,
every time. So to all of you, to the young and old, to owners past and
present, to the full-fledged collectors and the parents and the
grown-up boy who remembers waving the doll just out of his sister's
desperate-to-have-her-back reach - let's hear it for Barbie. Three
cheers, a glass raised, wild applause or a quiet moment of thanks -
whatever form your tribute takes, one phrase should be unanimous: All
Hail The Plastic Queen.
Throughout her lifetime Barbie
has undergone many career moves. Her résumé reflects her many
achievements (and lack of stable work record!);
1959 : Fashion
Model; 1961 : Ballerina; Registered Nurse; Airline Stewardess;
1963 : Graduate; Career Girl; 1965 : Astronaut, Fashion
Editor, Student Teacher; 1966 : Airline Stewardess (again);
1973 : Surgeon; 1975 : Olympic Athlete - Downhill Skier,
Figure Skater & Gymnast; 1984 : Aerobics Instructor;
1985 : Business Executive, Dress Designer; TV News Reporter
(shades of Bridget Jones); Veterinarian; Teacher; 1986 :
Astronaut (again); Rock Star ; 1988 : Doctor; 1989 :
UNICEF Ambassador; Doctor (again/still?); Dancer on a TV show; 1990
: Pilot; Rock Star; Summit
Diplomat; 'Icecapades' Star; 1991 : Music Video Star; 1992 :
Rap Dancer.
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