Barbie Dolls

Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler designed Barbie and named her after her own daughter, Barbara. She designed it with the idea that it would be a fashion doll for teens, but it soon after became popular with younger girls. It is believed that the inspiration for the doll was probably a German Lilli doll. Handler visited Switzerland in the mid 1950’s and bought one of these attractive, shapely dolls. Soon after Barbie was patented in 1958.

At the time, paper dolls with lots of outfits were the popular choice for young girls, and Handler wanted to give girls a variety of clothes to play with as well, so she hired fashion designer Charlotte Johnson to create a stylish wardrobe.

Barbie made her debut at the 1959 American Toy Fair in New York City, and was not extremely well received. Shapely Barbie was a far cry from the typical baby doll and buyers found her too risky to sell. But by 1960 the public proved otherwise, orders started pouring in and by 1970 over $500 million worth of Barbie dolls had been purchased.

It was in 1961 that Ken appeared on the scene as Barbie’s boyfriend. Oh, and did I mention that Ruth Handler’s son’s name was Ken? Since then several other characters have been introduced.

Other dolls include Miss Barbie and Skipper who were introduced as Barbie’s little sister in 1964, Barbie’s African-American friend Christie in 1968. In 1968, Mattel becomes more multicultural by adding Black Barbie and Hispanic Barbie. The next year Oriental Barbie hits the scene, followed by the international Collection featuring Italian, Parisian, and Royal U.K. Barbie dolls. In 1981, Western Barbie also appears; later in 1993 Native American Barbie arrives on the scene.

As of late, young girls have been able to enjoy Barbie movies like Barbie Nutcracker and Barbie Swan Lake. My daughter is a big fan of all of the Barbie movies, and I must say, they are done quite well and deliver good messages.

Barbie has been controversial for her slenderer-than-possible figure, but she has always been a pioneer, Barbie astronaut even came out before females were allowed to be American astronauts, and many other role models have followed.