Barbie Fashion Games
Clotilde Wilks
Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll which Handler had purchased while in Europe. The figurehead of an eponymous brand that includes a range of fashion dolls and accessories, Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for over six decades. Mattel has sold over a billion Barbie dolls, making it the company's largest and most profitable line.[1] The brand has expanded into a multimedia franchise since 1984, including video games, animated films, television/web series, and a live-action film.
Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls, and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most children's toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors.[4]
During a trip to Europe in 1956 with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth Handler came across a German toy doll called Bild Lilli.[5][a] The adult-figured doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel. The Lilli doll was based on a popular character appearing in a satirical comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Bild.[6] The Lilli doll was first sold in Germany in 1955, and although it was initially sold to adults, it became popular with children who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available separately.[6][7]
Upon her return to the United States, Handler redesigned the doll (with help from local inventor-designer Jack Ryan) and the doll was given a new name, Barbie, after Handler's daughter Barbara. The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York City on March 9, 1959.[8] This date is also used as Barbie's official birthday.
The first Barbie doll wore a black-and-white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail, and was available as either a blonde or brunette. The doll was marketed as a "Teen-age Fashion Model", with her clothes created by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson.[9]
Analysts expected the doll to perform poorly due to her adult appearance and widespread assumptions about consumer preferences at the time. Ruth Handler believed it was important for Barbie to have an adult appearance, but early market research showed that some parents were unhappy about the doll's chest, which had distinct breasts.[10]
Barbie sold about 350,000 units in her first year, beating market expectations and generating upside risk for investors. Sales of Barbie exceeded Mattel's ability to produce her for the first three years of her run. The market stabilized for the next decade while volume and margin increased by exporting refurbished dolls to Japan. Barbie was manufactured in Japan during this time, with her clothes hand-stitched by Japanese homeworkers.[11]
Louis Marx and Company sued Mattel in March 1961. After licensing Lilli, they claimed that Mattel had "infringed on Greiner & Hausser's patent for Bild-Lilli's hip joint", and also claimed that Barbie was "a direct take-off and copy" of Bild-Lilli. The company additionally claimed that Mattel "falsely and misleadingly represented itself as having originated the design". Mattel counter-claimed and the case was settled out of court in 1963. In 1964, Mattel bought Greiner & Hausser's copyright and patent rights for the Bild-Lilli doll for $21,600.[12][13]
Barbie's appearance has been changed many times, most notably in 1971 when the doll's eyes were adjusted to look forwards rather than having the demure sideways glance of the original model. This would be the last adjustment Ruth would make to her own creation as, three years later, she and her husband Elliot were removed from their posts at Mattel after an investigation found them guilty of issuing false and misleading financial reports.[10]
Barbie was one of the first toys to have a marketing strategy based extensively on television advertising, which has been copied widely by other toys. In 2006, it was estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls had been sold worldwide in over 150 countries, with Mattel claiming that three Barbie dolls are sold every second.[14]
Sales of Barbie dolls declined sharply from 2014 to 2016.[1] In 2020, Mattel sold $1.35 billion worth of Barbie dolls and accessories, and this was their best sales growth in two decades. This is an increase from the $950 million the brand sold during 2017.[15] According to MarketWatch, the release of the 2023 film Barbie is expected to create "significant growth" for the brand until at least 2030.[16] As well as reinvigorated sales, the release of the film triggered a fashion trend known as "Barbiecore"[17] and a film-related cultural phenomena named Barbenheimer.
Since 1984, in response to a rise of digital and interactive media and a gradual decline in toys and doll sales at that time, Barbie has been featured in an eponymous media franchise beginning with the release of two eponymous video games, one that year and another in 1991 and two syndicated television specials released in 1987; Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World and its sequel. She then began to appear as a virtual actress in a series of direct-to-video animated feature films with Barbie in the Nutcracker in 2001,[18] which were also broadcast on Nickelodeon in the United States as promotional specials until 2017.[19] Since 2017, the film series were revamped as streaming television films, branded as animated "specials" and released through streaming media services, primarily on Netflix.[20][21][22]
At the time of the release of Barbie in the Pink Shoes on February 26, 2013, the film series have sold over 110 million units globally.[23] Since 2012, she has appeared in several television and web series; including Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, Barbie: Dreamtopia, Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures, Barbie: It Takes Two and Barbie: A Touch of Magic. Aside in lead roles, she has appeared as a supporting character in the Toy Story films between its second and third sequels with a cameo at the fourth and the My Scene media franchise.[20] In 2015, Barbie began appearing as a vlogger on YouTube called Barbie Vlogger where she talks about her fictional life, fashion, friends and family, and even charged topics such as mental health and racism.[24][25][26] She was portrayed by Australian actress Margot Robbie in a live-action film adaptation[27] released on July 21, 2023, by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States.[28]
Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts and her parents' names are given as George and Margaret Roberts from the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin, in a series of novels published by Random House in the 1960s.[29][30] In those novels, Barbie attended Willows High School; while in the Generation Girl books, published by Golden Books in 1999, she attended the fictional Manhattan International High School in New York City (based on the real-life Stuyvesant High School).[31]
She has an on-off romantic relationship with her then-boyfriend Ken (full name "Kenneth Sean Carson"), who first appeared in 1961. A news release from Mattel in February 2004 announced that Barbie and Ken had decided to split up,[32] but in February 2006, they were hoping to rekindle their relationship after Ken had a makeover.[33] In 2011, Mattel launched a campaign for Ken to win Barbie's affections back.[34] The pair officially reunited in Valentine's Day 2011.[35] Beginning with Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures in 2018, the pair are seen as just friends or next-door neighbors until a brief return to pre-2018 aesthetics in the 2023 television show, Barbie: A Touch of Magic.
Mattel has created a range of companions and relatives for Barbie. She has three younger sisters: Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea (named Kelly until 2011).[36] Her sisters have co-starred in many entries of the Barbie film series, starting with Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale from 2013. 'Retired' members of Barbie's family included Todd (twin brother to Stacie), Krissy (a baby sister), and Francie (cousin). Barbie's friends include Hispanic Teresa, Midge, African American Christie, and Steven (Christie's boyfriend). Barbie was also friendly with Blaine, an Australian surfer, during her split with Ken in 2004.[37]
Barbie has had over 40 pets including cats and dogs, horses, a panda, a lion cub, and a zebra. She has owned a wide range of vehicles, including pink Beetle and Corvette convertibles, trailers, and Jeeps. She also holds a pilot's license, and operates commercial airliners in addition to serving as a flight attendant. Barbie's careers are designed to show that women can take on a variety of roles in life, and the doll has been sold with a wide range of titles including Miss Astronaut Barbie (1965), Doctor Barbie (1988), and Nascar Barbie (1998).[38]
Barbie has become a cultural icon and has been given honors that are rare in the toy world. In 1974, a section of Times Square in New York City was renamed Barbie Boulevard for a week. The Muse des Arts Dcoratifs, Paris at the Louvre held a Barbie exhibit in 2016. The exhibit featured 700 Barbie dolls over two floors as well as works by contemporary artists and documents (newspapers, photos, video) that contextualize Barbie.[39]
In 1986, the artist Andy Warhol created a painting of Barbie. The painting sold at auction at Christie's, London for $1.1 million. In 2015, The Andy Warhol Foundation then teamed up with Mattel to create an Andy Warhol Barbie.[40][41]
Outsider artist Al Carbee took thousands of photographs of Barbie and created countless collages and dioramas featuring Barbie in various settings.[42] Carbee was the subject of the 2013 feature-length documentary Magical Universe. Carbee's collage art was presented in the 2016 Barbie exhibit at the Muse des Arts Dcoratifs, Paris in the section about visuals artists who have been inspired by Barbie.[43]
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