Barbie: Celebrity dolls

Since Barbie was first unveiled in 1959, she has had many successors. The Mattel Company, producers of the Barbie doll, have paid close attention to the trends of the times, and have created Barbies that picked up on and furthered these trends. As women’s rights advanced, so did Barbie’s aspirations. Originally conceived as a fashion model, Barbie’s wardrobe evolved to cast her as everything from a cheerleader to the president of the United States.

One of Mattel’s collections of Barbies is uniquely attuned to the icons of American culture. The Celebrity Collection premiered in 1967 with the Twiggy Barbie. Given that Barbie was originally a fashion model, and Twiggy was the face of fashion in the mid to late 1960s, this was a logical but conservative expansion for Mattel. With the 1970s, Mattel looked to Hollywood for inspiration and issued dolls of John Travolta, Farrah Fawcett, and Diana Ross, to name just a few. In 2001, the Cher Barbie doll was unveiled, dressed in a scaled version of one of Cher’s famous Bob Mackey-designed costumes. That same year, two characters from TV shows were copied as Barbies: Jeannie Barbie inspired by the lead character from the popular program I Dream of Jeannie, and a Lily Barbie from the Munsters.

Some of the more recent additions to the Hollywood-inspired celebrity dolls are the Reese Witherspoon Barbie and the Hillary Duff Barbie, whose full name is the Red Carpet Glam Hillary Duff doll. The vice-president of Mattel’s Barbie marketing division, Jamie Wood, feels these dolls are great role models for girls. They present not just a great sense of style, he said, but the idea that girls can aspire to fame as well.

Mattel continues to tune in to popular culture, choosing celebrities that are in the spotlight. Only time will tell if these dolls will increase in value or whether, like many of the stars they represent, their fame will fade with time.