26 Pictures from Barbie’s Life, All With a Story Behind

Every 3 seconds, a Barbie doll is sold worldwide. In its 58 years of existence, it has imitated many professions and evoked different images: from a blonde model look to a computer engineer with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a simple T-shirt. It seems that this is her secret of popularity: she changes with the world, and in this post you will learn about her evolution and her most unusual roles.

Barbie simply changed her attire and her profession from one year to the next, as people themselves searched for hidden meaning in her images, even inventing, then fighting the ideas of others. This process has been going on for over half a century, and writer Linor Goralik has written an entire book about it.

O awesome.club will tell you how this evolution was from the beginning to the present day.

One day Ruth Handler (President of Mattel) watched as her daughter Barbara played with paper dolls, changing their clothes and assigning them adult characters. That’s how the idea of ​​creating an “adult” figure for girls came about.

1959. The Barbie prototype was based on the Lilli doll from the Heinz Frank company, the protagonist of some popular German comics. In the story, this beautiful blonde with big breasts, pin-up style, teased businessmen to earn money and gifts. The doll was originally designed for adults, sold in tobacconists and other adult-only establishments.

The Mattel company bought its rights and Lilli ceased to be manufactured.

Although it may be hard to believe, in 1959 all sellers rejected the doll on the premise that they believed there would be no demand. The first Barbie looked to be about 30 years old, with “heavy” makeup and unnatural shapes, both on her face and body. However, at retail, it was sold instantly. The parents protested, but their daughters were delighted.

A year later, the company modified its makeup a little: lighter, rounded eyebrows and without the lower eyelid liner.

1960🇧🇷 The feminist struggle for equality in the early 1960s did not go unnoticed by the creators of Barbie. The doll acquired her first profession: a stylist. Her recognizable image, which had already been sold in many countries, served as a catalyst for the women’s rights movement across the world.

In total, Barbie has 80 different professions, from modeling to those considered typically male.

1961🇧🇷 Barbie, the driver, stylist, singer, dancer, nurse, teacher, stewardess, firefighter… The girls were crazy about the doll. She dressed like a mother, went to work like a mother, put on makeup and hair like a mother, and was an ideal role model to follow. She was labeled a consuming, elegant doll obsessed with taking care of her clothes.

In fact, Ruth Handler wanted to create a doll that children could play with, change clothes, comb their hair, imitate typical adult life situations and thus suggest good taste to girls. By the way, Barbie had 19 types of hairstyles at different times, and more than 75 stylists created her clothes.

1963🇧🇷 Barbie had her best friend, Midge, who was married. One day, the company created a “Happy Family” game, in which she had a “pull and put” plastic abdomen with a baby inside. There was also an older child, along with Barbie and Ken, as a doctor. It seems they showed the girls the image of a family and motherhood was explained to them, but critics soon found strange meanings in the design: the new image of the dolls encouraged teen pregnancy.

1967🇧🇷 Due to numerous parental censures about Barbie’s adult life, the company released a doll with a girl’s face. She had flushed cheeks, discreet cosmetics and a rounder face. This version lasted only three years on the market: it was not accepted by children, who were used to the other, more mature design.

Engineer Jack Ryan created a mechanism for Barbie that allowed her to move her waist, bend her elbows, knees and wrists: at the time the twist was very popular. Later, she became interested in the practice of different sports. For example, a ballerina Barbie, which is specially designed to do splits, pirouettes and other ballet steps.

1968. Ken stopped being produced as it wasn’t very popular. In fact, he played the role of a pet in addition to the many that Barbie had, so critics accused Mattel of creating in girls a misconception about the relationship between the male and female genders.

But a year later, he had to come back. It turns out he played a much more important role than accompanying a top-selling doll: Ken protected the attractive, free-thinking Barbie from unnecessary questions from kids and parents. In fact, he protected the woman’s reputation.

1969🇧🇷 At this time, there was a struggle in the United States to achieve equal civil rights. Ruth Handler addressed this problem by creating a dark-skinned friend for Barbie: Christie. This is how the company won the loyalty of African Americans, and the doll itself influenced the tolerance of opinions of many generations of children and adults.

1972🇧🇷 Until now, all Barbies looked to the left, like Lilli. But from that moment, the doll finally began to observe the center and, in general, to offer a more natural image. Her lips were no longer so prominent and her smile opened a little, her hair thinned naturally and she appeared almost without makeup.

1977. Thanks to the popular “Brady Tribe” series from that decade, the doll acquired the famous “Californian smile”, a round, cheerful and open face, upturned nose, a girlish blush and painted eyelashes. At this time, it enjoyed a peak in popularity and became the most recognizable face of Barbie in the world to date. In total, the dolls in the series had 19 different body and face shapes.

1980🇧🇷 The series “Dolls of the world” is the result of globalization: Barbie with black skin, Spanish, oriental, Italian, Parisian and even as Queen of England. So even the mothers bought and played with them, hiding behind what was undoubtedly an adult pastime. In the Barbies collection you can find dolls with 11 skin tones and 9 different eyes.

1980🇧🇷 The company produces limited-edition Barbies, which are sold to charities. For example, a doll by Australian designer Stefano Canturi cost US$302,000: she wore a necklace with a pink diamond and a ring with another precious jewel. The money from his sale at the Christie’s auction went to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Another limited-edition Barbie 2007, with a glamorous red dress, was released to the market to support a national movement to fight cardiovascular disease.

1983🇧🇷 Parents continued to demand a change in the doll’s appearance, and eventually the company released a Barbie with a pseudo-childish image: a more rounded face and flattened nose. The adults loved the ruddy doll with “angelic look”, only once again the model did not excite the children, forcing them to stop their production.

1985. Women have shown that they have the right to build their careers on an equal footing with men. While many innovations made child care easier, social assistance emerged that allowed single mothers to work full-time. This is how the businesswoman Barbie “Day and Night” appears: by day, in a suit and, at night, with a dress to go out.

Interestingly, all the achievements and successes fell to her alone, an issue for which Mattel has also been criticized on more than one occasion. But in reality, male dolls were not or are not that popular and parents would not buy their children a toy formed by the couple “Barbie and Ken, lawyers”.

1987🇧🇷 Barbie’s world has it all, except adults. She is the most beautiful, intelligent and agile, but she has no one to set an example for her. Worse still, her younger sisters constantly show up, but no one knows anything about her parents. In total, she has 70 friends and relatives.

In 1987, the dolls of her friend Midge’s grandparents appeared. Her role was to be in the kitchen, being part of the house. In the comics, they sometimes took care of the grandchildren while Barbie went out to have fun. This is the image of the elderly transmitted to children, even though they seemed happy, affectionate and kind playing with their grandparents’ dolls.

1991🇧🇷 In 1994, the bill on equal opportunities in the educational and professional field was approved. Mattel, as always, reacted sensitively to this regulation, even three years earlier it had launched several dolls with professions traditionally occupied by men: flight attendant, astronaut, pediatrician, veterinarian and firefighter. Barbie served in the Air Force and Marine Corps.

1992🇧🇷 Barbie stubbornly conveys, from the moment of her appearance, a double meaning. On the one hand, her feminine, provocative and free aspect. On the other hand, the maker always insists on her innocence and began suing artists and poets who used her as a sex object.

However, some limited-edition dolls seem to be too provocative: they wear gartered lace stockings and sexy underwear. But they present exaggeratedly old-fashioned faces, unattractive to children.

1992🇧🇷 Barbie appears who can say 300 sentences. Some of them bothered parents a lot: “Math lessons are too difficult”, “I love shopping!”, “Do we have enough clothes?”. The image of the indomitable blonde instilled in children a lifestyle oriented towards consumption with indifference to knowledge and studies.

Even Kenneth Handler himself, son of Mattel’s founders, protested that the doll could care about something else in life besides the length of her hair, shopping or going to the beach.

1997🇧🇷 Sometimes it seems that all this obsession with accessories reaches great heights of madness: a doggie comb, small houses with real electricity and working appliances, plus cosmetics for dolls. Barbie had 40 pets. This fictional world scares any reality!

However, it should be added that the variety of accessories has always been the main indicator of a quality doll, and it seems inappropriate to judge its makers by this.

1997🇧🇷 Mattel created Becky, a doll…