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Barbie the Teenage Fashion Doll Essay examples

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The idea of Barbie came about when a woman named Ruth Handler was watching her daughter play with dolls. In the 1950’s, girls of all ages only had paper or cardboard dolls to play with and preferred to play with cut outs of teenagers and adult dolls. So, Ruth Handler thought to make The Teenage Fashion Doll for older girls, as a three dimensional doll, called Barbie, named after her daughter Barbara (Heppermann 2010). However, Mrs. Handler met resistance when she went to her husband with the idea, and he didn’t think her idea would work out. When they travelled to Germany, she found a doll called Bild Lilli. This doll was a strong-minded individual that would use all at her disposal to get what she wanted. Bild Lilli was …show more content…

Young girls usually use the dolls to play house or dress-up. Sometimes when there is an accompanying set, there are simple instructions given for example, if the Barbie doll came with the Glam Fashion Jet, it would be accompanied with instructions of how to use each part of the jet.

Moreover, Barbies are very durable and depending on how well they are maintained, they can become family heirlooms and be passed on from generation to generation. Often, depending on the age of the child, the Barbie may be altered either by the cutting of her hair or the changing of her clothes. Yet, due to the fact that Barbie is a lifestyle toy, children are encouraged to continue these alterations to promote creative thought. Therefore overall, Barbies can last indefinitely with proper care or be short-lived if they are not well taken care of.

Barbie’s popularity spread like wildfire, leading to her being used as a platform to immortalize popular figures by way of making special editions figures of them. For instance, America’s First Lady in the 60s, Jackie Kennedy was one of the first muses and hence set precedence for future icons. This also extends to many designers such as Christian Louboutin, Vera Wang, and Alexander McQueen who have collaborated with Mattel to celebrate Barbie’s 50TH anniversary, in 2009 (Parker, 2008). This form of branding provides notoriety for both the inspirational figure and his work and for the toy as well. This is no small feat for

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