Skip to main content

Christmas Firsts #19 :Barbie



For many, a childhood memory of Christmas morning will be a Barbie doll gift under the tree. The FIRST Barbie doll was a great success commercially in 1959, with estimates of 300,00 dolls sold that year.

“A Barbie doll is easily one of the most recognizable and best-selling toys in history. With over a billion dolls sold, Barbie has staying power that other dolls could only dream of. Considering that the pint-sized princess has been a mainstay in popular culture for over 50 years, it’s safe to say she’ll be around for a long time to come. “ From Bestselling Toys in History 
1960's Barbie 
Of course Barbie has changed considerably in 58 years. While she hasn’t aged, the Barbie a child will receive this Christmas will look quite different from the Barbie someone my age would have received in the 1960’s.   From last year, Barbie can have one of three new body types  (tall, petite, and curvy), as well as many variations of skin tones and eye colours 
Barbie 2016 collection 
Perhaps of more interest in this blog series of Christmas FIRSTS is the Barbie Holiday Collection…. 

Holiday Barbie (dressed in festive  evening gowns) FIRST appeared in 1988, as the first collectable Barbie. I suspect that the annual release of Holiday Barbie has appealed more to an adult as a Christmas gift than to children. The dolls in the collection pre-1992 attract very high prices, especially if they are still in the original packaging, reportedly as much as $750+, so they are unlikely to be purchased as gifts for children to play with. 
Regardless of price, Barbie will continue to delight  adult  and children fans  this  Christmas.... The red evening dress hasn't changed a lot, but there is an increased air of confidence and sophistication about 2017 Holiday Barbie 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

#SeptTextileLove26 Day 7

  #SeptTextileLove #STL26Day7 ‘Historical’ ... Family history is often a source of inspiration and information for my work. This stitched work featuring a photo of my great grandmother also acts as a commentary on the Chinese historical practice of foot binding, hence the inclusion of an x ray photograph of a female bound foot. It looks painful and undoubtedly was , but it was considered 'beautiful". What contemporary body shaping practices do we still engage in for the sake of ‘beauty’? Historical body shaping practices included tight-lacing corsets, foot binding, and neck elongation , all used to mould the human form into culturally defined ideals of beauty. (AI overview) Foot Binding in China Starting from Song elites and eventually popularized and ended in the Qing dynasty, foot binding was seen as an idolized representation of women's petite beauty, and the practice was referred to as "三寸金莲" , 'three-inch golden lotus' Wikipedia . This practice...
Post a Comment
Read more

#SeptTextileLove26 Day8

    SeptTextileLove #stl26day8 ‘Inspiring Exhibition’ … earlier this year , the Wednesday Makers Group at Timeless Textiles ( Newcastle, Australia) celebrated International Women’s Day with their exhibition, “Inspiring Women in Stitch’ - congratulations - inspiring women honouring inspiring women .   link to video   
Post a Comment
Read more

#SeptTextileLove26 Day 4

 #septtextilelove  #stl26day4  … Story-telling … making ‘art dolls’ gives wonderful opportunities to tell stories … This matriarch’s story  is intertwined with the cicadas which form  part of the soft sculpture  and emphasises what appears to be a contradiction about nurturing life and inevitable death... Cicadas spend years underground as nymphs feeding on root sap, emerging en masse as winged adults for a few days, perhaps a week, to mate and lay eggs in tree branches, then die, leaving the eggs to hatch into new nymphs that burrow underground to restart the cycle.  The dormant underground phase of the cicada’s life can be from 2-17 years! In my interpretation, this forest matriarch offers a safe place for cicadas to lay eggs, only to cause their own demise … but the continuing life cycle is ensured. 
Post a Comment
Read more