Barbie mania is officially upon us, whether we’re redecorating our homes à la Barbie’s dream house or furiously scrolling through TikTok in search of the latest ‘Barbiecore’ fashion trends. While Barbie is clearly having a moment (a Greta Gerwig film will do that), her iconic outfits have a fascinating history.
Carol Spencer, a fashion designer and illustrator, has been with Barbie from the beginning, joining Mattel in 1963 after seeing an advert for the role in Women’s Wear Daily.
Such was her confidence in the role that she moved to California before Mattel had a chance to respond to her application. Her decision clearly paid off: she spent the next 30 years creating some of the most iconic Barbie looks of all time, including ‘Great Shape Barbie’, featured in the Toy Story franchise; the ‘Totally Hair Barbie’ which became the biggest-selling Barbie of all time; and the Day-to-Night Barbie, which Margot Robbie referenced in her iconic Barbie press tour.
Earlier this year, Carol donated 28 cartons of Barbie dolls (as well as prized-information about their designs) to the Strong Museum of Play in New York. Here, she reflects on Barbie’s fashion legacy – and her momentous role within it…
It comforts me to hear collectors and people who played with Barbie tell me that she brought joy, friendship, and love to them as well as many hours of fun. I sincerely hope that my designs played a role in this.
The origin of Barbie stemmed from paper dolls, many drawn by cartoonists. As a child, I loved to play with paper dolls that I cut out of the comic section of the newspaper during WWII. I often wonder if Milton Caniff’s Miss Lace, a cartoon that appeared in the Stars and Stripes during the forties, inspired a German cartoonist who created Lilli, a cartoon for the newspaper Bild. Later, Bild Lilli became a German doll and the model that Ruth Handler used to explain her idea of the three-dimensional paper doll that became Barbie.
I truly fell in love with Barbie from the first moment I created her clothes and accessories all those years ago. The sixties was a time of change, and I loved being a part of the fashion scene. But then again, I loved being part of the fashion scene no matter what the decade.
Dennis Dilaura (Mattel,Inc.)
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