Idk if I can watch this Toys That Made Us documentary on Barbie because they’re constantly saying, “this had never been done before!” and every time I start screaming at the inaccuracy because Barbie was not the first extremely popular plastic fashion doll with boobs in the 1950s, ok, you had Alexander’s Cissy and Cissette dolls, Ideal’s Miss Revlon doll, Vogue’s Jill doll, Horsman’s Cindy doll, American Character’s Sweet Sue doll, as well as a bunch of dolls from smaller toy companies (not to mention the knockoffs). And they aaaaall tried to make money off the clothes and accessories, ok, Barbie was not the first to follow this business model. Literally there were so many dolls with boobs at Toy Fair by 1959, don’t make me get my vintage catalogs out
so what do you believe was Barbie’s actual additional value? Because I mean… I guess she *had* to stand out in some way to be propelled to global success like it eventually happened
Short answer – I think it was the clothes & accessories, the marketing, and the rise of postwar consumerism.
Long answer – I want to preface this by saying that my area of expertise in dolls is almost exclusively pre-Barbie. Like, my obsession goes from about 1932 to 1962, with an emphasis on the postwar period in America, so I know a liiittle bit about Barbie, but I am Not a Barbie collector.
Extreme doll nerdery and pictures below the cut
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A Middleground 