Photo By Gail
When I was a little girl creating fun adventures for my Barbie dolls, her career choices probably included Fashion Model, Lifeguard, Stewardess, Ken’s Girlfriend, and that’s about it. Now of course, Barbie can be whatever the fuck she wants to be, even a Robotics Engineer. Yes, I just typed that. Here’s what Mattel’s website has to say about 2018’s Career of The Year Barbie: Continue reading Yes, It Exists: Robotics Engineer Barbie
Photo By Gail
Have you heard the expression, “I want to be Barbie, because the bitch has everything!” It is so true, and one of her prize possessions is a Pink Motor Home which is, in fact, a bit magical. Barbie’s Magical Motor Home is somewhat like a Transformer, in that converts from its van-like original form into both a sporty Jeep (for off-roading activity) and a “luxury home” for glamping! Barbie’s Motor Home has evolved over the years but this one is circa 1990 and currently sells on eBay and similar collectors’ auction sites for hundreds of dollars.
Photographed as part of Trenton Doyle Hancock’s Mind of The Mound: Critical Mass, on View Through October 31st, 2019 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA.
Photos By Gail
Mattel launched the Barbie doll in 1959, but it was only in the late 1970s and 1980s that much of her wardrobe became a bright pink, known as “Barbie Pink.” Jeremy Scott of Moschino collaborated with Mattel on this Moschino Barbie (whose outfit is copied in fine detail from the pink leather ensemble seen below) that was available to purchase in the spring and summer of 2015.
Both the doll and the outfit above were photographed as part of the exhibit Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color, on view at The Museum at FIT in NYC Through January 5th, 2019.
Moschino Barbie Doll Outfit Detail Above, and Runway Outfit Detail Below
Photo By Gail
Is it really so strange that there is not only a Rock Star Barbie, but a whole gang of Barbie ‘Rockers’? Probably not. In fact, I think it is appropriate; because if Barbie can be anything she wants to be, why not be a Rocker, I ask yez? I’m actually quite surprised that it took Mattel this long to figure out that Barbie wants to Rock, Bitches! This incarnation of Rock Star Barbie (official name Careers Barbie Rock Star Doll) — which comes with a couple of thoroughly hideous outfits and a purple guitar — sells for $24.49 at Target, but I’ve seen others selling online for less. Rock on, Barbie!
From Hyper Allergic:
Leave it to Mattel, the maker of the Barbie doll, to fulfill Andy Warhol’s famous wish to be plastic.
According to InStyle, the children’s toy company has collaborated with the Andy Warhol Foundation to produce a Barbie doll that has all of Andy’s signature traits, from the white wig and sunglasses to the leather jacket and black-and-white striped shirt. It’s Warhol as we know him — with the addition of impossibly long legs, a teeny tiny waist, a disproportionately large bust, and thick, permanent eyeliner.
Warhol was actually fascinated by Barbies. He painted one the year before he died, Barbie, Portrait of BillyBoy (1986), which was inspired by a young jewelry designer and muse who owned tens of thousands of Barbies. He also painted figurative ones — women like Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy who are still widely known for their physical images, outfits, and accessories.
So, what does it mean that Warhol has taken the form of a plastic doll that’s hollow through and through? It’s tempting to philosophize about the deeper connection between a toy that’s come to represent superficiality and an artist who claimed to be a “deeply superficial” person (despite the complex biographies his life has inspired).
But it’s best not to think too hard about it. The doll (and the “lifestyle collection” that goes along with it) is just the latest in a string of consumer items — from graphic tees to designer purses — that capitalize on the selling power of Warhol’s iconic likeness and art … or, as Ron Robinson, whose stores in Malibu and Los Angeles are the sole brick-and-mortar-carriers of the Warhol Barbie, told Women’s Wear Daily, it’s perfect for “the hip, cool person who just wants something really unique.” Just in time for Christmas!a teeny tiny waist