Barbie, the iconic doll that has claimed countless hours of girls’ lives in a make-believe world that mirrored real life glamor, high-fashion and fabulous careers, is turning 50.
But is her star fading?
Some people say Mattel’s doll that has had such “careers” as astronaut, Army medic, scuba diver, pediatrician and presidential candidate, has run her course.
PHOTO: AP
“It’s very clear that the taste of little girls who play with dolls has changed,” said Jerry Oppenheimer, author of a book on Mattel called Toy Monster.
“They have come into the 21st century, where they play on their own laptops, and have their own cellphones. Dolls will be a part of their lives ... and Barbie will be part of that, but it will be a small window,” he said.
Introduced at a toy fair in New York City on March 9, 1959, as a teenage fashion model, Barbie, whose full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts, cost US$3.
With her shapely figure, carefully styled pony tail and curly bangs, strapless black and white geometric bathing suit and spiked heels, Barbie was at once an instant rage and outrageous.
At a time when Leave It to Beaver was depicting the so-called “All-American Family” and June Cleaver never showed any cleavage, Barbie created her share of controversy.
Created by Ruth Handler 14 years after she and her husband Elliot started the toy company Mattel Creations, sales of Barbie reached 300,000 the first year.
BIG BIRTHDAY BASH
The world’s No. 1 toymaker is waging an extensive campaign to promote Barbie, perhaps its most notable toy, and celebrate her birthday.
Mattel has opened a six-story flagship store in Shanghai called House of Barbie, featuring a restaurant, spa and runway where girls can pretend to be fashion models. Film stars Jet Li and Cathy Chung attended the Shanghai opening.
Supermodel Heidi Klum and other celebrities are expected tomorrow at Mattel’s Malibu Dream House party in a 325m² house at Malibu, California, near Los Angeles. The interior of the house was designed by Jonathan Adler.
Adler said outfitting the sleek mansion took six months of planning and a few weeks to install.
“Barbie was a dream client because she doesn’t exist as a person,” Adler said. “She exists as fantasy and is the perfect client because she’s always happy and fun and loves everything. I thought to myself, ‘How would Barbie live?’ What I thought was [that] Barbie would have a house that is glamorous, kittenish, chic, colorful and happy — as well as functional.”
Adler lined Barbie’s bedroom with wall-to-wall pink carpeting emblazoned with her initial. The closet is filled with 50 pairs of pink peep-toe heels while her kitchen is stocked with cupcake-making ingredients. An in-house museum features 25 vintage Barbie dolls on display. In the garage? A pink Volkswagen New Beetle with a motorized pop-up vanity in the trunk.
“I think this really is Barbie’s Malibu Dream House because the setting is so incredibly dreamy and ethereal,” Adler said. “We’re perched on a cliff in Malibu overlooking the ocean. It’s a fantasyland for anyone. It was difficult to find the house to celebrate Barbie’s 50th birthday because it had to be the ultimate Malibu house, and I think we found it.”
One of Barbie’s major attractions over the past five decades has been her clothes, created by some of the world’s most famous designers, including Gucci, Calvin Klein, Galliano and Versace. Throughout her life, Barbie’s hair and fashions have reflected real life haute couture, and fashion trends and crazes.
Fans mobbed a fashion show at New York’s Fashion Week last month, where models took to the runway in 50 new designer outfits to celebrate Barbie’s life of fashion.
On Saturday, specialty toy store chain Toys “R” Us is due to hold a Barbie party at its flagship store in Manhattan.
STILL A ROLE MODEL?
“Growing up, my sister had the nurse outfit for Barbie and my sister became a nurse,” said Nancy Parsons, 50, who has been collecting Barbie dolls for 25 years.
“It was what she was, what she could be. It gave even little girls the idea that ‘I could do that,’” Parsons said.
Parsons, who prefers the vintage Barbie and has amassed a collection of about 500 dolls, is president of the Western Pennsylvania Doll Club, which is hosting the 2009 National Barbie Doll Collectors Convention in Washington in June.
The event, Parsons said, draws collectors who show and sell Barbie dolls, clothes and other items made for the doll.
Other collectors said they are ardent Barbie fans. But is she still a hit with youngsters?
Sales of Barbie dolls declined 6 percent in the US and 28 percent overseas in the last quarter.
It is far from certain if Mattel’s efforts to spark greater interest in Barbie by lighting birthday candles around the world will pay off.
But one thing was evident in the looks on faces of dejected fans, ranging in age from tots with parents to college students and business people who were turned away at the crowded fashion show — Barbie still has a devoted audience.
“I really don’t see Barbie disappearing at all,” said Stephanie Gentile, 25, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, a Barbie collector for nine years.
“She’s still so popular with collectors and young girls alike. She’s still got another 50 years in her,” she said.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
DANGEROUS DRIVERS: The proposal follows a fatal incident on Monday involving a 78-year-old driver, which killed three people and injured 12 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said it would lower the age for elderly drivers to renew their license from 75 to 70 as part of efforts to address safety issues caused by senior motorists. The new policy was proposed in light of a deadly incident on Monday in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽), in which a 78-year-old motorist surnamed Yu (余) sped through a school zone, killing three people and injuring 12. Last night, another driver sped down a street in Tainan’s Yuching District (玉井), killing one pedestrian and injuring two. The incidents have sparked public discussion over whether seniors
RSS