Barbie's History

Barbie is a fashion doll synthetic by means of the American toy employer Mattel, Inc. And released in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler has credited with the creation of the doll the use of a German doll referred to as Bild Lilli as her suggestion.

Barbie is the figurehead of a logo of Mattel dolls and add-ons, consisting of other family contributors and collectible dolls. Barbie has been a critical part of the toy fashion doll market for over sixty years and has been the problem of numerous controversies and proceedings, frequently involving parodies of the doll and her way of life.

Mattel has sold over a billion Barbie dolls, making it the enterprise’s biggest and most profitable line. However, sales have declined sharply when you consider that 2014. The doll has transformed the toy business in affluent communities globally by becoming a car for the sale of related merchandise (accessories, clothes, pals of Barbie, etc.). She has an enormous effect on social values by using conveying characteristics of female independence, and with her multitude of accessories, an idealized upscale way of life that can be shared with affluent pals. Starting in 1987, Barbie has elevated into a media franchise, including animated films, tv specials, video games, and songs.

In 2020, Mattel sold $1.35 billion well worth of Barbie dolls and accessories and this was their first-class income boom in two a long time This is an increase from the $950 million the logo bought for the duration of 2017.

Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls and noticed that she frequently loved giving them grown-up roles. At the time, most children’s toy dolls were representations of toddlers. Realizing that there will be a gap within the marketplace, Handler counseled the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founding father of the Mattel toy enterprise. He turned into unenthusiastic approximately the idea, as were Mattel’s directors.

During an experience in Europe in 1956 with her kids Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth Handler came across a German toy doll called Bild Lilli. The person-figured doll changed into precisely what Handler had in mind, so she bought three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others again to Mattel. The Lilli doll was based on a popular man or woman appearing in a comedian strip drawn by using Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Bild. Lilli was a blonde bombshell, an operating woman who knew what she wanted and turned into now not above the use of guys to get it. The Lilli doll become first sold in Germany in 1955, and although it was, to begin with, bought to adults, it became popular with youngsters who enjoyed dressing her up in clothes that had been available one at a time.

Upon her return to the United States, Handler redesigned the doll (with assistance from engineer Jack Ryan) and the doll becomes given a new name, Barbie, after Handler’s daughter Barbara. The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March nine, 1959. This date is likewise used as Barbie’s reputable birthday.

The first Barbie doll wore a black-and-white zebra-striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail and became available as both a blonde or brunette. The doll became marketed as a "Teen-age Fashion Model," with her clothes created by means of Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson. The first Barbie dolls were synthetic in Japan, with their clothes hand-stitched through Japanese homeworkers. Around 350,000 Barbie dolls had been sold throughout the first year of production.

Louis Marx and Company sued Mattel in March 1961. After licensing Lilli, they claimed that Mattel had “infringed on Greiner & Hausser’s patent for Bild-Lilli’s hip joint, and also claimed that Barbie becomes "a right away take-off and replica" of Bild-Lilli. The employer moreover claimed that Mattel "falsely and misleadingly represented itself as having originated the layout". Mattel counter-claimed and the case became settled out of court docket in 1963. In 1964, Mattel offered Greiner & Hausser’s copyright and patent rights for the Bild-Lilli doll for $21,600.

Ruth Handler believed that it becomes essential for Barbie to have an adult look, and early market research showed that a few parents have been unhappy with approximately the doll’s chest, which had awesome breasts. Barbie’s appearance has been changed many times, most extensively in 1971 whilst the doll’s eyes had been adjusted to appearance forwards rather than having the demure sideways glance of the original version.

Barbie becomes one of the first toys to have an advertising and marketing approach based totally drastically on television marketing, which has been copied extensively with the aid of other toys. It is envisioned that over one billion Barbie dolls were sold globally in over one hundred fifty international locations, with Mattel claiming that 3 Barbie dolls are sold each second.

The popular range of Barbie dolls and associated accessories is synthetic to about 1/6 scale, which is also referred to as playscale. The preferred dolls are approximately 11½ inches tall.

Barbie has emerged as a cultural icon and has been given honors which can be rare inside the toy international. In 1974, a section of Times Square in New York City become renamed Barbie Boulevard for every week. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris at the Louvre held a Barbie showcase in 2016. The showcase featured 700 Barbie dolls over two floors as well as works with the aid of cutting-edge artists and files (newspapers, pix, video) that contextualize Barbie. Get the best barbie dolls only at eBay alternatives.