Ever since it was first introduced in 1959, Barbie has been one of the most well-known and recognizable dolls on the market, but a lot of things have changed since then. Luckily, Barbie manufacturer Mattel has shown it was willing to move with the times and let Barbie be who little girls all over the world needed her to be.
Lately, Mattel has been putting a lot of thought and effort into making the Barbie world more diverse. The original Barbie is a lean, tall, trendy blonde, and while there are girls out there who can see themselves in her, there are many others who can’t. So Barbie has changed over the years to represent ever-expanding audiences: she started having more diverse interests, career paths, and styles. For Black History Month, which was in February, Mattel partnered with Bermudan stylist and creative consultant Shiona Turini to make Barbie even more diverse.
In the new collection. Barbie Style, Turini designed a series of dolls with different skin colors, hairstyles, and outfits, to represent as wide a range of beauty as possible. Each doll in the collection is totally different– and stunning. Now little girls can find the Barbie doll that looks like them in the toy stores and know that they’re beautiful just the way they are.
