Barbie Forever

Barbie is a strong, independent doll. But is she a feminist icon? It’s complicated. Since her introduction in 1959, Barbie’s impact has been revolutionary. Far from being a toy designed by men to oppress women, she was a toy invented by women to teach women what was expected of them, for better or for worse. Whether tarred-and-glittered as antifeminist puffery or celebrated as a feminist icon (or, at any rate, an important cultural touchstone in understanding feminism) Barbie has undeniably influenced generations of girls. In Forever Barbie, cultural critic, investigative journalist, and first-generation Barbie owner M. G. Lord uncovers the surprising story behind Barbie’s smash success. Revealing her low origins as “Bild Lilli,” a risqué doll for adults sold as a gag gift in postwar Germany, Forever Barbie traces Barbie’s development and transformation, through countless makeovers and career changes, into an international pop culture icon and now “traditional toy.” Though not every doll in the line has been a hit—with pregnant Midge and Growing up Skipper among the more intriguing disasters—Barbie’s endurance, Lord writes, speaks as much to Mattel’s successful marketing as it does to our society’s overall ambivalence toward femininity. With new accessories, including a preface on the latest developments in the Barbieverse, Forever Barbie “will make you think of America’s most celebrated plastic doll in ways you never have before” (Susan Faludi).

Barbie ("Brooklyn") and Barbie ("Malibu") want to make it big in New York City, but they need help from someone with star power to make their dreams come true! Will the girls manage to find a star-making media mogul and get a meeting with him? Find out in this fun storybook with two adorable BFF necklaces! Barbie from Malibu and Barbie from Brooklyn have big dreams of becoming stars in New York City, and there’s one person who can make those dreams a reality: Otto Phoenix! But the friends quickly realize that getting a meeting with Mr. Phoenix is more difficult than they thought. When his assistant, Pandora, won’t let the girls meet with Otto, they have to get creative and come up with a plan to perform for him. Young Barbie fans will enjoy following along as Brooklyn and Malibu put on silly disguises, make pretzels, and scale a building in this fun storybook with two BFF necklaces!

Barbie Forever: Her Inspiration, History, and Legacy presents a detailed, fully authorized portrait of this beloved doll through all-new interviews, original sketches, vintage photos, advertisements, and much more—including a foreword by Olympic fencing medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad. A double-sided foldout timeline showcases important moments in Barbie history. Explore how the doll came to be, what it takes to create one of her many looks, and how her legacy continues to influence the world. Since her debut in 1959, Barbie has been breaking boundaries and highlighting major moments in art, fashion, and culture. She has been an interpreter of taste and style in every historic period she has lived through and has reflected female empowerment through the more than 200 careers she has embodied. Today, an international icon, Barbie continues to spark imaginations and influence conversations around the world. Barbie Forever is a vibrant celebration for the "Barbie Girl" in all of us.

“Barbie and her creator, the sharp-elbowed gal who built the biggest toy company, have a story to tell.” —Time Barbie and Ruth is the remarkable true story of the world’s most famous toy and the woman who created her. It is a fascinating account of how one visionary woman and her product changed an industry and sparked a lasting debate about women’s roles. At once a business book, a colorful portrait of an extraordinary female entrepreneur, and a breathtaking look at a cultural phenomenon, Barbie and Ruth is a must read for anyone who ever owned a Barbie doll. This is the entwined tale of two exceptional women. One was a voluptuous eleven-inch-tall beauty who debuted at the 1959 Toy Fair in New York City and quickly became the treasure of 9 out of 10 American girls and their counterparts in 150 countries. She went on to compete as an Olympic athlete, serve as an air force pilot, work as a boutique owner, run as a presidential candidate, and ignite a cultural firestorm. The other was Ruth Handler, the tenth child of Polish Jewish immigrants. A brilliant, creative, ruthless, and passionately competitive visionary, Ruth was a mother and wife who wanted it all—a masterful entrepreneur who, together with her curvaceous plastic creation, changed American business and culture forever.

What happens when Barbie Roberts from Malibu meets another Barbie Roberts from Brooklyn? They become best friends, of course! Follow along as Malibu and Brooklyn learn what it takes to be a great friend in this fun storybook with an included charm bracelet. Barbie Roberts is off to New York City for the summer of a lifetime! She arrived at the Handler Arts Academy to find a surprise waiting for her—another Barbie Roberts! Barbie from Malibu and Barbie from Brooklyn become fast friends, but when an accident threatens to tear them apart, Brooklyn and Malibu discover the true meaning of friendship and working together. In this book based on the musical special Barbie: Big City Big Dreams, Barbie fans of all ages will enjoy reliving every moment of Brooklyn and Malibu’s adventures. Also included is a cute charm bracelet with three charms!

A THOROUGHLY GROWN-UP LOOK AT A TWENTIETH-CENTURY MUSE OF OUTSTANDING PROPORTIONS To some she's a collectible, to others she's trash. In The Barbie Chronicles, twenty-three writers join together to scrutinize Barbie's forty years of hateful, lovely disastrous, glorious influence on us all. No other tiny shoulders have ever, had to carry the weight of such affection and derision and no other book has ever paid this notorious little place of plastic her due. Whether you adore her or abhor her, The Barbie Chronicles will have you looking at her in ways you never imagined.

What a Doll! The year is 1959. It is an era of one-dimensional paper dolls and cherubic baby dolls. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, there is Barbie doll. Sophisticated and full of possibilities. Barbie changes everything--forever. When Ruth Handler created Barbie doll five decades ago she not only introduced a wonderful toy for little girls, she helped create one of the most popular and prized collectibles in the toy market. Imagine, Handler's first doll, a Ponytail Barbie, sold for more than $25,000 at auction; a staggering amount for a doll that originally sold for $3. Barbie: A Rare Beauty hosts an amazing visual feast of 50 years of beautiful dolls, showcasing more than 500 striking photographs of some of the finest and rarest dolls ever created. Author and celebrated Barbie doll expert Sandi Holder presents a banquet of gorgeous vintage dolls, classic fashion sets, prototypes, one-of-a-kind rarities, Japanese fashions, store displays, licensed products and many never-before-seen items in this stunning presentation of the grandest doll ever: Barbie.

This book uses one of the most popular accessories of childhood, the Barbie doll, to explain key aspects of cultural meaning. Some readings would see Barbie as reproducing ethnicity and gender in a particularly coarse and damaging way - a cultural icon of racism and sexism. Rogers develops a broader, more challenging picture. She shows how the cultural meaning of Barbie is more ambiguous than the narrow, appearance-dominated model that is attributed to the doll. For a start, Barbie′s sexual identity is not clear-cut. Similarly her class situation is ambiguous. But all interpretations agree that, with her enormous range of lifestyle `accessories′, Barbie exists to consume. Her body is the perfect metaphor of modern times: plastic, standardized and oozing fake sincerity.