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Very Vintage Ken

2/6/2014

This is my second Ken. The first one got kind of trashed. He came with this fuzzy flocked hair that came off when I took him swimming in my friends kiddy pool. He looked SO awful. But now, I kind of wish I hadn't thrown him out. This one has slick painted on vinyl hair which has withstood the test of time!

He is wearing the "Dreamboat" ensemble from my little Barbie clothes catalog that I talked about yesterday in my vintage Barbie clothes blog. And this was one of those expensive outfits, over $30 in today's money. But, look at the first photo. The coat is completely lined, the pants fly has a working zipper and there are all the perfect accessories.

Here is the very first TV add introducing Ken. He was also named for one of Ruth Handler's children, her son Kenneth.

You will be happy to know, I tidied up all my old Barbie clothes and hung them up in the official case I have. See these before and after shots.

My Ken's clothes are in better shape than Barbie's and I think I have every pair of shoes and socks he ever owned.

The blue terry cloth slippers for his bathrobe, the white sneakers for his tennis ensemble and the cork sandals go with what he was wearing when I got him along with his little red swim suit and towel.

The black shoes are for his very, very best outfit ... a complete tuxedo!

My Ken was dressed better than my Barbie. Too bad I've lost the corsage that he was supposed to pin on her gown. This reminds me that my father used to play Barbie with me. He would be Ken who took Barbie out on a date. Ken opened all the doors for Barbie, helped her with her coat and behaved like a proper gentleman ... such a good memory.

And in case you are worried about Ken's grooming habits, you will be happy to know he, too had his own bar of soap AND a shaver! Can't take Barbie out with stubble.

Now, I have mentioned more that once, how expensive these outfits were. But Mattel also had a Mix and Match program. These were garment pieces that could be purchased separately at a more affordable price. Here is a add for those.

Tomorrow I'll finish Barbie week with a little more of this and that.

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My Very Vintage Barbie

2/5/2014

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Here is my Barbie wardrobe case! I'm amazed at what good condition it's in. The brittle plastic handle isn't even broken! I can never give this stuff away, it was such an important part of my childhood.

But, I have to confess, I haven't been keeping it very tidy.

I open it to find my original Barbie (circa 1962) and all the Barbie and Ken stuff I ever owned, very well played with. Nothing here would sell in "mint" condition.

My daughter-in-law observed recently that the business model for Barbie in those early days was very much like the current American Girl Doll. Everything was really well made. A child would own one or two dolls and buy clothes and accessories little by little.

For the first three years I owned one Barbie. She cost $3 ($23 in today's money) and came wearing nothing but a bathing suit. And then my older sister got me this very cool Barbie with WIGS!

The acquisition of each new outfit was a special occasion. And every new outfit came with a little booklet to remind you of all the other outfits you didn't own ... yet. We would spend a lot of time looking at these books, dreaming of the ones we wanted.

Since I have a few of these books I can tell you how much Barbie's clothing sold for at the time.

The workmanship was incredible. Everything was made in Japan. That's were the cheap labor was in those days.

Look at the inside of this dress. The hem is slipstitched by hand! And each outfit came with an official woven Barbie label.

This dress I was given along with my first Barbie. Here is the catalog page. It cost $2 ($15.50). When I look back now, I appreciate these gifts even more. My father was a school teacher and my mother didn't work. These were expensive gifts!

Here's another great outfit. Not only did the pants have a working zipper and the coat had a matching lining ...

It came with a bunch of accessories, including a mini map of the United States, with the Mattel logo in the corner, of course.

I owned the Barbie "Nighty-Negligee Set" and my favorite ...

the Barbie Ballerina set, compete with a working zipper again and ...

her very own sign to advertise the upcoming performance.

Every outfit came with lots of wonderful accessories, including a bar of Barbie soap in the little black box.

I never got the very, very expensive wedding dress. My mother made me one, but I don't know where it is right now. I do still have the underwear she made for my Barbie, though.

Also, in this little book was an advertisement for the Barbie and Ken sewing patterns published by the Advance Pattern Company.

And, I was very surprised to find one of my first attempts, a shirt for Ken.

So, tomorrow, I'll show you the good stuff I have for Ken!

But WAIT ... I'm adding Barbie's very first TV commercial ... fun!

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Barbie's origins

2/4/2014

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This is not a Barbie doll, but it sure looks like one, doesn't it?

We have all heard that Ruth Handler (wife of the owner of Mattel) invented the Barbie doll and named it after her daughter Barbara, which I've heard the poor daughter hated!

I met Mrs. Handler at a WIT (Women in Toys) meeting years ago, back in the day when I was doing more toy design work than pattern company work. She has just written her biography, so I learned the story straight from her mouth and, mostly, that story is true.

In the mid-fifties Mrs. Handler had noticed that her daughter and friends enjoyed playing with fashion paper dolls more than their actual 3-D dolls that were babyish. Which gave Ruth the idea to make a fashion doll proportioned like a fashion drawing.

Note that I said fashion drawing ... not fashion model. Fashion models have bodies that are thinner and taller than the average woman, but a fashion drawing is proportioned beyond all reality.

Now, there were fashion dolls on the market at that time, but they didn't have the long stretched out body like a fashion drawing. My older sister and I had a Revlon dolls and loved them, pictured above. Notice her more petite proportions and large head. She is a lovely doll.

Meanwhile, in 1952, a newspaper artist named Reinhard Beuthien was ordered to make a "filler" to conceal a blank space in the German paper, Bild-Zeitung. His first drawing was of a cute baby. His boss didn't like it, so he kept the face, added a pony tail and gave it a sexy woman's body and named it "Lilli".

His creation was so popular, year later, they started manufacturing dolls based on his drawings in two sizes. The small ones were 7 1/2" and the large were 11 1/2", exactly the size of a Barbie doll!

So, it could be said, that Barbie started off as a sex toy for adult men!

Now, remember Ruth Handler had the idea of a fashion doll toy for girls BEFORE she went on a family trip to Germany. But, I think you can guess the rest of the story ... she saw one of these dolls in a store there, brought it home and then negotiated with the Lilli doll manufacturer to use the same molds to make our American Barbie!

This is Lilli in the front with a few of the first Barbies behind her.

Look at the hand ... the same! I've seen some Lilli dolls in a museum in Germany next to Barbie dolls and the body is exactly the same. The legs go into the hips in that funny very round way, just like Barbie.

They did make a new head, but not really all that new. Lilli's shoes and earrings are permanently stuck on her and Barbie's shoes and earrings are removable, which is more fun for little girls to dress up!

So, that is how we ended up with the Barbie doll we have to this day. And she has evolved a long way from her sexy origins, but has been a bit tainted by these odd beginnings. I wonder what she would have looked like, if the Mattel people had designed something from scratch?? Well we will never know.

I imagine she wouldn't have had such large breasts, since most fashion models are not very busty, but again, we will never know.

Tomorrow, I will show you my first Barbie and some of her clothes. If you haven't seen the Barbie clothes that were made in her first years, you will be amazed!

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Barbie Body

2/3/2014

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How many of you got your start sewing for a favorite doll?

I certainly did! and it was my Barbie. The Barbie doll was introduced when I was about 6 or 7 and was THE doll that everyone wanted.

I don't think many people were thinking about her ridiculous body proportions at that time, although there were adults who weren't so sure little girls should be playing with such sexy looking dolls.

You never know what will pop up when doing a Google search. I ran across these images at the Trend Hunter website while looking for information about zippers. I'm not sure of the connection, but I'm glad I found them.

Clearly someone has Photoshopped several photos of Barbie dolls into realistic human proportions. It is SO interesting.

I learned to sew by making clothes for my Barbie and, as a professional, I have made loads of clothes for Barbie and similar sized dolls, most recently a Kate Middleton wedding dress.

This size doll is really hard to sew for. I use tweezers to help the fabric under the presser foot of my sewing machine.

But, back to the crazy body proportions ... just read below.

These charts are from the website www.rehabs.com.
Click on this link to visit the site and learn more.

More about Barbie tomorrow.

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Very Vintage Ken

My Very Vintage Barbie

Barbie's origins

Barbie Body

From Andrea

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