Architect Barbie

Barbie, the best-selling fashion doll, turns 57 this year, but she hasn’t been able to escape her past until now.

The doll, having seen its share of controversy over the years, has been revamped once again to change the face of the brand. The politically correct Barbie is now available in a variety of shapes and sizes—petite, tall, curvy and original, with seven skin tones and 24 hairstyles. These shapes and sizes were conceived to present more realistic and diverse versions of the dolls, which children could easily recognize. The brand’s standard-bearer, whose life-size dimensions would translate into an undernourished figure at 5 feet 9 inches tall with a 36-inch chest, 18-inch waist, and 33-inch hips, will still be available for purchase. According to Time magazine, ”They’ll all be called Barbie, but it’s the curvy one—with meat on her thighs and a protruding tummy and behind—that marks the most startling change to the most infamous body in the world.”

So why has Barbie’s life been so problematic? Her beginnings go back to Ruth Handler, who observed that children’s dolls were mostly infants. Handler suggested to her husband, Elliot, one of Mattel’s founders, that a full-bodied, adult doll would fill a gap in the market. Neither her husband nor Mattel’s directors had any interest in the idea.

In 1956, on a trip to Europe with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Handler bought three German Bild Lilli dolls. She gave one to her daughter and brought the other two back to Mattel. This doll with an adult figure was based on a comic strip by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Die Bild Zeitung. The Lilli character was not averse to getting what she needed from men. Initially, the Lilli doll was sold to adults as a sex doll, but children enjoyed dressing her up in different, separately purchased outfits, and the doll became popular.

On her return to the States, Handler redesigned the doll with engineer Jack Ryan. She named the doll Barbie after her daughter Barbara. The doll premiered on March 9, 1959, at the American International Toy Fair in New York, and a star was born. In its first year of production 350,000 dolls were sold.

Mattel eventually bought the rights to the Bild Lilli doll in 1964 and stopped production of the doll. While Ruth Handler wanted the doll to have an adult form, market research indicated that concern among parents centered on the fact that Barbie had discernable breasts. The standard dolls are 11½ inches high and come with all sorts of accessories and clothing. The doll has also appeared in the movies “Toy Story 2” and “Toy Story 3.” Barbie has had more than 126 careers including Astronaut Barbie, Doctor Barbie and NASCAR Barbie.

The doll has evolved over time and her proportions have long been criticized for creating an unrealistic body image for young girls. Not only did she meet the criteria for anorexia based on her dimensions, but she also had a body mass index that would prevent her from menstruating. Barbie was given a bigger waistline in 1967. Other Barbie lines such as Silkstone and Model Muse Barbie retained their pre-1967 dimensions. Black Barbie, introduced in 1980, still had Caucasian features, but in 2009 Mattel came out with the “So in Style” dolls, which presented a realistic likeness of black women. In 2003, Saudi Arabia would no longer permit the sale of Barbie dolls as they did not adhere to the standards of Islam.

In 2011 Mattel rolled out “Architect Barbie” for its Barbie “I Can Be” line as the career of the year. Architect Barbie, developed by Mattel with input from two women architects from the American Institute of Architects, was conceived to encourage a curiosity about the profession for girls through role-playing. When I actually saw Architect Barbie with her pink tube for blueprints, Clark Kent nerd glasses on top of her head, a hard hat under her arm and high-heel boots, along with her skyline print dress, the creation just didn’t make sense. It didn’t say anything about what architects do other than carry blueprints around. High heels on a job site—you’ve got to be kidding!

Then again, it’s just a toy introducing little girls to a profession where only 17 percent of AIA architects are female. While the pink turns me off and trivializes the doll itself, the notion that it may arouse enough interest for girls to consider a career that involves the design of buildings certainly isn’t a bad thing.

As did many children who later became architects, I just liked to make things when I was a kid. I had Lincoln Logs, built tents in my bedroom from bed sheets and broomsticks, enjoyed drawing, and loved the Erector Set in my kindergarten classroom. Mostly importantly, I came from a family that encouraged me to follow my passion, despite the fact that the path I chose would not be an easy one. I was lucky because I didn’t need a Barbie doll to influence my career path.

When we look at Barbie we see a set of symbols. An idealized female form along with an idealized vision of beauty has been the hallmark of the doll for more than 50 years. More than one billion Barbie dolls have been sold since 1959. The demographics, however, have changed and Mattel has recognized that in an era when a woman is running for the presidency of the United States one size doesn’t fit all.

Mattel’s President and Vice President dolls will premiere this summer. With the floodgates now open, we can look forward to other groundbreaking models in the future. Perhaps a transgender Barbie will appear on the horizon. At 57, maybe a Grandma Barbie who’s active, healthy and accomplished could also be part of the mix. Now wouldn’t that be something!