Fashion Dolls

This page is a work in progress, please be patient.

So, here I am. A woman who doesn't wear makeup, doesn't wish to be terribly thin, has a high-tech job, is a self described feminist. A woman who collects Barbie® dolls and has most of her life. Weird, huh?

When I was smaller my sister and I were avid Barbie consumers. We had dozens of dolls and more outfits than we can count. Instead of having weddings (although we did have a big one around the time Princess Di married), playing house, playing boyfriend/girlfriend with our dolls we were more into pretending our dolls were professional women. Rock stars (Ken was a groupie if even present), doctors, lawyers, fashion designers, horse breeders, astronauts, superheros, soldiers, archaeologists and Princess Leia.

Now that the years have gone by ,along with some years of little interest in the dolls, we find ourselves and our mother once again interested in fashion dolls. Barbies right now but I will have Gene when I can afford her. It all started again with one sleepless night when I went to the grocery store at three in the morning and bought the Barbie Bazar magazine. The next day I took it over to my Mom's house to share and that was it. Onto the new round of collecting.

Collecting

Either as a little kid I wasn't aware of them or Mattel just started in the past few years, but I have become aware of a whole new level of Barbies for collecting. In fact, it seems that Mattel has become more aware of the population of collecting adults and has designed lines of dolls just for them.

Now that I am back into Barbies, I am getting mostly Collectors Editions Barbies that mean something to me. I have two Autumns from the City Seasons series as well as Fairy Tale and Medieval style barbies. And toss in some freebies from toystores.

Collecting Links

Marl & B: my favorite place to buy fashion dolls
Mattel's Barbie Collectibles website

Customizing

Now that I am older there are other things I want to do with the Barbies. I want to make them into Medieval royalty, mermaids, aliens, cat people, and any other things I can think of. I am currently working on making a Pretty in Plaid Barbie into a silver mermaid. I have redone her lipstick and added some other facial markings. I made a tail pattern by fitting muslin to the Barbie and making a prototype. When I get around to it the tail will be made out of silver satin. I have to do her hair first though. It's a work in progress.

If you're going to be doing Barbie and other dolls as historical figures, Simplicity and Vogue have some really cool patterns.

Customizing Links

One and Only Creations	Barbie and Gene dolls customized to look like faeries, centaurs, famous people, and movie characters.
Simplicity	A pattern company with wonderful Barbie and Gene clothing/costume patterns.
Vogue	Vogue Patterns: designer Gene, Barbie, and American Girls costumes.

Shopping

I don't have much of a chance to get to the stores that carry the Collectors Barbies. I work and I get rather busy on the weekends. Fortunately there are some good online stores where I can purchase them. At a couple of places you can even preorder.

Buying Links

MarlB	This is where I have bought a number of Barbie dolls on preorder. Their prices are good too.
The Barbie Shopper	Mattel's official Barbie store.