Welcome!

Thanks for swinging by my vintage Barbie fan site, where you’ll find articles on Barbie’s built environment, Barbie illustrations, vintage rival and clone dolls and playsets, and miscellaneous musings/deep dives. What are you looking for?

Vintage Barbie Illustrations

• Mattel fashion booklets, 1960-67 (approximately)
• Basic and Dressed Doll Boxes, 1959-64
• Doll Carrying Cases, 1961-72
• Jumbo Trading Cards, 1962
• Gift set art, 1960-70
• Illustrated fashion packaging, also about 1960-70
• Random House books (plus some from other publishers), 1962-65
• Dell Comics, 1962-63
• Whitman Paper Dolls, 1962-65 and 1967-73
• Whitman Coloring Books, 1962-65 (A mod sequel post is possible but not planned at this time.)
• More crafts and hobbies, 1963-1971
• Queen of the Prom board game, 1961-63
• Keys to Fame board game, 1963
• Sew-Free Fashion Fun Kits, 1965
• Sewing Patterns, 1962-?
• The Barbie World of Fashion board game, 1967

Plus the illustration “sidebars,” short entries on niche topics:

• Busy Gal fashion sketches, 1960
• Barbie Sings!, 1961
• Go-Together furniture sets, illustrated
• Color Magic, 1965-66
• Mattel fashions for Julia, 1968-69
• All the Barbie and friends illustrations on mod house exteriors like the one below
• Miss Lively Livin’ board game, 1970
• The illustration component of the 1964 Little Theatre and travel costumes entry is sidebar-sized.

Barbie’s Built Environment

• Entries by year for many of Barbie’s early abodes: 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967-68, 1969, 1970.
• Barbie’s ’70s Travelogue: Part I, Part II, Part III
• Mattel Modern and Susy Goose furniture, 1958-1966
• Barbie on TV, a roundup of some of Barbie’s early toy TV sets (this post also has a strong “illustration” component)
• Barbie’s Fashion Shop, 1963
• The Deluxe Reading Dream Kitchen, 1963 (note, this is not a Mattel product)
• The Little Theater, 1964
• Skipper’s Schoolroom, 1965
• Penthouse apartments, 1964-76
• Beauty parlors, 1964-77
• Japan-exclusive furniture, 1967
• Unique Boutique and Cafe Today, both 1971
• The Sears Karosel Kitchen, 1971-1976 (note, this is not a Mattel product)
• A roundup of fireplaces in Barbie and Barbie-sized houses, 1963-79
• The “built” environments of Whitman Barbie paper dolls, which real Barbie dolls can also use; 1963-1973.
• The built environments of mini vintage Barbies

Articles relating to clones, rivals, and off-brand Barbie-style products

• The Two Abodes of Tammy covers the living spaces of one of Barbie’s most notable rivals
• Barbie’s ’70s Travelogue, Part II: Unofficial Adventures is about non-Mattel playsets suitable to Barbie and Barbie-sized dolls
• Clones are recommended in the “existing alternatives” section of the musing, Three Nostalgic Black Barbies We Need (and a few existing alternatives).
• Clone kitchens: The Deluxe Reading Dream Kitchen, The Sears Karosel Kitchen
• The pieces on penthouses, beauty parlors and fireplaces include non-Mattel offerings.
• Not Barbie on TV: Barbie and friends’ early TV sets that were tuned to other programs
• The entry on Mattel Modern and Susy Goose furniture includes some offbrand furniture items of the 70s and 80s.
• We wrote about clone carrying cases, including some created for competitor dolls.
• Certain of the sewing patterns are for generic fashion dolls.

Miscellaneous Musings and Deep Dives

• A Chronicle of Barbie shoes, 1959-67
• When Barbie Turned 21 in Manhattan, 1980
• Three Nostalgic Black Barbies We Need (and a few existing alternatives)
• Great Books for Vintage Barbie Fans
• The piece on Skipper’s Schoolroom includes “play sets that never were”: Barbie’s Sixties careers for which environments were not produced.
• Visions of After Five (1962) and Solo in the Spotlight (1960)
• Who wore it best? pairs vintage and mod Barbie and Francie fashions with their likely or confirmed inspirations. The Airborne edition does the same for vintage flight attendant uniforms, while the Mary Quant one highlights Francie fashions that appear influenced by Swinging London designer Mary Quant.
• Millennium Mod catalogs Barbie’s returns to the late Sixties youth-driven zeitgeist between 1980 and 2020.

There’s still more to come, but before you scroll away, here’s the first image ever posted to this blog back in 2022: some of my dolls, dressed in vintage or vintage reproduction, in front of backgrounds belonging to Bill Cotter: