Barbie & Skipper Deluxe House
Another year, another dream house… and this one’s deluxe! But was it? Unlike earlier houses, Sears’ exclusive 1965 Deluxe House for Barbie and Skipper was mostly plastic, which probably was deluxe in 1965, its furniture molded in place. However, compared to last year’s New Dream House, Barbie’s square footage had gone way down–plus, now she’s sharing with Skipper! Looking at the kitchenette with its two burners, the sink in the next room, and the dining area with very tight seating for two, we could almost convince ourselves Barbie had finally made the move to the big city–but there’s really no arguing with that plate glass window looking out on the backyard and swimming pool.
Note the change in television show between the product image at top and the vintage piece directly above, which appears to show a red-ponytailed Barbie in Sweater Girl, walking with Ken (this illustration also appears in, and likely originated for, a Skipper fashion booklet). Peering in from outside at this set’s second Barbie illustration, she’s changed her hair but is wearing Sweater Girl again!
Anyway, Barbie and Skipper weren’t suffering too badly in these cramped quarters, thanks to a pair of chipboard rooms also released this year–some of the last chipboard accommodations Barbie and family would ever know.
Skipper Dream Room
It may not have been deluxe, but Skipper’s 1965 room was a dilly!
As depicted above, Skipper’s room had an open floor plan along the lines of the earlier New Dream House, with tastefully applied “Sew-Free” ruffles and curtain, a day bed, a precious window nook with table and heart-shaped chairs, chipboard birdcage, both chipboard and sew-free throw pillows, among other luxuries.
Not shown here, the room’s exterior had illustrated patio furniture, bird bath, and table tennis table, plus a physical two-seater bench in a cozy nook. Back inside, on a shelf printed onto the wall we see some of the same possessions from Skipper’s Go-Together room which premiered a year ago, including the Red Sensation hat, a Barbie guitar, and Bugs Bunny, and on other walls we see some Barbie and family illustrations, representing merely a handful of the rich ephemera included with this set:
At left, above, we find a couple Barbie illustrations in a familiar style among the decor that’s permanently inscribed Skipper’s wall; at right we see “Barbie Magazines” with travel poster illustrations for covers; a little black-and-white version of the real Barbie Easy-as-Pie cookbook; an unidentified blonde dancing and/or singing on TV; Skipper, Skooter, and Ricky’s portraits in a novel style; and more. But the very best treasure in Skipper’s trove was none of these; instead, it was…
Astonishing! To accompany the mini-Barbies included with Skipper outfits such as “Me and My Doll” and “Day at the Fair,” the Skipper Dream Room boasted an itsy bitsy New Dream House–sans furniture, but featuring the midcentury cat wall art we admired in our post on this Dream House.
If you think about it, this year’s plastic Deluxe House falls somewhere between the real New Dream House and this miniature version in size. But Skipper wasn’t the only member of the house with a capacious getaway: Barbie had a sanctum of her own, of sorts.
Barbie’s Dream Kitchen/Dinette
Lucky lady! While Skipper retires to her chambers, Barbie can go enjoy her… kitchen? To its credit, it’s at least bigger than the “deluxe” house, and with sufficient seating. Like Skipper’s room, the Dream Kitchen/Dinette has Sew-Free embellishments, as well as, in the style of last year’s house, lots of opening cabinets and other storage, plus a stylish mid-century pass-through window of tile mosaic and exposed brick. There’s also some abstracted food art, a little dimension to the wood-burning fireplace, and a set of plastic dishes and cookware.
From Dream House to Deluxe House, where will Barbie land next? How many roommates will she have? You’ve heard her chipboard era is winding down; is plastic the way of the future? Style-wise, whose boots do I hear crunching up the gravel drive? Stay tuned to find out!
Note: some of the sets featured in this entry bear a copyright of 1964. As always in this series, we go by the year things first appeared in the Christmas catalog. If it wasn’t available in time for Christmas in 1964, was it really released in 1964?
Silken Flame 
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