Silken Flame

Vintage Barbie illustrations, built environment, clones and more

Who wore it best?

L: Page from Barbie history/coffee table book; full color illustration of 3 dolls in in the Enchanted Evening floor-length gown: one in very pale punk, one in a slightly richer light pink, one that looks approximately cherry red but is describes as hot pink. Dolls wear a white stole over the shoulders and long white gloves. R: Marilyn Monroe before a multi-paneled mirror wearing a magenta or raspberry dress in shiny satiny fabric. The silhouette is the same as Enchanted Evening: square bodice, long straight skirt with train. Unlike Enchanted Evening, this dress has a single strap wrapping from close to Marilyn's right armpit, across over her left shoulder. It has no rose detail at the waist. She has accessorized with a glitter clutch in a similar shade.
L: Side-part American Girl and Bubble Cut Barbies in Enchanted Evening (1960) variants, from Barbie in Japan by Keiko Kimura Shibano (the text describes the frontmost dress color as “hot pink”); R: Marilyn Monroe in “How to Marry a Millionaire,” 1953; costumes by William Travilla. Fox Studios.
L: Betty Grable before the same mirror as Marilyn, above, in a white sleeveless beaded mermaid dress with flared tulle skirt beginning at and below the knee. She wears a white choker with rose attached. R: Barbie in a white Solo in the Spotlight of glitter fabric with flared tulle skirt below the knee and red rose detail atop the tulle. Both wear white open-toed shoes and very long white gloves. Both are blonde, and Barbie's curly bangs resemble Betty's hair volume and texture.
L: Betty Grable in “How to Marry a Millionaire,” 1953; costumes by William Travilla. Fox Studios. R: Barbie in Solo in the Spotlight (1960) prototype. Credit: Theriault’s.
L: Black and white photo of model in full-skirted, calf-length dress, apparently black, with either a sheer white shawl over her shoulders or a short black jacket with wide sheer white collar, long black gloves, closed-toed shoes, and wide-brimmed "picture" hat. R: color photo of Barbie in a dress whose skirt is of similar length and volume, with double-breasted bodice having small white buttons, wide collar in sheer material, and picture hat in the same white sheer with black ribbon accent. Shoes are black open-toed and she wears no gloves.
L: Christian Dior’s New Look, 1950s; R: Bubble cut Barbie in After Five (1962) from a ’90s Mattel trading card.

Hat tip to BillyBoy*, who highlighted the above similarity in his 1987 book, Barbie: Her Life and Times.

L: blonde bubble cut Barbie; R: model in Black-and-white photograph with short pageboy haircut. Both wear a form-fitting sheath to just below the knee. Over the sheath, Barbie wears a same-length tulle cape with bow at neckline and ribbon trim below hip level; model wears same-length tent-shaped chantilly lace overdress with bows at the straps and ruffles beginning below hip level. Barbie wears short black gloves and black open-toed shoes; model wears long black gloves and black closed-toed shoes. In addition, Barbie holds a gold dimpled clutch.
L: Bubble cut Barbie in Black Magic (1964); R: unknown model in Balenciaga “Baby Doll” dress (1957); via Unique Vintage and Oh So Delightful.
Brunette Barbie and actress (the latter in black-and-white photo) with shoulder-length flip hairstyles. Barbie's dress is almost to her knees while Powers' is a couple inches above. Both dresses have a low, belted waist and two different metallic fabrics above and below (Barbie has a gold mesh top and metallic skirt); the bodices are sleeveless with tall collars or turtlenecks. Powers wears glitter tights and low heels, while Barbie is barefoot and bare-legged. Behind Barbie on a mannequin is her jacket in the skirt material; Powers olds a gun with sight attached, pointed from her waist toward the ceiling.
L: “Marlo Flip” Barbie in Intrigue (1967); R: Stefanie Powers as April Dancer in a promotional photo for ’60s spy TV show “The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.” Credit: Theriault’s, NBC.
Color photos. L: Francie in stiff (wool?) sleeveless shift dress in pink with flat pink shoes, olive leggings or tights, and long-sleeve knit olive top with high collar. Dress has olive tie belt and trim. R: large group of models. The women wear wool shifts in various bright colors, with high-necked, long-sleeved black tops beneath, self-color belts, and cutouts showing black fabric beneath in a variety of shapes. All wear black tights or leggings, black low shoes, and rounded black hats.
L: Francie in Quick Shift (1966); credit: Apple Tree Auctions. R: Pierre Cardin Cosmos collection; the line was introduced in 1964 but this photograph is from ’67. (via New York Times).
Color photographs. L: Francie wears turquoise long-sleeved knit top and matching tights, A-line skirt above the knee in darker blue, yellow flat shoes, and thin yellow belt. R: model is sprawled in an armchair in a painter's studio; the painter, behind, stands with hands in pockets, looking uncertain. The model is dressed identically to Francie, except her top and tights are gold, her skirt is olive, and her shoes and tie belt are beige.
L: Baggy Casey in Hip Knits (1966); credit: Theriault’s. R: Unknown model wearing ensemble by Christiane Bailly, photographed for Vogue Paris, 1966, with artist (possibly Claes Oldenburg) in his studio. Source: atoumagg60 on eBay.
L: B/W photo. Model wears a horizontally-striped knit top with 3/4-length sleeves and short A-line skirt with belt, plus tights, low buckle shoes, and scarf or hood. R: Color photo, Francie wears horizontally-striped top in pink, red, yellow and aqua with elbow-length sleeves and pink pleated skirt above the knee. Red flats and yellow belt, possibly sewn into the skirt, complete the look. Both tops have stripes of varying width and saturation, though we can't see the colors of the one at left. One major difference is that the fabric on Francie's top runs from her chest to her arms with no seam, so that the stripes turn vertical with her arms hanging down; the model's top has the arm stripes at an angle to the bodice stripes at the sleevehole seam, so that the stripes continue horizontally down her arms.
L: Unknown model in Yves Saint Laurent before his rive gauche boutique, with Yves in the background (1966). Source: Musee YSL Paris. R: Short flip Francie in Hi-Teen (1967). Credit: Theriault’s.

Hat tip to Paris Refashioned: 1957-1968 by Colleen Hill for featuring the Yves Saint Laurent and Christiane Bailly designs above.

R: black-and-white photo, models are distributed around a black background as if floating in space, probably photographed from unusual angles like from below while standing, or from above while lying down, and then collaged together. Outfits include short, horizontally striped skirt with solid white jacked, vertically-striped jacket with white skirt, and long white pants with single strip on side, worn with jacket lined in vertically-striped material. Two models wear brimmed hats, one tying below the chin, while two wear sunglasses instead. Most wear white "Courreges boots," low-heeled and square-toed; one wears Mary Jane flats in white.. L: in color. Two francie dolls are collaged to "float" sideways and upside down on black background. One wears Twiggy Turn-outs, minidress with silver skirt, vertically-striped top in pink, orange, silver and green, wide silver belt, and silver "Courreges boots"; second wears "Twiggy gear": long, straight white pants, horizontally-striped knit top in pink, white and blue, pink wide-brimmed hat with navy trim and below-chin tie, blue flats, dark belt, and camera (held in hand).
L: Mattel’s Twiggy doll in Twiggy Turn-outs and Twiggy Gear (both 1968); credit: Theriault’s, composited by the author; R: Andre Courreges space age collection photographed by Peter Knapp for Elle, 1964. The magazine’s captions stated that the garments’ color schemes included pink, yellow, orange, and navy in addition to white (per Paris Refashioned: 1957-1968 by Colleen Hill).

Where to next? Two further entries ask, “Who wore it best?”: one on designer Mary Quant, featuring Francie, and one on flight attendant uniforms; if you like comparative fashion analysis you might also enjoy our recent piece on Millennium Mod, comparing Barbie’s newer swingin’ fashions to classic ones; or see more options in the table of contents.

sheathsensation

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One response to “Who wore it best?”

  1. Welcome! – Silken Flame

    […] Who wore it best? pairs vintage and mod Barbie and Francie fashions with their likely or confirmed inspirations. […]

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