Silken Flame

Vintage Barbie illustrations, built environment, clones and more

Sidebar: Go-Together furniture sets, illustrated

Our write up of Barbie’s Go-Together furniture for the many abodes of Barbie series pauses to appreciate the immersive representations on the sets’ packaging. Let’s revisit that imagery more comprehensively.

The first box art featured ponytail Barbie.

Box for Barbie go-together furniture kit convertible sofa-bed & coffee table. In a color illustration, blonde ponytail barbie wearing a pak knit striped top, pak yellow slacks, and blue scarf as belt sits on a sofa with orange and yellow upholstery and white base and arms. Before the sofa sits a long coffee table, rectangular but with slight roundedness in a modern style, with colorful tiles over the top. On the table are a telephone, television, and tray with one glass, while Barbie holds a second glass. A wall behind Barbie is yellow and holds framed still life art; the wall is bent at right angles with the second side of brick with wall candle holder.
#0408 via Worthpoint
Barbie go-together furniture kit chair, ottoman & end table packaging. In a color illustration, Titian ponytail Barbie in Crisp 'n' Cool sits in an easy chair with her feet up on a circular ottoman. Both are in white plastic with yellow-and-orange upholstery. Next to the chair is a tile-topped table holding a framed photo of Barbie and Ken and circular table with two glasses. The table has a small lower shelf on which a radio sits. All are of white plastic though the plasticity is not explicitly illustrated. Behind the character and her chair, part of a wall is shown with wood paneling up to about hip height, above which built-in shelves hold books, plants, and apossible bowl of fruit.
#0409 via Pinterest
Barbie go-together furniture kit chaise longue & side table. In a color illustration, brunette ponytail Barbie in Modie Date walks toward a lawn chair in pink, orange, yellow and white stripes next to a tulp-shape side table on which a phone rests. On the ground are magazines, a tray with two glasses, and a radio.
#0410 via Worthpoint

Two sets featured the Fashion Queen.

Box for Barbie go-together furniture kit lawn swing & planter. In a color illustration, Blonde bubble cut Barbie--looks like double bubble a la Fashion Queen--wears Friday Nite Date and stands in front of a double swing. The chair and awning are of pink, white, orange and yellow stripes and the rest of the structure is white (plastic, though that's not clear in the illustration). Sitting on the swing is a radio and some magazines; next to it is an architectural-pottery-style modern planter, also in white, holding a leafy fern or similar.
#0411 via Theriault’s
Barbie go-together furniture gift set. Illustration shows images of two scenes. At left, Barbie with brunette flip hair a la Fashion Queen wears lunch date. She stands next to a sofa and chair in white plastic with orange-and-yellow upholstery. Before these is a tile-top cofee table and a wide circulate ottoman. The walls behind her are one solid yellow with a hanging plant and one orange brick with a candleholder.
#4005 via Worthpoint

In one illustration Barbie is a bubble cut, while another appropriately features Skipper instead of her big sister.

Barbie n Skipper dining room furniture. Titian bubble cut Barbie in Invitation to Tea stands next to a drop leaf dining table with two chairs, set for two. Beneath the table is an ovoid pink rug. Illustrated on the walls are a china cabinet and fireplace. On the mantel are a plant, a teapot, and lamp, and above these is a circular mirror with candleholders.
#4010 via Worthpoint
Skipper n Skooter double bunk beds and ladder convert to twin beds. Skipper in night clothes sits on the lower bunk of gold-toned bunkbeds. A circular yellow rug sits at her feet. Illustrated along the wall behind her are shelves and a vanity with stool.
#4011 via Thread Chicks (eBay)

Finally, one illustration shows bend-leg Barbie, AKA American Girl Barbie, enjoying the furniture.

Barbie n Skipper living room furniture group. In the illustration, Titian-haired bend-leg Barbie wearing Disc Date sits in an easy chair with her feet on a rectangular stool. Next to her on one side is an end table with glasses on a tray, framed photo of Barbie (different hair color and cut, so maybe not THIS Barbie!). To the other side a coffee table with telephone and television and a sofa. The upholstery is green floral and all the furniture is made of blue plastic. On walls behind barbie are visible a fireplace, a large potted plant, and many pieces of framed art.
#4012 via Theriault’s

The box illustrations burst with charming little Barbie-centric details, like the framed “photo” of Ken and Barbie visible immediately above, first appearing in set #409; the illustration is a faithful depiction of the genuine article:

White frame "photo" of blonde ponytail Barbie in Enchanted Evening (probably--just the stole is visible) and Ken in a tux.
The genuine article on a non-Barbie backdrop by Donna Mibus.

Same for the television as depicted on sets like #4012 and #4005:

Close up of box illustration of Barbie in Lunch Date standing in a living room set. On the tile-topped coffee table can be seen a small TV with handle on top, in which human figures are just visible, as well as a radio. A couple indistinct magazines are scattered on the ottoman.

The walls of Skipper’s room, as we noted in the original post on these sets, include both framed photos and dolls of Barbie’s friend group; its box art reflects all of these in miniature. And the box for #4012 clips off the top corner of a lovely formal portrait of Barbie as seen in the actual furniture group,

Photo of cardboard wall from a Go-Together set. Half the wall is yellow-toned brick, the other half is spring green. Many pieces of framed artwork hang on the wall (screened onto the cardboard). Featured is one "painting" of a brunette swirl ponytail Barbie in a reddish dress with a sillhouette similar to Belle/Campus Belle. Other pieces include landscapes and still lifes. One small image in a gilt-look frame could be Barbie again in a white picture hat, and another shows a little girl with brown bobbed hair (doesn't look like Skipper) in ankle-length black dress with white collar standing next to a long slender siamese the same height as her.
wall part via vintagedollstoys (eBay)

a portrait which brings swirl ponytail Barbie into the illustrated Go-Together fold.

sheathsensation

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