Silken Flame

Vintage Barbie illustrations, built environment, clones and more

The Barbie World of Fashion game (1967)

Square game box with color illustrations of blonde TnT Barbie, including one that is the full length of the box from top to bottom, posing in Francie's pink-and-blue knit ensemble The Combo, complete with its pink patterned stockings and pink bow shoes. Ont he top half of the box is written "the Barbie World of Fashion game by mattel," while the bottom is filled with blue-green marker-looking illustration of Barbie and friends, sometimes surrounded by various sailboats, atolls, castles, a leaning tower, and other suggestions of world travel (described in much more detail below). Text along the bottom of the box reads "Round-The_world 3-D Molded Playing Board; for 2, 3, 4 Players!" In fron stands a blonde mod-style Barbie, the Fair Fair reproduction, wearing her blond hair extensions attached to a pink headband, and the pink and blue sweater dress Knit Hit with blue closed-toe shoes.

We’ve noted before how the lush illustrations of the Queen of the Prom and Keys to Fame board games enriched the world of Barbie visuals in the early-mid ’60s. In the mod era “lush” was less on-trend, but 1967’s Barbie World of Fashion game, with its travel-focused play, was illuminated by bright, bold interpretations of the characters and ensembles.

On the game box, shown above with a Hair Fair repro doll for scale, the game’s playable characters–Barbie, Francie, Casey, and Skipper–are shown stylishly attired. Added references to travel include Casey toting her train case, Skipper waving flags, Barbie donning a lei or kneeling by her matching luggage set, and Francie rolling around in a pile of travel brochures and cash.

Four color photograph details from the game box, as detailed in the text, collaged together inside bold ellipses. Most are images of the full, clothed character, except Francie in Mini-Chex who is shown from the elbows up. The mentioned "train case" Casey carries is small enough it could be a box purse, but it is inferred to be luggage from the context. It is gold-colored. The second Casey holds a bouquet of white flowers, and Skipper waves little flags but they got cut off by my messy collaging (Francie in Mini-Chex overlaps). Both Caseys have brunette bobs. Francie has a blone flip and Skipper has long, straight blonde hair.

Some characters are dressed sensibly, such as Casey in Floating In and Wild ‘n’ Wooly; Francie in Mini-Chex; and Skipper in Trim Twosome, all shown above.

Other fashion choices are more questionable, such as the oversized Barbie wearing Francie’s The Combo, who dominates the scene; Barbie’s also found stretching out Francie’s striped swimsuit, and Barbie and Francie wear each other’s similar numbers Trailblazers and Hill-riders, all seen below.

More details in bold ellipses. Seated Barbie in Francie's striped swimsuit wears a lei. Francie lies down with her chin on one hand, gazing down at a pile of travel brochures and maybe plane tickets that she caresses. Some cash floats above her shoulder. Barbie kneels next to a suitcase and hatbox in lavender with purple trim. All Barbies illustrated here are Tnt with long straight hair and a little pink box, and all on the box art are blonde. Francie is a more dirty blonde.

The clothing swaps may be calculated, since gameplay involves buying whatever fashions are available regardless of whether they’re sized to suit.

One last box illustration shows Barbie on the phone with Ken. No fashions were produced for Ken in the year of the game’s release, and here both characters wear nonexistent fashions (though Barbie’s reminds me sliiightly of Knit Hit).

Floating heads and shoulders of Ken and TnT Barbie on the game box. Both are blond-haired and blue-eyed. Barbie holds a pink telephone handset and Ken a purple one. Ken wears a light blue sweater while barbie wears a wide-necked top of some sort covered in a pink and blue diamond pattern. A thick gold band at her wrist could be jewelry but looks like a cuff. In all images Barbie has the pink bow in her hair that the doll came with at this time. It is prominent here. In corners of the image we can see overlap from other portraits already described: Barbie's lei; Skuppers flags of the world (including Italy, Israel, Great Britain), one of Casey's piles of cash, plus a windmill and the base of the Eiffel Tower.

While the booklets of the mod years are World[s] of Barbie Fashions, this game takes place in a Barbie World of Fashion. The similarities between game and booklets go beyond just their names, though: on the game board, Barbie is depicted (in her own clothing) in sometimes-modified booklet poses. Adding a parasol to Jump Into Lace to navigate the Congo; draining the blues from Swirly Cue for Soviet Russia; sweating in the Sahara in Scene Stealers, and so forth.

The game board is a kind of swirly looking Mercator map covered in colorful dots representing the spaces on the board, where players can "fly" to a new location, go shopping, or draw other cards. Interspersed are several illustrations that look like slightly soupy versions of booklet illustrations. Blonde Barbie wears Togetherness inthe middle of South America; Dancing Stripes in the intermountain western USA (I don't think the locations are really meant to be precise); Trailblazers in a swnow scene in northern Canada (this one may be ash blonde); a version of Swirly Cue that's just pink, yellow, and white in Moscow. Brunette Barbie wears Jump into Lace and Scene Stealers in different parts of Africa. These are all circled and shown magnified along the margins of the image. On the lower left and righthand sides of the map, over the ocean, are blonde Barbies in Zokko! and Extravaganza. In the bottom center, east of South America and west of Africa, there is a logo with two Francies that will be described momentarily.

The in-game fashions the characters tour the world to model and purchase are direct booklet copies in a slightly larger format, which is nice:

Kinda blurry shot of the 15 fashions that come as little cards in the board game, plus a two-page spread from a contemporary booklet. In the booklet, Barbie, Francie and Casey all model their fashions, while the cards include a few of Skipper, too. Barbie and Francie fashions on the cards include Pazam, Knit Hit, Togetherness, Hill-riders, Floating In, Dancing Stripes, Jump Into Lace, Scene Stealers, The Combo, Extravaganza, Underliners, and a Francie-worn wedding gown, all ranging in price from $30 to $100. Of these, Scene Stealers, Knit Hit, Dancing Stripes, Hill-riders and Pazam also appear in the booklet, along with other fashions including Francie's Mini-Chex and Wild n Wooly.

Though the game board is mainly populated by Barbie, a pair of booklet Francies also appear:

The logo in the botton center of the game board is a bright yellow rectangle with text reading, "The BARBIE (R) World of Fashion Gabe by Mattel. (c) 1967 Mattel, Inc., Hawthorne, California, Made & Printed in U.S.A." Atop the rectangle is a cluster of buildings from around the world: skyscrapers, onion domes, clock towers, greek columns, etc. To either side stand blonde and brunette Francie, in booklet poses, wearing The Combo and Floating In. Scattered around their feet are hat boxes and suitcases in pink, blue, purple, and red, some with white stripes and white lids, others with little sickers indicating their world travel.

And such colorful, appealing suitcases!

Where to next? This is the most recent post on early Barbie illustrations. The most popular posts in this category are on fashion booklets and carrying cases. Other popular posts on this site include those on penthouse apartments and on shoes. Or just head up to yon table of contents to see all the options.

sheathsensation

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