
In this series so far we’ve detailed how, during the Seventies, an array of vacation spots popped up for Barbie’s enjoyment. We’ve also seen how she gets from place to place, by land, air, or water. At this point she’s got all she needs, except… Barbie, you’re not packed!
But what to pack?
This latest entry in our Seventies Travelogue is an appendix and not a chapter proper because Barbie could pack her bags right from the beginning, with Winter Holiday’s overnight bag and Commuter Set’s hat box, both 1959, quickly followed by her American Airlines flight bag in 1961.

Either bag is serviceable for a quick getaway, but for lengthy journeys she’ll need more capacity than this; and a stylish traveler like Barbie would never be caught toting around a hodgepodge assortment of bags as seen above.
What she really needed was a matching luggage set, such as the one sold for Penny Brite in 1965. The 8″ Penny was supposed to be 6 years old or something, but that didn’t stop her from having a car which came complete with an adorable line of baggage. The much-taller Barbie probably couldn’t operate Penny’s vehicle very easily, but the luggage actually fits pretty well; even the purse strap is pretty much the right length.

Penny’s play sets had a more Populuxe feel than Barbie’s, all boomerangs, amoeboids, and candy colors. Some of her sets were recolored and put back in production for Dawn in the Seventies, and possibly on another occasion as well, but I believe this is the lone instance of the luggage with its atomic sunbursts. I just adore this set. It may be my favorite Barbie-compatible luggage set. However, other Barbie rivals also offered worthy baggage alternatives in this timeframe. Another fave is Tammy’s hat box, which came in white or black with different ensembles, always trimmed in red.

What you don’t see illustrated above is the smart little red swoosh on one side of the cases, as aerodynamic as it is midcentury-slick.

Tressy, too, had a hat box. From the outside it’s not much to look at, but the lined interior and mirror help it attain new heights of hat box sophistication.

You might argue this piece is not a good fit for Barbie since it’s so prominently labeled “Tressy” on the front, but it’s canon that Tressy’s friends borrow her personalized hat box and even her passport.
The Grand Dame of mid-Sixties off-Brand Barbie luggage is the Samsonite Sillhouette line from Payton, marketed for “teenage” dolls in general.

This image is from Theriault’s, who give the date for both as 1963. These four-piece sets were the first to give Barbie ample packing space for weeklong trips or longer. (Even I can admit that the Penny Brite suitcase is a little slim, and that plus a hat box and purse still doesn’t amount to much carrying capacity.) The train case, a classic shape but a fresh innovation in Barbie’s sphere, even has a removable tray like the real ones did.

One other, earlier Samsonite offering also deserves notice. This one, found in My Merry sets dated 1958, actually predates Barbie. The My Merry Guest Closet, an accessory set possibly geared for Alexander-style dolls, included a classic tan suitcase stamped Samsonite and adorned with a little travel sticker. The My Merry Overnight Closet had the same case but with two stickers. No shade to the Silhouettes, but this earlier, well-worn case is my favorite for Ken or anyone who’s feeling hard-boiled.

(Apologies for this Nineties fellow–you can see I’m no Ken collector.)
Anyway, back in the mid-Sixties, one other major category of fashion-doll-appropriate baggage appeared by 1965.

I believe these airline-branded bags are actually a little larger than Barbie-scale; her own American Airlines bag can tuck neatly inside most of them, and they could be a lot for her to lug in one hand. However, Barbie’s posh international lifestyle requires at least one or two. At midcentury, when air travel was still the province of the privileged few, a branded airline bag–especially one from an international carrier–was a status symbol. I made sure my doll had at least a BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) and Pan Am bag, those being the first airlines to routinely serve the jet-setting New York-Paris and New York-London routes.
The manufacture dates of these bags can be tricky to pin down–one forum user remembers them as freebies given to child travelers, so some may never have been advertised or labeled to sell. However, many have been found packaged for retail, and those I’ve seen carried (c) dates between 1965 and 1972, with ’65 and ’68 being common. These usually contained sets of jacks–plenty of the vintage ones you find for sale now still have their jacks–and were produced in Hong Kong for the companies Chemtoy of Illinois and Wells Manufacturing of Ohio.

While we may know only approximate manufacture dates, the stickler for era-appropriateness can check that their doll’s bag has the right look by reading up on the airlines and their logos. For example, BOAC merged into British Airways in 1972; and per Logopedia the Pan Am logo on my Barbie’s flight bag was used from 1958-1971. One can also consult this remarkable early-Sixties Boeing ad:

As shown above, human-sized travelers had access to a much greater diversity of flight bag shapes than did Barbie-sized travelers. However, the doll-sized bag proportions were at least accommodatingly ample. Below, Stacey demonstrates how her United shoulder bag can hold an entire second outfit (the remaining pieces from her United Airlines flight attendant ensemble):

Clear-fronted bags like Stacey’s square shoulder one, along with other clear-fronted ones having the more common oblong shape and handles, originally held Liddle Kiddles knockoffs, roughly dating them to 1967-68, give or take.
Back in Mattel world, 1968 brought Barbie a brand new hat box with the fabulous, Sears-exclusive Travel In Style gift set, which is rare. Luckily the box was also sold as part of the Tour-Ins accessory pak, which is common.

Francie, too, had hat boxes. The one from the Clear Out ensemble, shown below left via That Toy Girl on eBay, is the most common and is doll-agnostic. The hatboxes for Tweed-Somes (shown below right via bartalk on eBay) and Partners in Print are Francie-branded and are rare, along with their outfits.

During the Seventies, Mattel again provided Barbie with a mismatched assortment of small luggage pieces. The gold-colored case that came with the Friend Ship, shown below left, may be just about large enough to tote a paperback novel and pack of cigarettes–and what else do Ken and Barbie really need in their carry-on? The brown Busy Barbie case, below right, is covered with stickers suggesting international travel, like the My Merry Samsonite suitcase Ken toted before. However, the Busy case is exactly the same size as an earlier Skipper/Tutti piece regarded by many as a lunchbox. The aluminum-look Star ‘Vette suitcase, below center, appears to have more generous proportions but is practically two-dimensional.

Once again, competitors had enough space for all Barbie’s stuff in matching luggage sets. Miner Industries offered a four-piece Samsonite-style set, similar to the Samsonite Silhouettes but with a hat box, metal-look latches and hardware, and mirrors embedded in the hat box and train case lids.

Miner’s set was advertised from 1975-77. In 1978 Shillman’s Mini-Mod line introduced its own Samsonite-inspired set of three pieces, this time in pink, with more metal-look hardware and tiny airline logo stickers. Compared to official Payton Samsonite, these sets are rare today.

Upon the retirement of their pink suitcases, Shillman/Mini-Mod debuted a long-overdue set of soft-sided luggage in 1980.

Though strictly speaking an Eighties product, this marked and monogrammed Vuitton-style set is ideal for late-Seventies Barbie’s chic Superstar life.

Stretching even further into the post-Seventies future, the ’90s Barbie Millicent Roberts line for adult collectors was chock full of callbacks to memorable early Barbie offerings. The Jet Set baggage particularly evokes the Winter Holiday overnight bag, although its brown leather-look trim is a mismatch for the black-trimmed original, held in Barbie’s right hand below.

Though it doesn’t complete the Winter Holiday suite, the Jet Set baggage can serve on its own as a stylish and capacious alternative for vintage Barbie’s mountain getaways.
Another nostalgic ’90s release for adult collectors was the Spiegel-exclusive Summer Sophisticate doll. To me she’s less “sophisticated” and more “Doris Day plays a wedding planner,” but she did have a nice retro hat box. Here are some of her sudsy-looking accessories, via A Little of Everything for You on eBay:

And here’s just the hat box in the Commuter Set context:

Like so many early Mattel releases for adult collectors, Summer Sophisticate and Jet Set are both easy to find in like-new condition.
Finally, the Hallmark miniature Barbie train case and hat box ornaments are circa Y2K in manufacture, but they’re also detailed copies of real children’s luggage from the Sixties, perfect for the younger travelers in Barbie’s orbit.

Or do they err in the less-common direction: are they a little large?

At this point, Barbie’s vacation is just about booked. So until we meet again and as Casey’s flight bag says: Bon Voyage!


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