Category: built environment
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The Many Abodes of Barbie, Part III: 1965
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…
sheathsensation
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Penthouse Apartments, 1964-1976
Skyline views, rooftop patios, luxe furnishings, maybe an elevator that doubles as your front door… A penthouse apartment is practically shorthand for glamorous living. As we’ve noted, Barbie was more bucolic. But throughout the vintage and mod years, her friends and rivals opted for lavish city living on a trio of occasions. Tressy’s Penthouse (1964)…
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Early furniture: Mattel Modern and Susy Goose
Mattel Modern (1958) In 1958, Mattel debuted its Mattel Modern line of stylish, wooden doll furniture, and a year later Barbie was introduced to make use of it. Wait, what? Okay, that’s not quite how it happened. Mattel Modern, a line of sleek, midcentury-styled, real wood furniture, was released before Barbie, but it was meant…
sheathsensation
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Doll Carrying Cases (1961-1972)
The Barbie carrying cases of the mod and vintage years certainly packed a lot of style. From the earliest examples, with limited palettes used to depict Barbie posed before jazzy, off-kilter colored quadrilaterals, her poses mirroring those found in the early fashion booklets, into the full-color phase, with floating heads and sparkle trails, during which…
sheathsensation
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Deluxe Reading Dream Kitchen (1963)
Barbie’s earliest abodes may suggest that she was not much of a cook: neither the ’62 Dream House nor her ’64 Campus dorm room provided kitchen facilities (predictably, in the latter case); the Go-Together rooms offered a dining room, but no kitchen; and the ’64 New Dream House had a very minimal kitchen in the…
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Barbie’s Fashion Shop (1963)
What is it that makes a doll boutique so desirable? I always wanted one as a child. Did my young mind subconsciously believe that the shop would refill with new designs as Barbie “purchased” them? Is it an aspiration to consumption, and a desire to incorporate the act into make-believe? Or would it simply render…
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The Many Abodes of Barbie, Part II: 1964
The New Dream House In 1964 Barbie’s style of living got a major upgrade in the form of a new house, rich with detail, packed with almost too much furniture, and separated into four living spaces: living room, bedroom, kitchen and patio. The new home was furnished with a sofa, two armchairs, an end table,…
sheathsensation
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Barbie and Ken Little Theatre (1964)
The built environment of Barbie got a unique entry in 1964: a repertory theatre where Ken and Barbie starred in all the plays. In addition to the play set, seven costume ensembles were sold separately in 1964, with all but one carried over into ’65; the image above shows part of the packaging for a…
sheathsensation
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The Many Abodes of Barbie, Part I: 1962
It’s 1962 and the Teen-Age Fashion Model is moving into her Dream House. One might be surprised to learn that the home of Barbie’s dreams consists of just one room, equipped with a twin bed, an entertainment system and a variety of seating. It’s breathtakingly modest–but then, for a single young woman of the time…
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Barbie on TV
When Barbie turns on her TV, it’s usually to watch Barbie. The televisions of the early years are examples of Barbie’s built environment that double as Barbie illustrations. The earliest television we feature comes from the original 1962 Dream House. It is actually a TV-stereo combination, as a panel on the top opens to reveal…
Silken Flame 