Photo: Mattel’s Barbie Logo
Curvy Barbie?! Tall Barbie?! Petite Barbie?! Take your pick! Because, like actual women, Barbie also now comes in many different shapes and sizes.
Mattel Inc. announced these new changes on the cover of Time magazine and it’s AWESOME!!!!
Additionally, as reported by WGN, Barbie also now comes in 7 different skin tones, 22 different eye colors, and 24 different hair styles!
This is an amazing change for Barbie and I couldn’t be more excited about it!
Check out the new Barbie body types (as well as the original) below:
Photo: Kenji Aoki for TIME
Photo: Kenji Aoki for TIME
And here is the seriously rad cover of Time magazine’s Barbie issue which I can’t wait to buy:
I think the cover headline is hilarious and the answer is, yes, Barbie. Yes, we can totally stop talking about it now!
For years Barbie’s body image has been a hot button issue. — The idea that Barbie was perpetuating an unrealistic physical standard for girls and women was upsetting for many of us.
It’s going to be so great for the healthy body image movement that children can now play with Barbies who look more like their mothers, sisters, aunts, teachers, etc.! I’m stoked.
… However, there is still the issue of Ken and his six pack. Uh oh, Ken. Looks like it may be your turn, bro.
You can check out the entire Time feature by clicking here!
What do you all think about the changes to Barbie’s appearance? Leave comments and let us know!
Let me first say that I love Barbie. I lurve her. I watched the ad first thing this morning and over my coffee at 7am, I read the Time article twice.
Some things I love: “If you could design Barbie today, how would you make her a reflection of the times? Out of that came changing Barbie’s face to have less makeup and look younger, giving her articulated ankles so she could wear flats as well as heels, giving her new skin tones to add diversity and then of course changing the body. ” That I love. Yes. She should wear less make up. Yes, tennis shoes are as acceptable as stiletos. And obviously, her skin should be as beautifully varied as the women who grace this nation, but really? Petite and tall, those are two of the issues?
I didn’t know she was perpetuating standards of height-ism. You can have Barbie represent anything, and you’re going to choose petite and tall? More meaningfully, I see that tall Barbie rocks a typically non-female hair cut and that echoes louder for me, but her height– I’m just not sure. But then again, I’m in line with avg. American females when it comes to height. Feel free to argue.
Erica!
I love so much about what you said.
But I do feel that petite and tall are two important body types that should be represented.
I can’t speak to being petite, specifically!
However, as a child, I was ALWAYS the tallest kid in class — I can’t even begin to count the many times I was called “giant,” or “huge,” or asked, “Whoa! Why are you so tall??!!”
It was upsetting and made me feel uncomfortable about my body — And I’m not the only adolescent and teen who struggled. It’s actually incredibly common for tall young women, specifically, to hunch over and develop kyphosis (a spinal curvature) because they are trying to “hide” their height.
I have always loved Barbie too! She’s my girl!!! And, although I eventually learned to embrace being tall and rock my height, as a kid, I would have LOVED to have had a Barbie who I felt more closely represented me and “normalized” my height! XO