Barbie, as many people of the last few generations may know, is celebrating her 50th anniversary. Born of an idea by Ruth Handler in 1959 to repurpose a German adult toy doll (die Bild Lilli) into a girl’s plaything, the Barbie doll has captured the imaginations of many creative individuals. One such creative individual is Karl Lagerfeld. In honor of the doll’s life for the last half century, the designer dressed and photographed the doll in an exhibit for Colette in Paris this past March.
Oh, and PS, you can’t buy the male model as a 12″ doll — at least, not yet. The Ken here is actually Baptiste Giabiconi, a model that’s been fit to scale.
Mattel, honored by Lagerfeld’s tribute to the doll, returned the favor by creating a doll in his likeness - white ponytail and all.
The Barbie empire has been steadily crumbling from its towering heights in the 90s. Reasons have been the growth of online games and entertainment, and competition from the Bratz dolls.
But, both Mattel (the company behind Barbie) and Chanel make some of the most iconic accessories out there. Barbie represents Chanel well with the essential elements of the label:
- black and white
- tweed
- black quillting
Love it.
This post is tagged Chanel, Uncategorized
