Barbie Doll Quiz: Fashion Designers

After Barbie burst onto the toy scene in 1959, her "Fifties" style opened up to accept direction from so many of the newer, more youthful designs of the day. If the high style of the 50's was driven by money and power, the style of the 60's was based on more marginalized people -- think the everyday world of inner cities, instead.

All types of art also helped propel Barbie forward. Kitschy pop art and op art worked right alongside sculptors and photographers who managed to marry all these influences into American advertising. Basically, Barbie fashions were the original memes!

There were plenty of fashion designers and style-makers who influenced Barbie clothing during this decade. Some examples are:

• Cristóbal Balenciaga's dresses influenced the long pink satin dress fashion Solo in the Spotlight
• Taste-maker Jacqueline Kennedy's pillbox hat and red swing coat à la Cristóbal Balenciaga made Red Flare a success
• Christian Dior's New Look was echoed in the Senior Prom and Campus Sweetheart fashions (both full skirted with overlays of two colors of tulle)
• Coco Chanel influenced the impeccable pink suit of Fashion Luncheon
• The Lemon Kick fashion channeled Princess Irene Galitzine's palazzo pantsuits
• Speaking of pantsuits, Emilio Pucci's lace-encrusted formal pantsuit was a clear influence to the Jump into Lace design for Barbie
• Don't forget about Carnaby Street! Funky patterns and miniskirts by Mary Quant and André Courrèges influenced the fashions of Clear Out (a clear raincoat), Orange Zip (a zippered pleather raincoat), Sunflower (a vividly printed scoop-necked dress) and others

By the time the 70's rolled around, a three-month recession had hit the United States. That recession crippled the economy, striking the fashion sensibilities of the time as well.

Barbie fashions that decade focused more on practicality and work than glamour -- she was a surgeon, and three types of Olympics athletes... downhill skier, figure skater, and gymnast. Even Live Action Barbie came with a microphone!

Barbie fashions over the years have also been influenced by her multitude of professions. No matter what her job, she always looks great. Even as a 1960s Registered Nurse she looks mysterious and alluring in her tight-fitting white suit, mules, and navy cape (lined in red silk!) Her Student Teacher outfit of the mid-60s involves a "smart red and white dress" (white lace dickey attached) and bright red shoes. I'm not sure who she would be teaching in this outfit, but I know I would have been looking forward to the next day's fashion if she had been my teacher!

Other exciting "professional" outfits included:

• Ballerina, 1961-1965, with its black leotard and tights, toe shoes, and a shimmering crystal tutu
• Barbie for President, 1992, in a red, white, and blue lame ruffled gown (the fashion also included a red velvet suit and electoral badge)
• Barbie as various actresses. Collector's dolls include Barbie as Marilyn Monroe from The Seven-Year Itch, Vivien Leigh from Gone with the Wind, even Star Trek characters.

In the 80s and 90s, Barbie glamour was back, and with a vengeance. Everything from day wear to suits to gowns were bedecked with glittery, Barbie-esque razzle-dazzle.

Designers included:

• Bill Blass
• Billy Boy
• Bob Mackie
• Calvin Klein
• Carol Spencer
• Christian Dior
• Donna Karan
• Escada
• Nicole Miller
• Oscar de la Renta