At the 1959 American International Toy Fair in New York, an 11.5-inch plastic ingénue with improbably bombshell proportions made her debut. In her earliest iteration, Barbie was marketed as a “Teen Age Fashion Model” and was based on the German Bild Lilli doll that Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler had seen during her travels to Europe.
At the time, Bob Mackie was studying costume design at the since-closed Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles’ Westlake neighborhood. He would go on to a legendary career in fashion and entertainment, but already his eye for the female form was well defined. When he first saw Barbie, he was not impressed.
“I didn’t think she was very fashionable,” he says of the doll, who originally sported a simple black-and-white Chevron swimsuit, hoop earrings and a perky blond ponytail.
He had no way of knowing that he would become one of the people most closely...
At the time, Bob Mackie was studying costume design at the since-closed Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles’ Westlake neighborhood. He would go on to a legendary career in fashion and entertainment, but already his eye for the female form was well defined. When he first saw Barbie, he was not impressed.
“I didn’t think she was very fashionable,” he says of the doll, who originally sported a simple black-and-white Chevron swimsuit, hoop earrings and a perky blond ponytail.
He had no way of knowing that he would become one of the people most closely...
- 7/15/2023
- by Evan Nicole Brown
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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