Barbie Now Comes in Tall, Petite and Curvy
The company hopes that the new dolls, with their diverse body types, will more accurately represent the variety of womanly shapes around the world.
Starting today, Barbie's got a brand new bod. Three actually.
In a secret design overhaul code-named Project Dawn, Mattel toymakers reconfigured Barbie's figure to produce a tall one, a petite one and a curvy one, reports Eliana Dockterman for Time.
It's the first time in 57 years that Mattel has made a major change to the doll, which for decades has embodied an American ideal for beauty.
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The company hopes that the new dolls, with their diverse body types, will more accurately represent the variety of womanly shapes around the world.
It's no secret that over the years, women have criticized Mattel for making a doll with an unrealistic shape. The tiny waist, large breasts and rounded bottom, people say, negatively influence young girls about what a normal, healthy female body looks like.
Newborn Baby Doctor Barbie, introduced in 2009, might say that it's not Barbie's fault; she was born that way. And Presidential Candidate Barbie, introduced in 1992, will say that the Barbie career doll line represents female empowerment. But Business Executive Barbie, introduced in 1993, will be quick to point out that sales in the last few years have dropped into the teens and someone needed to shake things up.
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That someone was Evelyn Mazzocco, head of the Barbie brand, who in 2014 took up the challenge of developing a doll that more accurately reflected the variety of female bodies.
That day has come. Now, original, tall, petite and curvy dolls will be available with different hair color, cut, and texture, as well as skin tone. Two new shoe sizes will also be sold, one is Size B and one in Size Barbie Face. Fashion Editor Barbie, introduced in 1960, is also confused by the sizes. What can we say?
All three, including the original Barbie, can be purchased on Mattel's website starting today, says News Anchor Barbie. Hey, we appreciate the tip.
Whatever did children put on their gift lists before there were iPhones, video games, hoverboards and virtual reality goggles? If we go back 2 millions years, it looks like the most popular gift was a
. But of course, that predates Christmas, Santa and list-making. Once you click through these slides, it will all come back to you. And the nice thing is that some of these toys, which came out decades ago, are still popular today.
Above:
Let's go back about a 100 years to 1900, when
designed the first toy train, the
. It ran on a brass track and got its power from an electric motor that was originally used to run a fan. Although toy trains may not be top-of-the-list for most modern-day kids, they are still found under the tree, even as a part of the decor.
Back in the early part of the 20th century, children in schools used chalk and small chalkboards to take notes and practice assignments. It was a messy, dusty endeavor. In response, the chemical company Binney & Smith
for schoolrooms that became quite popular. Building on that popularity and their relationships with schools, the company moved to improve already available wax crayons to make them safe for children. Scientists eliminated toxins and added color.
, wife of one of the partners, Edwin Binney, is credited with coming up with the name Crayola.
Craie
comes from the French word for "chalk," and
ola
for "oleaginous" -- essentially, "oily chalk." In 1903, the company sold their first box of
, which came in eight colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, and black.
A popular item back in the day for any child dreaming of becoming an engineer was the
-- a box of metal beams, nuts and bolts that could be assembled into a variety of structures. Other parts including pulleys, wheels, gears and motors enhanced the construction experience. Kids of any age could build a structure, take it apart and build something entirely different. The toy, invented by Alfred Carlton Gilbert, hit stores around Christmastime in 1913 launching the A.C. Gilbert Company into the limelight.
Tinker toys were also a popular construction toy back in the early 20th century. They were invented in 1914 by Charles H. Pajeau, Robert Pettit and Gordon Tinker and, like an Erector Set, allowed kids to build, disassemble and rebuild structures. A box of Tinker Toys, which are still made today by Hasbro, comes with wooden spools and rods, wheels, caps, couplings, pulleys, blades and gears.
Yo-yos have been around for 2,500 years. But it was Pedro Flores, who was the first to mass produce toy yo-yos in the 1920s in a small factory located in California. Donald Duncan eventually bought the rights to the toy in 1929 and trademarked the name Yo-Yo.
Legos have been around for more than 80 years, but amazingly, they still rank very high on Christmas lists even today. Founded by Danish woodworker Ole Kirk Kristiansen in 1932, the Lego Group started off making wooden toys. In 1947, they acquired a plastic injection molding machine and began making modular toys, including a truck that could be taken apart and re-assembled. In 1949, the company began making blocks that could be locked together and taken apart. By 1953, the bricks were renamed
Lego Mursten
, or "Lego Bricks." The word Lego itself is an abbreviation for two Danish words:
leg godt,
which mean "play well."
This board game, originally designed by Elizabeth Magie started out as The Landloard's Game in 1906 and was intended to teach people about the economic consequences associated with Ricardo's Law of Economic rent. Based on that less-than-exciting description, you may not be surprised to learn that the game did not sell well. It was updated and renamed to Finance in 1932, but still didn't take the world by storm. It wasn't until domestic heater
salesman Charles Darrow came upon the game did it really take off. He tweaked it, renamed it to Monopoly and with the help of his son William and wife Ester, began selling it at department stores. Eventually, Parker Brothers bought the rights and the patent from Darrow and by 1936 had sold 20,000 copies. Darrow became the first game designer to become a millionaire.
The
was invented serendipitously by electrician André Cassagnes, from Vitry-Sur-Seine, France. The idea came to him while he was installing a factory light switch plate. The plate had a translucent decal over the top and when Cassagnes wrote on it with a pencil, he noticed that the scribbling transferred to the other side. After experimenting with a bunch of different materials, he settled on a pointy stick as a writing utensil. He made the screen from glass and used aluminum power for the material underneath. He called it Telecran. In 1960, the invention made it to the United States and sold through
, who called it Etch A Sketch or
Magic
Etch A Sketch Screen.
It's hard to believe that an oven could be a toy, but lots of kids like to play house when they're young and having a working kitchen really expands the imagination. The
was originally produced by Kenner Products and introduced in 1963. The main attraction was a 100-watt lightbulb that heated cake batter into a spongy cake. During the first year of production, 500,000 models were sold. The oven is still for sale today by Hasbro, but it resembles a microwave or even a toaster oven.
This simple electronic game was one of the first arcade sports games to achieve a mass market appeal. It was made by Atari and came out in a floor-standing model in 1972. The object is similar to tennis, in that two players, equipped with a digital paddle bounce a pixelated ball back and forth over a "net." The success of the game encouraged Atari to develop a home version, which went on sale over Christmastime in 1975. Today, Pong is considered a classic and creates -- for those of us who grew up in the 70s -- a great deal of nostalgia.