Barbie Turns 50, New York Show Ensues

Growing up I was a Barbie-a-holic. I had Barbie’s from all across the world … I even had all five Spice Girl Barbies. (Scary Spice was my favorite. Her hair, the untamable curly mess, was the most similar to mine).

My then best friend, Mindy, and I would play Barbie all day, every day, taking breaks only to chase the neighborhood hottie, Pat, down the street. While Mindy’s favorite kind of Barbie play time involved things we should have been too young to understand, I loved Barbie’s clothes. (Duh … ?)

That said, you might imagine my great enthusiasm when I caught wind of the Barbie runway show at New York Fashion Week to commemorate her 50th birthday.
Despite my eagerness to see the 51 different outfits from 50 different and renowned designers, I avoided all of the previews and sketches of the preliminary designs.

After suffering through Friday the 13th last Saturday, Feb. 14, I indulged myself in the fabulous world of Barbie and her new accessories. (Yes, a “scary” movie with my boss and looking up Barbie on the Web was how I spent my Valentine’s Day.)

My general assessment of the show: If I were Barbie’s younger sister, I would totally raid her closet for some of the fabulous clothes, but, as one 7-year-old in attendance said to Fox News, “Barbie wouldn’t wear that.”

I can’t say I disagree.

There was homage to the original Barbie one-piece black and white swimsuit (designed by Rachel Roy), grand ball gowns and cat-eye sunglasses that would have made the doll swoon. But, there were also gowns that would be more fitted for a drag queen doing Vegas – designed by Bob Mackie, who used to style Cher (that explains a lot) and a one-legged, one-shouldered black and white body suite – with ruffles – and purple feathers doubling as eyelashes, courtesy of Patricia Field (costume designer for Sex and the City, The Devil Wears Prada and Confessions of a Shopaholic).

What would Barbie’s reaction to that outfit have been? I suspect that, even before Barbie was 50 years old, she was somewhat of a high maintenance bitch. If someone tried to dress her in that, she would probably force Ken (face it, you know she totally wore the pants in their relationship) to show them just how tough reinforced plastic could be.

But, if an ugly sequins Cat Woman suit wasn’t enough, another of Barbie’s stylists led her to a wrong turn on the catwalk, where she took a few shots of tequila laced with ‘X’ before getting dressed in Rosa Cha’s dominatrix-style swimsuit complete with grommets and the cling wrap wings affixed to the model’s back.

I always had a sneaking suspicion that in order to pay for all those pink convertibles, millions of stilettos and fancy dresses that Barbie had to have a side job. It was only a matter of time before her deep, dark secret life was exposed to the world (or at least to Bryant Park).

What would Skipper and Kelly say about their big sister’s behavior? What would G-rated Ken do?

To accessorize, several designers took a hint from Barbie’s edgier alter ego and slapped a metal cuff bracelet with four-inch spikes on her wrists. (I guess they’re useful when fending off Barbie’s skanky friends who try to get with Ken).

Barbie is apparently also a huge fan of hats, anything ranging from sequined conductors’ hats, floppy wide-brimmed summer hats and turbans. It’s a good thing she has so many stylists to help take care of the hat hair.

The range of designers from the show spanned industry favorites – Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Betsey Johnson and Diane Von Furstenberg – while also including some lesser known names – Kai Kuhne, Koi Suwannagate, Norma Kamali and Lyn Devon.

If you can’t get enough Barbie, check out my blog, The Fashion Dungjen (linked through The News Record’s Web site), for a breakdown of the best outfits, the worst and the ones that leave you asking WWBD?