Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Barbies by Byron Lars the First Through Current, Updated 02/18/2018







Top to Bottom:  Byron Lars' In the Limelight from the Runway Series 1997,
Charmaine King from the Passport Collection 2010, and Mackenzie Fenella Layla from the Passport Collection 2011

Actual image of Mackenzie Fenella Layla, courtesy of Romona J.

Since Barbie dolls designed by Byron Lars for Mattel are not documented together anywhere on the Internet by their series, and because a curious collector wanted to know the names of the dolls in each series, I decided to document the dolls in list form here.

The Runway Series (Models)
In the Limelight 1997
Cinnabar Sensation 1998 African American and
Caucasian
Plum Royale 1999
Indigo Obsession 2000
See them all here

Treasures of Africa (Africa is their theme)
Moja 2001
Mbili 2002
Tatu 2003
Nne 2004
Tano 2005
See them all here

Chapeaux Collection (these have a hat theme)
Sugar 2006 (Designer, Sharon Zuckerman)
Coco 2007
Pepper 2008 (Designer, Sharon Zuckerman)
See the trio here.

Byron Lars Passport Collection
Ayako Jones 2009
Mackenzie Fenella Layla 2011 (Designer, Ann Driskill)
See this trio here.

Several images of these dolls (not in any certain order) can be seen in the results of a Google.com image search.  

Full descriptions and values for Lars Barbies made prior to 2009 are included in two of my books:  The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls, 2002, and Black Dolls a Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating Collecting and Experiencing the Passion 2008.  Purchasing links are located under the Black Doll Reference Books tab.

17 comments:

  1. Thanks for the links! I don't recall seeing any posts on Byron Lars' series either.

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  2. I will eventually add the Byron Lars series to the DollWiki as time permits... they are such artistic dolls!

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  3. You're welcome, D.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    I'm looking forwarding to seeing the Lars inclusion at DollWiki.

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  4. His dolls are beautiful and unique. I love Ayako, even with her widow's peak. To bad I don't collect Barbies! LOL!

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  5. I have several of Byron Lars black Barbie's> I got them as they came out. I have the LimeLight, Cinnabar Sensation, Plum Royale. and more and they all are simply gorgeous!!.

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  6. Good for you, Koko. I love Lars' contribution to the doll world!

    dbg

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  7. Charmaine King is also part of the Passport Collection

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  8. Thanks, Jenna. I searched the Internet to determine if Charmaine is part of the Passport Collection, but none of the websites described her as such, not even BarbieCollector.com. I knew I should have consulted someone who owns her, but was anxious to update this blog while it was still fresh on my mind to do it.

    Thank you again for confirming this. I have made the necessary correction.

    dbg

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  9. I didn't know until I read her packaging.

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  10. One day I will get to read Charmaine's packaging, too.

    :-)

    dbg

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    Replies
    1. Oh! Most definitely the Passport collection. One of most striking,styled and stunning dolls created.

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  11. What an amazing contribution Mr. Lars is making! Growing up on a small Caribbean island, with a mostly Black population, the stores carried only Caucasian dolls. Strangely, we thought nothing of it, at the time. As years went on and the stores started to offer Black dolls, we continued to choose the Blonde, blue-eyed Barbies, thinking the Black ones too dark, ugly. We were brain-washed. As I see the beautiful Black dolls in stores today, I feel that at least young girls today see Black beauty represented.

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  12. Thanks for this post. I have 4 of the earlier Lars dolls. They have been deboxed and on display in a cabinet for the past few years. They are beautiful. I hadn't kept up and didn't even know about the Passport Collection. Thanks!

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  13. I have the entire Byron Lars collection as well. Beautiful Barbies.

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    1. Wonderful!

      The Byron Lars Barbie Collection is still one of the best Barbie collections ever!

      dbg

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  14. Thanks for putting this information together. I love my Byron Lars collection of fashion AA Barbies

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  15. To: Unknown's comment of March 28, 2022.

    You are welcome!

    dbg

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