Black Doll Collecting

Friday, April 9, 2021

Barbie Fashion Doll Pen Maya (Barbie)

Barbie Fashion Doll Pen

Twice within the same week, I saw photos of the Maya (Barbie) Fashion Doll Pen. I was initially directed to a seller on Walmart's website, who offered three different Barbie pens, but I did not have the ability to choose the one I desired without taking extra steps to inform the seller which one I wanted.

I then searched Google and found the pens on the Pack Turtle website (find the link below).

After the pen arrived, I was surprised by the articulated head and arms. The legs are frozen. The medium-point black ink pen is functional, as expected, but it would be a little clumsy to write with, I think. The removable pink Barbie signature base serves as a stand when the pen is not in use.

I took several photos of the pen, which are shared below:

The doll pen is shown on the side panel of the box.

An illustration of how the pen writes is included on the back of the box along with smaller images of all three versions, which include a blonde and a tan brunette.

The other side panel illustrates several different Barbies.

The clothing and shoes are molded on. The dress and the necklace are reminiscent of those worn by Barbie Fashionista #80 Cheerful Check.

The head sculpt and hairstyle are also like Cheerful Check's.

The check design of the molded-on dress extends to the back.

In this photo, the pen has been removed from the Barbie signature base.

Here is a link to Pack Turtle's buy page for the Barbie Fashion Doll Pens made by Super Impulse Limited with the copyright year of 2018. After you cart the pen shown on the buy page (the tan brunette), use the drop-down menu to select the actual pen you desire to purchase. (This doll's name is shown as Maya in the menu.) Quantities were low at the time this post was scheduled to publish.

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There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
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Black Doll Enthusiast

Black-doll enthusiast, doll historian, freelance writer, author of The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls; Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting, and Experiencing the Passion; and The Doll Blogs: When Dolls Speak, I Listen

Black dolls are my passion, my drug of choice. They renew my spirit!

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

1st Black Barbie's Tribute Dress Modeled

40th Anniversary Black Barbie Tribute Package by Pabboo Redfeather

The tribute dress to 1st Black Barbie's 40th anniversary was designed by Pabboo G. Redfeather in 2020 as an exclusive for members of his Facebook group, Black Barbie First Collector Club. In order to keep the tribute package (shown above) intact, I wanted a duplicate tribute dress for a doll to wear, but Pabboo sent me a duplicate tribute package.

It took me several months to find the right doll to model the dress made from special ordered fabric that includes Pabboo's headshot drawing of the 1st Black Barbie. I wanted a doll with natural hair texture or a full-blown Afro to model the dress. It was not until the release of Barbie Fashionista #156 that I envisioned that doll as the perfect model.

Barbie Fashionista #156 models the 1st Black Barbie Tribute dress, which is accessorized with a pair of red high heels, a gold-tone bracelet, and red dangle earrings. The accessories were included in the tribute package.

The dress fits this blue-lipstick-wearer perfectly but there was a slight problem.

The dress has a hint of green in the background.

Her blue lipstick clashed with the colors in the dress. I need to repaint her lips, but I like the blue color. I need a duplicate doll, were the thoughts that raced through my head.

I found and ordered a duplicate doll and kept the new one in her plastic zippered package. I attempted to remove the blue lipstick from the original doll, but it would not budge with fingernail polish remover. So, I painted over the blue with red acrylic paint (leaving just a fine line around the outline of her lips to serve as lip liner).

Before and after photos of the lip-color change and photos of the doll modeling the dress are illustrated below. (She's so pretty that I took several photos from different angles.)

Lip color comparison before and after

With this dress, red lip color looks much better than blue.

Fashionista #156 is photographed with Pabboo's artwork and tribute to Kitty Black Perkins used as the backdrop. The entire package was presented in a red pocket folder.

Additional head and upper body photo

Head and body photo 2

Head and body photo 3

This lovely girl struck a pose (as much as possible with her non-articulated body).

Here is one more headshot and next is a closeup of 1st Black Barbie's illustration on the dress.

This close-up of the bodice of the dress illustrates Pabboo's rendition of the 1st Black Barbie.

In this final photo, she poses with her twin, whose lip color will remain blue.

Monday, April 5, 2021

Club-Exclusive Dress for Maya

2021 WLBDA-Exclusive Maya Angelou Barbie Dress

An elegant dress made exclusively for the We Love Black Dolls Anew Facebook group by Misha Yarbrough for the Maya Angelou Barbie is shown above.

The inspiration for the style of the club dress came from the red dress Maya Angelou wears in these combined pictures.

Inspired by an actual dress that Dr. Angelou wore (shown immediately above), Misha designed the dress and created a pattern for it. To match the doll's strappy high heels, white was chosen for the color of the dress.

The Maya Angelou Barbie wears white strappy shoes like the ones shown in this photo.

The ensemble includes a two-piece dress with a metallic-gold-embellished top, a full-length white satiny skirt, a white clutch that is personalized with the initials of the group, WLBDA; a white and gold chain necklace, and a gold elasticized headband. The exclusive fashion was presented on gold-bordered cardstock enclosed in a plastic sleeve.

The satiny skirt, metallic-gold-embellished top, gold headband, personalized clutch, and gold and white necklace are attached to metallic-gold bordered cardstock inside a plastic sleeve.

The top has a V-shaped hemline.

This closeup illustrates the personalized clutch, the headband (below the clutch), and the white and gold chain necklace that has a lobster-claw closure.

Because I knew my doll would wear this lovely fashion, I ordered a duplicate Maya Angelou Barbie during one of the short periods Amazon offered preorders at the retail price.

After the fashion arrived, I deboxed the original doll to redress it. The doll from Amazon arrived in the Mattel shipping box and I'd like to preserve that one in its NRFB state. Initial photos were taken with the doll removed from the box before redressing took place.

First Deboxed Photos

The original dashiki-style dress is made of thin cotton-like material.

The color and pattern of the headwrap match the color and pattern of the dashiki dress, but knit fabric was used for the headwrap.

Closeup of the face

In this closeup, Maya Angelou's mock autobiography, the goldtone bracelet, ring, and wristwatch are also captured.

After undressing the doll, I made a note of the doll's body markings and added that information to my museum installation of the Maya Angelou Barbie, which was published in January after the first doll arrived.

The doll's natural-textured hair is very uneven. This caused me to spend considerable time styling it after the headband was in place. I guess Mattel didn't expect anyone to remove the doll's headwrap and just haphazardly rooted the hair. I fluffed and tucked and stretched it after placing the gold headband around the head until I made it look somewhat decent. If more of the hair is pulled back and up into an Afro puff, a better look will result. I'd like to keep the hair as close to a style that Dr. Angelou would have worn.

The Redressed Doll

A closeup of the gold headband and white and gold necklace

The dress fits perfectly and does make the doll look a bit curvier than it actually is, which is good because Dr. Angelou "was not built to suit a fashion model's size."*

Next, are several photos from different angles and positions of the articulated doll.

The doll looks quite elegant in the club dress.

From the fire in her eyes, the flash of her teeth, the swing in her waist, and the joy in her feet, I believe she thinks she looks elegant, too.

Graceful!

From any angle, she looks phenomenal!

The clutch is the perfect complement to this exclusive fashion. It is designed to be held by sliding the doll's hand underneath the personalized ribbon strip as illustrated.

A view from the back

The original dress, headwrap, and mock book are now attached to the cardstock Misha used for the club dress. They are enclosed in the original plastic sleeve and will be placed in the doll's original box, which I plan to keep.

The redressed doll and the original dress are back in the original box.

I returned the doll to the box along with the original fashion. I can and will display the doll outside the box when desired.

***

Born April 4, 1928, Dr. Angelou might have celebrated her birthday this year if she had resumed celebrating it before her death. After Dr. King's assassination on April 4, 1968, for many years she stopped celebrating her birthday. I, however, will celebrate and remember her because she was an inspiring woman, phenomenally.

*Quoted and paraphrased text are from the poem "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou.