Friday, April 23, 2010

Celebrating 30 Years of Black Barbie



Initially, I was on the fence as to whether or not I would add Mattel's reproduction Black Barbie to my collection.  "She's exactly like the first doll; so I don't think I need her," was my thinking.  After eyeing the doll in various local stores on multiple occasions, I decided as soon as someone substantially reduced the $45 retail price, I would relent.  An online vendor recently reduced Black Barbie to $29.

As a routine, after new dolls arrive, they are photographed and entered on my Doll Inventory spreadsheet.  Black Barbie's spreadsheet entry is as follows:
Celebrating 30 years of Black Barbie, this reproduction doll wears a red shimmery dress with gold collar, red ankle-strap shoes, red dangle earrings, and has an extra; gold-trimmed white tuxedo-style pants suit, reminiscent of the Saturday Night Fever suit worn by John Travolta in the movie of the same name. Accessories include gold shoulder bag, white ankle-strap shoes, red hair pick, red choker, and extra red hoops. There are face cards of SuperStar Christie Fashion Face and Sunsational Malibu Ken (a.k.a. Afro Ken) with Sunsational Malibu Christie at his side. Another card illustrates how to use Black Barbie's hair pick and how to transform the dangle earrings into hoops. The back side of each card describes the dolls' attributes in reproduced text from the original packaging. Also included is a reproduction Barbie World of Fashion booklet, which illustrates Beauty Secrets Christie, several other Barbies, and an array of fashions available for the dolls in 1980.

I am delighted that I added reproduction Black Barbie to my collection.  Her box still proclaims, "She's Black! She's Beautiful! She's Dynamite!" And as I wrote in a Black Barbie article (that incidentally is being sold by an eBay seller), she's not dynamite, but “off-the-chain, hot!”

View a slide show with comparison views of the 1980 and the 2010 dolls here and maximize the new window.

dbg

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for this post, DBG! I was passing on the 2010 Black Barbie because I thought I already have the 1980 one. Nice to see the subtle differences in the face and with the hair.

    Wish I had the Sunsational Malibu Ken (a.k.a. Afro Ken). Sigh. Someday.

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  2. I wonder if the repro will be available in Australia (I hope so)... now I must pull out the original to take fresh pics of her!

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  3. D7ana: You're welcome! Afro Ken is a nice vintage friend of Barbie. Hope you're able to add him to your collection.

    DOC: I hope the original makes it to Australia, too!

    dbg

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  4. Debbie, help me authenticate my doll

    http://fashiondollsnoir.com/2011/02/15/my-first-black-barbie-i-think/

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  5. this what I bought my momma for christmas in 2010.. the best part is she graduated from high school in 1980.

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  6. This doll was a wonderful gift for your mother. I am sure she appreciated it!

    dbg

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  7. Ms. Debbie, just perusing your blogspot for inspiration and knowledge and I came across the 1980 Black Barbie that I purchased a few years ago at the Dr. Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. So glad that I made this purchase because she was the only one in the store. And now that I see you mentioned her on your blog, I'm sure I made the right decision. Now I need to keep records of my doll as well, now that I'm pass twenty in my collection. Thank you SHARING!

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  8. You're welcome, Sandra. Your purchase of the very first Black doll to be named Barbie was a wise decision.

    dbg

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