My mother likes taking pictures, particularly when she is dressed to the nine's and the background will not mar her captured moment in time. I remember having to always tidy up or make the surrounding area look picture perfect before she would allow me (or anyone else) to capture her in photographs because, she "doesn't like ugly pictures."
On a recent visit to her house, my mother had the following photograph lying on the table as a reminder to show it to me. It was taken at a church function. I blurred the faces of the two other women since I do not have their permission to share their images here.
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| Mama is flanked by two gorgeous congregants, one of whom is my cousin. |
Above the picture, the
male photographer printed, "The Three Blonde Bombshells." That caption could be considered sexist or complimentary depending on the recipient. Did he mean gorgeous or did he mean sexually attractive? Or was he just referring to the color of their hair as in "blonde bombshell" hair. Usually the latter reference is reserved for white women, but on a recent Google.com search, this label has been used to refer to
Beyoncé's hair color. I am going to assume the photographer meant gorgeous because black women are as beautiful as any others, regardless of hair color, texture, style; or the amount of sex appeal they possess.
The photograph and caption influenced me to think about the blonde dolls in my collection, which are in the minority. Pictures of a few blonde dolls that I own that were readily accessible follow:
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International Candi and United Colors of Benetton Barbie |
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| Gone Platinum Barbie |
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| Janay and Friends Janay |
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| Colin Dehan |
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| Indigo Obsession |
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| Fashion Flashback Janay |
So what about your collection, are blonde dolls of any color a minority, too?
Your Mom is gorgeous!! My thoughts when I saw the picture were "those are three classy ladies". Yes, my blonde haired AA dolls are the minority. I also have a couple of others such as blonde Teresa and Lea. Nice post and I love your blonde ladies!
ReplyDeleteYour mother is radiant. A few years ago there was a fashion for long, honey blonde braids in my neighborhood so I made wigs in that color. I have a blonde Beyonce doll but in general I avoid spending money for blonde dolls and when I do end up with one, I usually scalp her and replace her hair with a more natural (for women of color) shade.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture of your mom and her friends. I love your collection of AA blondes. Candi, the first Janay, and Blonde Obsession are my favorites. I have the last Janay you have pictured there. I don't have many blonde AA dolls, but I have a ton of other blonde dolls. I have a red headed Janay, that I love. I used to love when Serena Williams had blonde hair. I have been dying to color my hair, but my hairdressers keep telling me no. If there are wigs in my future, you can best believe there will be some colored ones there. I wonder what I would look like as a blond. See now you got me started!
ReplyDeleteI have the Fashion Fever Benetton Christie that you show in your first photo. A blonde streaked Kiyoni Brown, Beyonce from Mattel. A blonde, dark-complected doll I think is from Shillman. A platinum white haired Janay.
ReplyDeleteNice photo of your Mom.
I love the pic of your mom! Stunning. I have quite a few blonde dolls in my collection. I also have the Byron Lars one that you show in the pics. Love his dolls!. I have flocked about nine dolls ( not all are on the blog lol) some platinum and the others blonde. Great post. Your blonde ladies look wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYour mother is beautiful. I think he was expressing it in a positive way. We don't think twice when the term is used for cc women. It does fit these ladies well.
ReplyDeleteI am very picky about the blondes in my collection. I do have a few AA blondes including the ones you have pictured. Blonde is not a usual preference but when it's done right I love it
Thanks ladies for your comments and compliments.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to include Mackie's 45th Anniversary Barbie that has platinum hair, but I knew I would miss one or two.
Vanessa -- removable wigs in a variety of colors might fulfill your hair color changing fantasy.
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Your mom is a beautiful lady, and I think the photographer meant his comment over that pic in the most positive of senses.
ReplyDeleteI try not to buy any blonde dolls of ANY ethnicity, because there were just TOO MANY blondes amongst my Barbie collection. For the longest time, it seemed that the ONLY hair color available was blonde, and I got burned out. Most of the dolls I buy these days are either ravens or brunettes, though I do like redheads, too.
For my ethnic dolls, be they representations of African Americans or other ethnicities, I am a fan of natural hair colors.
Thanks Milady Blue. The doll market is overrun with blonde dolls. I think manufacturers believe blondes are preferred or perhaps they think that hair color is more appealing.
ReplyDeleteThinking back, my childhood dolls had a mixture of hair colors. While my mother only purchased white dolls for me, she selected more with dark hair.
I like redheads, too.
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I never hear "Blond Bombshell" to mean anything but very attractive -and it always implies a powerful kind of beauty. A knock out!
ReplyDeleteThe only blonds in our collection are children (several Kellys), one Janet, Mary Kate & Ashley and Mr & Mrs Heart. My reasoning for this, beyond the ones already mentioned is that it is very, very, very rare in the country to see a grown woman with blond hair that didn't bleach it.
Being naturally blond as a child is common. Being naturally blond as an adult is so rare that if I left my house and went to busiest upscale mall here in Colorado, i would see hundreds of blonds but would be lucky to find a single natural. No way could I find 2.