Jezebel
Leftovers
Posts Tagged “
Barbie
”
Combat Barbie
"Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge, 21, was called "Combat Barbie" by fellow troops for her love of "pink girlie stuff." Far from taking offense, the decorated Iraq vet seems to be embracing the moniker, competing for the title of "Miss England," which she is favored to win. Says Hodge: "I want to use this competition to highlight the work that the army are doing and what they have done for this country." This is, obviously, the best way to win respect for female soldiers. We can't help wondering what she'll do for the 'talent' competition; she was decorated for disarming an insurgent. Are the baton twirlers shaking in their heels? [The Sun]
Leftovers
Milestones
Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first black sorority in the United States, celebrated its 100th anniversary recently. It began in a time when students had to worry about lynchings as well as grades. Today, AKA has more than 200,000 members, and, says AKA spokeswoman Melody M. McDowell: "We remain true to our core mission, which is sisterhood and service. We've given away millions in scholarships, we're into voter registration, voter education, we're into leadership." And now there is an AKA Barbie doll, who wears a gown of pink and green, the sorority's colors. Barbara A. McKinzie, the sorority's international president, says: "What a wonderful idea to take a known icon in our society and have the doll look like us." [Washington Post, Washington Post]
Doll Parts
Does Barbie have a new agent? The Black Canary Barbie, out in October and based on the Marvel Comics heroine, is a fishnet-clad, PVC-wrapped fetish-wear version of the classic doll. This also just in: photographer Chris Jordan has created a suggestive mosaic made from 32,000 Barbie dolls — 32,000 being the number of elective breast-augmentation surgeries performed in the US each month of 2006. [Inventor's Spot, World of Wonder]
tweenage wasteland
Does This Look Like "Intellectual" Property To You?
I'm supposed to be in court in Riverside County, California right now. See, a few years ago I wrote this thing about how the Bratz dolls, the first dolls in the history of slutty-looking dolls to unseat Barbie for slutty looking doll hegemony (and the career ender of numerous highly remunerated Mattel executives), were actually masterminded inside the Mattel design center. Apparently they were scrapped because upper management didn't want to do anything to "cannibalize" their Barbie brand so the idea went nowhere and a doll designer took it to this guy who owned a scrappy little toy company that mostly specialized in competing for third and fourth tier licensing rights — like say, the right to manufacture keychains featuring crude electronic games bedecked in Pokemon logos — and that guy, with the help of a few more designers and a few thousand Shenzhen factory workers, turned the sketches into a multibillion dollar property. Well, Mattel is a litigious company — they were once known to sue Barbie fan clubs for trademark infringement — and when they read my story they apparently launched some sort of investigation and eventually sued the Bratz guys. Last summer I got deposed. More »
leftovers
Nudie Text Censored At Texas High; Barbie Jumps On The Green Bandwagon
Officials at a Texas high school have their panties in a twist about nude pictures of women in the background of a German textbook. They will either ban the book or put a sticker over the naughty bits. • More banning! This time across the globe in India, some Hindu groups want to ban the Mike Meyers/ Jessica Alba film The Love Guru. • Starting next year, rape victims will be allowed to undergo anonymous ER forensic rape examinations if they do not want to go to police. According to Breitbart, "The new federal requirement that states pay for 'Jane Doe rape kits' is aimed at removing one of the biggest obstacles to prosecuting rape cases: Some women are so traumatized they don't come forward until it is too late to collect hair, semen or other samples." • Is Barbie getting eco-friendly with her new accessory line made from repurposed fabric? Not really. • Nina Simone's daughter, Singer...is a singer! She's releasing an album of Nina covers called Simone on Simone. More »
leftovers
Barbie Goes Green; Berlin Sets Up Stalker Center
• From Anya Hindmarch to Barbie, the trend of "Green" handbags has officially run its course. • Prep author naturally turns to Laura Bush for new book. • Juno is on top of the DVD-sales charts, those Hills ads work! • Did you know that we ascribe gender stereotypes to women and men? Groundbreaking! • Norman Mailer's former mistress dishes on sex life for 50 pages. • Lovers too poor to wed cozy up on bridge in Cairo. • India to increase penalties in aborting female fetuses. • Berlin set up a walk-in clinic to help stalkers. • Saudis are slow to accept working women. • Reflecting on meals can curb overeating. • Two fatal accidents at Indian weddings leave 43 dead.
toy stories
Barbie Sales Flatten Worldwide -- Are Bratz & Miss Bimbo To Blame?
Several financial news outlets are discussing Mattel's falling first-quarter results, and most place the blame squarely on the slim shoulders of a certain doll named Barbie. Barbie, which was introduced in 1959, is now first-runner-up for the under-12 set, in part because of competition from edgier, increasingly-popular brands like Bratz and Hannah Montana dolls and in part because of the emergence of web-based toys. According to Portfolio, "Children want Web-based toys, and they want them at younger and younger ages" the magazine cites the success of interactive toys like Webkinz, and let's not forget the potential pleasures of Miss Bimbo). But the real reason Portfolio believes that Barbie is no longer the reigning beauty queen in toy world is because "at 49, Barbie is becoming obsolete." More »
19-year-olds Heather Johnston and Ashley Miller, the duo of bank robbers dubbed the "Barbie Bandits", have been sentenced for their crime. Miller, a former exotic dancer, will have to serve two years of a 10-year sentence and Johnston was sentenced to 10 years' probation. During her hearing, Johnston took the witness stand and sobbed, "I feel terrible. I want to set a good example for my little sister. She's a great kid. I don't want her to end up like me." [MSNBC]
Plastic & Fantastic
Did you celebrate yesterday? It was Barbie's birthday! Launched in 1959, Barbie was controversial from the beginning: She was one of the first dolls for little girls with breasts, and her proportions (36 inch bust, 18 inch waist) were rather unrealistic. (Her waist was widened in 1992.) Author Peggy Orenstein, who's written extensively about issues affecting girls, tells NPR, "You either see her as the embodiment of oppressive, Teutonic standards of beauty, or you see her as all that is good and sweet and innocent about your childhood. But you can't not have a relationship with Barbie." (Like many, we like to torture her.) Still, with Bratz and Strutz and whatnot, Barbie seems downright pretty and old-fashioned these days. And homegirl looks good for 49. [NPR, Babble]
Did you celebrate yesterday? It was Barbie's birthday! Launched in 1959, Barbie was controversial from the beginning: She was one of the first dolls for little girls with breasts, and her proportions (36 inch bust, 18 inch waist) were rather unrealistic. (Her waist was widened in 1992.) Author Peggy Orenstein, who's written extensively about issues affecting girls, tells NPR, "You either see her as the embodiment of oppressive, Teutonic standards of beauty, or you see her as all that is good and sweet and innocent about your childhood. But you can't not have a relationship with Barbie." (Like many, we like to torture her.) Still, with Bratz and Strutz and whatnot, Barbie seems downright pretty and old-fashioned these days. And homegirl looks good for 49. [NPR, Babble]
Plastic Dreams
These homemade Barbie Tarot Cards are several different kinds of amazing, and based on the Rider-Waite deck you may be more familiar with. Writes the creator, Michelle Erica Green, "As a feminist... I don't think little girls have any more trouble discerning that Barbie does not represent a real woman any more than a plastic blinking baby doll could ever be mistaken for a real baby." In any case, aren't you dying to see if there is a Dream House or pink Corvette in your future? (Click the picture to see more cards.) [Little Review, via Feminist Law Professors]
These homemade Barbie Tarot Cards are several different kinds of amazing, and based on the Rider-Waite deck you may be more familiar with. Writes the creator, Michelle Erica Green, "As a feminist... I don't think little girls have any more trouble discerning that Barbie does not represent a real woman any more than a plastic blinking baby doll could ever be mistaken for a real baby." In any case, aren't you dying to see if there is a Dream House or pink Corvette in your future? (Click the picture to see more cards.) [Little Review, via Feminist Law Professors]
clips
In 2008, Baking Is Still For Girls, Air Guitar Is For Boys
The Toy Fair is in town (New York, that is) and the new crap they dished out for the kiddies on the Today show this morning was sucktastic! Or maybe just retro? Girls will be able to learn "social responsibility" (whatever the fuck that is) from a talking dollhouse. Or they can make cupcakes! Meanwhile, the boys get battle brawlers with "fun action," Clone Trooper helmets and some kind of rockin' air guitar belt buckle (playing "air guitar" sort of looks like "jerking off" but whatevs.) Don't worry girls: You can also create a digital runway show starring everyone's favorite stacked blonde with oh-so-realistic proportions... Barbie! Clip above.
rag trade
Nothing Says "Maturity" Quite Like Heidi Montag
- Clothing line Anchor Blue has signed Heidi Montag to be its new face. Because execs want to appeal to a "slightly older" demographic. No, really. [WWD, sub req'd]
- Would you like to be Erin O'Connor's escort to a show during London Fashion Week? Well lucky for you she's holding a contest with Vogue UK. To win her hand (or, you know, the seat next to her) all you have to do is compose her a poem. Start work-shopping those dirty limericks here! [Vogue UK]
- Thrilling/disturbing news: Steve & Barry's has inked a licensing deal allowing them to create and sell t-shirts bearing images and logos from The Little Rascals, The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Brady Bunch, The Love Boat, The Twilight Zone, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Cheers and Beverly Hills 90210. And if you feel a twinge of sadness that the average Steve & Barry's customer has probably never known the joy of watching an episode of Laverne & Shirley, just think of the poor children in China who will be sewing them. [WWD, sub req'd]
You Wanna Be On Top
We don't exactly know what the deal is with the America's Next Top Model dolls other than that we desperately want them. MGA Entertainment (makers of Bratz) have released four dolls in the name of the series—Sienna, Sidney, Paisley and Tascha—but we're having a hard time finding them for sale other than on eBay, or used on Amazon. What makes matters even more confusing is that rival doll company Mattel (makers of HBIC Barbie) have also released a series of "Top Model" dolls that actually have nothing to do with ANTM. Oooh, we smell another lawsuit coming on! [Popwatch]
We don't exactly know what the deal is with the America's Next Top Model dolls other than that we desperately want them. MGA Entertainment (makers of Bratz) have released four dolls in the name of the series—Sienna, Sidney, Paisley and Tascha—but we're having a hard time finding them for sale other than on eBay, or used on Amazon. What makes matters even more confusing is that rival doll company Mattel (makers of HBIC Barbie) have also released a series of "Top Model" dolls that actually have nothing to do with ANTM. Oooh, we smell another lawsuit coming on! [Popwatch]
clips
"If the despair of your existence is too much to bear, weave a tapestry of pain with the all new Goth Barbie!" So begins a new fauxmercial from the Will Ferrell-funded website Funny Or Die. Goth Barbie is a cutter with a penchant for pleather and eyeliner, but, unfortunately, "booze, sleeping pills and Joy Division albums sold separately." Check out the clip, above. More »
Goth Barbie Lives "Alone With Her Unpublished Poetry"
"If the despair of your existence is too much to bear, weave a tapestry of pain with the all new Goth Barbie!" So begins a new fauxmercial from the Will Ferrell-funded website Funny Or Die. Goth Barbie is a cutter with a penchant for pleather and eyeliner, but, unfortunately, "booze, sleeping pills and Joy Division albums sold separately." Check out the clip, above. More »
living dolls
Barbies (And Barbies On Booze) Are Big Business
The Barbie 2-in-1 party Plane & Ship, marketed for girls ages 3 to 8, comes with martini glasses, bar stools and a disco scene, notes the Packaging Girlhood blog. The blog makes the argument that unlike the Bratz, who also have a party plane, Barbies are adults; they may drink and go clubbing, but little girls understand that these activities are for grown-ups, not children. But is pushing drinks to 3-year-olds going a step too far? Meanwhile, despite its massive recalls last year, Barbie parent company Mattel is reporting that fourth-quarter profits are up 15%, according to The New York Times. The company has huge tax benefits to thank, but people continue to buy this stuff, especially internationally. (Barbie sales are down in the United States by 12%, but up 4% globally.) And guess what? Profits in the wholesome American Girl division are down 2%! More »
rag trade
Nothing Comes Between Kate Bosworth And Her Calvins
- Kate Bosworth is the new face of Calvin Klein jeans. Looks good enough to make us forget another girl named Kate who once was the face of CK jeans. [Vogue UK]
- In case you forgot, here's what Brooke Shields looked like in her Calvins. [Sassybella])
- With nary a girl to dress for red carpet season, Badgley Mischka has made an awards-attending Barbie. [Fashion Week Daily]
- Mazel Tov to Stella McCartney, who just gave birth to baby number three, a son, Beckett Robert Lee Willis. McCartney and her husband Aldashair WIllis have two other children and one ex-wicked stepmother. [WWD, 2nd item]
clips
Lisa Simpson's Love/Hate Relationship With A "Girl" Named Stacy
Lisa Simpson is sort of the cartoon embodiment of a young Jezebel. [Here's the cartoon embodiment of an old one. -Ed.] She's curious, outspoken, dedicated, and tries to be socially-conscious. But she's still vulnerable to the trappings of femininity, like body image issues, and easily seduced by the fun indulgences of girlhood, like ponies, unicorns, and her Malibu Stacy doll. In a clip from an old Simpsons episode, Lisa comes to the same realization about Stacy that most of us came to about Barbie — that her image and cultivated personality are sexist representations of women. The problem is, she is fun, and pretty, and lives in a pink mansion! God! Why is being a girl so fucking complicated?
