Barbie of the month - February 2009

Sweet Valentine Barbie.
For hundreds of years, February 14 has been celebrated as St. Valentine's Day, a time to send and receive tokens of love. And nothing could be a better symbol of love than Sweet Valentine Barbie. She wears a charming gown of softest pink, adorned with roses, the symbol of love.
From her lovely dark hair, swept back from her face, to the gracious folds of her elegant gown, her every detail will touch your heart. From 1995, it was the first one of a halmark valentine barbie collection.

2009 Holiday Barbie.

You can't find on stores yet, probably around June...but you can pre order.

Barbie labels.

The label structure works as described below:
Pink Label - Keepsake dolls at quality retailers everywhere. Pink labels dolls are not limited in production numbers. Comes in a box with a clear acetate front trimmed in pink.
Silver Label - No more than 50,000 pieces created worldwide. You can find in select retailers. Comes in a reveal package, which features a closed box with a beautiful doll picture or other art work on the cover.
Gold Label - Distinct dolls featured at fine retailers with no more than 25,000 pieces created worldwide. Comes in a cake box type package, just as the silver label(complete with acetate layer to protect the doll and a style display packaging).
Platinum Label - Premium one of a kind dolls or dolls produced in editions of less than 1,000 worldwide.
Black Label - This will be reserved for rarely released editions of dolls, created uniquely for the adult collector. This label will not be tied to quantity produced but rather tied very special releases in the line.
As information, the numbers does not mean the quantity of how many will be made, but that’s a number they may go up to, per year in fabrication. The maker may fabricate less than 25000 a year, in gold label, for example, but no more than 25000.

Barbie as Angelina Jolie or Angelina Jolie as Barbie?

No, you can't buy her...This one was sold on ebay for $3000.00. It's a portrait created by Noel Cruz, a artist graduate in Communications with emphasis on video editing and digital imaging. That looks great to me!!!

Ruth and Elliot Handler Interview

The Company was founded in 1945 by Harold Matson and Elliot Handler("matt+ El"). Ruth became later the president.

First Barbie house

This is dated back in 1960. The very first one.

Was the “First” Barbie doll, really the “First” Barbie?

Every Barbie fan/collector already knows that the first Barbie was born on March 9, 1959, in New York, by Ruth Handler. But, have you heard about the Lilli doll from Germany? It’s interesting that she looks a lot like the first Barbie! Not so surprisingly, Lilli’s production lasted only 5 years after Barbie was created, into which time Mattel had acquired the rights of the Lilli doll from O&M Hausser, a German Company. It was actually Mattel that ceased its production.
At this time, Mrs. Handler’s kids (Barbara, Skipper and Kenneth) played with the Lilli doll. The legend is said to have begun during a trip to Germany in 1956 with her children; Ruth discovered a German doll called Bild Lilli in a shop window. The adult-figured Lilli doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel.
The Lilli doll was based on a popular character appearing in a comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper “Die Bild-Zeitun.” Lilli was not exactly the aspiring woman that parent’s wished upon their children to look up to…
Lilli had no reservations about talking illicitly…
Lilli: (talking to a policeman who told her that two-piece-swimsuits are banned: "Which piece do you want me to take off?")
…of politics: ("Of course I'm interested in politics; no one should ignore the way some politicians dress!")
And even the beauty of nature…
("The sunrise is so beautiful that I always stay late at the nightclub to see it!").
The last Lilli cartoon appeared on January 5, 1961.
At the end of the 50s, Barbie was born, only this doll was more “girly” than Lilli, and geared toward kids.
Lilli was so famous that she was exported to other countries, such as the United States. I can definitely say Ruth Hundler created Barbie, the name, the logo, but how about the idea, the doll, the toy? Didn’t she exist before?
Honestly, that’s the question that I carry with me. Of course not as a demeaning question, because thanks to Ruth, she not only saw the potential, but also had the money and influence to turn a spark into a blazing fire. But, unfortunately, there is no doubt the question will always be there… The good thing is that Barbie (or Lilly?) is still around… Only in a modern, beautiful, and empowering style.