February 20th, 2010 by dee

About fifty years ago, there was a girl named Bild Lilli, who lived in German and no one at that time would know that one day this girl would be the most popular, most beautiful and most expensive girl in this world. From the little girls to the professional collectors, everyone knows her name would like to own one of her versions. Bild Lilli was the name for Barbie when she was in German and her meeting with Ruth Handler became one of the most important meetings in the world.

Ms. Ruth Handler brought Bild Lilli back to America – like what Albert Einstein did in America; Bild Lilli found the best place for her. And with the redecoration and redesigned from the designers of Mattel Company, Bild Lilli smiled like Marilyn Monroe and changed her name to be Barbie which followed the name of Ms Ruth Handler’s youngest daughter. With expectation, Barbie became the most popular toy doll among little girls from the 1950s or 1960s till now. The girls could dress Barbie as they in the way they like and they could make their dreams come true when they play with Barbie. If the little girl wants to be a lawyer, she could dress Barbie as a lawyer and imagine that she is going to attend in the court an hour later. To be honest, Barbie had richened our childhood and when I was a little girl, the best gift I wanted to have was a Barbie doll and a full wardrobe of clothes for her.

Towards the end of 1970s, there were two people who did great work for Barbie. They were Sibyl DeWein and Joan Ashabraner, they published the book named ‘The Collector’s Encyclopedia of Barbie’. And then the United Federation of Doll Clubs held the first Doll Exhibition and this was a good chance for Barbie to get into the Collector’s display counter. Also Mattel Company had released the Blue Rhapsody which was the limited version and released specially for collectors in 1986. From then on, Barbie was not only the doll for kids but also the woman the Doll collectors want to have. Since 1990, the famous fashion designers would design clothes for their Barbie version and all these versions would be at high price.

I think the reason why Barbie is so popular is she has a family. You could not only buy Barbie but also you could buy her parents, her sisters and brother, also her classmates and her boyfriend. So far as I know, Barbie and Ken are the steadiest couple in the fashion field and the entertainment field because they had become a couple for nearly 50 years. You know, it is so hard for a couple to spend so many years together. Also you could buy Barbie’s friends in some series. And when you put them together, it looks like a scene.

As time pass by, Barbie is no more white girls only, we could also find the black girl version for some series. And the Barbie’s family is growing larger and larger. It is quite a challenge to know everyone in that big family.

Tags: barbie, barbie doll