When we were young, Mattel created and sold the first Barbie
Dolls. This rather shapely doll had a cute little ponytail, heavy eye makeup
and a limited wardrobe. Unlike the Barbie today, the original one was not a
business woman, nurse or astronaut…she was just a doll for dressing up.
When we got our first Barbies, we played incessantly. The best part was that my Grandma Golla actually got an additional
doll and tailored a wardrobe around her. For an additional gift, Mary Beth and
I each received a suitcase (probably about 18 x 12 and 6 inches deep) filled
with hand made Barbie clothes. Grandma took all her leftover fabric and made us
suits and dresses and pants and jackets. She made sure we each had one of
everything. The clothes were not the machine made clothes of the store that
anyone could get, but hand stitched lovingly and each unique because it was
made by Grandma. Having her own mannequin made sure the clothes not only fit but
could easily be put on and taken off. We added shoes and accessories.
We had the best dressed Barbies in the world. I am
sure that we didn’t appreciate all the special items at the time. We were
probably envious of our friends “new” clothes that were like everyone else’s,
but they in turn couldn’t believe all
the clothes we had.
Added Barbie thoughts…
Pony Tail – 3-wigs - Bouffant. Feet that were designed to
wear heels only. Earrings that just poked through a hole in the side of the
head – a pretty, short stick pin did the same thing and gave a variety of
colors as well. Ken had hair like short felt and there were no friends, sisters
or other relations. First car was a pink convertible.
Enough about Barbie...next blog starts a new era.
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