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Happy New Year Barbie

Happy New Year! My goal this year is to finish inventorying and photographing all of the Barbies in my collection. And I have reserved a table at the Denver Doll & Toy Show in March to sell most of my dolls.  Going through the boxes of the less common dolls I come across some that are worth highlighting. These two are perfect given the time of year:


At the height of the collectible Barbie craze in the mid-1990s Mattel released some of the more unique and distinct Barbies to date. Not all of them have aged well and some of them have very strong 90s vibes. But the Happy New Year's/Oshogatsu dolls are cute and fun and a shift from so many of the high fashion western designer dolls. 



I'm not going to pretend to have a nuanced opinion on cultural appropriation and simplification by an American company that many of the Dolls of the World fall into (there are individuals and websites that have taken that debate on in a worthwhile, meaningful way). I recognize that kimono have a deep cultural meaning and suggesting they are just pretty fashion undermines Japanese culture. Nonetheless, I think these dolls are beautiful and a noteworthy shift in collectible doll design pre-2000. The packaging and description alongside the attention to detail set them apart from many dolls of the era.

In 2008 Mattel released an updated Happy New Year doll and there was a greater attempt to add less-Westernized features on the dolls. The 1994/1995 dolls are "Barbie in costume".

I got these dolls when I was in college and I remember spending a lot of time oohing and aahing over them. If nothing else, I was always excited to get a Barbie who wasn't blonde!

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