It has been in the news recently that Mattel has released Barbie as Mariah Carey and as Stevie Nicks. Both of these dolls continue a long tradition of recreating Barbie as iconic stars who will appeal to kids, to the parents who buy dolls for their kids, and to adult collectors. For what it's worth, both dolls are currently sold out on Amazon and already listed (as of November 17) on eBay for $150. The collector's market and upsale of collectibles is alive and well. This series of dolls is intended to represent role models as well as fashion icons. I have to say, this line of dolls has never appealed to me over much. There is nothing wrong with them, but I have always gotten Barbies that were not "Mattel-style-doll-recreated-to-resemble(ish)-someone-famous." When I was looking through my collection in storage last week I came across two other iconic Barbie recreations from 25 years ago. Barbie Loves Frank Sinatra and Barbie Loves Elvis. In both of these Box Sets the ...

When I was around 8 years old we went on a family vacation to visit relatives in Minneapolis. While we were there, we visited the largest department store I had ever been to up to that point. It had a full toy department which was a candy store to my doll-loving eyes. It was the first time I had ever seen limited edition Barbie dolls and Parisian Barbie captured my imagination. I was smitten!! But as much as I begged and gave puppy-dog eyes to my parents, I didn't get Parisian Barbie that day. I bought the doll pictured below on the secondary market a dozen years later (and yes, I paid siginficantly more money that it originally sold for) But I love this doll and would be hard pressed to sell it. Over the years, Mattel released more French and Parisian Barbies including these two: Released ten years apart, the second edition Parisian Barbie is an obvious recreation of the 1980 doll. The French doll came seven years later in 1997. These two versions never held the same fascination f...

  I spent a day in storage looking through boxes - which is where the dolls in the last post are from. While I was there, I catalogued everything in the boxes. There are a handful that I don't plan to sell, but the marjority are up for sale. I also took the time to sign up for a table at the Denver Doll show next April. My tables will be labeled as Barbies All the Way Down - the same as this blog.  The hype of the Barbie movie is waning as people's attention move on. And its amazing how fast interest in the dolls has disappeared. But I know the true Barbie lovers are still out there. If you have any interest in my dolls, please feel free to reach out to me. As always, they are all NRFB, from a smoke-free home, stored in cardboard in a dry basement. Contact: Barbies All the Way Down/Jehnie Burns in Boulder, Colorado on Instagram @mixtapehistory on etsy @TheNostalgicStitcher

 I spent half a day sorting through boxes in storage. I have gone through all of my Barbies at various different times, but it has been close to a decade since I really looked at every doll in my collection. There are the ones I remember in exceedingly concrete detail. And then there are the dolls that catch me unaware. I forgot they existed, I forgot I own them, I am in awe at the choices Mattel made over time. Here are a couple of the dolls I rediscovered today: XFiles and Star Trek Barbie and Ken Gift Sets How could I ever forget the pop culture crossovers of XFiles and Star Trek Barbie and Ken sets. I'm of the age that, yes, I of course watched both of these series. These two series remain iconic but were in the mainstream milieu in the 1990s in a way that Mattel saw a way to capitalize on a cross-marketing campaign. Does the fact that Barbie is the red shirt suggest that she is disposable? Or is it just that she looks best in red? And I also wonder why Mattel chose to connect ...

    I grew up in a football household. My brother played all the way through college and football was on in the house every weekend. I couldn't not like football. I also grew up a huge Barbie lover, obviously. Those two pastimes rarely interact. Although I do remember playing with Barbies as a little girl while the TV was on and the rest of my family was happily screaming at the teams.     When I was in College, Mattel got the brilliant idea to cross-promote by creating licensed Barbies for college sports teams. I happened to go to a University that did have a D1 football team, but was MUCH to small to garner its own Barbie doll. Instead, I ended up with CU Barbie. I do remember being at the store and whoever had packed the box looked at the region and included a handful of other regional dolls. That individual was clearly not an American football fan. The University of Nebraska Huskers dolls sat forlornly on the shelf and probably ended up on a clearance bin long af...

 I took my mom to see that Barbie movie last night. After all, she was my co-conspirator during the Barbie collecting days. And we both walked away completely unsure about how we felt:  The Will Ferrell humor felt misplaced.  The patriarchy plot was ....I don't know, just not what I expected.  The cameos were great but so much more could have been done with them. The tongue-in-cheek awareness of capitalism was necessary but trying too hard The gender binary of the whole thing was so overt That being said, we were both glad we saw it.  I did love America Ferrara's rant in the middle and will happily quote it for the next two dozen years.  Anything that has Indigo Girls music is better for its inclusion.  Michael Cera and Kate McKinnon were hands down the best characters and the best parts of the movie Rhea Perlman was perfectly cast in her role I don't want to rant about how it wasn't the movie I wanted them to make, because I don't have that power. But...

This is the current list of dolls that I have available for sale. It is a small percentage of the total that I will have eventually. If you are interested in any of these dolls, please reach out to mixtapenostalgiabook@gmail.com or put a comment on the post. I am happy to send pictures of the dolls and cost. If you are interested in multiple dolls, I will work with you on a fair price for the dolls and shipping. Here are four of the dolls to give you a sense of the type of dolls currently in the list: Holiday Memories 35th Anniversary with Box - Blonde Australian Crystal Barbie & Ken - European