If you're a certain age, you surely remember the ubiquitous United Colors of Benetton ads from the late 1980s and early 1990s.  The bright primary colors, the diversity on the page, the quirky yet stylish fashion. I loved the ads, but the clothes were much too urban, cool, ...expensive for me and my high school vibe. I remember the "cool" girls in my class all dressing in simple primary color t-shirts and standing together for the senior class picture so they were easy to pick out. Keep in mind, it was also a short year or two before the grunge revolution which was much more my style heading to college. While Benetton fashion was not in my world, Benetton Barbies were, of course  My mom had two different male friends who traveled to London semi-regularly. One was a theatre director and went to see the shows. The other owned a travel agency and visited London for work. They were both game to engage in my Barbie fandom in the era. (not to stereotype, but one was openly gay...

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...

 Two fundamental things about me:  I have had Barbie dolls since before I was two years old. They were a stable part of my childhood long past the age many kids played with dolls. I grew up doing crafts. My mom and grandma taught me to cross stitch, needlepoint, and knit (although I have long ago forgotten that particular craft). I don't sit still and if I'm watching TV there's a good chance I have a needle and a project in my lap. ( okay, let's be honest, it's 2023, there are definite evenings it's a mindless puzzle game on my tablet. ) Which means that while I have extra time on my hands I took the opportunity to combine those two aspects and created two Barbie cross stitch patterns this fall Both projects are smaller than 4" square and are perfect for a crafter who has never done cross stitch. They're simple and can be finished in a short amount of time. But they also are quintissential to today's Barbie love and the resurgence of attention becau...

 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 ...