Uses Barbie, along with photographs and illustrations, to present a variety of careers, from ballerina to gardener.

A legendary fashion designer for Barbie shares the story of her adventures working behind-the-scenes at Mattel, and spotlights the creations that transformed the world’s most famous doll into a style icon in this beautifully designed book—published in commemoration of Barbie’s sixtieth anniversary—illustrated with 100 full-color photographs, including many never-before-seen images of rare and one-of-a-kind pieces from the author’s private archive. Dressing Barbie is a dazzling celebration of the clothes that made America’s favorite doll, and the incredible woman behind them. For thirty-five years, Carol Spencer enjoyed an unparalleled reign as a Barbie fashion designer, creating some of Barbie’s most iconic looks from the early 1960s until the late 1990s. Barbie’s wide-ranging wardrobe—including princess gowns and daisy-print rompers, flirty sundresses and smart pantsuits— combined fashion trends and haute couture with a liberal dose of fantasy. In Dressing Barbie, the successful and prolific designer reminisces about her time at Mattel working with legendary figures such as Ruth Handler, Barbie’s creator, and Charlotte Johnson, the original Barbie designer, and talks about her best and most beloved clothing designs from each decade. But Carol’s most impressive creation is her own life. As Handler famously said, “Barbie always represented the fact that a girl has choices”—a credo Carol epitomized. In Dressing Barbie, she talks candidly about how she broke free of the constraints of the late 1950s to pursue a dazzling career and an independent life for herself. Over the course of her successful and prolific career, Carol won many accolades. She was the first designer to have her signature on the doll, the first to go on a signing tour, the first to design a limited-edition Barbie Doll for collectors, and the designer of the biggest selling Barbie of all time. Now, Carol is the first member of the inner circle to take fans behind the pink curtain, revealing the fashion world of Barbie, the quintessential California girl, as never before.

In the aftermath of World War II, Francine

"Six stories about Barbie trying out careers as a chef, an ice skater, a soccer player, a doctor, a ballerina and a horse rider. Each story can be read aloud in about five minutes, making them ideal for bedtime"--Back cover.

Barbie is in Amazon jungle looking for a plant with the power to cure.

Driscoll argues that both 'girls' and 'culture' as ideas are too problematic to fulfill any useful role in theorizing about the emergence of feminine adolescence in popular culture.

Meet Bliss Cavendar, a blue haired, indie-rock loving misfit stuck in the tiny town of Bodeen, Texas. Her pageant-addicted mother expects her to compete for the coveted Miss Blue Bonnet crown, but Bliss would rather feast on roaches than be subjected to such rhinestone tyranny. Bliss' escape? Take up Roller Derby. When she discovers a league in nearby Austin, Bliss embarks on an epic journey full of hilarious tattooed girls, delicious boys in bands, and a few not-so-awesome realities even the most bad-assed derby chick has to learn.

Take an enthralling and richly illustrated trip through the official real-world story of the Barbie™ doll—from groundbreaking toy to beacon of female empowerment. Created in partnership with Mattel to celebrate Barbie doll’s 65th anniversary and featuring rare images from their archives, Barbie: Her Inspiration, History, and Legacy is a stunning tribute to the beloved pop culture icon that has echoed the taste, style, and events of every decade she has experienced. Recall the joy of opening a brand-new Barbie box with this sumptuously designed book chronicling every step in the beloved doll’s journey, from entrepreneurial pioneer Ruth Handler’s creation of Barbie in 1959 to the record-breaking film in 2023, and beyond, including: The Birth of Barbie – Learn how Ruth Handler came up with the idea of a doll that allowed little girls to play at being women, then overcame a parade of challenges—including disbelief from her male colleagues that mothers would buy their daughters an adult doll with full-grown breasts—and persevered to create the wildly successful Barbie doll and prove her doubters wrong. Breaking Boundaries – Follow the path that Barbie took from teenage fashion model to over 200 different careers, including trailblazing roles like astronaut in 1965, beating the first American woman, Sally Ride, into space by nearly 20 years, to surgeon in 1973, at a time when the total number of women physicians in the US was around 5 percent, to other male-dominated roles like Marine Corps sergeant, a business executive, and President of the United States. Reflecting Diversity – See how a doll that started with a choice of either blonde or brunette hair now boasts 35 skin tones, 97 hair styles, and 9 body types, with those numbers growing each year. Barbie in Fashion and Art – Explore how the fashion and art worlds have influenced and been influenced by Barbie, from limited edition Barbie fashions from premiere designers like Christian Dior and Michael Kors to a portrait of Barbie by Andy Warhol. Barbie in Pop Culture – Discover all the ways that Barbie has influenced pop culture, from Barbie bloggers and collectors to how her movie smashed records as the highest-grossing domestic release in history, granting its female director, Greta Gerwig, the prize for the highest-grossing film directed by a woman. Barbie: Her Inspiration, History, and Legacy reveals how Barbie is more than a toy—she is an ideal that lives forever, encouraging girls to persist through to become whatever they dream to be.

Barbie has always been a fashion icon, with a wardrobe of looks inspired by the world’s great fashion designers, and inspiring them as well with her signature style. From decade-defining designs by formidable fashion royalty such as Dior, Balenciaga, Yves St. Laurent, Pucci, and Chanel, to skateboard culture and rave fashion, Barbie doll’s outfits have reflected the fashion and the time. In Barbie Takes the Catwalk, hundreds of images from designer runways, magazine editorials, and fashion archives are paired with detailed photographs of vintage Barbie outfits to offer an unprecedented examination of the Barbie brand’s sartorial impact. Author and costume historian Karan Feder thoughtfully explores Barbie doll's first 40 years to highlight the vast artistry and cultural significance of the doll’s fashion canon, and looks at contemporary fashion designers influenced by the Barbie legacy. This meticulously researched and gorgeous book is a must for any fan of fashion, pop culture, and Barbie. MORE THAN 100 FASHION PHOTOS: Hundreds of photos from the runways of designers that have influenced Barbie, including André Courrèges, Bill Gibb, Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro, Karl Lagerfeld, and Thierry Mugler. 125 ICONIC BARBIE LOOKS: From “Enchanted Evening” to the totally-80s looks of Barbie and the Rockers, Barbie Takes the Catwalk offers a stunning retrospective of the doll’s fashion canon. INFLUENCE AND IMPACT: Explores the relationship between the world’s great fashion houses and the world’s best-selling and most-loved fashion doll. AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR: Karan Feder is an award-winning costume designer, historian, and the curator of the traveling exhibition of Barbie’s fashion history, called Barbie®, A Cultural Icon: 60 Years of Fashion and Inspiration. THE PERFECT GIFT for fans of art, fashion, design, or Barbie, Barbie Takes the Catwalk is a fascinating historical record of the fashionable trends and popular-cultural themes inherent within Barbie’s vast clothes closet.

DIVHistorical and theoretical essays on television and media culture by a leading feminist studies scholar./div