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How to Make Beautiful Barbie Doll

     29th Jan' 2010,

Barbie is a fashion doll launched in 1959. It was manufactured by American toy-company Mattel, Inc., American businesswoman Ruth Handler (1916-2002) is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration. Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara often enjoyed giving her dolls with adult roles and so suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company.

Later, during a trip to Europe in 1956 with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth Handler came across German toy doll called Bild Lilli; the adult-figured doll was exactly what Handler had in mind. The first Barbie dolls were manufactured in Japan, with their clothes hand-stitched by Japanese home workers. Around 350,000 Barbie dolls were sold during the first year of production. Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.

Mattel acquired the rights to the Bild Lilli doll in 1964 and production of Lilli was stopped. The first African American doll in the Barbie range is usually regarded as Christie, who made her debut in 1968. Black Barbie was launched in 1980 but still had white features. In 1997 Barbie's body mold was redesigned and given a wider waist, with Mattel saying that this would make the doll better suited to contemporary fashion designs. In September 2003 the Middle Eastern country of Saudi Arabia outlawed the sale of Barbie dolls, saying that she did not conform to the ideals of Islam and so there is an alternative doll called Fulla which is similar to Barbie but is designed to be more acceptable to an Islamic market. Fulla is not made by the Mattel Corporation, and Barbie is still available in other Middle Eastern countries including Egypt. In Iran, Sara and Dara dolls are available as an alternative to Barbie.

In 2005 figures showed that sales of Barbie dolls had fallen by 30% in the United States, and by 18% worldwide, with much of the drop being attributed to the popularity of Bratz dolls. In April 2009, the launch of a "Totally Tattoos" Barbie with a range of tattoos that could be applied to the doll. In September 2009, Mattel introduced the so in Style range, which was intended to create a more realistic depiction of black people than previous dolls.

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