Today Mattel and New York streetwear brand Kith rolled out their a new line of streetwear dolls in honor of Barbie's 60th anniversary.
As The Cut first flagged, the new dolls have a zeitgeisty update. Each new doll is rocking a classic case of Instagram face: including distinctly pouty plumped lips, button nose, heart-shaped face and sky-high cheek bones — their lips being the most obvious modification. Barbie's new face has an uncanny resemblance to the composite image the top 100 influencers that PAPER recently designed as a part of our investigation into the "ideal influencer."
In recent years, Barbie and other doll companies have been driven by market standards to produce more body and ethnically diverse dolls. But ultimately, the doll will always reflect the physical fantasy of the moment. As we inch closer to forgetting what a human face looks entirely, given the rise of plastic surgery and ubiquity of Facetuning, Barbie is right on track.
If you want to see Barbie's fillers up close and understand her evolution, the new dolls are being introduced at a "styling competition" at the Kith location in Soho, along with an in-store museum retrospective celebrating Barbie's history. It'll run from September 21 to September 29.
Photo courtesy of Kith
From Your Site Articles
Fashion
Women’s History Museum Lives Up to Its Name
Story by Ivan Guzman / Photography by Kohl Murdock