In the summer season of 2021, material developer and specialized baker Joshua Gash vacated West Hollywood and went back to his home town in North Carolina. He was prepared for a modification, however he had one significant logistical difficulty to get rid of: how to transfer a valued collection of more than 600 Black Barbie dolls throughout the nation. “I had no idea how I would do it,” Gash says. He thought about packing the Barbies inside his black Volkswagen Beetle and delivering the vehicle. He rapidly nixed the concept: Too numerous dolls. “I ended up using FedEx,” the 30-year-old says. “I shipped 11 extra-large boxes full of Barbies.” The grand overall: $1,500.
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Then there’s Houston citizen Taylor Brione, who works full-time as an occasion coordinator. Brione oversleeps one room of her two-bedroom apartment or condo, while the other is committed to the numerous Barbies, likewise all Black, she’s gathered over the last 12 years. Occasionally, regional Girl Scout soldiers will explore the collection. “A lot of the girls have never seen that many Black Barbies before,” Brione, 31, says. “That’s really why I collect – because representation is so important.”
Collectors of Black Barbies are, in numerous methods, a specific niche within a specific niche. Composed of perky people around the world who frequently link online and at in-person doll conventions, these collectors focus particularly on the more melanated variations of Barbie, which collectors call AA Barbies (shorthand for African-American). To them, the hunt has to do with more than having and showing dolls. It’s likewise about commemorating Black identities.
In a video published to her TikTok page, Brione explained the inspiration behind her collection. “Dolls that looked like this were not around,” she says in the clip, describing her 1990s youth. She held up 2 modern Black Barbies. “The fact that Barbie Holiday from 2021 has twists? The fact that we have the same hairstyle right now?” Brione says, flaunting her own braids. “It’s a testament to how important representation is. But it’s also kind of sad that you had to be 20 until you saw your first doll with an Afro.”
Gash’s own collection runs in a manner as a do-over, one that brings him happiness and pride. “My sister always got to play with Barbies, and I never did,” he shared. “So now this is my chance.” Black Barbies embellished the hot pink walls of his previous West Hollywood apartment or condo like a Toys “R” Us (RIP) rack. He initially started gathering the dolls a couple of years earlier as a reprieve from the heaviness he felt on the planet around him. “I was in WeHo and… there just is not a lot of Black representation there,” Gash remembers. “And every time I turned on the news, there was something bad happening to Black people – especially men. I wanted to surround myself with beautiful Black things.”
So Gash gradually started gathering, till he had actually produced what he called his “Barbie oasis”. The collection even includes customized doll variations of Gash and his corded poodle, Rapunzel, who he adoringly calls his mini-me. (“We have the same hair,” Gash says.)
The sanctuary works as an important haven for Gash. “I could be at work having a bad day and come home to all of this pink and brown skin and curly hair,” he says. “It was my safe haven.”
Black and Barbie: the 2 principles have their own tough sociocultural histories, and Black Barbies sit at a packed point of intersectionality.
But exactly what is a Black Barbie? It’s a bit complex. Mattel, the toymaker behind Barbie, no longer pitch their Black dolls as such. (The product packaging for early offerings in the ’80s check out “Black” straight above the Barbie logo design.) But consumers, a lot of whom are Black, still utilize the term. Black Barbie all at once runs as an informal name for a Barbie produced in melanated tones and likewise is a sweeping and flexible classification for Mattel’s range of Black dolls and characters. One scene in Greta Grewig’s big-budget Barbie movie, launching today, includes a host of Barbie characters welcoming each other. “Hi, Barbie!” Margot Robbie’s character says to Issa Rae’s. “Hi, Barbie!” Rae reacts. That is the charm of Barbie Land reasoning and world-building. Black Barbie can be a variation of Barbie herself and likewise her friend – possibly both at the exact same time.
This was not constantly the case. The initially Barbie was offered in 1959. More than twenty years later on, in 1980, Mattel presented Christie, a Black friend of Barbie. She was a quick struck, and ever since, Mattel has actually gradually broadened its offerings of Black Barbies. And they are no longer just Barbie’s friend. The business has actually developed from marketing brown facsimiles of white Barbies to crafting more culturally and racially particular dolls. There are Barbies who use satin headwraps, ones imitated Maya Angelou and Rosa Parks, and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the Black sorority of which vice president Kamala Harris is an alum. For months, Brione searched classic markets for the unusual AKA doll, which was initially launched in 2008 to honor the sorority’s centennial. (Brione eventually paid more than $1,000 for one on eBay. “I just knew I needed to have that doll,” she says.)
Talk to any astute collector, and you’re bound to hear 2 names ultimately: Kitty Black-Perkins and her protégé Stacy McBride-Irby. The 2 ladies created a few of the most remarkable and revered Black dolls over the years. Perkins, who signed up with Mattel in 1976, was accountable for the very first Christie doll. That influential doll was equipped in hoop earrings, a brief ’fro, and a red bodysuit. Her product packaging read: “She’s Black! She’s beautiful! She’s dynamite!” In the ’90s, McBride-Irby signed up with Mattel, and the 2 ladies created the bulk of Black Barbies that struck racks throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
“Kitty and Stacey both are major players in Black Barbie’s story,” says Lagueria Davis, who directed a documentary – motivated by her auntie’s own huge collection and work at Mattel – unloading the history and culture of the dolls. “Those two women showcase the sheer power of diversity and inclusion.”
Still, bringing these culturally and racially particular Barbies to racks was frequently difficult. McBride-Irby explains the bulk of her two-decade period at Mattel, which ended in 2015, as “rolling with the punches”.
“When we would create dolls, the Black doll was secondary,” McBride-Irby says. “We always created the white doll first, then marketing would determine if a Black doll was needed.” That altered when McBride-Irby produced So in Style, a whole line of Black dolls, in 2009. The Barbies included fuller lips, natural hairdos, and a larger variety of complexion. “The Princess and the Frog was about to come out in a year, Barack Obama was a candidate for the presidency,” McBride-Irby says. “I was able to pitch my concept to Mattel. I said, ‘Look, we don’t want to be behind the times. We need to start creating this Black line of dolls.’”
The line was a hit and still holds an unique location in the hearts of Black Barbie collectors like Brione. “The dolls started to actually look like Black people,” Brione says, “instead of just being dolls in different skin tones.”
These days McBride-Irby no longer operates in the toy market, however she is frequently asked to speak at doll conventions and to collectors. “I did get a direct message from a young lady saying how my dolls made a difference in her life,” McBride-Irby says. “And now she’s 23 years old. So it does make a difference. Even at the time dads were thanking me for making dolls that looked like their daughters.”
On a personal level, collectors state that their dolls have actually supplied effective, can-do examples – a typical style throughout all Barbies. Gash imagine one day flaunting his Black Barbie collection and competence on tv. Brione, on the other hand, has actually happily embraced Barbie’s simple and easy profession hopping, working as a pet-boutique owner, blog writer, occasion coordinator, and more at various points in her life. “Barbie was president, and I feel like I can be president next if I wanted to,” she says.
