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World's Largest Collection of Barbie Dolls

Barbie, the world's most well-known and best-selling doll, debuted at the American International Toy Fair on March 9, 1959. The doll is produced by Mattel, Inc.
 

In the 1950s Ruth Handler, "creator" of the Barbie doll, noticed that her daughter, Barbara, preferred to play with dolls that resembled adults rather than infants. At that time, most three-dimensional dolls were made to look like babies or small children; however, Barbara preferred playing with paper dolls that looked like adults. Realizing that there was a hole in the marketplace, Handler suggested the idea of a three-dimensional adult-bodied doll to her husband, Elliot Handler, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company, but the idea was scoffed at. Mattel's directors told her that it would be impossible to create such a doll.

However, during a trip to Germany with her daughter, Handler discovered a German doll named Lilli in a shop window. The adult-figured Lilli doll was exactly what Handler had had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel.
 

The first Barbie doll wore a black-and-white "zebra-striped" swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail with tightly-curled bangs. The dolls were available either as blonds or brunettes. In succeeding years, Barbie dolls were made available with other hair styles and colors. The doll was marketed as a "Teen-age Fashion Model", so many fashions were available for her as well. Barbie's wardrobe was designed by esteemed Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson, whose inspiration came from the fashion runways of Paris.
 

Ruth Handler stated that she felt it was "important to a little girl's self-esteem to play with a doll that [had] breasts", believing it would allow them role-play and imagine their future lives as adult women. However, Barbie's exaggerated proportions have always been a point of contention for her detractors. Mattel asserts that Barbie's exaggerated proportions are necessary to allow clothes to fit properly on such a small scale, but many have suggested that Barbie's unrealistic proportions may contribute to self-esteem and body image problems in young girls. Mattel has adjusted Barbie's proportions in recent years as an answer to current fashion trends, but the present Barbie doll body is still uncharacteristic of most women.
 

The Barbie doll is a $1.9 billion dollar a year industry. Mattel has claimed that approximately three Barbie dolls are sold every second.

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