Ah, Barbie: The 20th century's signature doll. Just under 12 inches tall, equipped withthe mythic porportions of 36-19-35, Barbie will celebrate her 35th birthday next March. En Route, she has perhaps attracted more attention and more analysis than any other toy in recent memory.
This week, 600 Barbie collectors from Europe, Japan, Australia and the Unied States will gather at the Hyatt Hotel in Baltimore to enjoy Barbie's annual convention. Titled "You've Come A Long Way, Barbie," The four-day event will offer fashion competitions, lectures by Mattel designers, a parade of collectors modeling human-sized Barbie fashions and a slew of dealers selling vintage Barbies for as high as several thousand dollars each.
Barbie has proven to be one of the most successful toys of all time: More than 700 million Barbie dolls and her family members have been sold since 1959. The typical American girl now oens an average of eight Barbie dolls, according to Mattel Toys. It's a statistic that rankles feminists, who say that Barbie has created impossible physical standards for women, and moralists, who think the doll represents the untimate Material Girl.
But wherever you stand on the subject of Barbie, one thing is certain: A lot of people take this doll seriously. Sometimes too seriously, says 41-year-old convention chairman and collector Mark Ouellette.
"Barbie started out as an innocent play-toy for kids. The media and other public watchdogs have put controversy on her from the beginning, whether it be for her physique or for her supposed lack of being a good role model. I don't think a doll should be a role model," he says.
That's essentially what he and his Barbie-collecting colleague Linda Mason told a group of Barbie-phobes recently when they appeared on the "Phil Donahue Show" to discuss their collecting hobby.
"Barbie is a miniature mannequin," Ms. Mason says. "When she was made, the concept was a paper doll in 3-D. If you look at the earlier paper dolls, like Rita Hayworth, they had adult figures, too
. . . Barbie is all about fashion."
A good investment
She's all about money, too. For some collectors, investing in Mondo Barbie has become more reliable than many money market funds.
Ms. Mason, 39, who recently pared down her Barbie collection to pay for graduate school, says a vintage Barbie she bought 12 years ago for $40 now sells for $500.
A pristine early set of Barbie paper dolls, originally 29 cents, now brings $100.
