THE BARBIE

In the decade of the 50s, a mother watched intently to his daughter (Barbara) while playing. The small, very excited, spent hours dressing and undressing cardboard cutout dolls. His mother thought it would be an excellent idea to manufacture a plastic doll, about 30 cm., With an indefinite age between 16 and 20 years for the girls to dress, comb and transform. Ruth and her husband Elliot Handler (co-founder of Mattel.) Created the first mannequin doll in the world who bears the name of their daughter "Barbara", which in English is abbreviated "Barbie". Whose creation was inspired by a German doll Bild Lilli. 

The official debut of Barbie took place at the annual Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. In his "debut" Barbie blonde hair wearing a very 60s, with a bathing suit in your pattern simulating the zebra skin.
Over the years the models have been known to update and hair color wrist and shape and professions (Nurse, skater, executive, surgeon etc. Since then the fame of the Barbie doll has spread throughout the world and has continued to grow, to become the best-selling doll in the world. in 1979, Barbie comes to Spain, joining this country in the list of 140 countries where the doll is sold.
In 2009, Barbie celebrated its 50th anniversary.

THE PROCESS OF CREATING AND DESIGN

The manufacturing process is not easy and requires many specialized professionals. The doll body is shaped by injection molding system, but its face is painted by hand with six or seven different colors of ink, which is performed by means of masks that are applied successively to achieve realistic colors. The hair is implanted by hand, using sewing machines. Once attached the head to the body, we proceed to the haircut and hairstyle, task requiring great precision.
Fashion is very important for Barbie. In fact, her wardrobe not only offers every year new models, hair and makeup, but constantly inspires creativity of the most prestigious designers and couturiers. All her clothes are very close to the actual clothes. Her dresses are made by hand, despite its size, following the trends of the moment. To do this, Mattel designers visit the most important fairs and fashion shows in the world (Paris, Milan, New York, etc.), in order to learn about the collections each season.

DISPUTES AND CURIOSITIES OF THE BARBIE

The Barbie doll is a benchmark of beauty that is part of language and social construction of our culture, which exerts a specific pressure on the idea of beauty both men and women: extreme thinness, blonde hair, huge eyelashes, green eyes and youth eternal
One of the biggest scandals occurred in the decade of the sixties, was when the wrist was accompanied by a book entitled "How to lose weight" advised not to eat,
In 1992 there was another event that caused a stir in the world. Mattel released Teen Talk Barbie, a doll that said a series of phrases how are you: "Did you ever have enough clothes?", "Math class is tough!" "I love shopping!". The latter, which was sparked major criticism that reached the American Association of University Women. In the same year, Mattel announced that Teen Talk Barbie would no longer phrase, and offered a swap to anyone who had the wrist.
Among the most recent developments is the 2009 with the launch of a new model "Totally Tattoo Barbie", which included a series of tattoos that could be applied to the wrist, including a lower back tattoo, leading to controversy. The promotional material read "Customize the fashions and fun temporary tattoos and apply your own", but Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus, argued that girls would want to be permanently tattooed and therefore was not an appropriate toy.
Another of the most problematic cases is the desire of young people to become a Barbie in the flesh, which has been subjected to extreme diets and multiple surgeries to become 'perfect'.
First there was the case of Kota Koti, an American teenager who apparently is the pioneer of this phenomenon. His videos on YouTube, explaining the tricks to become a Barbie, are close to half a million hits. There are over 18 years old, slim, shown makeup and combed the doll style and of course, recognition encourages other women to seek the prototype of the famous doll.
In June 2012 another became known as a real person with similar characteristics to the wrist, his image has gone around the world. Her name is Valerie Lukyanova, 21 and Ukrainian nationality.