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The creative mind behind the movie “Queen & Slim” has designed Barbie’s latest looks, in honor of Black History Month.
Mattel worked with costume designer Shiona Turini to outfit a set of Barbies in 10 different hair styles, skin tones and body types.
“Thank you @barbiestyle — for collaborating with me to create Barbies with braids, finger waves and everything in between,” Turini writes in an Instagram caption announcing the collaboration. “Chicks by the layers, all different flavors. And even a curvy doll, in a crop top, with waist length twists. Baby Shiona is PROUD.”
Each look for the Barbies was inspired by three color themes: monochromatic, snakeskin mixed with black and white and sherbet colors. Though the outfits themselves aren’t for sale, the dolls modeling them are part of a new release of Black History Month Barbie dolls.
“My vision was to style diverse dolls in bold looks with themes seen throughout my work, like contrasting snakeskin and leopard, challenging traditional uniformity,” says Turini, while adding that she spent many childhood hours dressing Barbies.
“I grew up obsessed with @barbie and while she was one of my first fashion icons, I clearly remember searching shelves for a doll that looked like me and coming up empty handed,” she writes on Instagram.
Turini drew her inspiration from the first black Barbie, introduced in 1980 dressed in a sparkling red dress with an Afro. Turini’s red collection pays homage to the doll. Mattel has also brought back that first black Barbie, dressed in bold red as a 40th anniversary black Barbie doll.
Lately, Mattel has been releasing a gamut of diverse dolls in different sizes, colors, abilities and professions to keep up with the times. Recent additions include the gender-neutral doll, the Barbie Fashionistas line, the Barbie Wellness collection and Judge Barbie.
Here’s a look at the inspiration behind each collection.
On Instagram, Turini points out that she is “the curvy Barbie in the crop top,” which is the fourth from the left. “Thank you @barbiestyle for making my childhood dreams come true, customizing these @queenandslim inspired snake skin boots + bodysuits, going thru the painstaking process of giving Barbie twists and allowing me the freedom to create something special so that my community can see themselves represented in such an iconic brand,” she writes on Instagram. “Life is good in the dream house.”
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