Paris Loves Barbie

You are met with an eerie silence upon walking into the French Vogue offices. Carine Roitfeld and her staff huddle in the center of the hallway. The girls speak in hushed whispers. Do you dare inch closer? You do. The chicest women in the world are playing with…dolls?

Well, of course. The trend is picking up steam in the most unusual of places. From a Barbie runway show during New York fashion week to the Rodarte sisters’ more arty characters at French boutique Colette, your childhood is back and more fabulous than you remember.

Dolls were once as the sole communicator of fashion. English royalty received figurines from Parisian designers as early as the 14^th century. Fashion was able to span the distance between countries with these figurines. These dolls, sometimes even life size, were a kinesthetic catalogue from which royals could choose dresses for themselves. King Henry IV of France secured his future bride, Marie de Medici, by sending over examples of his countries’ fashions.

These dolls, then called Pandoras, filtered down to the masses and became more plaything than high fashion prototype. Mattel launched the Barbie in 1959 and she became a childhood landmark for generations ever since.

Today dolls are merging art, fashion, and exclusivity once again, and Paris ties into each play date.

Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte designed four spooky playthings to celebrate their tenth collection, Fall/Winter 09. Four characters were created and packaged inside velvet lined coffin boxes. Their macabre look and individual stories (printed on the cover of each coffin) illustrate the haunted influences that contributed to the collection.

The dolls were created especially for the sisters’ art exhibit at Paris’ Colette boutique. A separate collection of yarn dolls wearing runway looks were also for sale. Kate and Laura chose pieces from artists like Miranda July and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon to be admired and hawked in the limited edition exhibit/store.

Barbie celebrated her 50^th birthday last February will a runway extravaganza during New York Fashion Week. The CFDA coaxed 50 designers to design looks for a runway show. Michael Kors, Bob Mackie, Calvin Klein, and Rachel Roy created perky looks for the plastic icon. Christian Louboutin chose Pantone’s Barbie Pink for the peep-toe shoes that accompanied each look.

Barbie looks from Rag and Bone, Badgley Mischka, and Juicy Couture, Stylefinds.

Louboutin and Mattel partnered up again this month, creating a media frenzy among both fashion freaks and fourth graders. The Parisian will play godfather to the doll this year, designing three Barbies. The collectable figurines come with multiple Louboutin heels and are packaged in the designer’s shoebox.

Barbie will be available for purchase at both BarbieCollector.com and Net-a-porter.com in order to reach both audiences.

Perhaps these markets are not entirely unrelated. Fashion is modeled on ideal bodies, and dolls are shaped similarly. Both involve glamorous fantasy with a resulting questionable influence on female self-esteem.  Whether plastic or real, perfect looking people will always have tongues wagging and blood boiling. Louboutin set off a firestorm with the announcement that he would make Barbie’s ankles even more slender and increase the curvature of her foot. It seems we have gotten used to all of Barbie’s other unnatural, ahem, attributes. An ankle is where the line is drawn! Regarding the controversy, Louboutin told WWD, “it’s just proof that Barbie has real serious fans.”