The funniest thing about the new Barbie Fashionista dolls is that Lammily now has NOTHING going for her, the one thing she could hold over Barbie (the ‘average’ body shape) has been ripped out from beneath her and done 1000x better.
Lammily had nothing else going for her, she was plain and boring, she could barely pose, she was designed to be what the creator (Nickolay Lamm) finds attractive in a woman, and there was no indication of the ‘fashion’ part of fashion doll. Barbie has just created a line that not only has the ‘average’ body type, but also has tall and petite versions, not only has a whole spectrum of skin tones, but also racial features (as in, not every doll has the exact same ‘pretty white girl’ sculpt), has a whole host of different hair colours and types, and as always, Barbie is fashionable. There is not one ‘hide-your-flawed-body-tent’ in the bunch, every single doll is dressed in an outfit that was clearly thought-out and made to flatter their body type.
Which is a big difference, Lammily is dressed nicely (if blandly), but looks as though she’s wearing an outfit to hide her average body, with a looks shirt and a pair of shorts that don’t seem to fit the body they’re made for.
Whereas the Barbie line features a whole variety of clothing that flatters and extenuates the features of the bodies they’re for, especially the curvy bodies. The clothes are stylish, tailored, casual, dressy, and interesting, there’s a ton of variety in the clothing for the curvy girls and some of it is stuff that even real clothing manufacturers forget that fat girls can wear.
Lammily’s whole shtick is that she’s ‘average’, that she’s more realistic than Barbie (with an underlying misogynistic/slut-shamey tone, but that may just be what I’m picking up on). Barbie is all about being who you want to be, Barbie says you can have any career you want no matter what, and you can be pretty and stylish at the same time (but that’s just a bonus).
Lammily says she’s better because she looks like everyone else and wears sensible shoes. Barbie says you’re great because you can be anything in the world.
I just noticed something –
The last line of the Time article is “Mattel refuses to discuss the actual proportions of the new dolls or how it came to decide on them.”
In every single bit of Mattel-sanctioned official press I’ve seen for this change today, there is not a single mention of Lammily and her ilk. That is intentional. Lammily is nothing without bringing Barbie down in every other sentence – Barbie makes a point of speaking for herself.
Oh, and rest assured that Lamm is definitely a misogynist, and it bleeds through into all of his line’s branding. Bless you for this post!
Reblogging for the discussion, but also – does anyone else think the curvy Barbie in the yellow skirt is Disneybounding as snow White?
Mooncustafer 