Asha and Steven have been constant companions on the doll shelf for some years now. Mattel brought out a series of African American dolls in the 1990s independent of the Barbie world. They were Shani, Asha, Nichelle and Jamal. Later Shani was used as a friend of Barbie.

This Asha is from 1995 and still has her original headband. She was one of my early buys and when I tried this dress on her I thought that it suited her went with the headband quite well. Steven is the African American friend of Ken and has been around since the 1990s also.  I bought him loose and nude so I couldn’t be sure which one he is as there were several similar looking ones released. Steven is wearing the outfit that belongs to Bennetton Ken because I think it looks better on him.