Apologies once again for posting a bit late. It is about 3pm on Friday afternoon here in Australia and normally I like to get these posts up an hour or so after midnight.
Today’s Friday Girl is Asha. I bought her loose and nude in my early collecting days and all she retained of her original clothing was her headband. I used this as a clue to her identity and feel fairly sure she is the third edition of Asha from 1995.
When I started collecting fashion dolls seriously in the late 1990s African American dolls were hardly ever sold in Australia or were sold in smaller quantities so were hard to find. We got the odd one but I am pretty sure that we never had Asha, Shani, Nichelle and Jamal. As I understand it these dolls were loosely associated with Barbie as friend dolls but they also seemed to be a set in their own right. I know that there were dolls issued to represent dancers on “Soul Train” a TV show which we didn’t get here so I don’t know much about it. However, this Asha is not one of those.
I do think she has a very pretty face and she has been a shelf display doll for some years now although for the past year or so she has been packed in a crate with the other shelf dolls that I had to move. I am looking forward to having them out again one day and trying some different fashions on them.
Dolls, Dolls, Dolls 
She looks like a member of Boney M
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Mattel sponsored another toy group that specialized in African American dolls, sadly I can’t recall their name. I saw some of them advertised in years past but wasn’t collecting so much back then. I can’t say if the designs were from the show soul train but there was a real variety of outfits, and the men often out dressed the women. The music was great. I like your gals head wrap and dress I wonder what shoes she might wear.
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I have her in normal pink Barbie shoes but she probably should have some big platform shoes or high heeled boots.
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She is beautiful. According to the book “The Collectible Barbie Doll” Shani, Asha, Nichelle and Jamal are made by Mattel but not directly linked to Barbie. Nichelle’s face mold is used for Kenyan Barbie (DOTW) which I have. They are all beautiful dolls but I’ve never seen any here.
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Kenyan Barbie is a beautiful doll I remember seeing her in a collectibles shop back when she was newish but she was too expensive for me. Most of my African American dolls came from eBay USA back when postage was affordable.
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Yes, Kenyan Barbie is beautiful. She’s my favourite of the DOTW collection. She appealed to me as she looks nothing like usual Blonde Barbies and has a very short haircut, just like a Kenyan lady would probably have. Mine is NRFB and was a Christmas present from my sister.
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That’s why I like her too.
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