Naomi nearly always gives me multi-item presents. My main birthday present from her this year was this doll from 2003. I can’t say that I remember her being released but possibly she was not released in Australia or there were just so many other interesting dolls being released at the time that I missed her.
I have to say that this is not the prettiest Barbie I’ve ever seen, she is nice but not spectacular. What makes this such a great set is the clothes. Not only that she came with a full wardrobe, but the colours are a welcome change from the usual pink and the styles have some great mix and match potential.
Am I going to debox her? Well, what do you think?
Here is Barbie, as yet unnamed, out of her box. What can I tell you about her? Well the first thing I noticed was the state of her hair. It needed a good comb and it is still looking very flyaway. I’m considering washing and conditioning it to settle it down. Still I suppose that if I’d been in a box for 17 years my hair would be a mess too. Let’s have a closer look at her and her outfit.
Undressed you can see that she has the belly button body. On her back, she is marked “c1999Mattel.Inc” and “China”. Looks like “Mattel.Inc 1999” on the back of her head although it could be 1998, I don’t have the best lighting in here. I was surprised to find that she was wearing her black shoes under her dress although she does have gold ones. I do like this shade of yellow, well I think of it as yellow rather than gold. The only thing that I don’t like in this set is the rather childish plastic necklace but that’s no big deal.
Barbie was attached to the box mostly with cotton but those annoying plastic things were still holding her head in place. You have to be so careful snipping them off and not getting any hair. Here are the rest of her outfits. Really this set is a lot like a Fashion Fever Closet with a doll included. Barbie is going to show off some outfits herself today as after this she is going to have to share them with everyone.
These are really versatile fashions, apart from the long skirt you can mix them up with each other in many different ways. This Gold and white top goes with pretty much everything. It is a wrap style and has two pieces of velcro to fasten it. I’m hoping that means it will be a good fit on fuller-figured dolls. The gold vinyl pants were quite a snug fit so they are definitely not going to fit the TNT body girls but the Model Muses and Fashionistas ought to be able to wear them.
I do love getting nice daywear. My girls have jobs and need to look smart when they go to work. The edge to edge jacket is very nice and the skirt turned out to be reversible which was an unexpected bonus.
These jeans were a really tight fit. I only just got them on so a lot of the others are probably not going to be able to wear them. They are what Naomi and I call “ankle freezers” so I think they will look silly on the Model Muse dolls unless they wear knee-high boots with them but the if they fit over their hips the petite girls will jump on them. The black jumper is probably my favourite piece of clothing in this lot. I always have a black jumper in my own wardrobe although I tend to prefer long sleeves in knitwear.
There are so many other variations I could show you with this set and I will, or rather Vivienne or Jan and their teams will in a future post where we’ll look at how they fit some of the other body types. I can’t wait to see how some of these look on a brunette or a redhead either.
Dolls, Dolls, Dolls 
Those are really nice clothes! I think you will have fun trying them on some of the other dolls to see which ones they fit best. Sometimes, because I have so many different body types, it takes me forever to change someone’s clothes – but that’s half the fun!
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It is half the fun. The whole point of fashion dolls which I wish Mattel would remember is that it is about the clothes. When I used to stay at Naomi’s place at weekends, which seems like half a lifetime ago now, I used to spend a couple of hours changing the outfits on the doll I kept there before she got home from her evening job.
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Yes, Mattel has fallen down on the clothes. As a child, I had five dolls – Barbie, Ken, Midge, Alan and Skipper and the clothes available for them were wonderful!
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I wonder if they wouldn’t sell more clothes than dolls if they focussed on that aspect more. So often I heard mother’s in the Barbie aisle telling their child “No, you have enough Barbies already”. They might be more willing to buy clothes and they could start at a lower price point. I know they do sell some but they don’t focus on them the way that they used to .
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I don’t understand it myself.
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The dolls cost next to nothing to make. Even with the Fashionistas, you are mostly paying for the clothes.
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oops since I cannot edit… I am baffled how all the other doll companies can afford real fabric, even tweeds and brocades, but Mattel is always using spandex for everything.
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That’s an interesting comment. I wasn’t aware that the dolls were cheaper to make than the clothes. Can you explain?
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This is from hearsay from various conversation, including companies that sell fashion dolls, so I cannot back it up with articles and evidence. But the dolls themselves are much cheaper to produce. The price point is mostly for the clothes. That’s why collector companies rarely release lone fashions either. They have to sell them at a price point so close to a complete doll that it’s easier to add a whole doll.
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I see, so the thinking is perhaps that people would not think the clothing alone was good value for money but adding a doll makes it see so. Interesting.
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They really ought to be better quality clothes then.
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What a marvellous set! I never heard of this Mix ’em Up Barbie either, but she may only have been released in the USA. All those mix and match clothes are fabulous. My favourite is the jacket (I have a thing about jackets), but all the fashions are great. You might try a tiny bit of hair gel to tame those flyaway strands. Also, I use a pair of tiny pliers (like jeweller’s pliers) to pull out those nasty plastic pieces from the back of Barbie’s head. Looking forward to seeing how these fashions fit your other dolls.
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Good idea about the pliers. I usually snip them close to the head with scissors. The jacket is very nice and I’m going to try it with the other tops next time. On the box it just said “Toy Store Special” but not which store. I’m sure someone will know.
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Dk, sometimes they tried out limited edition things on a limited basis to try for a wider market. All the pieces are great but I actually fell for the red bag. Such a pretty doll! Could you do a face close-up sometime? The creamy golden 2 pc dress would make a lovely sari w/ a scarf. What an awesome collection! a portable fashion show!
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(btw these dolls available on e-bay.)
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I did see a bunch of them when I was trying to date her so she’s not super rare.
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You are right you could make a sari from that outfit. I’ll have to see if I can do that. Possibly the skirt is a bit long but the style would suit. I like the red bag too. It’s so unexpected with all the gold and black.
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What a great set. My favourite is the yellow 2 piece dress, the AA girls would look good in it, also the redheads. The jeans and black jumper look great with the red bag. You’re right, a lack jumper is so versatile, I always have one myself. Black and red go very well together. Looking forward to seeing what Jan and Vivienne do and who they choose as models!
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I have a couple of ideas for models so that might happen later this week. The AA girls would look good in it.
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I have a Jakks pacific doll I want to try the sari on ,as she’s tall think it will work.I also have to redress a doll who was wearing a Sindy dress. That red bag will woek w/ every red lipped doll I have..can’t wait to see what Jan dreams up!
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