Barbie Goes Couture

Cutting edge couture house Rodarte, founded by sisters and designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy in 2005, are the latest designers to partner with the Instagram account @BarbieStyle to create one-of-a-kind Barbie dolls wearing designs from their Spring 2018 collection. “We were very excited as we have always loved Barbie,” said Kate Mulleavy. Added Laura, “We always loved all of her accessories, especially her shoes. We played with the dolls [growing up in California] and made fashion collections for them all the time! We even created runway shows with our Barbie dolls.”

For the partnership, the sisters adapted four different designs from the spring couture collection that was shown in Paris in June 2017. They worked with the Mattel team to choose looks and fabrications that would translate in doll scale. Says Kate, “In all honesty, there was not much limitation!” Including diversity. In 2016, Mattel introduced Barbies with multiple body types and skin colors, which suits the designers’ feminist point of view just fine. “I think being a creative force as a woman is a fascinating thing,” says Kate.

The designs, debuting Wednesday, will live on @BarbieStyle’s Instagram account, which was created in 2014 to “celebrate Barbie as global icon in the digital age” and currently boasts 1.9 million followers. With the launch, Rodarte joins a long list of designers who have collaborated with Barbie, including Karl Lagerfeld, Moschino, Oscar de la Renta, and Tommy Hilfiger.

But don’t go looking in your neighborhood Target for these couture-clad dolls. These Barbies are one-of-a-kind, i.e. not available for purchase, so if you’re looking for a Rodarte dress in doll form, best to dust off that sewing machine and get started.

—
Photo Credit: Ekaterina_Minaeva / Shutterstock.com