Totally Hair™ Barbie® Doll joined the supermodels of the world in 1992 sporting the longest hair ever! One of the most successful dolls in Barbie history, she is back! Collectors can now celebrate her 25th Anniversary with a wonderful reproduction by Bill Greening.
“I remember collecting the original when she first came out. I loved her.” Greening says. “There’s a lot of interest in the Superstar era, and Totally Hair™ 25th Anniversary Barbie® Doll is the first reproduction of a 1990s doll.”
The original Totally Hair Barbie was designed by Carol Spencer, who just won the prestigious 2017 Women in Toys Emeritus Award. She sat down with us to discuss the phenomenal popularity of Totally Hair Barbie in this exclusive interview!
Q: Congratulations on your lifetime achievement award for 35 years of incredible doll creations! What inspired you to design Totally Hair Barbie?
A: Thank you! Totally Hair Barbie was an extension of a long career working with hair play, stemming back to the 1960s. It started with Elliot Handler, the founder of Mattel. It was his idea to produce hair-featured dolls. We spent hours discussing play possibilities that resulted in 1967’s Color Magic™ Barbie and continued on to Magic Curl® Barbie in 1982.
Q: But Totally Hair Barbie took hair play to great new heights. How'd that happen?
A: It was a long process because I’d been working in Asia, and when I returned, there were five designers at Mattel trying to figure out new ways to incorporate hair play. None of the ideas worked, so it was down to the wire. We had very little time before the doll had to go into production. That's when I realized the best way to go forward was to dress the doll with her hair.
Q: That’s brilliant! So you simplified it down to the best form of hair play?
A: Well, she had to be very pretty for starters, and if you’re going to dress someone in their hair, you better make it long!
Q: Like the
A: Exactly! I gave her the long crimped hair and fluffs with elastic to style the hair, along with twist ties. It was all about experimentation. We saw mothers and children experimenting with Barbie’s hair before they did their own hair. All we had to do was give the doll the perfect little outfit.
Q: No one who saw Totally Hair Barbie forgot her iconic mini-dress.
A: That's because in 1992, there was a resurgence of Pucci-inspired prints on the market, but none of the patterns were small enough to work on Barbie, so we created our own pattern and kept it simple. A short mini-dress with swirls of Barbie’s favorite color: pink!
Q: The doll was an international sensation. When did you realize you had such a tremendous hit on your hands?
A:When The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times started writing about the incredible sales, and I finally saw the annual report.
Q: The astronomical amount in global sales in just one year is astonishing!
A: That was a great time for me because, in addition to Totally Hair Barbie, I had two other hits during that period.
Q: What were they?
A: We debuted the Classique Benefit Ball™ Barbie in 1992 and I conceived Baby Sister Kelly® the same year. But Totally HairBarbie was definitely the doll everyone was talking about. It’s amazing to think I was able to come up with the concept in the eleventh hour, and it turned out a home run!
Totally Hair Barbie Doll became one of the bestselling dolls in Barbie history! Congratulations, Ms. Spencer, and thank you!
My pleasure. I'm always thrilled when a doll takes off like that and pleases so many people!
~*~*~*~*~*~
You can imagine the challenge in reproducing a doll that’s become such a storied part of Barbie doll’s history. Luckily, The Barbie™ Collection’s expert in vintage reproductions, Bill Greening, was up to the task. The fashion and accessories were faithfully recreated, as were the facial sculpt and the doll body. “She’s on the Superstar torso with bendable legs,” Greening notes, “because we tried to stay as close as possible to Carol Spencer’s original version of the doll.” The doll also comes with a special commemorative booklet to mark the occasion of her return to the spotlight.
Now, you can join the celebration by adding Totally Hair™ 25th Anniversary Barbie® Doll to your collection — she’s available right here at our online shop!
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.