Barbie Takes the Catwalk: A Style Icon's History in Fashion

by Karan Feder

Coffee Table Book of the Year

For more than 60 years, Barbie has reflected fashion trends and set them. Now, her iconic outfits are paired with the legendary looks from iconic designers for a fascinating celebration of the relationship between the runway and the toy aisle.

Barbie has always been a fashion icon, with a wardrobe of looks inspired by the world’s great fashion designers, and inspiring them as well with her signature style.

From decade-defining designs by formidable fashion royalty such as Dior, Balenciaga, Yves St. Laurent, Pucci, and Chanel, to skateboard culture and rave fashion, Barbie doll’s outfits have reflected the fashion and the time.

In Barbie Takes the Catwalk, hundreds of images from designer runways, magazine editorials, and fashion archives are paired with detailed photographs of vintage Barbie outfits to offer an unprecedented examination of the Barbie brand’s sartorial impact.

In this award winning book, Author and costume historian Karan Feder thoughtfully explores Barbie doll's first 40 years to highlight the vast artistry and cultural significance of the doll’s fashion canon, and looks at contemporary fashion designers influenced by the Barbie legacy. This meticulously researched and gorgeous book is a must for any fan of fashion, pop culture, and Barbie.

MORE THAN 100 FASHION PHOTOS: Hundreds of photos from the runways of designers that have influenced Barbie, including André Courrèges, Bill Gibb, Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro, Karl Lagerfeld, and Thierry Mugler.

125 ICONIC BARBIE LOOKS: From “Enchanted Evening” to the totally-80s looks of Barbie and the Rockers, Barbie Takes the Catwalk offers a stunning retrospective of the doll’s fashion canon.

INFLUENCE AND IMPACT: Explores the relationship between the world’s great fashion houses and the world’s best-selling and most-loved fashion doll.

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR: Karan Feder is an award-winning costume designer, historian, and the curator of the traveling exhibition of Barbie’s fashion history, called Barbie®, A Cultural 60 Years of Fashion and Inspiration.

THE PERFECT GIFT for fans of art, fashion, design, or Barbie, Barbie Takes the Catwalk is a fascinating historical record of the fashionable trends and popular-cultural themes inherent within Barbie’s vast clothes closet.

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction, History, Coffee Table Books, Art

224 pages, Hardcover

Published October 3, 2023

Reviews

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading “Let’s Call Her Barbie“ by Renée Rosen, I wanted to delve further into the fashions of Barbie. I had seen this book at my local Barnes & Noble and was able to find it at the library (saving $60!) It’s a big coffee table book with wonderful photographs. It documents, Barbies fashion history from 1959 to 2014. The earlier fashions are amazing in their detail and construction. Beautiful fabrics were used with patterns downsized to accommodate Barbies 11 1/2 inch size.(1/6 scale to human clothes.)

The accompanying text is interesting although at times overly academic and a bit pretentious. Mostly the clothes reflect the times in which they were made, which made for a fun trip down memory lane of the fashions that I wore during those times.

Now I buy Barbie clothes for my nine-year-old grand niece. I can see how many of the details of bygone fashions are now missing. I can’t imagine what it takes to make these clothes on such a small scale and how so many workers in other countries have to labor over them. That said, this is a fun book to peruse on a rainy afternoon.

[Rachel Merryweather · Rating 3 out of 5]

The text throughout is thoroughly pretentious, but writing about doll clothing design in such a way did bring legitimacy to its seriousness as an art form. I loved all the photos and the overall concept.

[Ursula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore the style and layout of the book. I would say that sometimes they repeat photos/barbies/outfits where I feel they could have included a different one. Mainly because Barbie has *so* many options to choose from.

It gives some great insight to the inspiration behind certain looks.

I do think, however, that the photo descriptions could have been better written. At the beginning it wasn't super clear which image they were talking about and they get quite repeative. I don't see the need to have "x Barbie compared with Y design" next to "x design Barbie". Just merge the two captions?

[Lea McKenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barbie Takes the Catwalk by Karan Fedler was a treasure! My first Barbie was a bubble-cut, and my mom was a seamstress who always made sure she had plenty of fabulous clothes! I, in fact, learned to sew making Barbie clothes, so this was a treasure trove! The book is a coffee-table format that contains 224 pages of Barbies and their wonderful clothes, oftentimes with the designer outfit from the fashion designers right next to it and the lowdown on the designers and who they dressed! Not only will you see the dolls from all eras, but you will see how fashions changed throughout the years and you will see that the Barbie doll and her clothes and ambitions changed, too! I cannot tell a lie, I am thinking of digging out my old Barbie patterns and doing some sewing! What a fun book!

[Diannehergenrotheryahoo.Com · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Barbie. I love fashion. I love this idea. Book started off great but then spent a lot of time in the 1960s and the skipped over most of the 70s and 80s when I was little and playing with Barbie’s. I was hoping to see some of the dolls and clothes I knew based on how thoroughly the 60s were covered. Bummer. But great photos and great idea.

[Margo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This coffee-table book was a nice break from the drabness of fall. It shows Barbie designers allowing the iconic doll to look the part of her world. It includes Space Age to Jackie O. looks that show how far our world has come from tiny fabric dresses to reflecting women's wishes and agency in ever-changing landscapes.

[Charlie - disableddaydreamer | itsbarbieparis (looking for mutuals) · Rating 4 out of 5]

picked up because i wanted a cute light read and am getting into fashion.

i very much loved the history of fashion through the eyes of barbie. i loved seeing the real life designer and celebrity inspiration behind choices in the barbie fashion line.

this was a quick, fun read. i learned a lot.

[Chy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall it was just fine.

The photographs were beautiful and the highlight of the book and it was interesting seeing how runway fashion influenced Barbie's clothing however I was hoping for just something more and I'm not quite sure what that more is.

[Kayla Zabcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into how the fashion world and current events influenced Barbie's outfits since her conception.

1 star off for not continuing through the 90s and into at least the 00s, if not the 10s!

[emiloubooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was delightful. If you're interested in fashion, and also happen to like Barbie, you'll love this. I'll definately be looking through this book again in the near future!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable!

[Stephanie Dargusch Borders · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. The editing could be improved—2-3 outfit/Barbie repeats within pages of one another. Otherwise I just loved this book. So visually appealing with the perfect amount of text.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information and photos. I was not wild about the writing. I found the language overly complicated and sometimes contradictory.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.3! Great stories and most fascinating information about all the designers tapped to help dress Barbie. Thoroughly delightful!

[Soc Page]

31 - a book with a title that is a complete sentence

a thesis or term paper that ended up published.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun tour of couture fashion compared to Barbie outfits. The writing left a little to be desired but the comparisons were interesting.

[Geralyn J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect book for the Barbie lover or collector. Very interesting read.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you treasure your original Barbie dolls and outfits as I do, you will love this book.

[Caroline Harbour · Rating 3 out of 5]

The analysis doesn’t go much deeper than showing examples of Barbie clothes paralleling fashion trends of the last few decades, but an enjoyable read regardless.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

The movie and my interest in fashion brought me to pick up this book at the public library.

The photos worked for me as a quick page turner showing changes in clothes, hair and lifestyle over 60 years.

I was struck with how closely Mattel copied the work of the era’s designers in the 1960's. Later on you see more tweaking of designer fashions in color, cut and embellishment (perhaps to avoid IP issues which grew in significance). In the 2000’s you also see how designers took styles from Barbie and re:worked them. On pages 210- 213 you see how a Moschino designer in the 2000’s reworked Barbie's earlier clothes.

The text was a disappointment. I started reading it selectively early on. Here are reasons why:

• For plain old editing: p. 19: Is the sheath with gold button under the coat?

• Who is this book for? A lot of it sounds like shop talk: p. 20 “The spread and rolled portrait collar is draped and cut to stand away from the body affording sufficient negative space to display neck ornaments.”

- General carelessness best shown in the glossary at the end of the book: “A-line”, “boa”, “catwalk”etc. are defined, Who are the readers who will need this info? ... especially the meaning of "catwalk"?

- Breezy and unexplained mentions best shown in the page that credits the David Porcello Barbie Collection. I presume this is an important private collection but there is no attribution. It would be good to know how the public can see it. Something about Porcello. Something about how the collection was started... does it tour?.. its relationship with Mattel?... Anything.

Select this book for the fashion browsing. The text is a missed opportunity to describe how Barbie reflected fashion and what this meant for Barbie owners.