Alright, you've got our attention, Mattel.
For their adult collector's market, they've created a Jean-Michel Basquiat X Barbie Doll.
Barbie celebrates esteemed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose prolific body of work played an essential role in elevating street art from the underground to gaining well-deserved acclaim in the upper echelons of the art world. His brilliant paintings are an infusion of graphic poetry, cultural dichotomies and compelling social statements that still inspire today. In a stunning tribute to the artist, this collectible Barbie doll wears a head-to-toe ensemble featuring many well-known elements from works spanning Basquiat's career. From the gleaming golden crown atop her head to the bespoke suit emblazoned with artwork, Jean-Michel Basquiat X Barbie Doll is a curated collaboration bridging two cultural icons.
Love it or hate it, the doll sells for $50 (and has already sold out).
(Hyperallergic)
images via Mattel Read the rest
Over at Wired, Medea Giordano has brought her insightful eye as a photographer and a writer to the new Polaroid 600 Barbie Throwback camera, a retro take on the classic camera with all the Barbie flourishes you'd expect. But according to Giordano, the seemingly-novelty nature of the camera is tertiary to the fact that … it actually might be the best Polaroid alternative available right now, or at least, the least shitty thing that still connects most closely with our nostalgic memories of what a true Polaroid camera should be.
The new Polaroid 600 Barbie Throwback camera ($149) doesn't just look like an old Polaroid. It kinda is one. The camera's internals are made from original Polaroid electronics that have been refurbished and tested by Retrospekt, a vintage-product restoration company, housed in a new plastic exterior that is just slightly updated from the ‘99 version. No batteries are needed, as they’re built into each film pack. (It takes an eight-pack of 600 film in color or black and white.) Unlike some of the other instant cameras released today, it produces the full-size photos you’ll remember from yesteryear.
[…]
The new Polaroid—formerly known as Polaroid Originals and the Impossible Project—has had trouble with its film quality since it first released its instant film in 2010. We noted the improvements in film quality back in 2017, but as Gear writer Scott Gilbertson wrote in March, newer Polaroid film is still sometimes plagued by grainy areas or spots that don't look fully developed.
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Russian doll artist and photographer Lara Vychuzhanina takes Barbie and Ken out of their Malibu dream house and imagines them "back in the US, back in the US, back in the USSR."
Working with real photographs as a reference, Vychuzhanina manages to capture the style of the Soviet world in incredible detail. The delightfully nostalgic, 60 x 40 x 50cm (23.6 x 15.7 x 19.6 inch) model apartment features plastic pots, pans, and kitchen appliances that Vychuzhanina scuffed up to look as though they’re old and rusting. The meticulous artist even printed out scaled-downed food labels and stuck them onto tiny boxes and cans, and the table is laid out with a simple breakfast.
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Подумываю снять нечто похожее на эти фотографии, но в декорациях деревенского дома. Чтоб тоже был и мужик с водкой, и общая убогость убранства, в общем незамысловатый быт деревенского забулдыги. Конечно же с Гришей в главной роли)) Опять будете сетовать, что уж больно он цивильно выглядит для алкаша:))) . . #dollphotography #lara_v #photography_art #miniature #barbiedoll #toys #dollhouse #dollphotogallery #dollhouseminiatures #fineart #ussr #roombox #barbieworld #dollsofinstagram #communalapartment #kitchen #soviet #sovietkitchen #vodka #barbiemadetomove #ссср #коммуналка #коммунальнаяквартира #советскийсоюз #советскаякухня #алкаш #мужик #советскиймужик #водка #соседи
A post shared by LARA VYCHUZHANINA (@lara_art_dolls) on Nov 16, 2017 at 9:16pm PST
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Как и обещала - продолжение фоток с коммунальной кухни;) Гриша съел всю жареную картошку, выкурил всю Приму и теперь размышляет о смысле жизни)) . . #dollphotography #lara_v #photography_art #miniature #barbiedoll #toys #dollhouse #dollphotogallery #dollhouseminiatures #fineart #ussr #roombox #barbieworld #dollsofinstagram #communalapartment #kitchen #soviet #sovietkitchen #vodka #boozer #ссср #коммуналка #коммунальнаяквартира #советскийсоюз #советскаякухня #алкаш #мужик #советскиймужик #водка #соседи
A post shared by LARA VYCHUZHANINA (@lara_art_dolls) on Nov 14, 2017 at 7:32pm PST
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A cool vest, an SLR and a kidnapped lion cub help identify this Barbie as Photojournalist Barbie.
I have not seen Barbie in a long time, but I guess the pink convertible doesn't scare off the wildlife.
I have been told Boing Boing readers love Barbie... right Ryan? Nice to see she reads.
Barbie Photojournalist Doll via Amazon Read the rest
Tonight marks the world premiere of the first Doctor Who series in which the Doctor is portrayed by a woman. The limited-edition commemorative Barbie available for pre-order starting tomorrow, exclusively through Forbidden Planet.
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Ever since 1992's Math class is tough/let's go shopping scandal, Mattel has been trying to figure out how to make a more progressive Barbie, something to bring back the edgy glory-days of 1982's teen pregnancy Barbie.
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Edwin Olding hacked together a Barbie Power Wheels Ford Mustang chassis with an old go-kart frame and a customized Honda dirt bike engine. This hot pink whip now races at 70 mph. From The Drive:
Olding told The Drive, "I wanted to find the cutest Barbie Power Wheels car online and turn it into a drift kart."
With the miniature Mustang's tiny electric motor and plastic tires, that would not be an easy task. Instead of trying to boost the Power Wheels' weak performance, Olding decided to chop out everything that wasn't the car's outer shell and drop that onto a pre-built go-kart found on Craigslist. That, however, presented its own problems. The kart's frame couldn't fit into the Mustang's 36-inch wheelbase, so it had to be cut down and welded back together.
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So, Mattel recently caught some slack after announcing a Frida Kahlo Barbie. Kahlo's estate is saying that the toy manufacturer didn't get permission from them to use her image and likeness. Mattel disputes the claim.
They did, however, get the blessing of "geriatric starlet" Iris Apfel to make a single Barbie doll in her likeness. Yes, just one.
The Cut reports:
Unfortunately, Iris Apfel Barbie is one of a kind. (Same as Iris Apfel herself.) But if you’d like to dress your regular degular Barbie just like her, that will soon be an option. This fall, Barbie will release a “Styled By” Barbie, complete with glasses and necklaces from Apfel’s own Rara Avis collection. In a photo taken “at the Carlyle Hotel” (one of Apfel’s haunts), Barbie even sports a new, short bob haircut to fit the profile.
Note that the emerald green Gucci suit the nonagenerian's Barbie is donning is styled after the one she wore on the cover of her new book, Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon.
(WOW) Read the rest
Watch as an off-the-shelf Barbie gets a superhero makeover in this delightful tutorial. Includes a list of materials used and a very relaxing voiceover. Read the rest
In the music video for her first EP “Intertwined,” British YouTuber and musician Dodie Clark pairs her melodic song with some darkly surreal Barbie-centric imagery. Read the rest
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek original TV series, Mattel is releasing a new Barbie collection of Kirk, Spock, and Uhura dolls. These figures would play well with the Star Trek Barbie and Ken released in 1996, during the 30th anniversary of Star Trek.
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In 1986, the year before his death, Andy Warhol painted a portrait of Barbie in the style of his famous paintings of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and so many other celebrities. But in Warhol's mind, it wasn't a painting of the doll but rather his dear friend BillyBoy*, a 23-year-old jewelry designer who had a collection of tens of thousands of Barbies. For an art exhibit, BillyBoy*'s dolls were dressed by famous fashion designers and he also designed two dolls for Mattel, "Le Nouveau Theatre De La Mode" and "Feelin' Groovy Barbie."
Warhol had asked to paint a portrait of BillyBoy*, who always declined, until one day he said, "Well if you really want to do my portrait, do a portrait of Barbie because Barbie, c'est moi." So Warhol did.
Last year, BillyBoy* sold his Barbie portrait at Christie's for more than $1 million. He's also turned his back on Barbie.
"I think Barbie is no longer touching on the zeitgeist of the moment," he told the BBC News. "If I had a daughter I would not give her Barbie dolls. I wouldn't want my child to be constantly obsessed with getting something, and that immense preoccupation with high-heeled shoes and clothes." Read the rest
Collectors Weekly's Ben Marks says, "Schiffer Publishing has just released 'Doll Junk: Collectible & Crazy Fashions from the ’70s & ’80s,' by Carmen Varricchio, who fills almost 200 pages with images of Barbie and Ken knockoffs and the campy fashions that manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe thought would appeal to little girls. Read the rest
For those uninterested in Kandee Johnson's 13-minute Barbie makeover video, here's a 90-second timelapse. For those uninterested in the timelapse, look at the image here. For those uninterested in the image, just move along.
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The storybook has Barbie infecting all her friends' computers with a heart-shaped USB drive, then calling on the boys to fix the computers and program the video-game that she goes on to take credit for. Read the rest
Sarina Frauenfelder, an heiress apparent to the Boing Boing fortune, created this custom Barbie complete with pink coffin. I like that Barbie's flesh has totally decomposed except for her plastinated face. Read the rest
