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Barbie Just Got a Makeover For Black History Month

Photo credit: Instagram / shionat
Photo credit: Instagram / shionat

From Oprah Magazine

  • Just in time for Black History Month, Shiona Turini—celebrity stylist and costume designer for Queen & Slim—and the Instagram account Barbie Style revealed a new digital fashion campaign featuring diverse barbie dolls.

  • 2020 marks 40 years since the original Black Barbie debuted in 1980 and to mark the milestone, Mattel—the toy company behind Barbie—has released a new 40th Anniversary First Black Barbie doll.


40 years after the first Black Barbie was released, a diverse set of Barbie dolls are getting a fashion-forward makeover from celebrity stylist Shiona Turini, the costume designer for Queen & Slim.

For Turini, who has dressed the likes of Beyoncé, Solange, Issa Rae, Lena Waithe, and more, this collaboration is kind of a big deal. "I grew up obsessed with @barbie," the stylist to the stars wrote on Instagram, adding that Barbie,"was one of my first fashion icons."

"It was important for me to reflect on Barbie as an icon through the lens of black culture during Black History Month," Turini said on the Barbie Style Instagram account.

The new Barbie campaign features a four-part collection with over 20 looks, according to PEOPLE.

The first collection—an all-red look—was inspired by the original 1980 Black Barbie, who had a red dress and an Afro pick in her hair. "Here she is, on her customized throne, surrounded by friends created and styled by me," the costume designer wrote in a post revealing the Barbie campaign. "I hope other young children, and adult Barbie lovers, are as excited to see themselves reflected in these dolls as I am."

The second collection features a tropical green motif inspired by a coat. "While flipping through styles a sherbet-green coat totally captured my eye. I loved it so much, I built an entire vignette around it," Turini said.

Turini also revealed the two other collections in a post on her Instagram stories:

Photo credit: Instagram / shionat
Photo credit: Instagram / shionat

The collection in the top image was inspired by the clothes in Queen & Slim, according to PEOPLE. “The lead costume is a dress with the snakeskin boots. I knew I wanted to have an image that played with texture, and I wanted to use this idea on Barbie," the stylist told PEOPLE.

As for the collection in the bottom image, which features all-black looks, "I was inspired by all of the Black activists in history," Turini told PEOPLE.

From the styling choices, it's clear that diversity of representation was central to these collection. A closer look at the Barbies reveals not just a range of skin color and style, but also a spotlight on different hair textures and body types, as well as a Barbie using a wheel chair, which Turini specifically points out in her Instagram stories.

Photo credit: Instagram / shionat
Photo credit: Instagram / shionat

"Thank you @barbiestyle - for collaborating with me to create barbies with braids, finger waves and everything in between. Chicks by the layers, all different flavors. And even a curvy doll, in a crop top, with waist length twists," Turini wrote on Instagram. "Representation matters and I’m so grateful to be a part of this moment."


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