On the flip side of the coin, owning a Barbie didn't just give the owner a sense of increased responsibility; it opened up a new world to the eyes of little girls. A world where a woman could do anything, be anything or live her life in anyway she wanted to. This was something that was unheard of, especially in the early years of Barbie, when w

matching orange, knee length clam diggers and flat orange shoes (81). Towards the later sixties, love beads were introduced and could be seen in Barbie's hair as an accent to her face, which just underwent it's first plastic surgery in 1967 (Handler 94). This gave her wider eyes, which made sure Barbie didn't loose her innocent look (94). These new eyes were painted

in the world of sports (Rowbotham 442). Along with this increased involvement came society's increased concern of body image. Because of this concern, "Great Shape Barbie" was introduced in 1979 (Westenhauser 115).

However, some say Barbie was too fantastical; her plastic world did no righteousness to actual reality and didn't set a good example for young minds (Lord 154). People have seen Barbie as a sexually promiscuous icon that would never be able to exist in real life (197-198). She has been seen in MAD magazine, when people have commented that the portrayal of both [Barbie and Ken] was meant to sexualize American youth and weaken it, by making it promiscuous (198). The bulk of controversy labels Barbie as promiscuous or anorexic (190). The

Barbie herself jumped on the bandwagon that promoted the goodness of youth in society through her first magazine cover with her innocent looking profile. Her flirtatious side-glance with bright blond ponytail and fire engine red lipstick with discreet pearl earrings and choker, all added a certain aspect of sophistication to her image (Boy 15). Innocence was portrayed through her playful look and her blond hair, a standard of beauty of the fifties (16). Barbie's bright red lipstick on the cover of her magazine reflected fashions of the late fifties, which included the lipstick, heavy eyeliner, and blue eye shadow. The high fashion aspect of this decade was seen through Barbie's first outfit - her plus-striped jersey-swimming suit, sunglasses and pearl earrings. Her shoes also reflected high fashion as well as the "Solo in the Spotlight" outfit. Barbie's "perfect fashion history" (Westenhauser 28) began with these first few outfits, which covered everything right down to the earrings, gloves and shoes that were fashionable at a certain time (28).

their imaginations and creativity to a new level; one that they could relate to. This could never be accomplished with Cabbage Patch dolls simply because they took on the role of being a little girl's child, and as the mother, the job was pretty self-explanatory. Barbie let little girls' imaginations run wild with this "serene roll model for every girl staring ahead at the trials, tribulations and ecstasies of life as a teenager" (Boy 40). Barbie achieved a status beyond being just a fad like Cabbage Patch dolls, as she has become immortalized in American culture and has taken the meaning of a doll to a new level that will never be topped. Barbie has defied the test of time and proved to be one of the few exceptions to the definition that a fad is something which lasts for a "short period of time" (Webster 486); by redefining it as something that lives on forever.

in and jeans were becoming the "youth symbol of the world" (American Decades: 1970-1979 192).

The disco parties and disco fashions now started to worm their way into American culture. "Disco Barbie," issued in 1974 (Lanzarini 20), fashioned flared, bell-bottomed pants suits (Boy 103) that mirrored John Travolta's disco-esque style in Saturday Night Fever (American Decades: 1970-1979 194). Roller disco increased in popularity and along with it came the introduction of the Farrah hairstyle and the use of spandex in many outfits. This hairstyle was fuller, loosely styled, and generally shorter than anything Barbie had ever seen (Westenhauser 108). With this, came the body suits that were made out of spandex, which came in neon colors worn by skaters (American Decades: 1970-1979 201). Fashion took off with these neon colors, ethnic prints, animal prints, fringes, and long coats since it was said that "soci

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 4119
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)