Barbie Collection #5 : Hello Holland!

I recently visited Holland with my family, and just like i did in Sweden and Germany, I thought it would be great to bring back a « Dolls Of the World » Barbie. So i got myself a present : a beautiful Dutch barbie from 1993.

1993 you say? Not very 80’s. True.

But even though i mostly collect dolls from 1980 to 1989, i actually collect all the Superstar Era dolls.

Some people say the Superstar Era is from 1976 to 1990, when Mattel stopped using the big logo we love and some people say it’s from 1976 to 1997 when they stopped using the Superstar mold. I’m not sure where i stand on that matter but i do love some 90’s dolls so… Here we are :)

Dutch Barbie #11104 - 1993

Just like all the others DOTW, Dutch Barbie comes with a traditional outfit and some knowledge about her country. 

Her outfit is made of a beautiful dress with a blue bodice and a stripped skirt with an embroidered apron.

Underneath it is a petticoat with embroidered flowers and some old fashioned lace panties.

I have to say I'm always amazed with the quality of the DOTW clothes. 

The other reason why i love DOTW so much is their hair and make up, it feels unique and give them such great personality. It's more obvious on earlier dolls but this one does have amazing hair!

This lovely doll comes with clogs, a blue brush and a stand.

Hope you will like this doll as much as i do and i leave you with a little picture souvenir from Barbie in Holland!

Tot Ziens!

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Collection #4 : Dolls featuring in my last diorama

Here are portraits of the Barbie dolls featuring in my last diorama, hope you like them!

Barbie Malibu Suntan with Superstar face - 1975. She is wearing Best Buy #7414

Miko Island Fun #4065 - 1987

Ken Superstar AA #1550 - 1988

Barbie My First #1875 - 1982

Baby Boy from the Heart Family #9079 - 1985 - and Beauty the dog #1018 -1979

Barbie Collection #3 Happy Birthday Barbie 1980

Hi all,

2 days ago i sort of celebrated the fact that i opened an Instagram account a year ago to show my collection of dolls.

I you haven't seen it yet, here it is! https://www.instagram.com/barbie80s

So what a good excuse to buy myself a new doll! 😀  And Happy Birthday Barbie was a perfect choice no?

She was released in 1980 and, correct me if i'm wrong, she was the first "Happy Birthday Barbie" Mattel ever released.

She has quite a unique hairstyle which I'm not a huge fan of but it makes her pretty unique and i like that :) Actually i like the big curly hair but I'm not so sure about the long straight hair on the back. Kind a looklike a mullet ahah. But hey, It's the 80's so it fits!!

Her gown is very lovely, with pastel colors and flowers, very summery :) I do enjoy her shoes very much too as i don't have many doll wearing shoes like that. It's usually open toe heels or pumps.

She has a bit of a ballerina look and her face remind me of the My First dolls a little bit i'm not sure why.

But the best thing about this doll are the accessories!
First of all, let's find out what's in the gift box...

It's a lovely pink medallion that you can wear with a pink ruban that comes with the doll. (I tried to find pictures of a little girl wearing it in a catalogue or a commercial, but so far, no luck...)

As a great accessories you also get a ring that you can customize according to your birth stone, isn't it great?

As you can see there's a big sticker for your ring and a little one for Barbie's so you can have the same as her!

This is why Barbie Happy Birthday's ring is flat. I think she is the only Barbie of that era with a flat ring like that.

And last but not least this Barbie comes with a booklet to help you throw the best birthday party ever !!!

The first page explains how to make a guest list and how to send out invitations. 

Have you ever made a cat paper plate decoration?? Now's the time!

Before the guests arrive to party and play with dolls (of course), we need to choose our birth stone for our ring. I was born in september so mine is Sapphire. Which one is yours??

It's time for games !

I'm finding the "smallest" and "largest" categories of the beauty contest a tiny bit strange for the time because in the 80's all the barbie had the same body... but ok :)

The shopping contest looks like a lot of fun though!

It's time to open Barbie's present !

That's all for the accessories.

But there was a vinyl that was released on Kid Stuff Records in 1981. There were 6 songs on it : "Happy birthday, Barbie", "Happy birthday to you", "the way you look tonight", "You're getting better all the time", "Completely Yours", "Happy Birthday, barbie (reprise)".

I'd be quite curious to hear it!

All Barbie's friends are here for her birthday : Skipper, Ken, Midge and Christie. (picture taken from the net)

Even though i collect dolls from the 80's I'm still quite clueless sometimes. For example i just found out that another Happy Birthday Barbie was released in 1982 that looked almost exactly like the 1980's one!

Here's the 82 variation :

(pictures taken from the net)

Her hair is light auburn, her dress has lighter colors on the top and the gift box is different. I also think her make up is softer than the first one .. i'm gonna try to find her to see if her accessories are different. It looks like she also comes with a ring to customize. 

My Happy Birthday doll came in a box. It was a bit used but I'm still very happy i found her NRFB!

So that's it for the birthday girl !

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Barbie Collection #2 Fashion Play dolls

Hi all,

A few years back I told you that i rediscovered two fashion play dolls from my childhood collection and that they were the most beautiful barbies to me.

I decided then to get the entire collection of Barbie Fashion Play from the 80's.

It took me a while , because like most of european exclusive, they are hard to find and expensive... so hard to find, that I'm still missing one of them :(

But anyway, here are my FASHION PLAY barbie dolls :

These dolls were produced from 1983 to 1989 and were only sold in Europe and later in Canada which makes them rare and valuable.

BUT : some of the clothes worn by the dolls were also released on the american market as simple fashions under the name : Fashion Fun.

So owning the dress don't mean you owned the doll.

This great line of dolls started in 1983. There were actually 2 series made that year, though the second one was released in 1984.

They have different faces and make up but share the same product code : #7193.

Here is the first serie from 1983 :

Only the one with the pink dress is from my childhood, and i had to make the belt because i lost the original one. 

The others i got from ebay. I absolutely love the one with the striped dress, she's one of the first i bought. I think their make up is perfect! :)

I'm only missing the one in the silver dress, i hope i will find her someday!

They were all made in Philippines.

Here is the second serie :

These dolls were manufactures in 1983 but released in 1984. They were all made in Philippines.

Here is the third serie from 1984:

From this third serie, 2 are from my childhood. The one called Star Saint Trop here in France (2nd from the left) and the last one with the purple dress. I loooove that dress! I had to reroot that doll because i use to play "punk dolls" as a kid and many of my barbies lost their hair :D. She was my first reroot ever and you can tell the hair have a different color.

They were all made in Philippines except the one with the pink overall which was made in Malaysia.

French Mattel catalogue from 1984

Here is the fourth serie from 1986 : 

I only had Barbie Loisirs as a child (the 1st one) but i lost her, so i had to buy them all last year. I'm really happy i found the one with the alternative dress! 

They were all made in Philippines.

Thought it was interesting to see the different boxes. The last two are from Canada, the one with the dog and motorcycle is from France, not sure about the first one...

Here is the fifth serie from 1987 :

The last one with the purple dress is from my childhood. Only the strap from the dress was missing so i sew a new one. My favorite is the one with the red skirt. I love her hair and red lipstick! They are all from Philippines.

Here is the sixth serie from 1988 :

The pink one i had to buy again, because the one from my childhood lost her dress. The blue one is the one i had as a kid, but her hair were so messy, i restyled them a bit. They're both from China. I really like the pink and blue theme, i think because i couldn't choose the one i preferred, i had both! 

Here is the last serie i own from 1989 (They also did 2 more fashion play dolls in 90 & 91):

:DkjhuuhI only found out about these two barbies a year ago i think and bought them then. I really like their faces, the plastic of the pink one seems a bit different to the touch... it's hard to explain, but there a little bit of glitter on it maybe that's why.

They were made in China.

Finally I also had 3 naked fashion play dolls so I decided to have them wear fashion fun outfits. The one on the left is from 1983 and wearing the outfit #2087, the one sitting in a chair is from my childhood collection but she had no hair and no clothes left. She's from 1988 and wearing the outfit #2093. And the Barbie on the right is from 1989. She's wearing the outfit #2089.

So that's it with my fashion play collection, I hope you enjoyed those pictures and some of these beautiful and rarely seen dolls!

It's also interesting to know that in 1984, six fashion play dolls were made in France with a different head mold. Ironically, i don't own any... yet ;)

Here's the commercial released at the time:
http://www.ina.fr/video/PUB3249889071#=_=

But more about these french dolls another time... ;)

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