Editor’s Pick: Zuhair Murad’s Barbie

New York socialite Blake Lively looked like a living doll on the red carpet of the premiere of Savages in December, wearing a nude-hued gown featuring dramatic, striped geometric design created by designer Zuhair Murad.  Lively made quite an impression on fashion icon Barbara Millicent Rogers, who has 10 plus million Facebook likes, and just celebrated her 55^th birthday.  You know her by her nickname, Barbie.

Barbie is the number one doll in the US, selling every three seconds somewhere in the world. Barbie’s employer, Mattel, Inc., worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys, was also impressed with Murad’s design. So they decided to immortalize the red carpet look by having Murad re-create it for Barbie. The Zuhair Murad Barbie® is part of the Gold Label Collection®, and is now available for the adult collector for $75.

Although girls between the ages of 3­–6 years old, own an average of 12 Barbie dolls, there is a vast community of adult collectors numbering an estimated 100,000 according to Mattell. The New York Times has reported that 90 percent of the collectors are women with an average age of 40.

Murad, who began designing as a hobby, is now internationally renowned for his couture gowns. At the Vanity Fair 2014 Oscar Party,  Murad gowns were worn by Kate Hudson, Iman Chanel and Kristen Bell. “Ever since I was a child, I used to imagine designs for imaginary clients,” says Murad.  Barbie certainly fits into that category.

But  Murad is not the only one who began their design dreams with imaginary clients. “As a little girl, I spent countless hours playing with my Barbie dolls, even designing and sewing one-of-a-kind outfits for the doll,” says Cynthia Rowley.  “I guess you could say Barbie gave me my start as a designer.“ Anna Sui says, “I started dressing Barbie dolls with my own designs at an early age.”

More than 75 famous designers have outfitted throughout Barbie’s career, including Gucci, Galliano, Versace, and Vera Wang.  At the fall 2009 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week  more than 50 designers created fashions for Barbie’s first ever runway show.  Barbie has even had a make-over by Tim Gunn (Tim Gunn Barbie® Collection) and  Christian Louboutin has made her shoes complete with red soles (Christian Louboutin Barbie® Shoe Collection).

Barbie first made her appearance at the annual New York Toy Fair on March 9, 1959, from the creative womb of Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattell, She said she was inspired as she watched her daughter Barbara and her friends playing with paper dolls in games of make-believe. “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be,” Handler explained in her book, Dream Doll: The Ruth Handler Story. “Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.”

—Francesca Simon