Fashion Dolls

Barbie was the first American, mainstream fashion doll, launched in 1959. Barbie has held more than 75 jobs, including being an astronaut, surgeon, business executive, and United States President. In recent years, dolls in the line have become more diverse, especially in ethnicities. However, people still like to shame Barbie for having an "unrealistic body," despite her accomplishments, which people tend to forget about when saying she is a bad role model. Action figures are hardly criticized for their unrealistic proportions. Almost every fashion doll line faces criticisms, some more deserving than others. These doll include lines like Bratz, Monster High, and the new Lammily dolls.

Until recently, I was not aware that Bratz dolls were considered "slutty," but they are. I had a good handful of Bratz dolls as a child, maybe ten. I love them though, and their flashy, stylish, urban outfits. Of the four main Bratz dolls; Yasmin, Chloe, Sasha, and Jade; only one, Chloe, is white. There was diversity in the line and it promoted strong friendships and following your dreams, although in typically feminine professions like fashion design. However, I still don't understand why people think they're "slutty." Is it the big lips? The makeup? The clothes? Most fashion dolls have thin lips, so girls with naturally big lips can see them and feel better. Makeup is a wonderful form of self-expression. They wore a lot of "short" skirts but also a lot of long pants. They were also shorter dolls. Bratz always seemed like regular teen girls to me, and it makes me sad that they're labeled as sluts now.

"Be Yourself. Be Unique. Be a Monster." Monster High encourages children to be themselves. The line is bright, colorful, and fun. They appeal to children and adults alike, as I collect them and know of many other adult collectors, and my cousin who is 4 loves them as well. The dolls have so much personality, just like Barbie. They have POC coded characters, like Clawdeen Wolf and her family, who are coded as black. They also have disabled characters, like Vandala Doubloons who has a wooden leg and Rider/Finnegan Wake who is wheelchair bound. Monster High is a popular doll line with growing diversity, but the line is still criticized. They are criticized for being too thin, which granted, they are thin. That criticism is justified, however, there are some that are just rather off the wall like that Monster High is "hypersexualized" and "satanic." The girls are high school students as well as fashion dolls, and they dress like it. And the dolls are monsters so there has to be Illuminati symbolism. It makes me sad that some parents won't get Monster High dolls for their children because they are monsters, because the dolls and movies are all so positive and encourage children to be true to themselves.

Lastly I'll be talking about Lammily dolls, a doll line I may not have even heard about if I did not follow doll blogs. Lammily is average. Her tagline is "Average is Beautiful." She is marketed as the anti-Barbie, specifically size wise. The more I read about Lammily for this post (I knew very little about her besides the fact she was average), the more I accepted that Lammily is a step in the right direction, however, she is by no means the whole walk. I do not really like the reasoning the creator, Lamm (yes he named her after himself), had for making her, "If Barbie were a real woman, she'd be intimidating and cold, and what I like about real women is that they're warm and friendly. I just wanted to create an image that would reflect that." I do not know why he'd think Barbie would be cold, when she is shown to be a caring and loving character. Is it because she has power? Or is it because of her body? Neither give any reason for anyone to think she'd be intimidating and cold if she were real. That's not my only problem with Lammily. Like I said, she is being market as the anti-Barbie, like she is constantly screaming "I'M NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS" in her ads. I do not like that they are pitting female dolls against each other. This is seen a lot in the Lammily ad and children’s reaction to Lammily. It's sad that their only marketing strategy is this, because Lammily is then essentially promoting girl hate. On top of all that, Lammily does not have much of a personality (yet) and is boring. It's overusing the fact that she is average. But despite all that, I do think Lammily, as a doll, is good and will hopefully promote better self-esteem in girls. A new wave of more diverse Lammily dolls are on the horizon (though they all have the same "average" body). Lammily will be able to start a whole new doll generation, I think, as long as the marketing steers away from pitting the "Lammilys" against the "Barbies," and once she proves average is not boring.