Barbie is one of the most iconic dolls in the world, but who is she in real life?
In 1945, husband and wife, Ruth and Elliot Handler, teamed up with Harold “Matt” Matson to collaborate on innovative toys for children.
When it came to naming the company, they decided to combine Matt and Elliot’s name to form “Mattel.”
Handler was walking along the streets of Switzerland with her 15-year-old daughter, Barbara, when they spotted Bild Lilli, a gag gift doll of sorts, in a store window, according to a 2002 New York Times article with Barbara Handler.
In the interview, Barbara Handler said she became obsessed with the doll, especially since unlike the paper dolls she loved playing with, Lilli was three-dimensional and came with clothes.
But there was just one problem.
“I was going crazy because I wanted different clothes for it, and they didn’t sell the clothes separate. You had to buy a different doll every time you wanted a different outfit,” Handler told the NYT.
“My mother thought, Why is this daughter of mine so crazed about this doll? She bought a couple of them. And when we got back, I never saw them again. They were torn apart and researched, and they got the idea of the separate clothes, and the rest is history.”
“Most of the men did not think, the buyers in the stores, or the people here, or any of the men, did not think Barbie was going to work and they were certainly wrong,” Barbara Handler said in a 2017 interviewwith the Branded Content Marketing Association (BCMA).
Even so, Ruth Handler persisted in the creation of the doll, which she affectionately named after her daughter.
The first Barbie doll was released in 1959, and she was an immediate hit. Barbie was dressed in a black and white striped swimsuit, and she had blonde hair and blue eyes. She was also very curvy, which was unusual for dolls at the time.
Barbie’s popularity grew quickly, and she soon became a cultural phenomenon. She was featured in magazines, television shows, and movies. She also had her own line of clothing, accessories, and even a dream house.
