Worldcrunch
While Mattel’s Barbie doll is the world’s most popular fashion doll, she faces competition from local and regional dolls: from Mimi in South Korea to Steffi Love in Germany, Worldcrunch takes a look at her past and present counterparts around the world.
Created in 1984 by Spanish toymaker Feber, Chabel fashion dolls were an icon of her era and a favorite among Spanish girls before production stopped in 1992. Now, Chabel is back.
With no fitness apps, emails or social media, the Barbie Phone speaks the same language of mindfulness seminars, digital fasting cures and wellness retreats that seek a simple, undisturbed and healthy life. But can a phone — no matter how simple — really be a self-care tool?
The surge in toy sales sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic has tailed off, and the industry is now in a serious crisis. LEGO, Mattel and others see a potential lifeline in a new target: adults who play. The “escape into the inner child” could become a market worth billions.
The Barbie doll is known today as one of the world’s most iconic toys, featured in Greta Gerwig’s newly-released film. The doll was not expected to be a commercial success at all, but that didn’t stop creator Ruth Handler’s determination. Here is her story.
The Barbie doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York City on this day in 1959. What inspired the creation of the Barbie doll? Ruth Handler was inspired to create the Barbie doll after watching her daughter play with paper dolls and imagining a three-dimensional version that would allow girls […]
SEOUL — South Koreans undergo more plastic surgery per capita than anywhere else in the world. Some surveys show that one in five women there have undergone a procedure or received Botox injections. All around the Apgujeong subway station in Seoul, for example, there are advertisements for plastic surgery clinics, showing before and after images of women who have gone under the knife. Images like these are among the reasons why 19-year-old Woori had some work done about a month ago. But she says pressure from friends and family was an even stronger influence. “Whenever I saw pictures of my […]
A German reporter takes a tour with the radical feminist group at the newly opened Barbie House in Berlin.
CLARÍN Worldcrunch SÃO PAOLO – “The Girl from Ipanema” made Brazilian women famous for their beauty but now, it seems, the South American country has a new fetish for a different kind of woman says Clarín. For three days, São Paolo will host the first Inflatable Doll World Congress, organized by an online sex shop, […]