Barbie before makeup?

Did you see the "Barbie Without Makeup" mashup on Huffington Post?

Really, now. How many women have BOTH braces and "old age" circles under her eyes?

But is it really unusual to have 200 dolls?

A link is making the rounds on Twitter about a Barbie collection on display at a museum in Arkansas.
It's a nice enough article and worthy of a read.
But read this snippet:

The Barbie dolls on display come from the Strojeck family of North Little Rock. What began as a present to his young daughters in 1988 of the first Happy Holidays Barbie, has turned into a full Barbie collection. The Strojecks own close to 200 dolls, 15 completed series, a plethora of vintage dolls, and several dollhouses.

Hmm. Is it really so unusual to own 200 dolls?
The last time I counted my dolls, I had about 150 and my husband guesses it's close to 200 now.

Dolls magazine report on 2012 Dolls of the World

The Dolls of the World series is my favorite one of the Barbie line. This is what brought me into Barbie collecting in 1995.

Dolls magazine has a report, Globally Gorgeous: Mattel expands Dolls of the World Barbie line, listing the 10 dolls that are in the international run for 2012 and the new features we are seeing this year.

Barbie is "cool" again with the older girls

Mattel had quite a struggle for a time with how to market Barbie to its original demographic: older girls who had moved past baby dolls but still like to play.

But according to industry reports, it's cool again to be a Barbie fan in the age 8-11 bracket. IOL has this report: Barbie bounces back.

Barbie's Dream Closet - what fun

Racked has the photos and the dish on the Barbie's Dream Closet display as part of New York Fashion Week.

CNN interviews Stacey McBride-Irby about her doll creations

Stacey McBride-Irby, who designed the So In Style doll line for Barbie, is featured in a Q&A on CNN about her dollmaking career and her new business, the One World Doll Project.

Salute to 9/11: Tea Time at the Plaza Gene doll

The Nashville Doll Collecting Examiner has this post with a photo of Gene doll posed in front of the New York skyline with the World Trade Center in the background: Tea Time at the Plaza Gene Doll - a Remembrance of 9/11.

The photos were taken by Kathryn Darden in the style that's been so popular in recent years of a doll or stuffed animal being posed on its "travels" around the city, country or world.

My traditional "doll on my desk" display for 9/11 was to dress Teresa in a firefighter outfit. But I was so busy last week that I forgot all about digging through the doll boxes to get that doll out of storage.

The architects and the Barbie Dream House

The LA Times has this piece: Architects compete to create Barbie Dream House.

A snippet:

The American Institute of Architects is holding a competition for the ideal dream house for the popular Mattel doll. A jury of professional architects recently narrowed the pool of close to 30 designs to five finalists, and voting is taking place online. The competition closes Aug. 1 and the winner will be announced the following day.