What a doll
It’s no game: Hundreds search for dolls, accessories at Barbie convention.
April Ernst scanned rows of plastic shoes hardly larger than a fingernail, searching for a shock of hot pink in a sea of pastels.
She sought a pair with pointy toes and low heels, the sort Barbie might have worn with a pink vest, a yellow blouse and a plaid skirt circa 1966. It’s a common problem for collectors: Cute clothes, no footwear.
“When you buy a vintage outfit, not all of them have shoes,” Ernst said. “Most of them got sucked up in the vacuum by Mom.”
Barbie dolls and accessories that survived cleaning sprees, childhood tantrums and playroom purges covered the bottom floor of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston Saturday, the last day of the National Barbie Doll Collectors Convention.
More than 700 attendees from around the world convened at the four-day event to discover rare Barbies, design tiny outfits and discuss the history of one of America’s most iconic dolls.
On Saturday, collectors gathered to indulge a childhood-pastime-turned-grown-up-obsession: Buying new Barbies and dressing them up. They delighted in adding limited editions to their collections, some of which include thousands of dolls.
“When I say I have 1,600 dolls, people think that’s a lot,” said organizer Dawn Arney Moore. “Then you walk in this room.”
Joe Blitman, a longtime Barbie dealer from Los Angeles, had boxes full of outfits for sale, organized by era. He gazed fondly at a black vintage gown, a sparkly mermaid silhouette complete with long gloves and a microphone that reminded him of his father’s job in the nightclub business.
He also had for sale what every collector aspires to own: A first edition Barbie, one of about 375,000 released by Mattel in 1959. The curly-haired blonde in a black-andwhite striped swimsuit sold for $3 that year, and now, each one fetches
between $6,000 and $11,000.
“The number that’s still around has been greatly reduced,” Blitman said.
Barbie collectors are a niche group with a singular focus. Many played with her at the very beginning, when she debuted as a prim, mid-century fashionista of questionable proportions.
Since then, Barbie has become a more dynamic model with cultural and feminist inclinations. Mattel now sells newer dolls, such as Wonder Woman and Misty Copeland, alongside the classics. Miniature models
Terry Fisher committed to Barbie as a fashionfocused 9-year-old in 1977 and has since amassed a rotating collection of more than 400 dolls. Their outfits span the decades, satiating his love of 20th century style.
“They are beautiful, 3-D representations of American fashion,” he said.
He scoured the displays on Saturday to find several dolls that broke the white, blonde mold, including a 1980 Oriental Barbie and a 1988 Mexican Barbie. An Italian Barbie, a rarity released in 1979, still eludes him.
Other vendors offered one-of-a-kind Barbies, painstakingly retouched and outfitted in handmade clothing. Valuable originals
Francesco Catalano traveled from Italy with a collection of extravagant witches, fairies and dancers, each of which took at least a week to make. He spends the most time enhancing their eyes with fresh paint and lashes and dusting their slim cheeks with blush.
“We can never stop working,” he said. “People are always asking us to make new dolls.”
The originals, though, generated the most excitement even among the most seasoned collectors.
Joni Holland, a Dallasarea collector with thousands of Barbies, left the show with a valuable gift from a friend, one of the first brunette dolls ever released.
“I’m so lucky,” she said. “I feel so special to have gotten that.”