CARLYLE NUERA

DESIGNER

Here’s a matter of fact that cannot and will not be upturned: No childhood is complete without a memory of or with Barbie. While some girls and boys relegate it as a memory of their past on their path to adulthood, others get to live the dream of dressing up Barbie. Yes, as in actually design and decorate the iconic fashion doll for Mattel—we’re talking gowns, body types, and facial sculpts, all imagined and created to bring joy to many a child or the child at heart. Fire up a search on the Barbie website with the name: Carlyle Nuera, and you will immediately be offered countless iterations of Barbie Signature, for which the Filipino-American works as lead designer.

Almost immediately, you are taken into this fantasy world of glamour and grace, with different versions of Barbie swathed in everything from a fiery red off-the-shoulder cap-sleeved gown with multi-tiered layers and a dainty bow to cinch the waist, a frothy confection of a dress in pink that lights-up to an organza terno that references the textiles of different tribes in the

Philippines, as well as the sun from the flag. You read that right, the doll, which is part of Mattel’s Global Glamour Collection is appropriately called, Mutya Barbie, inspired by no less than Carlyle Nuera’s mother, Ruby, who happened to be Miss Tacloban in 1976. “The embroidery on the hem is inspired by the Philippines national flower, the sampaguita,” he specifies.

While he didn’t intentionally set out to design it with such a specific cultural and personal reference to his heritage, Carlyle credits a choice of his subconscious to bring to life the story of his home country and his mother. “The name ‘Mutya’ means pearl or beauty or muse; it’s a girl’s name; and it is also used in the titles of beauty pageants in the Philippines,” he explains.

Standing to be many things to many people, Barbie is, as Carlyle Nuera intends to be, perhaps a showcase of a beauty that the world should know more of, a beauty that speaks to young girls who don’t feel seen or represented. Whatever she may be, a CEO, a president, or an astronaut, one of them, at least by the man who makes them, is inherently Filipina—proud and powerful.—ARDC