Barbie’s iconic fashion, now for humans
Unique Vintage is working with Mattel to duplicate some of the doll’s most iconic looks
“When I emailed Mattel, I didn’t think they’d actually reply, but they did, and I was thrilled.” KATIE ECHEVERRY | CEO, Unique Vintage
In time for her 60th birthday, Barbie has a new collaborator bringing her wideranging style to life for humans.
One of the largest sellers of vintage-inspired clothes, Unique Vintage, is working with Barbie parent Mattel on the first women’s line to meticulously duplicate some of the doll’s most iconic early looks. In the process, the company also has taken care of the one thing critics love to hate about Barbie, her very plastic hourglass physique, by offering the outfits in sizes XS to 4X.
The collaboration, Barbie x Unique Vintage, celebrates 1950s and ‘60s Babs. The company that sells online and in about 500 boutiques around the world plans to go even bigger for Barbie’s big 6-0 next year, offering key fashion moments from across the rest of her decades. Until then, we caught up with all things Barbie x Unique Vintage in the swanky Jewel Suite designed by jeweler-tothe-stars Martin Katz in the Lotte New York Palace hotel on Madison Avenue. Katz paired a few of the looks with some of his own bling, from $36,000 (Dh132,219) button earrings to a $48,000 cocktail ring of Bombay spinel cabochons and round diamonds.
All of the glam pleases Katie Echeverry. She’s the founder, CEO and creative director of Unique Vintage, an 18-year-old company with 60 employees based in Burbank, California. With her long blonde locks and Barbie-esque dimensions, Echeverry said she was a Babs fan as a girl.
During a recent round of media interviews explaining how the collab came about, Echeverry donned a Kelly-green shawl dress worn by Barbie in 1962 and done by Unique Vintage in a forgiving stretch fabric.
“When I emailed Mattel, I didn’t think they’d actually reply, but they did, and I was thrilled,” said Echeverry. “They ran with it. I couldn’t believe they hadn’t done it before.”
Echeverry worked closely with Mattel but “they didn’t dictate what I chose.” Mattel opened its archives to her as she went about duplicating outfits, with adjustments to account for the real human form. She said she chose looks that “spoke to me.”
Barbie, the doll, first hit store shelves in 1959. That year, she stepped out in a swirl of gold and white
brocade for evening. The dress was among those Echeverry picked and sells for $118 on uniquevintage. com. The matching collar coat with three-quarter sleeves trimmed in faux fur goes for $148.
Unique Vintage has brought Barbie fashion full circle, in a sense. It was a designer for actual women, Charlotte Johnson, who was hired to be the doll’s first fashion creator. A Mattel team took over soon after Barbie’s debut.
It was important to Echeverry to choose looks that have remained iconic through the years but were wearable by women in the broad range of sizes she is committed to providing.
“I was like a kid in a candy store,” she said.
After the first season went on sale, Echeverry watched the response online, where nostalgia kicked in among fans who recalled favorite outfits, some gushing how they’d always wondered what it would be like to wear the looks themselves.
That goes a long way in explaining why Echeverry was dedicated to getting the clothes right. “In our fittings, we literally had the original Barbie dress next to the model. We moved Barbie. When I sourced fabrics overseas, I had Barbie clothes in my pocket and I was making sure we got as close as possible.”