American Girl Doll Celebrates Harlem Renaissance
The Mattel-owned American Girl has had a revival thanks to satirical social media posts.
Barbiecore has been a ruling summer fashion trend but American Girl is saluting the Harlem Renaissance with its newest doll.
The “Claudie Wells” character celebrates the Harlem Renaissance and its literary heritage with help from bestselling author Brit Bennett and fashion designer Samantha Black. Just like other American Girl dolls, the latest addition has a personal and historic story and one that is immersed in the rich African American artistic and cultural heritage of Harlem in the '20s.
Bennett, a New York Times bestselling author, was tapped for the project after tweeting that she was interested in writing an American Girl story based on her experience with the brand and derived one from the Harlem Renaissance. The subject is one the writer said she has always enjoyed studying, an outpouring of Black artistry that emerged alongside larger struggles for equal rights. Bennett consulted with five established academics led by Georgetown University professor of history and African American studies and Pulitzer Prize winner Marcia Chatelain.
Bennett's “Meet Claudie” paperback was illustrated by Laura Freeman. It comes with every doll and is also available in a separate keepsake hardcover edition.
To further enhance the toy with some historical context, American Girl designers referenced '20s publications, photographs and resources like W.E.B. Du Bois' “The Brownies' Book,” the first magazine geared toward Black children. The brown-eyed doll was made with a new face mold and has shoulder-length dark hair with ringlets, a hair bow, a plaid dress, a knit cardigan, a heart pendant, a cloche hat and an eraauthentic Baby Ruth candy bar, albeit a replica one.
Through a collaboration with
Harlem's Fashion Row, the Mattel-owned company's 21-inch “Claudie” can be dressed in three special- edition outfits that are meant to be modernized versions of '20s glamour. Started in 1986, American