Doll News Summer 2014 - (Page 106)
Barbie & Skipper
Celebrating 50 Years of Sister Fashions
By Virginia Walker
B
It is February 9, 1964.
Barbie, Skipper and pooch
(above) are going to a
Sunday family dinner at
their aunt's house wearing
their beautiful matching
red coats. Skipper looks
forward to playing dolls
with her cousin and
watching the Beatles on
the Ed Sullivan Show.
106
SUMMER 2014
y 1964 Mattel, Inc. ruled the fashion doll world. The company knew how to carefully
craft a winning marketing campaign targeting the Barbie doll's young fans with an ever
expanding supply of friends, fashions, accessories, cars and houses for Barbie's exciting world.
Mattel realized that there was still a market share of parents who felt Barbie was too shapely and
sophisticated for their child. In response Mattel made fashion doll history again by producing
Skipper, the first ever nine-to-twelve-year-old, nine-inch-high, sister fashion doll. And so began
the most famous sister duo in the fashion doll world.
Skipper's emergence was initially conflicting at Mattel; they could win the parents who
wanted a pre-teen fashion doll for their child, but at the same time they could lose those who
refused to buy yet another doll with another wardrobe. The solution was to capture buyers with
not only the most wonderfully detailed and well-fitting fashions ever made for a nine-inch
doll but to cleverly design the first Skipper fashions to match with Barbie's already popular
wardrobe. It is clear now that the matching fashions campaign was not the impetus that resulted
in Skipper's popularity. In the many original-owner collections I have seen that include a Barbie
and a Skipper doll, there were very rarely matching fashions. Realistically, matching fashions
sales were unsuccessful in most toy stores because they would seldom carry both Barbie and
Skipper matching fashions simultaneously. With little choice, parents would buy the popular,
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Doll News Summer 2014
From the Editor
UFDC Offi cers and Regional Directors
President’s Message
UFDC Nominating Process – 2015 Election Information
Conference Calendar
Welcome Newest Members
Fundraising Committee Report
Remembering Shirley Temple – So Much More than the Good Ship Lollipop
America’s Sweetheart – A Tribute to Shirley Temple Paper Doll
A Pictorial Look at Dolls and Their Royal Owners
Two Collections Raise Funds for UFDC’s Museum Collection
The Florida Seminoles and Their Dolls
The Lure of the Sea
An American in Germany – Attending the Annual Doll Festival in Neustadt
The Four Seasons of UFDC’s Museum – Summer
The President's Gift
Camping Out at UFDC Headquarters
With a Little Help from my Friends – Christine Shively
Barbie & Skipper – Celebrating 50 Years of Sister Fashions
A Doll for Her Time – Patsy Then & Now
A Monday Surprise – A Paper Doll
The Best-Dressed Doll
Reviewing Resources
Club Notes
Schedule of Functional Expenses/Schedule of Activities by Fund
In Our Memories
Donations
News & Notes
Doll News Summer 2014
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