Fascinating History of Barbie Doll Fashion revealed in the New Book

Barbie Takes the Catwalk: A Style Icon’s History in Fashion

At a time when it seems the entire globe is fascinated with the iconic Barbie doll, author Karan Feder has released a new book designed to explain the cultural significance of the doll’s clothes closet.

Karan Feder, award-winning fashion designer, costume designer, and historian, is the author of the new book Barbie Takes the Catwalk: A Style Icon’s History in Fashion.

In Barbie Takes the Catwalk, Feder examines the Barbie doll’s fashionable history to provide a fascinating timeline across many decades and hundreds of miniature Barbie doll garments. The resulting narrative reveals an incredible portrait of the cultural evolution of American women during the last half century. Feder adds, “It was also fascinating to explore some of the fashion trends that Barbie’s designers did not choose to embrace, and why.”

Since 1959, Barbie has both reflected fashion trends, and set them. Now for the first time, her iconic outfits are paired with legendary looks from design houses such as Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, and Givenchy, for a fascinating celebration of the relationship between the runway and the toy aisle.

Barbie has always been a fashion icon, with a wardrobe of looks inspired by the world’s great fashion designers, and inspiring them as well with her signature style. From decade-defining designs by formidable fashion designers André Courrèges, Emilio Pucci, Mary Quant, Roy Halston, and Yves St. Laurent, to skateboard culture and rave fashion, Barbie’s outfits have reflected the fashion and the time.

In Barbie Takes the Catwalk, the author thoughtfully explores Barbie’s first 40 years to highlight the vast artistry and cultural significance of the doll’s fashion canon. Hundreds of images from designer runways, magazine editorials, and fashion archives are paired with detailed photographs of vintage Barbie outfits to offer an unprecedented examination of Barbie’s sartorial impact.

MORE THAN 100 FASHION PHOTOS: Hundreds of photos from the runways of designers that have influenced Barbie, including André Courrèges, Bill Gibb, Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro, Karl Lagerfeld, and Thierry Mugler.

125 ICONIC BARBIE LOOKS: From “Enchanted Evening” to the totally-80s looks of Barbie and the Rockers, Barbie Takes the Catwalk offers a stunning retrospective of the doll’s fashion canon.

INFLUENCE AND IMPACT: Explores the relationship between the world’s great fashion houses and the world’s best-selling and most-loved fashion doll.

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR: Karan Feder is an award-winning costume designer, historian, and the curator of the traveling exhibition of Barbie’s fashion history, called Barbie®, A Cultural Icon: 60 Years of Fashion and Inspiration.

THE PERFECT GIFT for fans of art, fashion, design, or Barbie, Barbie Takes the Catwalk is a fascinating historical record of the fashionable trends and popular-cultural themes inherent within Barbie’s vast clothes closet.

Pre-order Barbie Takes the Catwalk: A Style Icon’s History in Fashion at Amazon.com: