Family Style
Hooray! The Best Source for Non-Trampy Barbie Clothes.
Do your girls adore Barbie? I’ve always felt like I should discourage my girls from playing with Barbies because the clothes are so trampy. Some of the outfits sold with Barbie dolls are quite shocking. They make me blush! But Betty was begging for a Barbie this Christmas, so I did some searching and found out that Etsy is a treasure trove of fantastic, handmade Barbie clothes. It’s seriously a goldmine!
Find some of my favorite sellers below.
First, I love the vintage-inspired dresses at top. So tasteful and feminine! Second, The Designing Rose carries dozens and dozens of sweet day dresses and fancy ball gowns — Betty received several of these lovely creations. Third, Gordan 4 A Day is another terrific shop. Bonus: it seems to me that the Etsy prices are pretty comparable to official Barbie clothes prices.
What about you? What’s your take on Barbies? Do you let your kids play with them, or have you banned them from your home?
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20 Comments
Jenny commented on Dec 31 10 at 8:23 pmI love the imaginative play perks of Barbie. A girl can do so much more for so much longer with a Barbie than with a baby doll. We’ve run into the issue that the old barbie clothes don’t fit the new reshaped barbie dolls, but we’ve been able to find plenty of clothing and accessories that suit our taste. Thanks for the etsy links!
KJ@letsgoflyakite commented on Dec 31 10 at 8:40 pmMy 5 yr. old daughter loves pretend play (Little People, Playmobil, now Barbies). I love the stories that she comes up, she can play independently making up stories (whether the dolls are dressed or not) for at least 2 hours (if little sis does not interrupt. I am a day job out of the home mum (lawyer who dresses terribly conservatively) and have no problem with Barbie and have embraced it because she has (if she showed no interest, I would be fine). I think vintage clothes are great and I like to make Barbie clothes. The blog, Craftiness is Not Optional has created a number of tutorials (one was featured here
http://www.u-createcrafts.com/2010/09/creative-guest-barbie-ball-gown.html ) that are excellent.
Lauren commented on Dec 31 10 at 10:51 pmThis is AWESOME – thank you so much for sharing! My little one asked Santa for a “Princess Barbie” for Christmas and I had the hardest time helping Santa find a suitable Barbie. I didn’t see ANYTHING that I wanted my daughter to play with. I finally found a “Princess and the Pauper” Barbie on Amazon. @Rebecca – yep, Mattel downsized Barbie’s figure a bit. (Hooray!) I had given some of my 80′s Barbie’s to my daughter and when Santa brought her the newer Barbie – and none of my old Barbie dresses will fit the newer Barbies.
Rebecca Grace commented on Dec 31 10 at 10:52 pmI’m so intrigued by the previous comment — did Mattel FINALLY listen to the feminists, child psychologists, parents, educators etc. who have been saying for years that the wacko unrealistic Barbie silhouette wreaks havoc with girls’ developing body images? If so — hooray! Rhyme and Reason may yet return to the Land of Wisdom, after all.
These vintage-inspired Barbie frocks are terrific. They aren’t even all that retro, either — I’ve seen similar dresses for real women with style selling at Anthropologie and Garnet Hill for years.
Lee commented on Jan 01 11 at 12:05 amYes, Mattel did remake Barbie a few years back and she is much more tasteful. My daughter found an original Barbie and we compared. The waist on the new one is literally three times the size of the old. My daughter plays with the two she has every once in a while but she isn’t crazy over them. One is a ballerina and the other in a witch costume so plenty modest for me.
Kim commented on Jan 01 11 at 3:06 amThank you, thank you, thank you! I have 3 girls and this is fantastic!!! I can’t thank you enough. JUST what I’ve been searching for for months now. Why I didn’t think of etsy, I don’t know…
Kristin commented on Jan 01 11 at 3:24 amMy daughter recently sold all of her Barbies at a garage sale, but these clothes are soooo cute! I had the same problem with finding Barbie clothes that didn’t create a double standard (Barbie can wear this but you most definitely cannot). Yes, truly shocking outfits in the toy aisle. Yay for Etsy!
Kate The Great commented on Jan 01 11 at 4:09 amI feel the same way as Rebecca–Gabby, you should post about the design differences between the new 2010 Barbie )if there are any) and the Barbie we’re all used to. Have they given her a flat foot? Less of a corset-style body? Smaller breasts? A different face? Google’s not giving me anything but shopping choices.
Cindy commented on Jan 01 11 at 9:21 amMy daughters’ Barbies (circa 2008-9) are less busty and the waists are wider than the one I had circa (1974ish) so the clothes don’t fit unfortunately for all the crocheted clothes great Grandma made. Then again, the girls mix and match and overlay outfits so the styles really don’t matter much and lately they’ve been wearing Ken’s clothes over the top of everything or pieces of fabric attached with tape. The feet are still arched for stilletto heels though so only Barbie shoes work. Mattel has re-released the vintage dolls with the original release year clearly announced on the boxes and my kids got a real hoot out of going down the Walmart aisle looking at the differences in the clothing, hairstyle and actual doll shapes.
Becca commented on Jan 01 11 at 12:19 pmThanks for these Etsy links. My 3yo asked for a Barbie this year. I convinced her it would be a better idea to wait until her brothers are a little older and she has her own room, since I’m a little concerned about little shoes being swallowed. I will definitely be checking out Etsy sellers for clothes when I just can’t hold her off any longer.
Hayley commented on Jan 01 11 at 12:46 pmYes! I was about to start making my own because my girl loves Barbies but we are determined to always have them dress modestly. Thank you so much for the etsy links. Those dresses are beautiful and exactly what we have been looking for! I came across a great blog post on making your own if you are interested.
http://theadventuresofroryandjess.blogspot.com/search/label/Barbie%C2%AE%20clothesAlso that first link is sending me to your great post on your Favorite Winter Break Tradition. I would love to take a look and purchase some of those vintage inspired dresses pictured. Thanks!
Karen Mwins commented on Jan 01 11 at 1:16 pmMy girls have a few newer Barbies but I still have my Barbies from 35+ years ago and all of the gorgeous handsewn and crocheted clothing my grandmother and mother made so we haven’t had to deal with the trashy clothes I see at the stores (we did have a small issue finding decent shoes). I love the retro dresses shown here!
Teresa commented on Jan 01 11 at 2:34 pmLove these! Where did you find the vintage inspired dresses? I couldn’t get the link to work? Thanks for posting
Teresa commented on Jan 01 11 at 2:40 pmFound it…”onholiday” shop at etsy. Darling:)
Judy Crotts commented on Jan 01 11 at 2:58 pmI caved and bought my daughter a couple of Barbies for her seventh birthday a few weeks ago. I took a long time trying to decide which ones to purchase because of the issue you’re addressing – the skanky clothes! Thanks for the Etsy links. My mom used to sew dresses for mine when I was little and it’s inspiring me to try my hand at it as well. Have you seen the “Monster High” dolls? They’re beside the Barbies and really awful – a few notches up on the tramp meter and vampires to boot.
gabrielleblair commented on Jan 01 11 at 11:20 pmSorry you guys! I updated the link for the Vintage Inspired Dresses pictured. Thanks for your patience.
Tarin Rafferty commented on Jan 03 11 at 11:08 amWish I had read this before Christmas, I mean why does Doctor Barbie have to wear a super mini lab coat? I think a man may be in charge of the clothing department! ;)
Aimee @ Smiling Mama commented on Jan 03 11 at 6:30 pmWhen I was young and into Barbie, my mom OCCASIONALLY let my sister and I play with HER childhood Barbie including outfits that her grandmother (my great grandmother!) made. They were absolutely amazing. I don’t think we ruined any of them so if either my sister or I ever have a girl (three boys so far…) maybe they’ll get pulled out again!
Megan commented on Jan 08 11 at 11:35 amThese dresses are adorable! I’m not a mom (well, not officially until July), but if I have a little girl and she wants to play with Barbies, I will have no problem with that. My sister and I played with Barbies for years, and I have some collector Barbies as well (they were never played with). We had a lot of Disney Barbies, and since they were dressed in their costumes, they were pretty modest (Belle especially). My mom has all of our dolls and accessories saved in the basement, so we’ll see when they get played with!
sara commented on Feb 13 11 at 7:54 pmi
luv
b
a
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b
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!
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