Black Barbie, 1970s and 1980s Fashion and Doll Shows

This transcript was generated from the episode captions and lightly edited for readability. Names and product terms may occasionally be imperfect. Quoted dollar amounts retain the wording of the interview; the currency is not always specified.

0:00Hello, dolls and accessories. I'm your host, Kelly, and this is Barbie Talk. [music] Barbie Talk with Kelly in Pink. Today's guest brings a thoughtful and creative perspective to the doll community. Her content blends various elements like styling, photography, storytelling, themes, and moments that feel playful and intentional. As host of the recent #dollshelfmonth, MountainBarbieGirl always captures Barbie in a beautiful setting or creates a look that is so unique. But, there's always a sense of personality behind it. Please welcome Chrissy. Hi, Chrissy. Hi, Kelly. Thanks so much for having me. This is No problem. Thank you for being on Barbie Talk. I love it. I was like tickled that you reached out to me. I've I've been loving the first few episodes, and you're you're you're a fun interviewer, so I'm excited to talk with you. Oh, that's so sweet of you to say. Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and how your relationship with Barbie started. My name's Chrissy. I live in Colorado in the mountains, hence MountainBarbieGirl as my uh handle, and I've lived here my whole life. I've been lucky enough to live in nearby the same town. I grew up in Boulder. I live close by. I work in Boulder, and um in a place in my life where my kids are grown and and they're living their own lives,

1:24and got back into collecting, which is really fun, and it's turned into a wonderful uh passion project and hobby, and my husband and I like to travel. We like to take our dolls with us when we travel and and have them [laughter] on on our trips. So, that's me in a nutshell. This is uh something that I love to do. It It helps with my emotional health. That is such a great way to put it, and I love hearing that you take your dolls with you because that explains some of the beautiful photography, the nature aspect of a lot of your of your posts, which is so refreshing to see. That's not really something I've seen. So, when I came across your content, I was like, this is so different, unique, creative. Also, there's a personality behind it. Is there a doll, your first doll you ever got, or a favorite doll that you have there that you would love to show us? I have a couple cuz I knew you were you were going to ask. So, the first Barbie doll that I remember getting as a kiddo was one of the first was this this is 1978 Pretty Changes Barbie. And the reason she's called Pretty Changes is cuz you can change around her outfit, you can take all this off, you can take her hat off, and she came with wigs and hairpieces. So, I had her as a kid. I've of course added her back to my collection. The one from my childhood didn't make it. But, um this is one of the first

2:44dolls I remember getting as a child. And then, um another favorite I got this from my dear friend, and this was her childhood doll. This is the original black Barbie. It was the first time um an African-American or black Barbie was called Barbie, not Christie or a friend of Barbie. So, so she's another favorite. And then, sort of the the piece de resistance for my favorite. And I'm going to try and do this really carefully so she doesn't fall over. But, um this is Fashion Photo PJ. [screaming] I knew what was going to happen. Let me try that again. This is 1978 Fashion Photo PJ. She has this stand um and a a camera with the stand, and it has this this thing. It's hard for me to show you, but when you turn the camera it moves this stand, and it moves the doll so she's posing.

3:51So, with the back of the camera, you can Stop. And there's a little photo. Photo. So that's fashion photo and there's other, you know, you can pose her. There's about five or six of these cards and it's really fun and I I found her and the pieces, her camera, her stand, her box all separately because she's quite a pricey doll if you buy it all vintage, but I like deals and so I like putting dolls together and she was a big splurge for my 50th birthday. Aw, that's sweet. That's such a great gift. And you know what? I think a lot of people, it's a been a common theme in a lot of these episodes where it's like I had this doll, I lost her, my mom threw her out and we're just on the hunt for that nostalgia, for that feeling. So now as adults we're like, well, I'm going to go buy her now because it did something, it fed your soul in a way, right? And it has such great memories and Fashion Photo PJ is a great doll. I never can seem to find her like complete and if you do, it's a pretty penny. And it's kind of nice to to be to be on the hunt, right? To like complete to complete things or bring them back to life. Yes.

4:58That's a favorite part of my collecting is, you know, sometimes the vintage dolls I'll find all in one, but I really like finding the lots of clothes or lots of dolls and then fixing them up and putting them all back together. That's great. So thanks for sharing so much. I'm sure you have more favorite dolls. It's really hard to just pick I know. Like what day is it? I know. Exactly. What's your oldest doll? Would it been one of those that are there or did you recently purchase something that was older? I did recently purchase something that was older and I have not yet fixed her up. This is how she came to me in this outfit and bless her, she's missing fingers and her toes are a little chewed on, but this is a 1965 bubble cut as I believe. My friend helped me identify it. Um because I don't typically um collect this vintage of doll, but she was a local woman was selling her on Facebook Marketplace for a very reasonable price and it looked like she needed a new home. And sure enough, um it was it was her doll as a child that she was she was the original owner and I was happy to give her a new home. So anyway, this is my oldest doll. And she came with that outfit? She came with this outfit. Yes.

6:12It's such sweet stories to know somebody no longer wants it or has parted. I've done some Marketplace pickups where somebody's mother passed away, it was her collection and it just it feels nice and warm to know we're going to take care of it and it's going to continue and live on, right? It's sweet. What would you say inspires you the most when you're creating? Is it fashion? Is it like the mood you're in? Is it telling a story? Is it the atmosphere? What would you say motivates you when you're creating your content? That is such a great question. I think it it also kind of depends on the day or the mood or what's happening. I primarily like to photograph dolls and share them on Instagram and there's a lot of folks in the community that have different themes or challenges and so it's like a certain day of the week might be a certain theme. So that inspires me. I like seeing what other people do and and think about, oh, I could do this or I have that outfit or it's, you know, pink. I could do this for pink. Um really, it's sometimes I come into the doll room and I'm very very blessed to have a doll space and have a doll room and just sort of say, you know, who's talking to me today and what do they want to do? Sometimes they want to go out and play in the park, sometimes they want to put new fashions on. Um but I I do definitely love uh collecting vintage fashions as well, not just the dolls. I'm I'm an avid fashion collector as well. So

7:32um that's something else that I love to do. Okay, so would you say you have more fashion than dolls? We might be equal, but I'm not sure because the fashions and I'll show you how I store them. Um I keep them in a in little filing cabinets and filing boxes on um a flat piece of paper or card stock and then I have the year and what it is and what it looks like. And so I sort them by um you know years, you know, 5 years or so. Like this one's a 1973 Best Buy outfit. So that came out of my 70s outfit. Um but it it's really fun and I can sort of thumb through and say, "Okay, what are we wearing today, friends?" Do you have like a favorite fashion or something that might have been rare that you recently purchased? I have a few. I primarily collect the superstar era, which is about 1976-77 to you know, it's folks debate when it ends, but you know, I collect up to about like 1990 or the early early 90s. Um but folks who are um fans of superstar era and the kind of the disco era will will recognize this one. This one's called Disco Dazzle. Ah, look at that on the jacket, the sparkle. gosh, the sparkle. I was going to put it on a doll, but it's just kind of fun to to see it on the card. Um and it has um green uh those green squishy ankle uh

8:56shoes. So this one's from 1979. It's called Disco Dazzle, number 1010, and boy, it's just one of my favorites. It's it's hard to come by. I think it's a little more rare than you would normally um find. So that one's a fun one. And then um here's another fun one from the 70s. Can you tell I like sort of the disco? Oh my god, I love it. is 1978. I love it. And I'm not really into like the 70s mod, but some of these some of these outfits, come on. Look at that with the fur jacket. Yes, with the fur and and yeah. Oh my goodness. Now, that previous dazzle fashion that you had up, are do you find that any of the sparkles come off? I think the quality was so good um in the 70s and 80s. This is actually the thread. The thread itself is sparkly. Oh my goodness.

9:55see that as I move it. Oh, I see it now. Yes. Zilton, so it's uh Oh, yes. You know, it's not it doesn't flake off or or or or whatnot because it's part of the fashion. And that just again, a very hot topic in this on Barbie talk often is the quality of clothing then versus now. So, we don't need to go down that rabbit hole, but I just was wondering cuz a lot of clothes, especially 90s stuff or some of that leather, even the 80s, I try to keep it preserved because I don't want it to shed anymore and it's going to damage. And it just it's unfortunate that the dolls can't wear it, but that's not the case for those. So, that's great. And you put these on your dolls. You don't just store like you use them. So, I like to use them. That's why I store them the way I do so that I can get to them. Now Now, don't get me wrong. I do also love some new in box. So, here was one that I recently got. It's one of my favorite, 1957 from 1979. And this is called Golden Accent. It's very disco. So, I have it new in box and then I also have an example of Golden Dream Barbie wearing it for you. So, Oh my goodness. Okay, so the disco look going on. I love that. I'm actually going to tell you a quick story. It was a while back, I actually thrifted that outfit, not with the jacket. It was just the jumpsuit. And I actually looked at it and went,

11:16"What's this?" I knew it was Barbie cuz it said Barbie on the tag. And I went, "What is this?" Because it's 70s and 70s isn't my Anyways, I showed a friend and she was like, "Oh my god, that's a vintage fashion da da da da da." I just don't have the jacket. So, I'm on the search for the jacket. Okay, I'll keep my eye out for it, too. Yeah, that's one of my all-time favorites. Um another one is I finally got it new on card, but this was my favorite fashion that I had as a child, and I still have the jacket from when I was a little kid, and this is from uh um it is 1978, and this is number 1423. It's a fashion collectibles. Um and I also have it out of the package um obviously because it survived my childhood. Uh so that's another favorite, and then one other that was sort of a really special one for me to get is this Day to Night fashion.

12:09So Day to Night Barbie had Day to Night fashions, and you can sort of see the different variations. And I still have the jacket and hat from my childhood collection, but I also found pieces and parts over time and was able to put it together and put it on Day to Night Barbie. So here she is wearing it. Chrissy. This is one of my grails. It's just that whole line of fashions. It's so fun. I love it so much. So anyway, there's there's our Day to Night girl in Look at that. Let's get this outfit. Oh my goodness, look at that. Wow, that's beautiful. Oh my goodness. Wow. It was fun. Anyway, those are some of the cool fashions that I that I wanted to share. I also have a sup- couple super size dolls from '77, and so they also had their own fashion. So here's a super size uh fashion that I can't bring myself to take out of the pack, but And that's okay. You know what?

13:11That's okay. There's no rhyme or reason as to why we unbox things and don't. It's whatever you feel like, and maybe one day you'll be like, "Ah, you know, I'm going to open this." And if you don't, that's okay, it looks beautiful in the packaging. So do you have a couple super size dolls? I have a super size. Here she is, and if you want to see her in relation to the regular size Barbie, here's your regular size, and here's your super size. So, she she's 18 in. The fashions that these two are wearing this one was custom-made. I found by maker in South Korea, and he's no longer doing custom designs, but this was a fun fashion from the '80s and and I thought, "Well, that'll be fun to have some twins. So, She doesn't even fit on the screen cuz she's so tall. Let's see if I can pull her back. Yeah, there's There she is. Look at that. Is that fur from fabulous fur?

14:05No, this is for that fashion, and I'm so sorry. I think it's like from 1981 or '82. Okay, it looked like the fabulous fur. It does look like the fabulous fur. It absolutely does, but this which I'm also on the hunt for. That [laughter] fur jacket. That is a grail doll for sure for me. Definitely. I've got the doll and the blue jumpsuit. She's missing the belt and the fur, which is Oh my gosh. You'll find them. Definitely will find it. Like speaking of finding, where are you mostly finding some of these pieces? I have good luck on Facebook Marketplace. I keep my eye open for folks who might be getting rid of, like you said, you know, family members' collections or their own collections, and they just come in big boxes, and it's like a treasure hunt.

14:51Another place that I like to find is certainly specific things that I'm looking for is eBay. There's a lot of sellers in the secondary market. There is good. Sometimes I'll find things on Etsy. I have a lot of folks that say, "You got to look on Whatnot." I have not entered into that yet. I just love when I see you post toy shows you go to. So, tell me a little bit about these shows, and you're also seeing a lot of legends like Giovanni and Roly dolls. There's a lot of people that you meet up with, Cassie. Tell me a little bit about that experience of going to these toy shows. Sure, and that was going to be my other place that I tell you I I found dolls is the doll shows. Um what a wonderland of everything and anything you could want. I am looking at I think we might have a shared love of ladies of the '80s. So, this one I got at the most recent Sherry's doll show in LA.

15:50Um I we have a family in LA, so it's easy for me to travel out and stay with them and go to the doll shows. So, this was my I'm sorry about the the the Silver flip action. Oh, she's good like that. Oh, look at her Debbie Harry. Look at that. Debbie Harry. That beautiful dress. They only made three in that line, right? It was just her, Joan Jett, and I think they also made this one. Look at Cyndi. [laughter] I love it. We've got our ladies of the '80s here. Look at that. Amazing. Amazing. Awesome. What does the back of yours look? You got a picture of Cyndi here. I got a picture of Debbie. Classic. Debbie in the band. She's she Oh my gosh, as a kid and growing up, she's one of my faves. So, She's awesome, yeah. I love that we have our our ladies of the '80s.

16:37We do. We do, which is very very nice. Fun. But yeah, I think I had seen about Sherry's doll show, and I was newer to sort of the Instagram world, and I was like, "What is this show that you speak of, folks?" And my friend Betty, Desert Barbie Girl, reached out and was like, "Well, here's here's the info and here's what you can do, and we hope that you can join us." And then it was so wonderful, and she introduced me to folks. The first one I went out to Tonya, whose Grandma Gets Real, was had a little gathering of folks out in the courtyard, so I got to meet people from Lori's Doll House and Cassie from Dolls on the Go and then made some special connections in my opinion with Giovanni from the Doll House and Matthew and Roly, found friendships and it comes out of these doll shows and I and before that I was going to some local shows in here in Colorado and one of the people that I met there, the very first people that I met was Zoe of Vintage Barbie Girl and she has wonderful booths at the shows and there's always people looking at her things and talking and getting to know one another and we have met more of our doll friends in Colorado. I think that way of people coming

17:58to her booth or people saying, well, I'm on Instagram. Are you on Instagram? And then realizing that either we follow each other, that happened with Pam of Pam's Play Pals when we were down at a doll show last year and it was like, oh my gosh, I follow you. Oh my gosh, I follow you. So what I love about this is not only the shows but the community is it seems like folks are very genuine and making those connections are real, like outside of just the online platform and that's been lovely. You know, I have folks that will get on the phone and we'll chat. We know what's going on with each other. Out back east, I've got Victoria from Victoria Loves Barbie and my favorite Sarah from Toy Box Rebel. I'm saying these things these names because they're they're folks that I've genuinely connected with. Central Coast Barbie down in Texas, Angie and Scott's Dale. So it's fun, you know, you in Canada um All the way in Canada.

19:02Natalie in Namibia, it's truly an international community. I think there's a lot of diversity, there's a lot of acceptance, there's a lot of kindness and compassion and that really has helped me want to continue doing this as a hobby and connecting with folks. And it's really nice that you have that opportunity to actually meet people face-to-face. But just hearing some of these names, it's like how sweet is that that you can actually start building relationships that's beyond just a screen. When you actually get to see people in person, it's very nice. It it creates a little bit of that more personal bond. I also follow Barbie Binge who's Nezzly. She's out in Bulgaria. It's just all over the world. I know and I didn't mention probably half the people that I could have should have and I also I don't want it to sort of come off as oh, just naming names, but truly these are people in real life that are wonderful humans that I've connected with and made actual authentic connections with. And so it's interesting. I think that there's a side of social media where it's more persona-based or it's more content-driven and clicks and likes and that's that's not the side that I'm here for. I would consider myself an accidental Instagrammer.

20:25Um I definitely don't um have any kind of content calendar or ideas. If if the spirit moves me and I want to share some photos with my friends, then I will do that. Um if there's challenges to participate in, then I will do that. I'm definitely more about the community and that's what really feeds my spirit. Yeah, you said it so beautifully and I think that's the beauty of the doll community. That's the best part of it all. Regardless of of where you are on on your beliefs or or whatnot in the world, we are in a tumultuous time and the doll community has um for me provided a place of solace, a place of nostalgia and fun, creativity and connection. And I was talking about that connection and truly we're all going through something in our lives.

21:13Everyone has something that they're dealing with and to be able to have those folks who, you know, will check in and say, "How you doing? What's going on in your world? What's going on with with your kids or your family?" It's a lovely break and a respite from maybe the the day-to-day stressors. You know, I've got a full-time job. I've got full-time family responsibilities and this is really something that keeps me in a good space mentally. I think it's good for my well-being. So the community means so much to me and you're part of that huge part of that community and gathering folks and being able to hear other people talk about their experiences through your podcast, through others. I was delighted that Sage with Iconic Doll Cast asked me to be on a podcast not too long ago and it's just those neat ways of connecting and seeing what people are up to is fun. Everything you just said there is exactly why I decided to start this is because there's so many people I'm interacting with in the doll community, whether it's like, "Oh my god, I love your post. Oh my god, what a beautiful doll. Oh, I love the way you styled her hair."

22:19And then it kind of just ends there and like I'd like to get to know people on a personal level and actually see them. [laughter] Right? Just So this is why I wanted to do this and I think we're all curious to like, "What's in your collection and what are you doing to restore and how did you fix that?" It's just a way to learn. Again, I've said over and over, I don't know anything about 70s mod and now I'm seeing pieces and I'm like, "Oh, that's a beautiful piece." And now I'm starting to have a growing a bit more of a love for it. So that's really why I started all this. I love it. You've shown us a few dolls already that you've either purchased at a show and I don't know if maybe this might be the same, but do you have a doll there that maybe has a memorable story? Let's see. Oh, I'm going to bring this doll out again. I have I have some others from from the doll show, but this doll, again, our our beautiful black Barbie from 1980 was gifted to me by my friend Jenny, and Jenny is a doll collector. She and her mom, you know, she she started and never stopped, and they had thousands in their collection. And over the past few years, she's been working on donating some of her dolls. She's She's donated dolls to children's hospitals.

23:24And And when I was helping her sort of identify clothes that she was getting ready to let go of, and and we were washing them, she said, "You know, what can I do to to thank you? How can I recognize that? Is there a doll in my collection that you would be interested in?" Of course, I did pay her a little bit, but nothing like these dolls are going for now. So, Jenny, thank you for this doll. I'm taking really good care of her. Yay, Jenny. That's That's um really fun. That's why I got her out. I wanted to share share that story, and it's really special to me. And every time I see her, I think of Jenny, and I think of her mom, and I think of their collecting. Um you might have seen a post that I did on Friday with a cute little crocheted dress. That also came from their family, and you have a lot of some handmade things. And so, it's keeping that tradition alive, like we talked about maybe earlier, of folks who are ready to move on, or um you know, needing to downsize a little bit, uh then happy to carry on that tradition.

24:26Yeah, that's very very sweet. And yes, yay, Jenny. That was such a nice gesture. And you look at that doll, it reminds you of somebody or someone, and those are so priceless, right? I also have the reproduction. This is a 2009 50th anniversary, and here's my favorite part about it. Do you see that signature? It says Kitty Black Perkins. She signed it. She signed it, and that was from her. I was able to meet her at the last Sherry's doll show in early March, and she was there signing and she was walking through the rooms before her signing started and just greeting people and talking to people and it was just so wonderful. I had her sign this and I also had her sign my African American Day to Night Barbie box because she came new in box and that was really fun cuz she designed the Day to Night Barbie which was pivotal in my childhood and and I have the box for this one and so it was fun to get her to sign both of those. How beautiful is that outfit or any outfit really on the African American? Like just the way the colors pop.

25:39Like look at that. It's already so cute on Barbie but then She means business. Yes. She's got She's another one of my grails. I can't I kind of struggle to find the AA version of Day to Night sometimes. It's interesting that was the repro for Barbie's 50th not for the Black Barbie 50th. Not for Barbie's 50th. It was for just all of Barbie's. Yeah, Barbie's birthday. So the outfit that's in there is that not There it is. So that's the outfit that I thrifted. It's the same one that you showed us Look at that. The same one. Wow. Can Can you tell I'm a sucker for it? Oh my goodness. [laughter] Good eye. My goodness. But it's funny cuz it's a 1980 but that fashion is a little bit more on the disco but I mean it was the early The fashion was 79 so Gotcha. Close enough.

26:25I also have this 40th Anniversary and she was designed by our favorite designer Bill Greening and he signed this for me. Need 2026? Was that recently? This was recently. This was at the end of March. I went to Portland. Again, I have family in the area and I saw that there was a doll show and it is Queen's of the Doll Aisle and Joe runs it and it was an amazing show, and he's friends with Bill, and they did a pre-show event with dessert and chat and trivia and learning from Bill, and he was so gracious to sign folks dolls. He signed this for me because he designed it, and then I also have the Barbie Basics number one, and it's hard to see. He signed it in gold, but and he was just so gracious. And so, Bill, if you're watching, thank you so much. You were just so gracious. And he was also selling some of his collection at the show. So, I did get a couple of fashions that he had put together, and these are Francie fashions, and I didn't have a Francie until that show. And so, I'm now we're in trouble because wow, I am in love with Francie and her fashions. Yes, and Bill Greening's designs. Like, what an absolute legend. Yeah, and we learned so

27:48much from him. He told wonderful stories. We got to hear about his time at Mattel and how he got started and ask him questions and what a beautiful human. If uh Bill, if you're watching, we'd love to have you on the show. That'd be a fun time, for sure. That would be awesome. Is there any other doll that was gifted to you or that you feel has a memorable story that you want to share? I really love I've got both Ken and Barbie. These were favorites from childhood. I have roller skate Barbie and roller skate Ken. I'm just laughing, Chrissie, cuz every doll you pull up, I'm like, I have a list of grails that I keep adding to, and these are on that These are on that list. [laughter] I like to roller skate, too, and sometimes they come to the roller rink with me, and everyone laughs when I'm taking pictures of them, but you know, you only live once. So, yeah. These are ones. Um I still have the outfit and skates to my original roller skate Barbie from when I was a little kid, but I of course had to recreate the collection and and get a couple new ones. I purchased the repro, but there it's not the same. I have those, too. Those are so much fun. I need to come to out to Colorado or to LA and go to come to some of these toy shows because I don't see stuff like that at the toy shows.

29:03That sounds fun. Would love to see you. What does collecting mean to you at this stage in your life? Oh, that's a really good question. Um and it's really multifaceted for me. Um number one obviously is nostalgia. It's recreating my childhood collection. It's reconnecting with that sense of probably safety and security and anchoring of of when I was a child, so I appreciate that. Uh the intellectual stimulation for me. I'm a nerd for learning about the history of the dolls and when the fashions were made and when the dolls were made and what country were they made in and manufactured in and understanding that. I love identifying fashions. It's like a scavenger hunt for me. And then cataloging. I'm I'm a big nerd when it comes to cataloging.

29:50And then curiosity. I am so interested in the phenomenon of Barbie in our society over time, over history, the different perspectives that people have on it, positive or negative, how it affects the environment. That's why I try and buy vintage dolls or or dolls that aren't brand new. I do have some brand new dolls, too, but just sort of keeping that secondary market going, but I'm very curious about all the aspects. You know, I'm not saying that things should be one way or another, but I like to learn. I like to learn about people's perspectives. I like to learn um how folks are thinking about this in our uh society. I like that. I think like what you just said there. I've been um curious as well when it came to like especially around the movie time.

30:35Like when the movie came out, obviously there was a lot of excitement and as collectors were like, "Oh my god, we've waited our whole life for this." And then when the movie was over, it was interesting to just hear different people's perspectives. Again, positive and negative, but there's not one way of looking at things. There could be many ways. Absolutely. And then I think also we've talked at length about this being a a great social outlet, a connector for community, a community builder. And then surprisingly it's turned out to be an artistic and creative outlet as well. You know, dressing the dolls, posing them in scenes, taking them around, doing photography. I'm getting a little bit better at photography. I have no misinterpretations about myself and my skills in photography. Um I sometimes will just take pictures of dolls and they'll have flyaway hair and they'll have, you know, maybe the tag is still sticking out or something like that and that's okay. If I'm having fun and it's making me giggle, that's when I know I'm doing it and having that fun and artistic and creative outlet. That's what I stick to. If if I'm not having fun or not feeling it, then I don't do it. Why do it for any other reason? Like if you're not enjoying it, if it's going to become work.

31:42Mhm. And I don't know about you saying flyaway hairs and tags. I've never seen it in any of your content. But sometimes we're our own worst critic because we see it, right? But sometimes it's like people don't even notice. And again, you're doing it because you love it and the artistic side and all the things that you've mentioned and I love that. Yeah. I noticed that you had something on your shelf that I wanted to peek at cuz I'm pretty sure that's a rare Great Shape you have. Yes. So, this is the um she was released in France, Great Britain, and Canada. A version of Great Shape and I believe this was the French Canadian version. I got her and I got Ken. Oh my goodness. both. Um I had had my eyes out and I thought never, I'll never find these. And friend, they popped up on an eBay sale for probably pennies on the dollar of what you would think. And I just snatched them up.

32:39And this is probably my greatest bargain find and my greatest deal that I've gotten on any dolls. And even though they didn't come with the full box, they each came with like the back of the box. And it was in French and it had Canada listed as the country. Being in Canada, I got to find these guys cuz I I had Great Shape as a kid. It was my sister's, but I took it. And uh it's the blue. And then I recently got this guy because I wanted to Hey Ken. I've had [laughter] Hi Ken. I've had um Great Shapes like in my again, was my sister's, I took it. I've had it for years. I never got the Ken. [laughter] Cute little Oh, but the Ken's waving. And you're the second person that I know and that's been on Barbie Talk that has the Great Shape Barbie. So, episode two, Nutty Barbie Girl, Robin Yes, Robin. fashion. And then I think her friend found the doll or had the doll she goes, "Well, if you've got the fashion, take it." And she pieced it together and I was like, "I've never seen that doll in person." But so, it caught my eye when I saw it.

33:38What a great set. This was a steal. And the better the bargain, the more you love them, at least in my opinion. [laughter] Definitely. If Mattel were to reach out to you and say, "We're going to reproduce another doll. We're going to do a reproduction." And they said, "We want you to tell us which doll you'd want us to repro." What would it be and what would the fashion be? [snorts] Well, I thought about that. And so, I had several different options, but I think that Mattel should do Western Barbie. I know that they did some anniversary updates, but but look at this girl. She winks. You press [snorts] the button on her back and it's Many of these dolls don't have the winking eyelash still functional. So, I was happy to find this one. Yeah, she's like that. Some of them I guess are My eyelashes are just ripped out. So, I think it would be fun to have Barbie and Mattel make like a functional doll that has these features. So, certainly Western Barbie. And another one that I always loved as a kid that has that kind of functionality as well is Beauty Secrets Barbie. And Beauty Secrets has this um place on her back where you can press and you can press on one side or both sides.

34:57And so, if I press on the one side, she moves her arm and she's articulated and she came with a little briefcase of beauty products. So, she comes with this and she can hold on to her hair dryer or her makeup powder and then dry her hair or whatnot. And of course, it doesn't want to open for me. But, I love the functionality and she can, you know, brush her hair. She can wave to you. You know what? For that time, that was quite the innovation, right? Absolutely. some articulation, which we didn't see for Exactly. time, right? And yes, I've seen her. You can put like the blow dryer in her hair and it looks like she's actually blow drying her hair. That was big for for the time, right? It really was, I think. And this is one that I love because as a kid, she was one of my favorite dolls. I still have the jacket from my original one. This might be it. But, she's really fun and sometimes it's hard to find her without her hands um being ripped off. So, like having one with her her hands intact was fun to find. Yeah, that's awesome. years, she just doesn't last.

36:07Every winking Western that I see, she doesn't look great. So, if Mattel could recode that, that's a great one because maybe they could do a better job with the functionality of it. Yes. Well, here's the little hair dryer that she can hold and her little powder puff. And again, I know that's very gendered and gender specific around dolls and beauty and girls. um, but I think we've come a long way. I think that we've got dolls for everyone and every gender identity and expression to really make it fun and do whatever makes you happy. Times have changed, right? So Absolutely. Yeah. If Mattel ever comes across this, you heard it here. You just make sure Chrissy gets the credit and the check. [laughter] Oh, lovely. That would be love. But yeah, some sort of, you know, functionality that's that you can make it go by pushing her back or something like that.

36:59That doesn't require batteries. Yeah, and I think even like the first doll you showed, the fact that the outfit can change, that the functionality of being able to do different things, like that's also kind of nice. So, I've seen on your, uh, Instagram that you've got a mini. When did you create your mini? It feels like something that has become popular over the last couple of years. When I first joined Instagram, I didn't have a mini. And then I joined the Toronto Fashion Doll Club, everybody had a mini and I'm like, okay, I like this idea. So, tell me a little bit about your mini and how she came to be. Sure. Well, I didn't think that I was going to have a mini. I was like, whatever. And then I went to my first Sherry's doll show and Tonya with Grandma Gets Real said, "Anyone that's there, meet up, bring your mini me and we'll take some pictures." And I thought, "Well, I don't have one." So, I found this doll and a lot of times I'll curl my hair like this, but here's my mini and, um, I put her on an articulated yoga, uh, body. So, it was like my first head swap. It was my first putting her on a made-to-move body. She had really long hair and I curled it and I cut it. So, I have a jacket that looks like this. So, it's been really fun because seeing other collectors with their minis and and I don't know if you have yours with you or not, but She's not wearing something that I would wear. She's wearing something that I wish I would wear because it's a beautiful Fashion Avenue outfit. Gorgeous. This is was This was her Easter outfit,

38:21so she's still in her Easter outfit. But, it was the same experience for me. Like, it was the first time I took a head from another doll, put it on a Made to Move. Actually had somebody fix her face to look more like me. I don't know if Wonderful. She does. But, she put like a little mole on her face cuz I've got the mole on my cheek. Like, she just tried to copy. She's got a little another mole here cuz I got another mole here. Did some eyeliner on her. I really liked her hair cuz her hair had the highlights like my hair does. When you go to your doll meets, I don't know if there's a doll club out in Colorado. It's really cute when we get together Christmas or Halloween and they're in their outfits and we do like a whole photo session, you know? Yes, and we don't have an official club. We have friends who have found each other on Instagram and we try to get together a couple times a year. We call each other the Colorado Doll Friends. There are some Barbie clubs in Colorado. I know that there's one that's been meeting for decades.

39:10We're just not as connected with those groups, but we do have a lot of wonderful collectors. And yes, we like to bring our minis and pose them and get together. And then, my husband was also excited about getting a mini. Look at that. You can sort of see on our on our travels, we like to go around and he has these vans in real life, so it's fun to have his mini with his checkered vans. Are those from the Mini Brands sneakers? I don't know. I found them in just a a lot. I don't know. Oh my goodness, they're so cute and I love are. Someone can tell us. I don't know. Yes, maybe someone could tell us. I feel like I saw them in the Mini Brands something or other, which I love those things. It's not even Hopefully. Talk about those cuz those are so addictive. But, that's sweet. I like that you guys have the two of them and then when you are together traveling, it kind of creates our dolls. Yeah, and that's Ken from the Rockers, is it not? You got it. So, that's Ken from the Rockers. I took off his hair because my husband is bald. And then, as you can see, this Ken uses hearing aids and my husband uses hearing aids, so it's it's true to his mini.

40:15Um I found a doll that uses hearing aids at the Mattel store when I was out and Giovanni with the dollhouse took me to the Mattel shop as an amazing outing and we found this doll and so I that had the hearing aids and so I would took them off of that doll and put them on this mini so there they are they love to travel together. What a story and I love how you dress your mini like you I need to start doing that because I kind of don't have I mean I've got my gap Barbie sweater that I have for my doll but I really I would love to do that like have some outfits that match what I'm wearing cuz again I don't own anything like this I wish I did but I don't. They're cute yeah. Yeah that's really sweet I like that you did the little mini for hubby and that he's a great sport with that too I like that. He's such a great sport. Shout out to Giovanni what a sweetheart because he's just he's awesome and I would going to the Mattel store would be a dream. Yeah it was a dream it was a dream come true really fun fun to have a local show me the ropes so and yeah money. Yeah so Chrissy tell me a little bit about the hashtag that you host doll shelf of the month how did that come about? Oh thanks for asking this has been so much fun I started it in February of this year and it came about because while I'm very blessed to have a Barbie room and and a place for all of my collection I don't have shelf space for all of my collection and I love to get out the different lines of dolls or different dolls and so I thought well maybe I'll

41:40just do like a rotating shelf of the month and I kind of was doing that for myself and then I thought well maybe other people might want to join in on doll shelf of the month and I searched up and no one had been using that hashtag so I was like okay maybe this is meant to be and so the first week of every month usually like the first through the fifth or the seventh it's flexible please feel free to share if you share the shelves that you have in your room if you don't have a shelf and you have dolls you want to pose on the table. If you have works in progress, it's really shelf is how you interpret it. And folks have been giving a lot of good positive feedback that they're like, "Oh, this has been inspired me to move my shelves around or show some other dolls that I had in storage." Or this is the first time I've ever participated in a challenge and this feels doable for me. So, it's super casual. All dolls welcome, not just Barbies. If you're into American Girl or LEGOs or action figures, all dolls are welcome.

42:48And Cindy's Barbies, everybody would love to have folks join. So, it's #dollshelf of the month, first week of every month. And that is when I'd be happy to repost your post in my stories during that first week of the month. And it's been a fun way for folks to connect and see one another's passion for collecting. And that's exactly what I like about it. It's simple. It doesn't require all this like pre-work. It's literally just come and take a picture of your shelf. It's just Do you believe I By seeing other people's shelves, you get inspiration. And you're like, "You know what? I can make that little corner of my living room work." It's very inspiring and you get influenced, right? To be like, "You know what? I think I can do something like that." And I love the way this person did this. It's just so nice to see how everybody displays their dolls.

43:35And I love that it's not just for dolls. So, don't forget to participate in #dollshelf of the month. Do you have a rare doll or a fashion or even just something Barbie related that's like super unique or hard to find or something you got at a doll show that you want to share? I do. I've never shared this before. I've I've wanted to. So, this is This is another Barbie Talk first. A Barbie Talk first. Um this is a really fun um artifact. It is the Barbie disco record player from 1976. And back before streaming and back before those types of things, this is how folks used to listen to music. And so, the record has a turntable that spins the record, and then there's also this microphone so you can sing along on like the PA. It's got a PA system, and it's Barbie disco record player. And you can take it along. It's It's portable-ish.

44:41If you were going to a friend's house in the '70s with your Barbies, you could take the record player, and you could take some records. For example, we've got this one here, which is Barbie Around the Campfire, Campfire Songs, I think. Uh Barbie and her friends sing and talk about friendship in this new album that's filled with songs and fun. So, stay tuned. I'll have to do some posts with these, but that was something that I really wanted. They're hard to come by. I waited and watched and waited and watched, and I finally saw one online for sale for a very decent price in very good shape. So, I had to jump on it. It is in very good shape, and what a find. And with the record, too. Was it a set Was it the record with the player, or you bought it separate? No, the record was separate, and there was a line of records that Mattel did. For example, we've got the Barbie Christmas album.

45:38Okay, my two favorite things is Barbie Christmas. [laughter] Can you believe it? Can you show that album again, the Barbie Christmas one? Yes, here's an exercise one. Exercise album. That would be great for Great Shape. Great Shape. Here's the Christmas album. Oh [sighs] my goodness. [gasps] And so, this is Barbie singing with her friends. It's Barbie singing with her friends before the Rockers. Barbie was always a singer. She just needed to get the band together. I love that. What a nice first on Barbie Talk and I can't wait to see this whenever you post it or your reel and maybe you're going to have your 70s dolls in it. It's going to be fantastic. It's going to be out of this world. It's going to be fantastic. Thanks. Now I have to do it because I've been thinking about it but just have never done it and so this was a great opportunity when you asked is there something that's kind of rare and special and I think that's the thing. I want to just thank you Chrissy for being on Barbie Talk. It was an absolute pleasure.

46:33Time has flown by. Conversations like the one you and I just had is a reminder of the love for this hobby. It really is and why we fell in love with it in the first place. So I'm so grateful for everything you shared today. Thank you for sharing your collection, your rare pieces, giving us that first reveal [laughter] of a rare piece that you found. Thank you so much for doing that and if you're not following Mountain Barbie Girl, follow her on Instagram. Is this is this when I get to do this, Kelly? Yes, let's do that. So [laughter] Mountain Barbie Girl is where you will follow her. Oh my gosh, yes. If you're not following her now Here it is. you need to do so. So thank you so much. I'm just so grateful that you were on the show. Thank you for having me. I am so honored and grateful for your time and care and hopefully friends in the Barbie world will see this. Hi everybody and have um have a wonderful day. Thank you so much, Chrissy. Take care. Take care. Bye.

47:31It's amazing how one doll can say so much without saying [music] anything at all. Make sure to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell if you love all things Barbie. And if you enjoyed this episode, click here to watch one of my other episodes. [music] Thanks for watching.