Meet the Frida Kahlo Barbie doll
The late Frida Kahlo belongs to the ages. Despite that the celebrated artist died 64 years ago, she retains her hold on public imagination and affection, exerting ever greater influence and inspiring new generations. Her image is immortalized in her many self-portraits, on memorials paying tribute to her and on products bearing her picture.
Now, a stylized but recognizable likeness of the courageous, captivating artist from Coyoacán will grace the homes of children and collectors around the world. Earlier this month, toy company, Mattel introduced the Frida Kahlo Barbie doll in honor of International Women’s Day. The doll is part of a trio of collectible dolls in a new series Mattel calls the Inspiring Women collection. The series “pays tribute to incredible heroines of their time; courageous women who took risks, changed rules, and paved the way for generations of girls to dream bigger than ever before,” the brand says.
Kahlo, Amelia Earhart, the legendary pioneer of flight from Atchison, Kan., and Katherine Johnson, NASA mathematician are the first dolls in the collection to be released. Mattel plans to add more dolls in the likeness of inspirational historical women but hasn’t named them. The series includes biographical information about the women.
The toy giant has sold out of Kahlo, Earhart and Johnson dolls online but offers product availability alerts. Consumers can sign up to be notified via email when the dolls are available. To find the dolls, which sell for $29.99, in a local store, click the “Find at Retail” link on the Inspiring Women webpage, https://barbie.mattel.com/en-us/about/role-models.html. On March 19, 2Mas2KC canvassed 10 local retailers listed on the site. None had Inspiring Women dolls on store shelves or shared stocking information.
Mattel came up with the Inspiring Women series after conducting a worldwide survey of 8,000 mothers and finding that 86 percent of respondents said they were worried about the kind of role models their daughters are exposed to.
This month, the company also introduced 14 new dolls in its three-year-old “Shero” line, named for influential contemporary women. Shero dolls celebrate modern women around the world who have broken records and boundaries in their respective fields and transformed perceptions about women in those fields. Honorees include ballerinas, fashion designers, filmmakers, journalists, Olympic gold medalists, wildlife conservationists and scores more.
While the Frida Kahlo Barbie has sold out, it’s drawn some criticism. A great niece of the famous Mexican artist objected to the doll’s physical features and dress, and she claimed that Mattel wasn’t authorized to use Kahlo’s image. Mexican actress Salma Hayek who portrayed Kahlo in the film Frida protested on Instagram against turning the painter “into a Barbie.”
Mattel was authorized by the Frida Kahlo Corporation, which owns the rights to Kahlo’s name and identity, the company announced in a statement. In addition, the Frida Kahlo Corporation “actively participated in the process of designing the (Frida Kahlo Barbie) doll.” Mattel says the Barbie brand “is committed to shining a light on empowering role models past and present in an effort to inspire more girls.”
