Carolyn J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
Reasons Why Barbie Is a Good Role Model
If you are a parent or someone wondering if Barbie is a good role model, this is my opinion and fact based research-driven writing piece written with inspiration from the 2023 Barbie movie that may help you decide one way or the other. Barbie was a favorite toy of mine and she continues to inspire me, even as an adult. Read on to learn my reasons why Barbie is a good role model.
If you were a Barbie-loving child like I was, you may have had a lot of them. I not only had many Barbie dolls, but I had lots of the Barbie paper dolls too. I just couldn’t get enough of them. Every time I’d go to the store with my Nani (my maternal grandmother), she’d let me buy one small item. My favorite things to buy were comic books and Barbie paper dolls.
I have a love of vintage Robby Len swimsuits
With my variety of paper dolls and actual Barbies, I would host weddings, using the top of an old chocolate box that was adorned with a red rose and a silk ribbon as the alter for those getting married. I would love changing their outfits, hairstyles, shoes as often as possible.
I transformed my swimsuit into a body suit for day wear
Helping conduct a few actual real-life weddings as an adult (this country-style wedding was one of my favorites) as well as loving fashion, hair styling and shoes among all my other creative loves, I know that Barbie was a good role model for me. I know Barbie’s extremely tall and thin body type, as well as other aspects of her features, have been criticized for their potential to give children false ideas on how a person should look, but the doll did not do this for me.
My version of a modern Barbie
Any kind of false ideas on how someone should look came from real life examples in my life such as parental figures, so called “friends”, strangers, and people in the media. My fashion magazines from the 90’s were filled with super thin models that did not look anything like me and my curvy body type. I knew the difference between a toy and a real person from a very young age, and my toys never gave me any negative feelings about myself.
Check out my Day to Night Barbie inspired outfit in my 15 second YouTube video below or via my channel @carolynjbraden :
My day version of “Day to Night Barbie”
Instead, I was inspired by my toys, and saw Barbie as a doll and role model. According to the National Library of Medicine, children’s only profession should be playing with toys. “It contributes to the development of cognitive, motor, psychosocial, emotional and linguistic skills AND plays a key role in raising self-confident, creative and happy children.” My mom said I was drawn to colorful and creative looking things from a very young age, so my attraction to Barbie as a conceptive toy that would inspire me creatively, I believe, was a natural tendency for me.
How I think a modern Malibu Barbie could look
My parents divorced when I was seven years old and because I lived with my dad full-time solely for a little while, I needed to figure out how to style my own long hair. My mom had always made my hair look fabulous every single day, and without her around, I had to turn to my creative gifts. I taught myself to braid by dissecting a Barbie’s braid (I grew up when there were no video tutorials or braiding blog posts), then tried it out on a My Little Pony horse. When I got the hang of a basic braid, I taught my dad how to do it so I could have some help sometimes.
When I got really confident in my braids, I then attempted to dissect a French braid on a Barbie, and then tried it on a doll. Having a Barbie that I could practice my braiding talents on and had as an example was very helpful and I still braid my hair as an adult as a part of my career path as a digital content creator/artist. Teaching others with my creative gifts, similar to what I did for my dad, is something I do now, it’s something I did when I was an art teacher, and it’s something I believe Barbie, in a way, was a catalyst of this creative lifestyle concept for me.
A Barbie with braided hair is inspiration for a creative child
My love of fashion grew even stronger because of Barbie and the doll’s wonderfully talented doll dress designers. I could not afford any Barbie-level fancy dresses when I was a child, so I would make some of my own. I would look to my Barbie’s dresses for inspiration on draping and style. I would sometimes draw my own designs inspired by Barbie’s dresses in my journals and sketchbooks. Drawing and designing fashions was one of my favorite things to do.
My pool float is very “Barbie”
I would sometimes get a hand-me-down “somewhat” fancy dress from a friend of the family or use sheets to create dresses to photograph. My grandfather gave me my first camera around age 8 or so, and to capture my creations on film, I’d dress my sister in the fashions, then photograph her. Once I got a tripod in college, I started photographing myself in fashions I’d put together. Barbie grew my love of fashion, which again, is a part of my career path and I love it.
Using my husband’s vintage water fan on a hot summer day
With a few of these connective similarities between me and Barbie, one may ask if I think if a completely different toy had been marketed well and was available to me as a child in the 1980’s, do I think my life path would have been different. I will answer that with a simple “no”.
Funboy pool float designs are inspiring to me as a adult
Barbie did not make me exactly who I am today. She was a role model, which by definition, is someone you admire or copy their behavior. Because the Barbie doll did not have a behavior, I gave her behaviors, which was mostly weddings, having fashion shows and working. My Barbie dolls always had jobs (I loved owning my own fashion Dream Store with Barbie), houses that they owned, and I admired her fabulous cars (I loved my Barbie Corvette!).
Barbie inspires many
While you may imitate a role model, they don’t make you exactly who you are, as you are born with a lot of natural ability and talents. A positive role model (which I know is what Barbie was for me) is simply someone that can help guide you to use your natural abilities to help you form a happy, healthy lifestyle and career path. My natural abilities happened to lie in the arts, so I was able to use Barbie and her colorful world to help inspire me as a naturally born teacher, creator and artist.
One child may see a Barbie as a mother (maybe they’ll have children and love them unconditionally), one child may see Barbie as a fashionista (maybe they’ll be a fashion designer), one may see her as a simple toy that needs a haircut (maybe they’ll be a stylist). Each child and person can see Barbie for whatever they wish, but Barbie was a toy that I was drawn to for a reason, and she will always be a happy part of my childhood.
I created fun and happy adventures with my Barbie. Her fancy lifestyle was not what I experienced as a child (I did not know anyone that owned a Corvette), so to be drawn to items I had never seen in real life was only part of my creative eye and curiosity, something I still have today. If I end up with some of the fancy things that Barbie has, well, let’s just call that kismet.
One of my favorite dolls, Day to Night Barbie
Besides my Barbie dolls, I had lots of other toys that I adored, but between Barbie, my cameras, my art supplies and found home décor items, those were among my favorite. Toys and playtime are very important to kids and adults too!
In my adult eyes, I am happy that the Barbie brand has expanded to include even more body types, facial features and more. As a child, I didn’t pay attention to that (as most young kids don’t notice body types unless another human has addressed it specifically in their presence) but I am happy for this to be in toy designers mindsets.
I still have a few of my Barbies, and Day to Night was my favorite. Here’s a short YouTube video below (or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden) that explains why she was important to me.
Tell me your favorite Barbie in the comments below!
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Carolyn J. (C.J.) Braden is a regular contributor and editor for Carolyn’s Blooming Creations. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.