Charles's Pages about Doll Stuff - www.dollstuff.net

Have you seen the new Barbie® Fashionistas™ dolls? (Thanks to James for letting me know about them!)

Barbie® Fashionistas™: Wild, Girly, Glam, Artsy, Sassy, and Cutie
(Click to see it bigger)

Lots of people have posted pictures of them on Flickr.

The dolls don't have individual character names - they're just named after their clothing style (Wild, Girly, Glam, Artsy, Sassy, and Cutie). Four of them are white dolls with blond hair and the enlarged 1998 "Generation Girl™" Barbie® head; one is a white doll with dark hair and the 2003 Summer® head; and one is a black doll with the enlarged 2001 "Barbie® 2002" head.

They have a new "articulated" body type. You can see pictures of it here on Amithi's blog. It looks like the 1999 Secret Messages™ "belly button" body with a new joint under the bust (I hate under-bust joints ) and new Barbie-logo-print panties. It has the existing poseable Secret Messages legs with high-heel feet (I love those legs ) and the articulated arms from last year's Fashion Fever™ dolls.

I wonder if this body will be used on more dolls in the future? Personally, I'd think it was weird if my friends started wearing underwear with my name printed all over it. (Maybe it's different when you're a "fashionista".)

It seems unclear where these dolls will be sold. They're currently only available at Peek & Cloppenburg stores (possibly only ones in Germany?) as a tie-in to the Barbie Loves Peek & Cloppenburg clothing line. (This is similar to the Barbie Loves Bennetton line from 2005, which included children's clothing as well several exclusive Fashion Fever™-style dolls.) The press materials say it's an "exclusive prelaunch" of the dolls, implying that they'll be available at other stores later. However, it doesn't say where they'll be sold after the "pre-launch" period - if they'll remain exclusive to Peek & Cloppenburg stores, or if other stores will be carrying them too. (Websites for retailers in some countries that don't have Peek & Cloppenburg stores do currently have pages up for the Fashionistas assortment.)

"Artsy" looks like the ultra-rare Fashion Fever® Desiree® doll from 2005

I really hope these dolls will be available in the US, because I desperately covet the enlarged 2001 "Adria" sculpt. So far this head has only been used on two dolls: Fashion Fever® Desiree® and Barbie Loves Bennetton New York, both of which were released in 2005 and both of which are extremely hard to find.

If these dolls do show up here, I might even buy them for the full price (normally I'm a huge cheapskate ) for making "one of a kind" dolls, because this is one of my favorite heads.