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

Quintessential Barbie® - Who is she?

Well, the mystery of Bathing Suit Barbie® and her "new" head is solved, but another mystery is still... mystery-ing around: What exactly is Quintessential Barbie®?

The Dolls Magazine article that previewed some upcoming dolls from the 2009 line (which I talked about here) said Quintessential Barbie was a doll that would be available to purchase later in the year. Several websites have said the same thing since then.

However, aside from the Dolls Magazine article, I can't find anything to substantiate this.

I asked the very awesome Claudia at Pink Ponytail Presents, and she said there are no listings for a Quintessential Barbie doll at this point.

This is her face

The whole thing may be a misunderstanding. I think "Quintessential Barbie" is just a doll that was used in promo photographs for the 50th anniversary to represent what Barbie looks like in 2009 - e.g., the "quintessential Barbie". However, the photos of the doll were just labeled "Quintessential Barbie (2009)" with no explanation, and that might have lead people to believe the doll was part of the 2009 line.

Top Model™ Resort Barbie®

The doll has been used in several different pictures - including the face shot above and the image of Barbie in a bikini standing in front of the real-life Malibu Dream House designed by Jonathan Adler shown below.

Here she is at the Malibu "Dream House" in Top Model Resort Barbie®'s Swimsuit

The big tip-off that this doll isn't going to be produced is the fact that she's wearing the dress from last year's Top Model™ Resort Barbie doll in the "Quintessential" pictures. (Actually, it looks like she is Top Model Resort Barbie from the neck down. ) She's also wearing the swimsuit from the same Top Model doll in the Malibu Dream House photo shown to the right.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean the doll itself won't be produced. Apparently there's either going to be a Jonathan Adler doll, a line of doll-sized furniture, or both, and I guessed there was a chance the head used in the pictures could be from the Jonathan Adler doll (if there is one). However, when I looked it up I found this picture of a Toy Fair display of something labeled "Jonathan Adler ♥ Barbie", and the doll in the picture is different - she has a different hairstyle and uses the closed-mouth 1991 "Mackie" Barbie® head instead of the 1998 "Generation Girl™" Barbie® head the "quintessential" doll uses. It's not clear from the writeup if the doll shown in the picture is actually going to be be produced or if it's just part of the display, though.

The doll shown in the "Quintessential" pictures was never released in any form, although her face paint design ended up being used on almost all of the playline Barbie dolls released after Barbie changed back to her old head.

The closed-mouth-headed Barbie ♥ Jonathan Adler doll shown in the photos was released, along with a set of doll-size furniture and a collection of human-size home decor pieces.