Feb 26, 20212 min read

The Black Barbie Aesthetic

Happy end of February! This month has just been a little hectic, I can't believe I'm literally halfway through the second semester already. Hence, the blogs posts and my YouTube vlogs have been on hold for the month as I've been trying to get myself together.

Today, I'm talking about something I personally like to call the "Black Barbie Aesthetic." It is Black History Month, and my blog is about fashion and aesthetic inspiration for black women. The Black Barbie Aesthetic has everything to do with pink and not plastic.

Pink was predicted to be the color for 2021, a color that represents sweetness and friendship. Hot pink is used to communicate playfulness, while light pink is used to communicate tenderness. February is also known as the month of love, with Valentine's Day always falling on the 14th, so red and pink are always the theme colors surrounding February.

The first Barbie debuted in 1959, and a bright shade of pink was chosen as Barbie's signature color mostly to attract young girls to the brand. Initially, the Barbie only came in fair skin tones, and during that time of the civil rights movement, Mattel, they toy brand that released Barbie, was criticized for not representing dolls that looked like more Americans.

It took Mattel a decade to create a black friend for Barbie, "Talking Christie" in 1969, and another decade for "Black Barbie," the first "African-American Barbie," to be released in 1980. This Barbie sported an Afro, stud hoop and dangle earrings, a bold modernist necklace, and a fabulous red bodysuit with a wrap-and-snap disco skirt. On the box she came in were the words, “She’s black! She’s beautiful! She’s dynamite!”

Now, I know I said the Black Barbie Aesthetic was about pink, and it is. I wanted to go along with the theme that pink is gonna be a hot color this year, so here are some examples of black women wearing pink outfits, partaking in my self-proclaimed Black Barbie Aesthetic.