The entire family was gathered for the wedding. The bride and groom, Ken and Barbie, were all dressed up. Priyanka Nair laughs as she recalls that day. “I must have been 11 or 12 then. It was Christmas. My cousins and I were playing with my Barbies when we decided to hold the wedding. I had just received a Barbie Wedding set, which had her in a wedding gown and Ken in a tuxedo. The rest of my Barbies were the bridesmaids while my Kelly dolls were the flower girls. I had another Ken, who acted as the best man. My parents, brothers, uncles and aunts all joined in the fun. I think an uncle of mine still has a photo of the occasion,” she says.
The bride and groom arrived at the venue in a remote-controlled car and there was cake too, although plastic. “It was a day all of us fondly remember as we had so much fun. The entire family was involved in making the day special.”
The Barbie Wedding Collection
Priyanka was three when she received her first Barbie. She instantly fell in love with the doll, and insisted on a Barbie for each of her birthdays. “I started losing interest when I turned 14 though,” says Priyanka, a technical writer at a company in Technopark.
The 31-year-old sounds like a proud mother as she shows off her collection of Barbie dolls. She has 42 of them, neatly arranged in a glass cabinet. There are a few Ken and Kelly dolls as well, on the shelves.
“The Barbie in the off-white gown is one of my favourites; it’s a gift from my uncle. That one still in the box is a collectible. It is from The Birthstone Collection Collectible Dolls. I got myself a Pearl doll. Those Barbies over there are from the Barbie Princess collection; I have Mulan, Rapunzel, Pocahontas….”
Priyanka says her aunt Sheila Lopez gifted her a large part of her collection. “My aunt is a big fan Barbie just like me. She, however, collects Barbies from the Dolls from the World collection, which consists of Barbies that represent a country.”
Some of the dolls from the Barbie Princess collection
While a lot of women these days feel that Barbie sets unrealistic beauty standards and make young girls believe that being a woman is all about looks, Priyanka says that as a child, she was curious about Barbie’s style and fashion. “I loved the patterns, material and colours used for her outfits. Besides, Barbie has evolved over time, from being a blonde woman with unrealistic curves. She has diversified in terms of size, skin tone and ethnicity. I think she is more than just a pretty face. Barbie has held over 150 careers, being ‘employed’ as everything from an astronaut to a palaeontologist to a soccer coach.”
For Priyanka, who grew up with two brothers who were more fond of cars and actions figures, her Barbies were her playmates. Priyanka would pretend they were characters from movies she had watched or from books she had read. “I would re-enact the tale with my dolls. My cousins would join me at times.”
Priyanka recalls how those in her neighbourhood would visit their apartment in Vanchiyoor when she and her family first moved in. “They were curious about my Barbie collection. Some, like the Soccer Barbie, for instance, which had movable joints, were new to them. They even admired my collection of Disney Polly Pockets. I also developed a taste for Polly Pockets and had collected a few. My favourites are the Cinderella’s Enchanted Castle, Mulan and Lion King. My brothers, Mithun and Ashwin, have a Polly Pocket Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.”
Priyanka’s mother, Premla Moreira, says people continue to visit them to see her daughter’s collection. “Kids often ask to play with them but I say I have lost the key to the cupboard. I don’t think I will allow even my grandchildren to play with them,” she laughs.
With Barbie turning 60 on Sunday, Priyanka is considering throwing her a birthday party. But this time, with real cake.
