So Gash steadily began collecting, until he had created what he called his “Barbie oasis.” The collection even features custom-made doll versions of Gash and his corded poodle, Rapunzel, who he lovingly calls his mini-me. (“We have the same hair,” Gash says.)
Talk to any astute collector, and you’re bound to hear two names eventually: Kitty Black-Perkins and her protégé Stacy McBride-Irby. The two women designed some of the most memorable and revered Black dolls over the decades. Perkins, who joined Mattel in 1976, was responsible for the first Christie doll. That seminal doll was outfitted in hoop earrings, a short ’fro, and a red bodysuit. Her packaging read: “She’s Black! She’s beautiful! She’s dynamite!” In the ’90s, McBride-Irby joined Mattel, and the two women designed the bulk of Black Barbies that hit shelves during the 1990s and 2000s.
“When we would create dolls, the Black doll was secondary,” McBride-Irby says. “We always created the white doll first, then marketing would determine if a Black doll was needed.” That changed when McBride-Irby created So in Style, an entire line of Black dolls, in 2009. The Barbies came with fuller lips, natural hairstyles, and a wider range of skin tones. “The Princess and the Frog was about to come out in a year, Barack Obama was a candidate for the presidency,” McBride-Irby says of the time. “I was able to pitch my concept to Mattel. I said, ‘Look, we don’t want to be behind the times. We need to start creating this Black line of dolls.’”
The line was a hit and still holds a special spot among Black Barbie collectors like Brione. “The dolls started to actually look like Black people,” Brione says, “instead of just being dolls in different skin tones.”
These days McBride-Irby no longer works in the toy industry, but she is often asked to speak at doll conventions and to collectors. “I did get a direct message from a young lady saying how my dolls made a difference in her life,” McBride-Irby says. “And now she’s 23 years old. So it does make a difference. Even at the time dads were thanking me for making dolls that looked like their daughters.”
On a personal level, collectors say that their dolls have provided powerful, can-do examples—a common theme throughout all Barbies. Gash dreams of one day showing off his Black Barbie collection and expertise on television. Brione, meanwhile, has proudly adopted Barbie’s effortless career hopping, working as a pet-boutique owner, blogger, event planner, and more at different points in her life. “Barbie was president, and I feel like I can be president next if I wanted to,” she says.
