14 DAY TRIAL // Barbie has gone through numerous changes throughout the years. The world’s most famous doll is looking very modern these days, thanks to a partnership with Tokidoki designer Simone Legno, which has given her a full fashion makeover, including animal prints, edgy hair and tattoos.
It’s that last part of the makeover that’s already getting people talking, with many a concerned parent fearing their own kids might grow up to ask for “a tattoo just like Barbie's,” The Week informs.
The new doll, which retails for $50 (€36) and is not meant for kids since it’s a collector’s edition, also comes with a pet named “Bastardino,” a super cute and funky handbag and sparkly silver peep-toe pumps.
She’s dressed in animal print leggings and a black sweater with a skull-heart and bones on it. Barbie is no longer blonde, since she comes with a super trendy (and cute) pink bob.
Indeed, she’s a “funky fashionista.”
However, it’s what underneath her clothes that’s getting people talking: Barbie now has a tattoo running down her neck and chest, and another one on her arm.
Parent have already taken to online forums to say that putting tattoos on Barbie is just as worse as having her hold a cigarette and a bottle of beer because it’s telling kids that this type of behavior is norm.
“Tokidoki Barbie ‘is essentially harmless and actually quite cute,’ says Souzan Michael at Trendhunter, but who are we kidding? A lot of conservative parents are going to be outraged,” The Week writes of the reaction the latest Barbie doll has generated online.
“It’s not hard to see why they’ll think this Barbie’s a bad influence, says This Fangirl Life. All that ink has turned ‘America’s most prissy and disproportionate fashion model’ into a ‘horrible hipster/socialite hybrid’,” the e-zine further notes.
“‘Maybe this doll will spark a few “can I get tattooed like Barbie” requests, says MSN New Zealand’s CLEO blog. ‘But we have to say, the design is super pretty.’ Besides, most other celebrities have tattoos these days, so it was only a matter of time before the constantly reinvented Barbie got one, too,” The Week says.
Mattel, on the other hand, sees nothing wrong with the tattooed Barbie: it’s a limited edition doll created especially for the adult collector, so there’s absolutely no chance it can “inspire” girls to want to get a tattoo, the company says in a statement.