Can anything say "Jackie Kennedy" more than this reproduction of a Bubblecut Barbie with the mythical Pillbox hat on top of that characteristic bouffant hairstyle?
It's true that in the beginnings of Barbie the trends of the late 50s and early 60s overlap since both the Silken Flame and the Red Flare have a more 50s halo dominated by that hourglass silhouette of Dior's New Look and the reason may be because the first Barbie wardrobe was designed in 1957 by Charlotte Johnson and Fumiko Miyatsuka during the year that CJ was in Tokyo but some models were not released until well into the 60s. Of course, the most important premise was that the girls could identify these models with what they saw on a day-to-day basis at a time when prompt fashion did not exist and in which the garments had a lifespan of some years with which they could coexist with newer trends.
Perhaps we are not aware of the impact that President JFK's wife had on Barbie, but until the radical change that was the "British invasion" of the USA in the mid-1960s, America looked at Jackie, who was the icon of quintessential fashion, and that lead us to two men, Oleg Cassini and Roy Halston.
Oleg Cassini was a well-known designer who dressed some of the most golden Hollywood actresses, which made the American presidential family choose him as "Secretary of Style" of the White House, that is, the person in charge of the image of the Kennedys and specially of the first lady Jaqueline. As he himself said, his purpose was "make her a movie star." And he achieve his goal.
On the other hand, there was Roy Halston, who at that time was in charge of the Bergdorf Goodman hat shop and was the creator of the legendary pillbox that Jackie wore during the 1961 Presidential Inauguration. Soon many imitation pillbox hats were all over America including a dent that Jackie Kennedy inadvertently made in the hat by trying to hold it on, but the truth is that both Halston and Cassini always claimed the authorship behind the Pillbox and, although Jackie's hair often reached great proportions, that day her bouffant under the hat was not as exaggerated as Barbie's Bubblecut.
Regarding the bouffant, it must be said that the British television stylist Raymond "Teasy Weasy" Bessone is credited for starting the trend, but the fact that such a hairstyle ended up on Jackie's head is due to Kenneth Battelle, stylist of stars like Marilyn Monroe. Kenneth began working with Jackie when John was still a senator and designed voluminous hairstyles for the First Lady that flattered her unique beauty.
Camelot, as they called that world that was generated around the White House during Kennedy's presidency, disappeared with the assassination of the JFK in 1963 and a revolution from the old continent would come the following year to shake American fashion, Jackie and of course Barbie.
Silken Flame repro 1998