My First

After 20 years since Barbie was born Mattel realized that their public were expanding to earlier ages. Small girls and boys wanted to play with the Barbie dolls owned by their siblings but there was a problem... 

Barbie was difficult to dress with their little hands so a new concept of Barbie was launched, My First.

My First Barbie was a Barbie doll made in a way that children couldn't damage themselves, with straight arms with smooth edged hands and smooth legs in order that small children could easily slide their clothes, that had not much complication, wide openings, elastic waist bands and straps to learn how to do ties.

The colors for the first edition in 1980 were a bright shade of yellow and blue. I supose this had something to do with the fact that the primary colors are the first ones children can recognize and take their attention. Nevertheless the collection of "My First" dolls and My First fashions sold separately grew and eventually appeared My First Ken, My First Princess and My First Ballerina with white legs and sculpted slippers in some models and with a collection of training fashions.

My First Barbie dolls were focused on younger children so the hair (saran I would say) was easy to comb, her hairstyle pretty simple and her face more angelical with eyes less penetrating and a more innocent make up. After the success of the first "My First", Mattel added a little bit of diversity in the dolls and over the years we can see "My Firsts" with the "hispanic facemold", the "Kira facemold" or the "Christie facemold" with a stunning black skin.

On a sadder note the little girl choosen for the ad and for the image in the box was Heather O'Rourke, the girl from Poltergeist, but for those who are thinking "creepy this girl died in strange circumstances" to say that her dead has nothing strange for she had a congenital malformation in her bowels that eventually lead her to death at 12 years old, very tragic but nothing paranormal.

The "My First" line was almost 20 years on the toy stores shelves until the end of 20th century. Other lines of dolls were released, but this allure is not easy to surpass!