Red Flare

These days full of mistletoe and green and red make it ideal to talk about... the Red Flare This ensemble was one of the outfits designed by Charlotte Johnson and Fumiko Miyatsuka the year that Charlotte lived in Tokio but that didn't make it for the first Barbie wardrobe and was launched in 1962. The 50s was a decade of change and improvements, the IIWW had ended in 1945 and people was begining to thrive. In the midst of the euphoria, Christian Dior created the New Look revolutioning the Fashion World and suddenly the skirts grew and became fuller giving women an hourglass silhouette that must be accomodated under coats wide enough to hide those yards and yards of fabric, the swing coats. The New Look silhouette spread all over the world becoming a symbol of the 50s and, as Barbie couldn't be less her first wardrobe was full of wide skirts and petticoats, something that most children could recognize in their daily life. The cherry on top sure has to be a flame red swing coat lined in white satin with sleeves short enough to wear white opera gloves and a pillbox hat. Could it be that the pillbox hat was added later? Being the Red Flare launched in 1962 they had time to see the one designed by Roy Halston that Jackie Kennedy wore in 1961 and could have been included in the set. Fumiko explains in her book that the Red Flare coat prototype was pink because they ran out of red fabric and she, who kept all the prototypes and patterns done that year in the Hotel Imperial at Tokio, has a "Pink Flare" coat in her collection. The 80s contributed to spread the image of the pink Barbie but allow me to tell you at the beginning Barbie was all red flare! Nevertheless if you'd like to have a Red Flare hanging of your Christmas tree don't forget that there is a Hallmark Keepsake! Happy Holidays! by The Barbiest