Barbie as we all know is a children's fashion doll beloved by generation after generation of little girls. All over the world children have adored dressing there fashion dolls from head to toe in cute dresses and playing enchanted fairy tales for hours on end with them. I even remember how much I was captivated by my Barbie dolls as a small girl. So where in the heck did Barbie come from?
The first ever Barbie doll was manufactured by Mattel in the March of 1959. Her creator was a woman by the name of Ruth Handler. Ruth's inspiration materialized
from a German doll named Bild Lilli that she found on vacation. Handler had noticed that dolls for little girls of that era in America were all depictions of infants. Ruth felt that an older age representation of a doll like the Bild Lilli in America could serve meaningful to children especially since she observed her daughter play with her infant dolls often giving them adult roles.
After Ruth redesigned the German Bild Lilli doll into her own perfect version of a children's toy she gave her a new fitting name after that of her daughter Barbara and Barbie was born. The debut of the doll at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959 was the day that became Barbie's official Birthday on record.
The first Barbie doll featured a black and white zebra striped swimsuit and the signature ponytail, and her hair was available in either a blonde or brunette.
So there you have it in summary, where Barbie has come from.