So, someone on X has found the image from FRUiTS Magazine that the one Tokyo Pop Barbie outfit was directly copied from, but, The Internet Being The Internet, they didn't say which issue it was. It's entirely possible someone in the replies there did say, but I don't have an X account so I can't see the replies.
Using the magazine image from the X post, I did a reverse image search and found a Pinterest that labeled it July 2000, so I went to The Internet Archive and found July 2000, and it wasn't there.
I looked at issues around then, and found it in September 2000
The famous Harajuku street fashion magazine
Barbie photo from here
What might not be so obvious is that the text on the waistband area of the original is...not suitable for an American toy...
I saw the FRUiTS image in 2004 or '05, showing what a direct rip off the doll outfit is, but didn't think about saving it myself back then, because none of us knew that information would be harder to find in the future














