#billyboy*

[barbielore]

I made a post a while ago about the point at which Barbie began to actively market collectibles as opposed to just playline dolls for children.

At the time I mentioned the first Dolls of the World line in 1980 and the debut of Barbie Bazaar in 1988, but in hindsight I missed some pretty important dolls in the history.

1985's Le Nouveau Theatre de la Mode Barbie, designed in collaboration with BillyBoy* was created to commemorate the first Barbie, at the time 26 years old. It's hard to argue that this was intended to be a playline doll for children - by modern standards we would definitely call this a collectible.

But it's Blue Rhapsody (1986) that is more widely considered to be the first Barbie collectible. She was the first Porcelain doll and was advertised as being the first in the "Porcelain Treasures collection".

She looks sort of quaint in a way I can't quite put my finger on.

This is probably the closest answer to my original question - but for the sake of completeness, I have seen some people put it later still, with the Bob Mackie Gold Barbie in 1990.

Charming though she is, I think we can confidently eliminate her from contention as she came after both of the dolls listed above, after the debut of the Holiday Barbie line, and well after the debut of Collectors Magazine Barbie Bazaar.

[ohyeahpop]

BillyBoy* in London, 1986 - Ph. Andy Warhol

[barbielore]

BillyBoy* is or was a jeweler, socialite, fashion designer, artist, muse to Andy Warhol, and Barbie doll collector. (He is no longer all of those things, but he is in fact still alive and living with his husband in Switzerland.)

If you are not familiar - no, I did not put an asterisk there because I am making a footnote for later. BillyBoy* styled his name that way.

The famous Warhol painting of Barbie was actually titled "Barbie, Portrait of BillyBoy*" in honour of BillyBoy* - or at least, the version with the blue background was. Warhol created a second version of the painting with an orange background which was purchased by Mattel.

As mentioned above, BillyBoy* was an ardent Barbie collector - hence the painting in Barbie's likeness being a portrait of him. He drew the attention of Mattel with his 11,000 Barbies and 3000 Kens - and keep in mind, back in the 80's this was much more of an achievement, as there were significantly fewer dolls on the market. He also published Barbie: Her Life and Times, a book about Barbie, in 1987.

Between 1984 and 1990 BillyBoy* worked directly with Mattel on two tours called Le nouveau théâtre de la mode, which were showcases of designer outfits on Barbies, curated by BillyBoy*. He also designed two Barbies for Mattel - and in so doing became the first ever designer to be specifically credited on the box.

Above is first Barbie - Le Nouveau Theatre de la Mode Barbie from 1985.

His second Barbie, Feelin Groovy Barbie in 1986 has rather different vibes, but I have to say I like her a lot more.

I'm sorry, but she rules?

Amazingly when I saw Feelin' Groovy Barbie was being sold on the secondary market for a very reasonable price, I almost bought her on the spot but restrained myself.