#styled by design

[barbielore]

Following my unexpected extended hiatus, I am back to posting! And I thought there's no better place to start than with another new release round-up to discuss all the dolls that have been released since my last post.

A new Styled By Design doll has been released, this one Linda Kyaw-Merschon. This one is an elegant red carpet look that I think looks really charming - although, I admit, I don't have all the things in the world to say about it. I think one of the biggest standouts is the embroidery on the gown.

It isn't an easy feat to have embroidery like this look proportionate on a Barbie-sized fashion piece, and I think it really comes together.

Moving on, we also saw the release of the MoMA Vincent van Gogh doll, with a dress themed around The Starry Night.

This is not the first time that Barbie has worn a Starry Night-inspired ensemble; previously, this artwork was translated into Barbie fashion in 2011 as part of the Museum Collection.

I like both gowns, but the drama of the 2025 release really has a lot going for it.

Another doll line that received a new release recently was Fashion Frontier: the previous entrant from 2024 featured a bright pink outfit, while the second doll features a black and silver colour scheme.

The designer, Tayler Pierce, predominately has Monster High credits, with only the two Fashion Frontier dolls on her official list of Barbie designs. I'm curious to see if she ends up doing more work with Barbie in the future.

[barbielore]

It hasn't been that long since I've done a new release round-up post, but I thought I'd do another since the Mattel launch calendar has confirmed there's no more big Barbie releases coming for May this year.

(There is another new doll that has been previewed which will be released in early June, and I do most definitely have opinions about it, but I will save that for another post.)

First up among the May releases I wanted to talk about is the new Styled By Design doll - this one a Ken designed by KidSuper.

I had no idea what to make of this doll when I first saw it, and if I'm honest, I still don't. The clothing, however, is extremely striking, featuring a giant size Barbie and Ken head on the jacket and birds on the trousers.

The embroidery on the Barbie and Ken faces is amazing.

I don't think I could say much more about this. Good for KidSuper, and good for Ken.

Remarkably little fanfare surrounded the announcement of the new Fashion Model Collection Barbie, Petticoat Perfection.

Like, was this just me? I saw almost no one talking about this, but she's INCREDIBLE. I love her.

But then again - maybe that's because she dropped only four days before some slightly bigger news for Barbie collectors: the Fifteenth Doctor and his companion, Ruby.

Yes, they are sold separately, but I do like them as a twosome. And I Really like their outfits too - contrary to some recent releases, it really looks like a lot of effort went into some of the clothing design. Just look at Ruby's jacket, for example.

I've seen a few people talk about how "now that" Doctor Who and Barbie coexist so I wanted to add something - do remember that this isn't the first Doctor Who Barbie! There was one in the likeness of the Thirteenth Doctor as well.

[barbielore]

Styled By Design is a new Barbie Signature series that debuted earlier this year. The first look in the collection was designed by Suim Noh, with the stated design inspiration being 1970s fashion illustrations.

I do appreciate the box design for this doll, as it seems to be a callback aesthetically to some of the old collectors editions with the illustrated boxes.

Suim Noh is a lead product designer at Mattel, and has been credited with designing a number of other Barbie properties, including the BarbieStyle Barbie and Ken giftset.