Barbie Wins Ace Award, Talks Louboutin Ankle Drama, 'Twilight' and Ken's Fashion Faux Pas

by Melissa Schweiger (Subscribe to Melissa Schweiger's posts)
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 2:26PM

Barbie with her Judith Leiber-designed ACE icon award ("purse"). Photo courtesy of Mattel

She's always been a fashion icon in our eyes, and now Barbie's got the award to prove it!

At last night's Accessories Council 13th Annual ACE Awards, Barbara Millicent Roberts (aka Barbie) was presented with the Fashion Icon of the Year award.

After the awards ceremony, the busy blonde gave StyleList an exclusive interview:

StyleList: How does it feel to be named Fashion Icon of the Year?
Barbie: I am truly honored! And to think that Diane von Furstenberg presented me with my award! She is one of my style icons!

SL: We love the Judith Leiber-designed ACE award, did you get to meet her?
Barbie: Judith and I partnered back in 2005 when we did a fabulous doll together. It was fantastic to work with her again and of course I wore my Judith Leiber purse to the Awards on the red carpet. A Judith Leiber bag is a must-have for every fashionista!

SL: What was it like having custom Louboutins made for you?
Barbie: In 50 years, I have acquired over 1 billion pairs of shoes, however, my Louboutins are by far my favorite! Christian is a fantastic designer and I loved all the time I spent with him. My custom Louboutins make me feel like the luckiest doll in the world!

SL: And what was all that talk about you having less than perfect ankles?
Barbie: I'm a doll! My ankles are only 22mm in circumference! It was all just a big misunderstanding! Christian loves my ankles -- it was my arch he wanted to give a little more "lift" so I could rock those high heels. It's all in good fashion fun!

SL: So, big news with the feature film being made about you. Who do you think should play Barbie?
Barbie: Um, me... among my many careers, I'm also an actress, of course!

SL: You've been a style icon for so many years, are there any looks you regret?
Barbie: My looks throughout the years have always been a snapshot of style-in-the-moment. I had a bubble-cut hairstyle in the '60s and sported shoulder pads and scrunchies in the '80s! I love to have fun with fashion!

SL: Your hair always looks perfect, how do you do it?
Barbie: The perfect hair day takes a lot of work -- and tools! One of my hair care secrets is my special hair gel that was exclusively developed for me. Also, my favorite hair tool is a paintbrush and water -- it keeps those flyaway hairs down!

SL: How much of a say do you have in what Ken wears? Is there anything you have banned from his wardrobe?
Barbie: The roller skates... they weren't his best look and he wasn't very good. He's a much better surfer!

SL: Any guys you think are particularly dreamy?
Barbie: Justin Timberlake, Chase Crawford, and of course Ken!

SL: Who are some of your favorite designers?
Barbie: Having worked with over 80 designers, such as Karl Lagerfeld, Diane von Furstenberg and Bob Mackie, it is very hard to name favorites, as I love them all! Right now I'm very into accessories and love Justin Guinta, Devi Kroell and Alexis Bittar.

SL: Are you a "Twilight" fan?
Barbie: Of course! I was Bella for Halloween and my Edward and Bella dolls are hitting stores right now!

SL: You just celebrated your 50th birthday. What's your advice to the rest of us who want to look as young as you do at 50?
Barbie: Being made of plastic really helps one age! I also have a very dedicated, talented team of stylists, makeup artists and hairstylists who help me look fabulous every day!

To see Barbie through the years, check out the below gallery:

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Also on StyleList - Barbie Fashion Evolution

Mattel

New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. Pictures

Barbie Fashion Evolution

With her 39-21-33-inch curves, Barbie no doubt sets an impossible ideal. Not even Gisele Bundchen and her slinky 36-24-35-inch stats could compare. But if Barbie is No Girl, she's also Every Girl – cheerleader, rock star, teacher, President, Olympic skier, frothy beach bunny, fearless astronaut, a mover-and-shaker who's cycled through more incarnations than Madonna, Lindsay and Britney combined. The one constant: Barbie has remained the ultimate fashionista, sporting the perfect pillbox in the Jackie Kennedy days, psychedelic colors in the wake of Woodstock and 70 different high-rent designers in the decades of conspicuous consumption. Now, Barbie is hitting the big Five-O, but unlike many other Baby Boomers, she shows no signs of losing her bod, her face -- or her sense of style. To see how she's evolved from plaything to fashion queen, click on.

Mattel

When Barbie came into the world on March 9, 1959, with a cardboard box and a $3 price tag, her birthday suit was a black-and-white striped bandeau. Modeled on the shapely (and vaguely sinister) German doll "Lilli," Barbie was like no other creature in post-War America, where baby dolls and Davy Crockett caps reigned. But for Ruth Handler, who created Barbie for Mattel, Inc., that was the point. "Every little girl needed a doll through which to project herself into her dream of her future," Handler once told The New York Times. "If she was going to do role playing of what she would be like when she was 16 or 17, it was stupid to play with a doll that had a flat chest. So I gave it beautiful breasts." The first year alone, 300,000 girls – flat-chested or not – bought into the dream.

Mattel

Ruth Handler dubbed Barbie a "teen-age fashion model," but not even young Suzy Parker owned clothes like this. Mattel lavished Barbie with 22 outfits, all designed by a Seventh Avenue veteran named Charlotte Johnson. In a matter of weeks, she created not just impeccable daytime ensembles like this skirt-and-coat "Roman Holiday" set (one of many that nodded to the movies), but also delicate underwear (bras, slips, girdles) and baby-doll nighties (sheer enough to set '50s mothers clucking). To finish: exquisite accessories, from tiny pearl necklaces and working belts to miniscule gloves and cats-eye sunglasses.

Mattel

Even more stunning than the design of Barbie's clothes was the execution – by legions of Japanese housewives. "Eyes straining, needles flying, they handstitched gold buttons onto Barbie's red 'Sweater Girl' cardigan and attached flower appliqués to her 'Picnic Set' sunhat," writes M.G. Lord in "Forever Barbie," her 1994 unauthorized Barbie biography. "Then, after their handiwork had been vetted for flaws, they gave the garments to other housewives who stitched them into cardboard display packages."

Mattel

Barbie landed in an era when air travel was growing dramatically, so it wasn't surprising that stewardess was one of her first careers. Her 1961uniform was a replica of the American Airlines original, down to the AA flight bag and the winged pin on her jacket and cap. In the days before airline de-regulation, Barbie would also suit up for United Airlines and Pan Am.

Mattel

In the early years, Barbie-lovers owned one doll and saved their pennies for new outfits, which sold for $1.25 to $3; even an elaborate satin wedding gown was only $5. One of the most popular looks was "Solo in the Spotlight," a tulle-trimmed siren's gown, complete with elbow gloves and long-stemmed microphone, that transformed the nerdiest 'tween into a sultry chanteuse.

Mattel

Though Barbie could wear short-shorts with the best of them, her passion was couture. According to the 1987 BillyBoy book, "Barbie: Her Life and Times," Barbie's dress designer Charlotte Johnson "would travel seasonally to Europe to watch the Paris collections. Dior, Fath, Heim, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Gres, Schiaparelli, Carven, Balmain, and Saint Laurent were all inspirations for the first few years of Barbie's extensive wardrobe." BillyBoy, who owns more than 20,000 Barbies, added that, like this "Red Flair" ensemble inspired by Spanish designer Cristobal Balenciaga, Barbie's outfits borrowed "the charming haute couture custom of naming outfits to evoke dreams."

Mattel

Poor Barbie. Our favorite mannequin (shown here in 1963) has spent five decades at the center of the national body-image furor. We'll leave the blame-her-or-not to the psychologists, but we will note that, while Barbie's face, hair and makeup have been transformed over the years, her body has changed not an ounce. With her 1965 "Slumber Party" outfit came a bathroom scale set – for eternity – at 110 lbs. Barbie even had her own (toy) diet book: "How to Lose Weight: Don't Eat.

Mattel

Like most American women, Barbie in the early 1960s took her fashion cues from Jackie Kennedy, that other paragon of chic. Like the simple pink knit that sheathed a 1964 Barbie, the doll's clothes, says author Lord, became as pedigreed as Jackie's. But all that changed in 1968, as Lord writes in "Forever Barbie": "She had married Aristotle Onassis, and Mattel was not about to link its Golden Girl to some stubby, shriveled Mediterranean type with alleged links to international organized crime."

Mattel

In 1963, Betty Friedan's "Feminine Mystique" warned housewives of the "problem that has no name," but Barbie has never seemed unfulfilled. In the course of 50 years, Barbie has had 108 careers, from the traditional (nurse, teacher) to the trailblazing (doctor, pilot, NASCAR driver). But perhaps none was more thrilling than her debut as an astronaut in 1965 at the height of the race to the moon. Would that her get-up matched the euphoria. Barbie's first astronaut suit was drab one-piece gray. Thankfully, when Astronaut Barbie returned 20 years later, it was in a fuchsia and silver space suit with other-worldly puffed sleeves.

Mattel

Can't get enough Barbie? Read about the blonde's recent stint editing Kurv magazine and the sultry star who channeled her for the cover.

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