Mattel debuts three new Barbie body shapes: Tall, petite, and curvy

(Image credit: Twitter.com/Barbie)

published 28 January 2016

Barbie's body proportions just got a little more realistic. On Thursday, toymaker Mattel introduced three new body shapes for its iconic doll after facing backlash and dropping sales for inaccurately reflecting women's bodies. Now, alongside the original Barbie, there's a curvy Barbie, a tall Barbie, and a petite Barbie. Time reports in its latest cover story:

...Kim Culmone, head of design, posed a challenge to her team: If you could design Barbie today, how would you make her a reflection of the times? Out of that came changing Barbie's face to have less makeup and look younger, giving her articulated ankles so she could wear flats as well as heels, giving her new skin tones to add diversity, and then of course changing the body. While curvy Barbie's hips, thighs and calves are visibly larger than before, from the waist up she is less Jessica Rabbit than she is pear-shaped. Mattel refuses to discuss the actual proportions of the new dolls or how it came to decide on them. [Time]

The dolls will initially sell exclusively online, Time reports, until Mattel negotiates the extra shelf space needed for the new variety of body shapes, skin tones, hair types. Mattel also plans on setting up a separate helpline to deal with complaints related to the new dolls — such as when kids try to put original Barbie's clothes on curvy Barbie and get frustrated when "not everything will Velcro shut," Time reports.