Barbie Fashion Play (1989) - My first original Barbie from Mattel

 My very first original Barbie from Mattel was Barbie Fashion Play from the year 1989.

My Fashion Play today

Unfortunately, I don't remember in which year I got her, but it is very likely that in the year of hers debut on the market. My first doll - Barbie type - was Diana - I got the real Barbie later. 1989 was my last year in kindergarten, so it might have been then. A friend in my group then had a Barbie Superstar - she was gorgeous! She had bent hands, earrings, a ring (synonyms of prestige!) and a beautiful pink dress that consisted of several elements that could be arranged in various ways. So now I connect the dots so that I could talk about Barbie in a pink dress at home and this is how my Fashion Play appeared. But I remember clearly that it happened on Christmas Day. I even remember well what her box looked like - it was really a great experience for me. It was not a Superstar shelf, but a real, original Barbie Mattel.

The next experience was when my younger brother stripped her of most of her hair. My real, longed-for Barbie had a totally damaged hairstyle. However, I continued to play with her. She has survived even today - as can be seen in the photos.

The dress also survived, although it has a few cracks (which I plan to repair). The pink shoes and the hairbrush are lost.

She looked so sorry with that cut hair. With some experience in restoring horses manes and tails, I decided to try giving an old lady new hair. I even had hair of a similar shade.

Before reaching for the scissors, I captured the hairstyle my brother had given her.

It's good that my brother didn't become a hairdresser - he was totally unsuccessful. Finally I started with the scissors!

After removing all the hair with the remnants - this was the number of them:

And this is what the shaved bald old woman looked like:

Then the laborious work of cutting the hair to length and pinning it in the head began. After some time, I realized that the hair I had prepared would not cover the entire head - there was not enough of it. Fortunately, I had other hair of a similar color, but with a different structure - I decided to combine them anyway.

Rerooting is an activity that requires a lot of patience and attention. After a few hours of fighting - it worked!

She even looked nice in those curls, but the other hair was as stiff and straight as straw. They did not match the curls at all. After washing the whole and combing it out, I came up with an idea of how to combine them together. The so-called a waffle iron, more professionally called a hair crimper. Original from the 90s! I got it for communion. Just look at the brand (people from my generation should have a good understanding of this company's shampoos):

Have you recalled? If not I give you a clue - the shampoos were in green bottles and they were called Wash & Go - a great novelty then - 2 in 1 shampoo with conditioner.

But going back to my old woman, I patiently worked with her hair with successive strands.

Once they were overwhelmed - it was time for the session. The old lady has got younger!

There were no shoes, but I remembered I had pink boots that I bought together with others a year ago (they are not original, but I don't mind). They matched the dress and gave it a more modern style.

I really like her makeup - blue eyes with purple eyelids, pink lips and a very soft pink on her cheeks. So typical of those years.

Even though she has crimped rather than curly hair, I decided to recreate her original hairstyle.

It was a less popular and cheaper series. Kind of a progenitor of today's Fashionistas. In 1989, there were two dolls in this line - one in a pink dress and one in a purple one. The photo below shows the back of the box (found on the net at some auction - as illustrative).

As you can see, they were also known as Modespass and Promenade.

I have two more interesting facts about this doll:

• There was a version with shorter hair, a slightly different face shape, and a different eye color - they weren't completely blue - the outlines were black.
• There was also a Barbie Party Pink doll, also from 1989, with a face similar to the doll I wrote about above. The box was different - quite pink. On the back wall was a picture of only a doll in a pink dress. This doll had her hair down, also curled into large waves.