Beverly Hills Barbies : Rodeo Drive Goes Ga-Ga Over Auction Featuring Popular Doll
If Barbie talked, she would have been gushing Sunday.
There she was, on Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive, diamonds laced around her slender neck, toes tucked into ruby-encrusted slippers, mink stole tossed over her shoulders and a Louis Vuitton bag by her side.
Granted, Barbie, who has introduced millions of American girls to the pleasures of consumerism, was visiting the kingdom of retail chic to be auctioned off to the highest bidder as part of a benefit for children’s charities. But still, the merchants were worshiping at her feet, warmly welcoming her as one of their own.
“Why not?” said Ron Michaels, president of the Rodeo Drive Committee, which sponsored the event along with Mattel, Barbie’s boss. “Barbie is the most fashionable girl in the world.”
For Sunday’s event, which organizers said was attended by about 25,000 people and raised more than $80,000 for the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation and the Amie Karen Cancer Fund for children, one block of the posh street was transformed into a Barbie fantasy land. Dressed and accessorized by Rodeo Drive’s most exclusive designers, 20 one-of-a-kind Barbies were up for sale, while dozens of vintage dolls on display stared out from glass cases at equally elegant shoppers.
The pavement was bathed in 20,000 square feet of a carpet instantly recognizable to Barbie aficionados as “Barbie Pink,” though to the untutored eye, it looked more like a sea of Pepto-Bismol. No red poinsettias were allowed, only white and pink. Naturally, the lemonade was pink, as were the bows tied onto every conceivable surface.
There were plenty of Barbie bigwigs on hand. Ruth Handler, who created the first Barbie doll in honor of her daughter Barbie, signed autographs. Designer Kitty Black Perkins, creator of last year’s popular and elusive Holiday Barbie--it sold out within weeks, devastating fans everywhere--brought her children. Commercial artist Barbara Rausch, who drew Barbie comic books for five years, admired the collection of vintage dolls on display but declined to bid.
“Barbies are like potato chips,” Rausch said. “You can’t have just one.”
Probably a sensible decision. The starting bid on most of the designer-dressed Barbies was $1,000. A Barbie carrying case designed by Louis Vuitton--actually a converted whiskey case--was the most expensive item, selling at $16,500. According to a Mattel spokeswoman, the record price paid for a Barbie is $27,000, sold to a Brazilian dealer a few years ago.
Organizers of Sunday’s event had pinned their hopes of beating the Brazilian price on a Barbie doll costumed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, wearing not just ruby-red slippers but shoes in 18-karat gold, studded with 2.75 carats of real rubies, courtesy of jeweler Harry Winston. But that doll brought only $3,500.
Even at that cut-rate price, the Rodeo Drive Barbies were out of 6-year-old Ashley Movaghar’s range. But she could still look, dwelling on Barbie in a fluffy white wedding dress. If she could take that Barbie home, pearl bracelet and all, she vowed to never sully that dress.
“I’d just leave her so she wouldn’t get dirty,” Ashley said.
Also up for grabs, a Badgley Mischka Barbie dressed in a see-through net gown discreetly stitched with black jet beads to keep Barbie pure. Escada Barbie wore a strapless black and gold lace gown with a detachable skirt and a signature Escada wrist evening bag. Versace Barbie opted for a sheer leopard print chiffon gown with sparkles.
Jeweler Fred Jouillier decked J’Adore Barbie in a black dress set with real diamonds and accessorized her with 4.65 carats of emeralds, 3.35 carats of rubies and 3.60 carats of diamonds. That went for $4,000.
Barbie looked pleased. But then again, she always does. Steadily smiling for 37 years, she has been blessed with a perfect--by some standards--body that has remained untouched by age. Her measurements are 36-18-33, unattainable curves that have fueled the ire of many Barbie critics over the years on the theory that she helps foster unhealthy self-images in young girls. Even some fans who attended Sunday’s event said Barbie’s beauty gives them pause.
“The key is not letting these girls grow up wanting to look like Barbie,” said Candy Crawford, watching as her 10-year-old daughter Charlotte, possessor of about 100 Barbies, tried out a CD-ROM game that allowed her to create her own Barbie fashions.
To do that, Crawford buys a wide range of Barbies for Charlotte.
“You don’t buy just the blond Barbies, you buy the international dolls and the African American dolls and the Latina dolls,” she said. “But they need to get like a little overweight Barbie.”
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An hourly fashion show, repeated five times during the day, drew big crowds. It featured models dressed in replicas of actual Barbie fashions throughout the decades. They vamped across the stage in hippie garb, an astronaut costume, swimsuits, evening gowns and even a Jackie Kennedy-inspired red and white velvet number.
“Barbie never looked like that,” said an attentive Jerry Blank, as an auburn-haired human Barbie bared a porcelain shoulder and winked at the audience.
Despite his admiration for the models, Blank said Sunday’s event was a little overwhelming.
“Why such a big thing over a little doll like this?” he said before pushing his way into the well-heeled crowd.
