Designing Barbie with Bradley Justice Yarbrough

On our last episode Bradley Justice Yarbrough shared the story of Barbie and her career selling the dream lifestyle on film and TV. 

This time in an episode from our archive Bradley relates the story of the team of talented artists, fashion designers and engineers it took to bring Ruth Handler’s vision of Barbie doll into being.

In the 1950’s toymaker Ruth Handler watched her daughter playing with paper dolls and was inspired to create a fashion doll that a child could hold in their hand.  Mattel assembled a design team of artists,  engineers and fashion designers to create Barbie  - and the rest is history.
 
Author and  fashion doll expert  Bradley Justice Yarbrough has made a study of Barbie doll and was awarded the Coleman Scholarship for the research and study of the Designers of the Barbie Doll. He writes for  Doll News and Antique Doll Collector Magazine and also has the distinction of being voted the title of ‘Barbie’s Best Friend’ at Barbiecon. Today he tells the inside story behind the innovative designers that brought Ruth Handlers’s vision to life.