Vogue Italia - Black Barbie - The Black Issue

In July 2008, Vogue Italia created the first Black Issue sending a strong message about the importance of diversity to the fashion world. The special issue was a tremendous success from Milan to New York reaching a 40-percent increase in sales. The Vogue Italia Black Issue was conceived by Franca Sozzani, who decided to dedicate a full issue to black models that have reached successes in the influential areas of fashion and art. It was her vision to extend the edition this year to include images of Barbie. The July 2009 issue of Vogue Italia (above) is now available. Now , why is this happening in Europe and not in the US ? Anna what is the deal?


The first black doll from Barbie was introduced in 1967 as Black Francie, joined by Christie and Julia dolls in 1967 (friends of Barbie), and ultimately the first “Black Barbie” doll introduced in 1980. Barbie continues the legacy this year with the Fall 2009 launch of a new collection of black Barbie dolls called "So In Style" dolls, which are designed with more authentic-looking black features, including a new facial sculpt that has fuller lips, a wider nose, more distinctive cheek bones and curlier hair. The new line of So In Style Barbie dolls is designed for little girls but very popular with collectors. It will be available in a limited edition launch of 2,000 sold exclusively in quality toy outlets in Italy (and available broadly in the U.S. and on http://www.barbiecollector.com/), and in the UK early next year.