All the rage
There's no playing around in the fashion doll industry, a booming business that caters to children and adults alike.
By Hillary Atkin
The universe in which Bratz, Barbie and other 10- to 12-inch fashion dolls reside isn't just kids' stuff: It's a $2 billion-a-year business that counts among its customers not only millions of young girls but also untold thousands of adults willing to pay top dollar to build their collections.
Barbie, birthed by Mattel, got the industry rolling in 1959 but now has a host of competition on store shelves at every price point.
"The fashion doll business breaks down into play-line and collector," says Pat Henry, editor of Fashion Doll Quarterly, a magazine that caters to collectors and evokes Vogue with its high-end photography of dolls in couture. "Play-line -- considered toys -- is priced under $20 and is basically for kids. The collector base is geared toward adults at higher prices but is only about 10% of the industry."
The advent of fashion dolls in the U.S. dates back to the 1860s, when dolls dressed in the latest Parisian fashions were sent to wealthy women so that their couturiers could copy the designs. But the first modern fashion doll, Cissy, made her debut in 1955. Manufactured by New York's acclaimed Harlem-based Alexander Doll Co. -- which began making high-quality baby dolls in the 1920s -- Cissy had a social calendar and a glamorous air of sophistication. Perhaps fittingly, she was too expensive for the average American family.
"Cissy was a 1950s Eisenhower debutante, a high-heeled fashion doll with a somewhat childlike face and body -- she was young and innocent," Henry notes. "Then Barbie came along and looked like a grown-up. It was a big difference in perspective."
After Barbie took the world by storm -- every baby boomer girl had to have her, her boyfriend Ken and her friends Midge and Skipper -- a gaggle of other "babes in Toyland" hit the market. However, none of them -- Tressy, Tammy, Darci and countless others -- made more than $100 million in sales until the Bratz arrived in 2001.
Helping to drive those sales is the fact that Bratz, with their adolescent figures, look like the kids who are buying them.
"I think Mattel became complacent and didn't think there needed to be any changes made since they were at the top of the heap, and no other doll line could compete at that time," says Christian Merry, who founded and runs the Internet fan sites Bratz World and Bratz TV. "Barbie's fashions were outdated and not very interesting, unless you were into ball gowns."
Designer dolls are helping to drive the adult-collectible market, which began in earnest 20 years ago when baby boomer women started accumulating mementos of their childhoods, and even gay men began collecting dolls.
Cissy retails for about $450. She is 21 inches tall, whereas Barbie stands at 11 inches, and Bratz stand at 10 inches. "Last year, the artist Tim Alberts (also a film costumer who has worked with such stars as Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks and Brad Pitt) did a series of Madame du Pompadour Cissys, some of which retailed for $1,600," Henry says. "These are considered highly collectible and are geared for adults, despite the original incarnation being a doll for little girls to learn good grooming and poise as the late Madame herself, Beatrice Alexander, once said."
The typical prime doll-playing ages for girls are between 3 and 9. Industry experts say Barbie tends to skew toward 3- to 6-year-olds, while Bratz have made an impact with the 6- to 9-year-old group.
"Bratz are marketed specifically to tweens, but they appeal to many other age groups," Merry says. "Their appeal is that they're modern and colorful, the fashions are full of great details (and) they look and feel real. The hair is gorgeous and well-rooted, and the styles are as creative as the fashions."
Unlike girls who throw their dolls into the toy box, adults generally keep dolls in pristine condition -- so it won't be hard to find Bratz or their ilk 20 years later, still untouched in their original packaging. Those hoping to profit by selling dolls on the secondary market might be disappointed, though. "It's all speculation, like the stock market," Henry says. "With collectors, of course, there is another consideration: the thrill of the hunt and the amassing of a bigger and better collection, just like art or Faberge eggs."
