Closing on Wednesday, yesterday was International #Women's Day, and today I find in the ephemeris one thing that caught my attention, although for some people it may be one of the inappropriate symbols of the Western #female image, it is that Today, in 1959, the #Barbie doll goes on sale. This iconic doll from the #Mattel company has a long list of criticisms and problems that have been associated with it throughout its decades of existence, but it is still one of the most successful dolls, because if I remember correctly, it still constitutes 25% of the total income of the company's profits.

Its presentation was at the American International Toy Fair in New York, its full name was Barbara Millicent Roberts, this name was inspired by the name of the daughter of the businesswoman who was launching it, Ruth Handler, wife of the co-founder of the company Mattel #toys, Elliot Handler. It must be said that the #controversy has been with this doll since its inception, because originally having a doll that did not look like a baby or a little girl was something very rare, to think of a doll that had proportions and features that were closer to an adult #woman was something revolutionary and brought a lot of opposition, let's add to that although it was said that the inspiration for its creation was in the "paper dolls to dress" that could be found in magazines, primers and cereal boxes, the thing is that its direct inspiration was a German doll, "Bild Lilli", which was produced for a tobacco company and was associated with dirty jokes and an adult male audience...

Well, the business couple bought the manufacturing and image rights of Bild Lilli and took care that no more were produced, then they launched their own doll with a similar aesthetic, but they were daring, it turns out that the doll was dressed in a suit striped bathing suit, quite daring for that's time. Well, the doll that we know in recent decades is not very close to the original in several things, for example, the first Barbies did not smile, their eyes were looking to the side, and they were not exclusively blondes, there were brunettes, blondes and brown hair (reaching shades that were more like redheads)

There are a lot of curiosities about this controversial #doll, many of them I read in 40 Surprising Things You Probably Didn't Know About Barbie. Such as the lilac color of its case and its logo, it is a color already assigned at present in #Pantone, it is like when you tell a color expert that you want an object in Malay Black or an ornament in Cobalt Blue, well It just so happens that you can say you want a touch of Lilac Barbie and that color exists!

I recommend that if you can, check out the site, it is very entertaining and has some very curious historical data.

The #History review for today's blog was entertaining. Now reporting personal things, I must say that it was a beautiful, boring and quiet day, calm reigned in my day and the electricity and telephone services worked well enough for me to work on a couple of things, I really I liked my day and would like these types of days to be much more frequent.

Well, I wish you well and that we can read each other another time.

Barbie, 1959 - Image's Source: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g2530/barbie-dolls-history-facts/?slide=23