Barbie, Ken; a love story for the ages? We were disappointed to hear that the pair split up back in 2004, but thankfully they reunited again in 2011 and have been together ever since. Over the years, Barbie has had over 130 different careers – astronaut, surgeon and even President – and was made more diverse in curvy and tall variations last year. Her counterpart Ken, however, has remained almost the same.
Until today, with Mattel launching ‘The New Crew’ a range of 15 diverse dolls that feature three different bodies types and five different ethnicities of the famous Ken doll. There is ‘Broad Ken’, ‘Slim Ken’ – there are even versions with cornrows and a man-bun. He has new garms too, but sadly no romper – yet.
In addition to the new range of dolls, London store Machine-A have collaborated to bring the best vintage Ken’s out of the archive. The exhibition, curated by Stavros Karelis, the store’s founder, features a number of famous dolls including MC Hammer Ken, Chogo-KEN designed by Tokyo label Ambush, and the 2009 Ken by Gareth Pugh. The exhibition launches on June 23rd in the Soho-based store to be shown for two weeks and those who attend will be able to get their hands on a special Ken t-shirt designed by Martine Rose.
For now, it seems like there is a doll for everyone, and if not, Mattel is probably working on it as we speak.
